The Synergy in Your Game

Today’s topic is about synergy between video games and film. A concept through shows like NBC’s 30 Rock America has become more accustom to the word. But if you don’t know what synergy is it can be summed up like this, “The interaction of two or more agents (media organizations or products) to ensure a larger effect than if they acted independently.”

In the gaming industry the synergy can come up in many ways. For example a couple years ago the game Battlefield: Bad Company 2 had a promotion with Dr. Pepper. Basically you would buy a bottle (or more) of the beverage and in return gain a code(s) which you could redeem over a website to get free downloadable content (DLC) for in game use. EA the owners of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 used the same cross-promotion for free DLC with other games like Mass Effect 2 and Dead Space 2 (I’m sure it’s only coincidental that all my examples are sequels).

Another big way for synergy to work in the industry is film. Resident Evil seems to be one of the most successful examples of this happening. This series has made (or is in the process of releasing) twenty games and five live-action films; along with some novels, some comics, some CGI films and loads of other merchandise. Developed by Capcom, the Resident Evil premiered on March 30, 1996 for the Sony PlayStation. Three years late Pre-production for a Resident Evil movie began in 1999 when Sony green-lighted the film. On March 15, 2002 the film would be released. The film was distributed by Screen Gems an American movie production company and a subsidiary for the company of Sony Pictures Entertainment. 

Here we can already see the relationship. People play the game made by Sony, Sony makes money. People see the film made by Sony, Sony makes money. People see the film because they played the game, Sony makes double money. It’s not the hardest train to follow why a deal like this is good for business.

The game itself has made a lot of money in its time. Before the film the first Resident Evil game sold 2.75 million units and an addition 1.35 million units when it was re-released for the Nintendo GameCube in 2002. The sequel which was released in 1998 was even more popular with 4.96 million units sold. The film was also successful making $102.4 million worldwide after spending $33 million to make it. Now when you consider the fact that both the GameCube re-release of the game came out the same year as the film you can see another link between the two products. 

It’s easy to see that even if you were not familiar with the series but saw the film you might go out a purchase this “new” Resident Evil game that has just been released. Or possibly the film might stir up nostalgia for the original game film viewers played eight years before on their PlayStation. Either way it’s safe to say that going to the film most likely acted as advertisement the movie audience paid to watch.

This kind of cross-promotion doesn’t always work. In fact films like BloodRayne, Super Mario Bros. and Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within all lost insane amounts of money. The biggest failure being Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within; after spending $137 million on the film in only made $32.1 million domestically and $85.1 worldwide; Equaling grand loss of around $52 Million. That’s almost twice that of the entire budget of Resident Evil the film. 

It’s hard to know why one film made it and another flopped. Maybe it’s because Sony doesn’t own the complete rights to the Final Fantasy Series and the two haven’t always had the best relationship. And somewhere along the way it takes true synergy to make both products sell. Regardless make sure that before you go see a film about your favorite childhood video game you know that every second you watch is a second the company is trying to sell you something. 

30 Rock Sound Clip

Video Game Synergy

Dr. Pepper & EA

Resident Evil Breakdown

Resident Evil Wiki

Sony Corporate Fact Sheet

Resident Evil Sales

Is 'Resident Evil' the Only "Good" Video Game-to-Movie Franchise?

Final Fantasy - The Spirits Within (2001)

Sony, Square-Enix Sued Over PS3 Final Fantasy XIII

 Dr. Pepper Logo

Resident Evil Film Poster

Microsoft the Machine

In 1975 a little company was formed that would one day become a juggernaut for the multimedia age. Microsoft in its first year had three employees: Paul Allen, Bill Gates, and Ric Weiland. Allen and Gates started the company after making its first project MICROSOFT BASIC for the MITS Altair 8800. MITS (Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems) used BASIC as its operating system and by the end of the year the company made $16,005. Roughly 30 years later Microsoft’s revenue had become $36.84 billion with a staff of 57,086.

Bill Gates once said, "Whether it's Google or Apple or free software, we've got some fantastic competitors and it keeps us on our toes." Which sounds good but when you look at the numbers it would seem that Microsoft tends to walk the line of a monopoly for operating systems. And for the most part it would look like it succeeded in controlling the market. The computer savvy person may have heard of Linux, an operating system that controls around 5% of the market. But this software is a free and open source, meaning that its corporate structure will never rival Microsoft. Another “competitor” for Microsoft is Apple Inc. 

Microsoft and Apple's competitive relationship is interesting due to the fact that even Apple doesn’t consider its business marketing towards PC users. This is evident to its “I’m a Mac, I’m a PC” marketing. What this means for gamers is that you’ll have to turn to Microsoft for your gaming needs since the history of gaming shows that the PC tends to release titles first before the product ends up on a Mac.

Microsoft is a publicly traded corporation lead by a Board of Directors. These nine men and woman consist of: Steven Ballmer, Dina Dublon, Bill Gates, Raymond Gilmartin, Reed Hastings, Maria Klawe, David Marquardt, Charles Noski and Helmut Panke. These directors oversee sixteen other officers in charge of various committees; some of which deal with software architecture and others with sales in Europe, the Middle East and Africa regions. This just goes to show how Microsoft extends around the world.

