This is my gaming calendar for my yearly schedule for HTH. I have decided to release my game in the first few months of summer. The reasons why are:
I am going to look at the promotional tactics for Red Dead Redemption
Outdoor Advertising
An example of outdoor advertising for Red Dead Redemption is a series of billboards in New York City. These billboards were shown in winter months of 2010.
There were also live performances from songs that feature in the game from music artists.
Another form of outdoor advertising was when US retailer who sponsor a NASCAR racing team where in the 2010 season, used the Red Dead Redemption artwork on the bonnet of the car. The positives of this marketing campaign is that the billboards are huge and un missable if you were walking past the building. The location of of the billboard made the advert very effective as it one of the busiest places in the world. The cons to this advertisement is that it couldn’t show lots of detail and writing as it would not be noticed and consumers wouldn’t want to stop and read a long winded piece of writing on the billboard. Having a billboard this big in such a popular location would have been very expensive and Rockstar would not have immediate feedback on wether the billboard was successful.
In store promotion
Rockstar became partners with retailer game stores including amazon and HMV where they would offer exclusive bonus game content for the consumers who pre-order the game.
Retailers had their own promotions. For example, HMV offered a free DVD with every purchase of Red Dead Redemption.
The positives to this is that it targets the right consumers and the fact that the game will be sold in retail outlets, it will attract more consumers. Selling the game in shops also target the more casual gamer who is unaware of any information regarding release dates or information about the game.
The Cons to this is that there is limited space in the retail outlets to store lots of copies of the game and that it will cost Rockstar more to have a bigger promotion to have more copies of it in the various game stores. Also the only consumers who would purchase the game would be the customers who actually go to the shop and are exposed to the game.
Guerrilla marketing
An example of Guerrilla marketing for Red Dead Redemption was the huge artwork in New York City places on the side of a building in New York City. An example of guerrilla marketing which could be used is putting various stickers and graphics relevant to the game which could be seen in public areas. This could attract more awareness about the game and its content. The pros to this is that the promotional stickers would be cheap for Rockstar to mass produce and if it was successful it would go viral boosting up sales of the games and expanding the consumers.
The cons to this is that it would be very localized and not many consumers would take notice of it, also the messages Rockstar would want to put out could be misunderstood or difficult for the consumer to understand.
Web Advertising
Various Game review sites such as Gamespot, Ign.com and now gamer provided consumers with exclusive features and coverage with specialist press information.
The last piece of web Advertisement Rockstar used was the official Red Dead Redemption website. On the website, the consumers could see game screenshots, see the gameplay feature, the History behind the game. There is also a question and answer section where the consumers can ask questions to the game developers and other consumers about the game. The consumers can also download wallpapers for the own computers. Web advertisements can also be seen on various everyday sites consumers use such as Facebook and Youtube. Also depending on if the consumer has an interest in the game, Cookies would store that information and would have many more advertisements on their web browser. The positives to this is that there are around 2.5 billion internet users around the globe which would attract a huge audience. Also the internet is very easy to access and finding information on the game would be very easy and the information itself is very specific accommodates every aspect of what the consumer is interested in.
The cons to this is that consumers can easily avoid looking at online advertisements and the use of pop ups and other advertisements strategies could annoy the consumers.
Digital Marketing:
Rockstar created social networking sites including Facebook and Twitter where they would update their sites on latest news and communicate with the consumers. Rockstar released pictures on Facebook of new artwork. One of the main forms of web advertising is Youtube where consumers can watch various trailers for Red Dead Redemption. The first trailer for the game was released on the 6th May 2009. This trailer gave the consumers a first glimpse of gameplay and the main character John Marston. Rockstar then released 12 more trailers on youtube and the official red Dead Redemption between 01/12/09 and 18/05/10. Each trailer had their own certain aspect that the consumers could see. The pros to this is that this type of marketing could attract a huge audience and is also very cheap to do which benefits Rockstar.
Direct Marketing:
The direct marketing Rockstar used for Red Dead Redemption was they released the official trailers and lots of other information which was available the consumers on the official red Dead Redemption website. On the website as well is a question and answer page where consumers can personally talk to game designers and create a relationship with them. The positives to this is that it will directly develop a relationship with the consumer as they can speak to other people about the game as well as game developers. But this can be expensive as it needs constant attention to build the relationship with the consumer.
