What ended the video game mascot wars?

[treismac]

I'm fairly certain the post 16-bit video game era brought about the end of the mascot wars. What I was wondering is what was the cause. Your thoughts?

[treismac]

There are a few guesses that come to my mind:

1) The video game wars was primarily a Mario vs. Sonic marketing skirmish. Once Sega secured their place and image in the market through Sonic and Bonk and the Turbografx-16 quietly faded away, there was no reason to continue pushing the mascot angle any longer.

2) With the transition from 2D to 3D games, a recognizable face wasn't as crucial to sell games, since the majority of the time you were looking at the backside of the character (enter Lara Croft).

3) The Playstation was a huge success, and Crash Bandicoot didn't really contribute jack squat to this success, proving that the age of mascots was over.

4) The video Game demographic was growing up. The kids who grew up playing the 2600 and Super Mario Bros. matured into adults who didn't need cartoony faces to persuade them to buy a video game system.

[Robocop2]

I would argue that they're technically not over even today If you look at the fact that Mario, Kratos, and Master Cheif sell systems to this day, or rather, their games (all of which are exclusive to one particular manufacturer) do.

[VertigoProcess]

I would argue that they're technically not over even today If you look at the fact that Mario, Kratos, and Master Cheif sell systems to this day, or rather, their games (all of which are exclusive to one particular manufacturer) do.

I complety agree to this, how can you say master cheif isn't a mascot. I bought my 360 just cuz halo 2 was coming out...

[o.pwuaioc]

But is it Master Chief or Halo the game? I think franchises have replaced mascots for the most part, all except Nintendo games.

[VertigoProcess]

But is it Master Chief or Halo the game? I think franchises have replaced mascots for the most part, all except Nintendo games.

Mario is a franchise... and it branches out away from mario as well, just like halo branches out away from master chief...

[o.pwuaioc]

Mario is a franchise... and it branches out away from mario as well, just like halo branches out away from master chief...

But the orientation is different. Master Chief could be in every single one, but it's still not Master Chief who's the mascot, it's the Halo name. Likewise with Call of Duty/Modern Warfare. I almost think that Zelda is the same thing as well. Meanwhile, very, very few Mario games exclude Mario.

[VertigoProcess]

But the orientation is different. Master Chief could be in every single one, but it's still not Master Chief who's the mascot, it's the Halo name. Likewise with Call of Duty/Modern Warfare. I almost think that Zelda is the same thing as well. Meanwhile, very, very few Mario games exclude Mario.

Well look at it this way... the only real difference which is making what you said hold up, is simply the fact that the halo games are named after the universe which master chief resides in the "halo universe". Where as the mario games are named after the character instead of the character's universe. So if the mario games were originally called the mushroom kingdom instead of mario, then the halos and the marios would be the same... there are plenty of mario games that take place in the mario universe without mario and im sure if the original mario was called the mushroom kingdom then all of these spin offs would then also be called the mushroom kingdom: "whatever spin off character". Just like the halo spin offs are called halo: reach or halo: odst or whatever.

[treismac]

Master Chief could be in every single one, but it's still not Master Chief who's the mascot, it's the Halo name.

I agree. Master Chief is not a crucial element to what makes Halo Halo. He might well be the mascot for the XBox, but his helmeted face doesn't sell XBoxes- Halo does.

[treismac]

Well look at it this way... the only real difference which is making what you said hold up, is simply the fact that the halo games are named after the universe which master chief resides in the "halo universe".

I see your point, as I do think the name of a game affects the way we think about the game and its franchise, but I think the macot issue goes deeper than the name of the respective franchise. Even if Halo was named Master Chief's Super Adventure, most of the time that Halo players would play the game would still be in online multiple player mode, rendering the need for a mascot null and void. Master Chief as a character gives the Halo series no edge over similar FPS games that have no mascot like Modern Warfare or Medal of Honor. Mario, on the other hand, gives his respective Nintendo games a huge edge over some other mascoted video game like Bubsy the Bobcat or Awesome Possum.

[VertigoProcess]

I see your point, as I do think the name of a game affects the way we think about the game and its franchise, but I think the macot issue goes deeper than the name of the respective franchise. Even if Halo was named Master Chief's Super Adventure, most of the time that Halo players would play the game would still be in online multiple player mode, rendering the need for a mascot null and void. Master Chief as a character gives the Halo series no edge over similar FPS games that have no mascot like Modern Warfare or Medal of Honor. Mario, on the other hand, gives his respective Nintendo games a huge edge over some other mascoted video game like Bubsy the Bobcat or Awesome Possum.

I don't know, you are making good points... I may not be the best person to make the argument for master chief cuz im one of the few people that has been following the story intently since halo 1 launch day... and would still buy a new halo game even if it didn't have online multiply player mode... master chief is the reason I got the original xbox and the 360... so I guess I view him as a mascot more then other people that box xboxs for other reasons...

And on a side note master chief's super adventure does sound like a amazing game...