Some of these members have an interesting history. For instant Reed Hastings is the Founder, Chairman and CEO of Netflix, Inc. This appointment was in 2007 and even though the service doesn’t use videogames as a product the consumer can still find synergy between the two companies. A big thing about Netflix is its ability to stream media. Netflix streaming has become so big that a study has found that 1/5 of broadband customers use the Netflix instant video service. Microsoft Silverlight is the program used by Netflix in order for its customers to watch streaming movies and television shows. This may not be a problem except for PC users who operate on a program like Linux. It turns out Netflix doesn’t have a Linux compatible player; meaning that the small fraction of people who use Linux are again alienated. 

Besides Netflix Microsoft has its hand in the pockets of at least one major banking company. Charles Noski is the Vice Chairman of Bank of America Corporation. This relationship is troubling since in 2006 Microsoft was voted to be a company at the bottom of the list of trusted electronics brands. This is odd considering that its operation systems account for over 80% of the market. Combining a company that owns the market that is not trusted with ties to one of the biggest banks in the United States screams bad news. It might not be too long before we are all hailing out Microsoft overlords.

Microsoft Corporate Structure as of 2009

Microsoft Timeline

"Facts" About Microsoft

Reed Hastings

Mac vs. PC Gaming

How to watch Netflix (Watch Instantly) in Linux

Netflix Now Streaming to 22% of Broadband Households

Fanboy Poll: Microsoft and Xbox brand relationship

OS Platform Statistics

Charles H. Noski

Microsoft Logo

2009 OS Statistics 
Bill Gates Quotes 

Video Game Ads

In any media industry it’s all about getting your product to the consumer. And of course advertising is the way to do that. A single cross-platform game can spend huge amounts of money on advertising. Battlefield 3, a military first person shooter owned by EA, has spent $45-$50 million before the game’s release date. But spending money isn’t the only way a game like Battlefield 3 gets advertised.

Much like Hollywood films are reviewed by critics before their release, games are reviewed the same way. This can be done in the style of a hands-on article, or in a more numeric fashion for example a Metascores. Like movie reviews this can be a way to spread awareness through word of mouth about how great a game is to increase its sales before the game is even released. In the case of Battlefield 3 it has been reported that EA may have withheld copies of the game in order to boost the games score resulting in a greater number of “Day One” sales. If an allegation like this is true than it is a blatant attempt of the gaming industry manipulating their consumer without their knowledge.

In today’s market in-game ads seem to be the next big thing. This is where a game can inflict on the player an ad that occurs in the game world, for example a billboard that reads McDonalds or a truck with Coca-Cola logo painted on the side. The current budget for in-game ads in the gaming industry is $3.1 billion. And by the year 2016 analysts have determined it’s going to be closer to $7.2 billion. 

However, other reports from Microsoft say they’re abandoning in-game ads. Even if this process is abandoned the synergy between products is currently in games. There have even been studies to show that in-game advertising is more effective than television commercials.

Something unique about gaming culture is that gamers will actually pay to be exposed to advertising. What I’m referring to are gaming convention like the Tokyo Game show or Gamercon. I’ve even had the “pleasure” of both working and attending a convention in Seattle called the Penny Arcade Expo (or PAX Prime). This massive gathering in nerdom contains tabletop gaming, panels from members of the industry and wall-to-wall advertising. 

Battlefield 3 was there with their game demo, a military decorated Humvee and a $20,000 tournament where players could play levels from the game before it was released. Of course as it turns out no one got to walk away with twenty grand but I witnessed a young women walking away with what looked like a brand-new PC under her arm. The gaming convention is further proof that people across the world are willingly exposing themselves to advertising even at $35 a day.

But besides the game franchises as well-known as Battlefield there were more games being promoted at the event than you would have time to experience in a single day. Some of these games were complete unknowns but so prominently displayed that you would have expected they were announcing the Second Coming. The most prominent was a game called Fire Fall, a free-to-play online game. 

Fire Fall had banners and demos just like all the others but as you entered the main expo hall you were greeted by an enormous screen that seemed to take up the entire room while blasting the game’s trailer on repeat. This relates back to advertising since these “free-to-play” games gain income from advertising to turn a profit. Furthermore pointing out that even with the title of free the consumer is still being exploited by exposing them to advertising.

Most likely the reason gamers want to expose themselves to this kind of mass advertising is so they can gain a sense of being part of the industry as a whole.They can't all be developers or play-testers but they get to experience it before most of the world does.

And all of this exposure to in-game ads could mean further manipulation of consumers. Imagine playing a video game filled with ads. In this game you die and have to repeat the same level over and over, basically forcing yourself to spend hours staring at let's say a McDonald’s ad. No matter how much willpower someone has after that much time staring at an ad they might just get up and get a burger.  These ads can be seen to use gamers as a audience commodity. In which gamers are being sold to advertisers.

Analyst Says Video Game Advertising Will Double by 2016

Study: In-Game Video Advertising Trumps TV Advertising in Effectiveness

Pachter Predicts $45 to $50 Million Advertising Campaign For Battlefield 3

How We Create the Metascore Magic

Why You (Probably) Won't See Our Battlefield 3 Review on Time

Editorial: Battlefield 3 a Perfect Example of Why Gamers Shouldn't Trust (Early) Metacritic Scores

Battlefield 3 review

Penny Arcade Expo

First Battlefield 3 Tournament at PAX Prime - $20,000 Prize

Fire Fall Online

How Do Free-to-Play MMORPG Games Make Money?

You Didn’t Think Battlefield 3 Wouldn’t Require the Online Pass, Did You?

Microsoft Abandons In-Game Advertisements