Sale Promotions:
Rockstar and game retailers offered pre orders for the consumers where they could get the game earlier than the official release date. Another form of sales promotion is the official Red Dead Redemption merchandise which was available from the Rockstar official shop. From there, consumers could buy merchandise consisting of Red Dead Redemption branded clothes to props which feature in the game such as Dynamite candles and playing cards. Once Red Dead Redemption was released, Rockstar released 8 DLC packs which consisted of new outfit and new guns packs to whole new stories and missions including the Undead Nightmare and Legends and killers packs. These DLC packages were accessible to consumers in a variety of ways including the xBox Live store, PSN Store as well as hard copies on disk which were available at gaming retail outlets. The positives to this is that Rockstar would be making more money by selling these products to consumers and the consumer will be happy getting more content and merchandise.
The cons to this is that the consumers will have to pay even more money to get the DLC packs which vary in price which could annoy the consumers.
Cross Promotions:
An example of cross promotions for Red Dead Redemption could be a series of advertisements either on television, radio or at the cinema. This is a cross promotion as the audience did not intend to watch the trailer for the game but either wathcing something on television or visiting the cinema or listening to the radio.
Production:
How long, what cost, what technology, what IP, for what console
Red Dead Redemption cost Rockstar $80-100 million to make
Red Dead Redemption took 5 years to develop
Part of the Rockstar San Diego studio, the RAGE team is Rockstar’s central technology group. The team develops and supports the engine libraries and tools for graphics, physics, animation, networking, AI, character behaviors, core systems and other technologies that are used across Rockstar for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC titles. The RAGE engine drives games such as Red Dead Redemption, Grand Theft Auto IV and Midnight Club: Los Angeles, as well as Max Payne 3.
The IP for rockstar has a long history when in 2003, Rockstar brought out Angel studios where Rockstar turned it into Rockstar North. Also being developed was Red Dead Revolver by Capcom, a Japanese game studio in which Rockstar bought the rights too.
Rockstar acquired parts from the game from Capcom where Rockstar polished and touched it up where they completed the game.
Red Dead redemption was released for various consoles including PS3 and xBox 360
Content:
what sort of game is it, structure, graphical quality, gameplay, online modes, story, certification (use trailers, youtube to illustrate point.
Red Dead Redemption is an open world action/adventure western game. The story of Read Dead Redemption is organized by three acts, divided by the people that you help in the act. Under each person there are missions to complete, ranging from simple cattle herding to storming bandit hideouts. Overall there are 57 missions, and only 10 of them deal directly with the initial story of John Marston’s hunt for his former gang.
The graphical quality in Red Dead redemption in my opinion is very good portraying lots of colours for and detail in the characters and settings. I think Rockstar attended to every detail for example the weapons are very detailed and the props found in settlements such as saloons. The graphics for the game are also made by the RAGE game engine.
The gameplay in the game is very open and down to player to how they want to structure it. The game has set missions in which the player must complete before they progress. The game is very open world so the player doesn’t have to do missions to explore the game but they must complete missions to progress and unlock new items and gain more experience. In the game, on the mini map there are Initials of the names of all the people the player must complete a mission for. It is up to the player to choose what missions they would like to do.
Red Dead redemption has a massive online community and is very popular. The multiplayer has lots of game modes for the player to engage in. The main multiplayer feature would be the free roam where the player can customise their own character as well as their mount and what type of character they would be. In the free roam, the player can explore the game and gain experience by destroying in game gang hideouts. The experience will enable the player to upgrade their characters skills as well as upgrading their mount. Also in free roam, Players can play with their friends to explore and play with other players around the world who are in the game.
The other game modes in multiplayer are varied on skill depending on what the player wants to do. The game modes include a simple poker game in a saloon against other players where the player would win experience and money. Land grab and Gang shootout are more difficulty where the player must work with your gang which consist of other players online to defeat the other gang. In land grab, The objective is to steal a bag of gold from the oppositions gang hideout and put it in your hideout without getting killed, if so, the bag will be dropped where you were killed where another player must collect it before the other gang retrieve it. The first gang to steal 3 bags of gold wins. In gang shootout, this mode is much more simple where one gang has to kill as many people of the other gang as possible. The gang who has got the most kills at the end will win.
The certification of Red Dead Redemption is rated 18+ due to the intense violence, nudity, strong language, strong sexual content and use of drugs.
audience:
what type of gamer, what demographic is the game aimed at.
The type of gamer that would play Red Dead Redemption would be a more mature gamer who like a in depth story with varied amounts of skill and who also likes to explore. \
The demographic for Red Dead Redemption would be aimed at working class people and older teenagers who can buy the game due to the in depth plot which would be difficult for a younger audience to understand.
