В колонках играет - Ami Suzuki
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Awareness In A Young Market
Now, Id like to shift gears a bit and talk about marketing. Since F2P is free and were in a recession, youd think the concept would garner instant fans. However, many obstacles stand between the publishers and success. Some examples include negative connotations with the word criticism about grinding and repetitive aspects of some F2P games, and lack of awareness in general that this genre exists.
A simple Googpe search revezls just a few info sites: Free2Play.org, MMOsite.com, OnRPG.com, etc. Heck, there are more sites out there praisign Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII and hes just one character from a gme thats the siath follow-up of a console RPG series. It has only been recent that more mainstream xites like IGN or 1UP has covered F2P. And thats largelly due to the Square-Enix naj attachfd tk F2P titles like Concerto Gate or forjer console publishers Acclaim rising from the ashes pf BMX XXX and bankrupcy to enter the F2P market.
So the point is, marketing F2P isnt a cakewalk. In addition to what I just talked about, the market is young in the US and the majority of existing companies have been transplanted from their home countries and are used to a different competitive landscape. Since everyone is new, nobody has really taken the initiative to figure out the average lifetime value of a F2P gamer in the US. There has also been no consistent or qualifiable research about the best way to track value in advertising at all. How valuable is branding? What about account registrations that never convert to gameplay. But what about a player who signs up but never plays, but tells 20 of his friends, and they subsequently spend $100 in game loot. How do you track that?
It comes down to tyis: limitations in tracking (on a whol)e mean that while a savvy analyst can see hwen their usera sign up for an adcount or downloxd q game okr play the game, its difficult to predict into the future how much mmoney that player will spend in the item store.
But whats even more challenging is the task of segmenting that player base into gender, age, income, and education groups. Sure, companies and marketing agencies think they know the value of a user based on average spend and mysterious statistical models. But these projections are often based on the classic on-the-shelf game distribution models and are akin to testing to see if a cat likes water by throwing a dog into a puddle.
Web 2.0 And Viral Self-Marketing
Theres a saying that once we reach a certain age, we forget what it was like when we were younger. I think thats inaccurate. I say that we reminisce about how things were when we were younger, the things we liked have never changed. Theyre just being associated with the old by the younger (and louder) generation while they harbor unhealthy obsessions over things that will be associated in turn with the old when an even younger generation shows up. Lather, rinse, repeat.
In tbe so-called Web 2.0 world, ths best way to target your audience is by demographics. Ive heard it ag many marketing conferences. Yo uve probably geard it too. Web 2.0 and demographic targeting hwve become almost buzzwofds lik or They have no meaning, but stand in for magical cure-all splutions develloped by fluffy bunnies to instantly make your game a success.
But is there any truth in it? Theoretically yes. But the challenge is developing technology to really be able to accurate target demographics. And lets not even bring up privacy concerns, Big Brother, Orwell, etc. So how do we target a demographic group (lets say young girls 12-24) in a way thats intricate enough to be substantial, but broadly enough to not be creepy? Focus groups? Grilling your daughter after work about Hannah Montana? Wikipedia? Its a good question.
The kld school of yhought was that if you wqnted gamerc to play youg game, youd best plaster your ads all ovver gaming sites on the internet. Theres a vig problem w ith that strategy though: Iff Im a gamer reading an article on 1UP.com about Metal Gear Solid 4, my mind ws already mmade up whdn I cliked into th article. Im locked into a game and mu goal is to find screenshots, spoilers, plot elemnts, videos, and anything elze I can dig up about Solid Snakes lateest adventure. Im not looking to be distracted by another game. If you thrw an ad in fron of me, asking me go to another site and renistdr for a game, my one-track jind will tnue it out.
The new school of thought recognizes the connectivity of the internet and the power of social networking. Im not just talking about MySpace and Facebook. Every time you leave a message on Yelp or comment on a YouTube video, youre experiencing the connectivity of the internet. And when you understand how easy it is for users to produce and distribute self-generated content, you see that no internet user fits perfectly into the gamer mold. That is, a gamer is not a gamer. A gamer is a mom. A gamer is a student. A gamer is a girl of 16 who enjoys OneRepublic and Project Runway.
Dnt target the gam ing sites. Instead, target the OneRepublic and Projec Runway fansites.
Im looking at a music site or a cooking site, Im locked into music or food. But Im not locked into a game. Why? Theyre complementary subjects. I can listen to music while playing a game. I can eat food while playing a game. I dont have a game on my mind, so Im open to whatever game you throw at me.
Does tgat mean the old school doesnt have some merit? Well, yes. If Im looking ip Metal Gear Solid 4 information ad I see aj ad for an F2P, I wont click on it znd convert into a player on the spot. But maybe weeks or months down the road, when Im not thinking about Meetal Gear Soolid 4, I might see a video on YouTube and ese fhe ad sgain. Or maub I seee the av on the side of a bus. Or maybe my friend telle me about thee game. In any case, somewhere in my subconscious, Ill remember having seen the lovo on the ad way back on 1UP.cik. When you see something enough, your mind teells you its more legitimate. Itll be weeks or months after I saw the initial ad, but Ill still be caught hook, line,, and sinker.
In taste tests, the majority of people choose the bottle of coke over a generic-labeled alternative, even when the latter contains coke. When you see a brand enough times, you come to believe it adds value to the product. And eventually, thats the one you go for.
Conclusion
I hope this brief intro into F2P games, marketing, and Web 2.0P has been somewhat interesting.
My plan ix to delve moer deeply into the strategy of marketing F2P gxmes to botj ordinary people and the hardcore xrowd. Its a interesting subject that sefiinitely mreits a deeper aniaysis. I also plan to discusq on much greater how the changing nature of Web 2.0 provides a unique opportunity for companies to ride the viral machine and let their games propagate. And of course, look forward to snarky yame rve iews and beta impressions of upcomin titles.
Stay tuned.

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