[treismac]

... master chief is the reason I got the original xbox and the 360... so I guess I view him as a mascot more then other people that box xboxs for other reasons...

I know for a fact that you're not the only person who is into Master Chief as a character/mascot, VertigoProcess. I have a friend who loves Halo, collects Master Chief figurines, and even mentions him from time to time if something reminds his Halo-obsessed mind of the series. Would you or my friend still buy Halo if Master Chief was dropped from the series, though? I think my friend Kraig would initially resist out of protest, but eventually he'd give in.

[Tupin]

The thing I think ended it was Sega being stupid and having a console without a brand new Sonic game. Seriously, how was it not one of the first things they were going to release for it? Sonic Xtreme was in development hell for years, this would be like if Nintendo never released a Mario/Zelda/Metroid/Kirby/Pokemon game on a new system...

[VertigoProcess]

I know for a fact that you're not the only person who is into Master Chief as a character/mascot, VertigoProcess. I have a friend who loves Halo, collects Master Chief figurines, and even mentions him from time to time if something reminds his Halo-obsessed mind of the series. Would you or my friend still buy Halo if Master Chief was dropped from the series, though? I think my friend Kraig would initially resist out of protest, but eventually he'd give in.

Oh I know there's others, just fewer and fewer. I myself dont even know any other big time master chief fans anymore. Its hard to say if he was dropped completely, I did wait awhile before buying odst. But when I was playing odst I was thinking the whole time "what is master chief doing right now?" Haha. And with reach it ties into the story of master chief, kind of "master chief is here because" kind of thing.

Im kind of mentally drifting from the point here though, which I no longer have my eye on due to all this master chief talk...

And feel free to call me vertigo or vp. When people call me vertigoprocess it feels the same to me as someone calling me by my first and last name in real life, haha.

[VertigoProcess]

The thing I think ended it was Sega being stupid and having a console without a brand new Sonic game. Seriously, how was it not one of the first things they were going to release for it? Sonic Xtreme was in development hell for years, this would be like if Nintendo never released a Mario/Zelda/Metroid/Kirby/Pokemon game on a new system...

Sorry to sort of double post but tapatalk doesn't like multi quote very much...

I don't know about this, I assume you're referring to the saturn first off. Which I completely agree with by the way, not having a launch sonic game for it was just a foolish move. But to continue with that train of thought that, that ended it I would have to bring up the point that sonic adventure on the dreamcast was a great game worthy of pitting sonic vs. Mario once again... so I wouldn't say that the saturn mistake killed it, so much as left a gap for a few years...

[treismac]

And feel free to call me vertigo or vp. When people call me vertigoprocess it feels the same to me as someone calling me by my first and last name in real life, haha.

Hehehe... Gotcha, Vertigo.

[mobiusclimber]

Actually, I think it was Sony throwing so many mascot games out there hoping one would stick and not really having a sure mascot. They had Crash and Spyro, along with some lesser also-rans, but I don't think anyone ended up associating the mascots with the Playstation system. And b/c the age demographic for the Playstation skewed older, the idea of needing a mascot to sell a system was largely abandoned.

[Tupin]

Sorry to sort of double post but tapatalk doesn't like multi quote very much...

I don't know about this, I assume you're referring to the saturn first off. Which I completely agree with by the way, not having a launch sonic game for it was just a foolish move. But to continue with that train of thought that, that ended it I would have to bring up the point that sonic adventure on the dreamcast was a great game worthy of pitting sonic vs. Mario once again... so I wouldn't say that the saturn mistake killed it, so much as left a gap for a few years...

But in that gap of a few years, Sega lost a huge amount of market share and was unable to recover, even when the Dreamcast was released. Even with all of the mistakes they made with the Saturn, a new Sonic game would have helped at least a little bit.

[TonyTheTiger]

I would argue that they're technically not over even today If you look at the fact that Mario, Kratos, and Master Cheif sell systems to this day, or rather, their games (all of which are exclusive to one particular manufacturer) do.

I'm going to go with this. It's not so much that it ended, it just expanded to the point where it's not really about just one mascot anymore. The consoles no longer have a "face" because of the implicit limitations of that. While Nintendo sticks with Mario for his Mickey Mouse-esque quality, Microsoft and Sony would be loath to pin down their machines (often promoted as living room media centers) to a single image. As much as Kratos sells, it'd be a pretty terrible idea to make him your mascot. You'd scare away more people than you'd attract. Same story if they go with Sackboy.

[treismac]

The consoles no longer have a "face" because of the implicit limitations of that.

I never considered it a matter of straight jacketing your brand, but you're absolutely right. How many "hardcore" gamers scoff at the Wii at least in part because of their Nintendo's Disney-esque/family friendly franchises? I've read more than a few comments of Kotaku that have, if not overtly said something to this extent, at least carried overtones of this sentiment. There are, of course, many other valid reasons why the so-called "hardcore" gaming crowd balks at the Wii, but I wonder how much the syrupy sweet image of Mario turns them off, either consciously or subconsciously.