Placement:
Red Dead Redemption was distributed all around the world upon its release date in stores and for online download. Customers could download the game form the official Red Dead Redemption website and various game store websites such as Game as well as the console stores including the Playstation network store and xBox live store. The customer could also buy a hard copy of the game from online stores such as Amazon, eBay, Game, Target As well as from game retail outlets such as Game, game station, HMV, Blockbuster etc.
Red Dead Redemption was firstly released in Norther America on May 18th 2012, Europe followed with its release in May 21st 2010. Australasia followed with its release on May 21st. Japan’s release was last on its release on October 7th 2010. The USA is the main consumer of video games which is why it was released in the US first, but also since the game is made the US and the distribution company is set there, its much quicker to distribute locally.
There are advantages and disadvantages to downloading digital copies of the game. The main advantage for the consumer is that it is cheaper and easier for the producer to distribute and much easier for the customer to buy. Not needing the physical copy of a game means that the customer cant break or lose it. However this impacts the game retail stores as the customer doesn’t have to leave the house.
These are the official DLC packs for Red Dead Redemption which are available on the PSN store and the xBox live market place. Each DLC has its own release date and price. Red Dead Redemption became available to download from xBox marketplace on 21st December 2012 seven months after the hard copy release, the digital copy costs £29.99 for customers.
Price:
Red Dead Redemption upon release was £49.99 or $59.99 and £32.90 on online stores. The retail promotions consisted of lots of bonus material in which the consumer could buy depending on what retail shop they bought the game from. For example HMV offered a free DVD with every copy of the game, The consumer could also buy special edition copies of the game which included merchandise which would feature in the game such as playing cards and sticks of dynamite as well as posters. Consumers could also buy their own avatars for £0.99 which they could use for their Playstation and xBox avatar.
Other forms of promotions which were released was Rockstar gave away a free DLC when a customer bought a copy of the game either on the xBox live marketplace or on the PSN store.
The collectors edition was released multiple times, each time featured different bonus content. The first edition to be released featured the game, exclusive outfits, the war horse and the golden guns weapons pack. This was released on the 21st of May 2010. The second limited edition game was released on 14th october which was the game of the year edition featured all the DLCs on one disk.
The budget cost of the game was released in various months from various game retailers.
Here below I have posted two links, the first being the ‘Call of Duty Black ops 2′ game trailer and the second being an advertisement for the Wii console featuring Jaimie RedknappThe black ops 2 trailer is more centred around the ‘Killer’ version of gamers, featuring both male and female gamers to encourage a wider target audience. There is also an appearance of Robert Downey Jr, and since he is a well known actor this further encourages people to play, suggesting that famous actors also purchase this game so why don’t you?
The Wii advertisement shows families of most ethnic backgrounds and both genders, so all audiences will feel included. The fact that Jamie Redknapp was also included in this trailer encourages prospective gamers. As opposed to the previous trailer where there was much destruction and death, this features friendly competitiveness and teamwork.
The game ‘Pong’ was released in 1962, which revolutionised the game market, since it was the first game to be released in pubs, its simplicity appealed to the intoxicated audience, since it was so simple to play even a drunk could do it. Another U.S.P was that the console wood vainer, to make it fit in with the rest of the furniture in your house. The Game E.T caused much controversy over the artwork on the cover and art, but when it came to playing the game many consumers felt ripped off.
In 2008 there was a similar situation with a golf game featuring Tiger Woods, the trailer featured the 360 high definition version footage, whereas the game actually featured low res graphics and poor gameplay.
When Rockstar first started they wanted all their trailers to be true to their game, which meant that only footage the trailer featured would be in the game ‘integrity between product and promotion’ market segmentation was actually quite sexist during the 80′s and featured women barely clad in clothing, one example would be a BMX game, where the more complex stunts you preform women will reveal themselves and perform sexual acts whilst you are playing.
Character = Brand.
Cartoon, Game, Toys, Cards
Synergies —–> Make you want to get more involved in the game.
Some game commercials don’t even feature the games themselves or any gameplay, they just want to focus on the social aspect of playing with friends and going online. The most important place to advertise is online, where you can have a banner which will lead to your product, Twitter feeds and Facebook links are also great ways to advertise and make your product go viral through well known social networks.
Branding: You can tempt different audiences in with different different packages, like Downloadable content.
PRODUCT : Features, Brand name, Design, Packaging, Services
PRICE : Discounts, RRP, Payment Period, Credit Terms
PLACEMENT : Distribution, Location, Transportation, Logistics, Coverage
PROMOTION : Advertising, Public/Press Relations (PR), Personal Selling
Positioning : The process in which businesses and customers think, relate and identify with their products
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