Megatrends of Gaming – Article (3) – Merchandising

This post is a discussion of the the Megatrends of Game Design, written by Pascal Luban.  When it comes to merchandising Luban states;

“Today’s games feature rich and popular universes, which may yield products taking many forms: action figures, manga and comics, ornaments, school supplies, ringtones, animated series or evan novels, theatrical screenplays, or the much wider boradcast of video game tournaments.”

“I am convinced that we will get there.  Some games will give more compelling shows than others, in the sense of being watched and understood by the viewers”

Again this is nothing particularly new, it’s just something that the next generation games should take on board at the conception phase as opposed to the “cash cow” phase.  Tomb Raider is probably the computer game that springs to most people’s mind as the first to take computer game characters into the cinematic world.  There have been others, see here before, and many many others since, although none of them have really had the box office sucess of the Lara Croft films.

The reason why so many video games progress well into cinema is the lack of plot.  When gamers are playing their game they are caught up the action of the game, the stages that they need to do to progress, the objects they need to collect, etc etc etc.  This doesn’t make rivetting cinema, infact it’s probably as exciting for someone else to watch as a dash around tescos.  And this is the issue that needs to be addressed if games designers and publishers want to get the most out of the merchandising.

The leading MMORPG games seem to have the merchandising far more nailed.  With World or Warcraft merchandising carefully controlled by Blizzard, but including models, cards, t-shirts & clothing, books, soundtracks, pc peripherals, board games and strategy guides.  Oh yes, and a $100m budget movie currently in production.

The MMORPG have much more scope for merchandising than the traditional shot and slash type of games, because plot is what the games are all about.  There may even be the risk, that despite spending $100m on the film that true World of Warcraft fans and players may be disappointed, because the whole MMORPG concept is built around the players fantasies and imagination – will it be as good when it makes it onto the big screen?

Uwe Boll who applied to Blizzard for the role of director in the World of Warcraft movie, about making a true and faithful adaption of a film;

“You go for it, to please the game fans, but on the other hand if you have the hard core gamers, they live in their own world. And you cannot fulfill their ideas from a video game based movie, it’s impossible. 

For games to move effortlessly between film, product, game and online virtual communities there needs to be a plot, something that the player can associate with, can internalise, not just scores & results.

The Megatrends of Gaming – Article (2) Downloadable Content

This article continues the discussion of Pascal Luban’s Megatrends of Game Design.

Megatrend 2 Downloadable Content

Luban states that “a game can be developed in a modular way–designed to support future levels, game modes, new assets such as vehicles, etc.  The key is to make these add-ons available via paying subscriptions or micropayments”

The Massively Multiplayer Online Role Player Games (MMORPG) such as Warhammer and World of Warcraft (WOW) have built their business model around players subscribing for the game iteself, and then in letting players buy additional content via mircopayments.  Examples of this would be extra weapons, new armoury, different vehicles, etc.  Small pieces of equipment, or player powers and abilities that give the player that extra edge to play and enjoy their online game.

Solo game players, those who traditionally play games on their consoles, are not well used to the idea of paying for downloadable content, or extras.  So this will be cultural change for them.

The use of microtransactions to generate revenue streams for games designers and publishers has a distinct advantage over the traditional game outright game purchase.  Piracy, particularly in Asia, is a major problem for designers, if players aren’t purchasing the game upfront, but are instead paying in micropayments and subscriptions to play online then the games studio or publisher can be assured that the income is coming to them.

Modular content also means that games designers and publishers have the ability to expand and change the game incrementally.  The need to wait for “new release” disappears, instead the games houses can offer new extra content on a monthly, weekly, even daily basis if they so wished.  Giving the player the chance to expand and develop their gaming experience, to continue the challenge phase, and preventing them reaching saturation.

Fantasy Couriers has taken the modular content model into it’s structure and design.  All players at the most basic subscription levels have the necessary equipment and player powers/rights to run a sucessful fantasy business.

Fantasy Couriers uses the modular content format to allow players to make decisions in the game as they would in real life.  The main way that the micropayments are used is to allow players to purchase extra virtual currency.  Players should be able to generate profits and revenues through their fantasy business by choosing jobs.  However, if wrong business decisions are made, if too many employees or vehicles are held, if pricing is wrong, if the player underestimates their costs etc, then they will, as in real life, end up making a loss.

If you are running a business and cashflow is poor you may decide to invest some of your personal savings into the business in order to see it through, and this can be done via purchasing additional currency.

Extra episodes are available through expansion, players can acquire premises, vehicles, employees, buyout their competitors etc.  If the player has been playing well, and had built up virtual cash for this then they can use their virtual currency.  However, for those that just want to go straight in, and not bother building their business slowly, then the micropayments will allow them to do this.

Modular content is the method that Fantasy Couriers will use to expand and develop the game.  Already there are a list of extra functions, options and episodes waiting to be developed and introduced to the game.  We see this as the way to keep the game fresh and exciting.

The Megatrends of Game Design – Article (1) Multiplayer Gaming to the Rescue

Pascal Luban, vetran games designer, outlines the trends that he sees emerging in Game Design and the Games Industry over the next few years.  This post, and other posts continuing this exploration have been based on the articles The Megatrends of Game Design Part 1, and Part 2.

The first megatrend that Luban raises is the necessity of increasing the commercial life span of games. 

The lifespan of games can be surprisingly short, developers are committing to hundreds of thousands, sometime millions of pounds on game development, on a long investment period of around 18-14 months.   And the window of opportunity sale the game, and recover the costs and make a profit can be incredibly short, sometimes only a matter of a few months.  And along with this the publishers run the risk that their competitors are simultaneously working on a similar product, which may well beat them to till.

This retail environment is not one that encourages the large amounts of time and cost needed in R&D.  So what are the ways to extend the commercial lifespan of games.

(1) Multiplayer Gaming to the Rescue.

Multiplayer games, commonly known as MMOG (massively multiplayer online games) are seen as a way of engaging the player in a longer term environment.  One where the player has to not only acheive their targets, but also to do so in an everchanging environment and against a real, live and unpredictable competition.  Some recent games including Call of Duty 4 have made definite decisions to develop MMOG into their platforms.

With Fantasy Couriers we perceive the Multiplayer element as being a key part to the enjoyment of the game.  Some games are all about you versus a situation, or an opponent, but this is never a situation that could ever apply to a business environment.  In business there is always competition, always a cheaper product, a better service, or an alternative option.  Even you are lucky enough to be the single supplier of a product you still have to compete with all the other products and services that consumers have the option of spending their money on instead.

The courier market was chosen for the Fantasy Couriers business simulation game because it is one of the most competitve markets out there.  Small errors in pricing can mean catestrophic results to a company.  It’s also a market that suits multiplaying, because there are so many different pricing and business strategies that can be adopted.  There are very few industries where the impact choice of high price low volume, and low price high volume is better demonstrated.