In my last post I wrote about Bethesda's release schedule & Development for future Devs but I also mentioned their sister studio Zenimax Online in the notes.. this reminded me of a pet hate I have, that I have not had to think about for many many years.. advertising campaigns; ones that are so far from the reality of the playing experiance it ruins the game. ..seriously.
To let the corps know.. give your ad dept half a chance and they will ruin your game.. full stop. It is widely known in the advertising industry, biggest liar wins if they fool their corp heads. for games the biggest liars are the renderers.. they render a cartoon of something, because they do not feel the game is strong enough for 'in-game footage only' or they are inexperienced in the particular industry they are promoting the product to.
I am not going to be unkind to those guys.. they are just doing a job, but if you watch the movie 'crazy people' there was a revolution in the advertising industry around 25 years ago. This movie is a parody of the quite real revolution.. which was started by the people who advertised 'Ronseal', this was the first advert to tell customers the truth, and they responded in droves. Ronseal is a wood and metal sealer, to protect your outside structures from the weather.
'does exactly what is says on the tin'
Very famous lines, and a practicality that meant people knew they were not lied to.
Zenimax Online's ESO advert, was appalling compared to the actual in game event, which from what I have seen was nothing more than a small place with a few NPC's fighting.
To Zenimax Online, you are a new studio, so mistakes will be made, that's just life, but I'm sure you know and accept this. However, you need to keep a very tight rein on your ad department from now on.. it's a little like, the 'cock of the walk' biggest liar wins works in many industries, they are taught this..but not in the games industry.. and ESPECIALLY in sub-based MMO's as you have now found out regarding all the hate fans poured out for you. 'cagey'.. is not even a sufficient word for a new MMO advert.. you will make already dedicated fans into crazy fans quite easily with even a small shift change in the format of the game..RENDERING a advert is suicide. Blizzard/WoW Valve/DoTA get away with slight rendering because their fans already know what to expect, you were launching a new game, oh man!
please keep in mind, for MMO's, the ad dept is like a seagull and you have a sandwich.. the seagull wants the sandwich and if you let your guard down, it will take it from you, and all you're left with is a mess on the ground. Finding Nemo; 'MINE!'.
Of course, you can do mixes of rendering and in-game footage for single player games.. gamers in-general HATE it, but yeah it can be done..we ONLY like in game footage.. it makes us happy.
Gearbox/2k advertised 'A BAZILLION GUNS' all with in-game footage.. were we disappointed? no! fans still flock to that game. that was smart. that was truthful.
Sony did an excellent job controlling the hype of DCUO, at first its just a render cartoon, and while you are watching you're thinking 'ohw man it's never going to be *this* good.. they probably won't including flying, the powers will be limited and the girls much less sexy'.. well.. that was, wrong, wrong and wrong. And while it sounds hypocritical, once you can fly around the TWO full cities at leisure, you start to see the beauty of what they were doing, but not just any cities, these are ones I have known since childhood, Metropolis and Gotham... rem DCUO is Free2Play too, and only a £5 purchase means you get a slight upgrade to membership permanently, without subscription.
But what Sony really did correctly is how they structured your involvement in said cartoon, you were the answer to their (the Justice League's) problem, I'm finding this hard to explain this without you knowing the specifics, but you were the answer and in this they DID NOT lie. and they didn't gimp the powers either, neither for free or premium or Sub-based (Legendary).. you have access to all Superman's powers right from the start, to Batman's, to Wonder Womans.
So you are about to tell a child there is no Santa.. how can you be so cruel to formally tell them they are about to receive their true wish, 'if you good and are on the good list and buy our game'; knowing all along it is a lie.
YOU just can't do that with MMO's. the hate will haunt Zenimax and the employees for a few years yet. And that's a shame coz for *some* moronic reason, the ad dept did NOT focus on the truly awesome size of ESO, which in itself is a HUGE selling point for fans. whyyy?? just be honest..there was no reason to render a lie when you have already a MASSIVE selling point.. ESO is a continent.. Tamriel. showing this in adverts( again in-game only), at least would have controlled the hype, and not lead to disappointment, and much nerd-rage..tbh WELL deserved nerd-rage.
Here is games reviewer Angry Joe's vid on ESO.
I heartily agree with him on many many points.
You can't milk a long term investment without hurting your long-term credibility as a company.
MMO's are 'drip-drip' not 'cash-cash'.
peace.
Dava
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