Does advertising really work?

[kupomogli]

I bring this up because people keep bringing up "this would have sold more if it was advertised better, etc." However, there are games that get no advertising and sell very well, and other games that have had a ton of advertisement and have sold terribly.

I'll mention EA as someone mentioned that Shadow of the Damned would have had better sales if EA advertised it better. So I'll bring up Dante's Inferno, which had a decent sized demo, commercial advertising, and viral marketing as church protests(which ended up getting on the news to spread word of the game.) Dante's Inferno didn't bomb, but it sold poorly for how great of a game it was and for how much advertising it had.

Dungeon Siege 3 from Square Enix is another game. Dungeon Siege 3 had advertising links all over websites. I'm not sure if it had any commercial advertising, but Square Enix was really trying to push the game. The amount of sales it received, we probably won't see another Dungeon Siege though.

So why spend tons of money advertising when your game is going to sell only marginally better?

[crazyjackcsa]

It can work, but I agree it's hit or miss. I think the games that benefit the most from advertising are the more family oriented variety. The core demo does all it's own research so advertising to them is tricky. But if you have a strong game that can appeal to a lot of people, then a little advertising goes a long way. I'd say where companies miss out is advertising on network prime time TV. Make sure Mom and Dad see the game, and make it look good.

[boatofcar]

If it didn't work, companies wouldn't pay to do it. I head today on the CAG Podcast a full-page ad in Gamepro costs $10,000. It would be interesting to know how much Kotaku charges for a homepage skin like they did with Dragon Age.

[skaar]

Really?

REALLY?

Kupo, shame.

[calthaer]

Amount of advertising dollars dedicated to a game is probably in some way correlated to the amount of sales dollars the game receives - I am sure that there are people at EA who have done a regression analysis and could tell you more precisely what the relationship is (at least for their own games).

Critics' review scores are probably also correlated to sales, which is why you sometimes see attempts by game companies to influence those scores (e.g., that recent guy who pouted about DNF reviews (http://www.gamingunion.net/news/pr-firm-the-redner-group-falls-from-2ks-graces-over-duke-review-debacle--5452.html)). The thing called "product quality" is hard to quantify in creative endeavors, and Rottentomatoes.com probably does a better job of the quantification than most by aggregating lots of opinions. Then again, movies have been around longer, they are generally more accessible (no reading usually required, cheaper equipment to buy and play, etc.), and therefore there are more people out there writing reviews.

Certainly, it might be hard to quantify the quality of the video game product beforehand...then again, this might be why some people go around talking about game design in "ludemological" terms...maybe they're trying to figure out the rules of the metagame of selling video games to make better ones and maybe get more of teh 2k monies.

Best case scenario would be for companies to put lots of ad dollars in the product(s) that had a quality high enough to provide those dollars with a positive multiplier effect. The challenge inherent in picking those products is the reason why some places like Atari, Acclaim, 3DO, etc. bite the dust.

[Robocop2]

Word of mouth is a strong enough advertiser that some lesser marketed games get enough noteriety that they sell well. Especially in this day and age. Magazine coverage also does alot to generate interest. I can't tell you the last time I looked at an ad for anything gaming related and thought "ooh I haven't heard of that" and researched/went out and bought it personally.

Most of my gaming related endeavors are either stuff I've learned about here or abroad or read coverage of from a magazine (mostly GI because well, its free) and the internet sites. I'm not sure if this is the norm or not though.

[c0ldb33r]

I went to see the movie Sucker Punch, so yeah ads work.

[kedawa]

Traditional advertising gets less and less effective all the time, but there are other ways of promoting products.
It's hard to pull in week one sales if people aren't aware of the game at all.

[Orion Pimpdaddy]

Advertising is one key to success, but not the only one. Also, some commercials are more effective than others. Remember the Dreamcast commercials that showed no gameplay footage? Talk about flushing money down the toilet.

[boatofcar]

Advertising is one key to success, but not the only one. Also, some commercials are more effective than others. Remember the Dreamcast commercials that showed no gameplay footage? Talk about flushing money down the toilet.

That trend has been continued by Sony. Remember the weird, disturbing baby PS3 commercial?

[skaar]

Advertising works. Or it wouldn't be an industry.

[RP2A03]

Advertising works. Or it wouldn't be an industry.


That's just what the industry advertises to trick businesses into advertising, but the truth is it doesn't work.

[Baloo]

That's just what the industry advertises to trick businesses into advertising, but the truth is it doesn't work.

So you're saying it's better to not promote something at all?

Anyone who says advertising as a whole is talking shit. There are forms of advertising that are more effective than others, but as a whole it is almost definitely beneficial. Anyone who says otherwise is talking out of their ass.

[skaar]

That's just what the industry advertises to trick businesses into advertising, but the truth is it doesn't work.

Ok, sure.

[RP2A03]

It was a joke. Read it again, it's self-contradicting.

[skaar]

It was a joke. Read it again, it's self-contradicting.

Your mom is self-contradicting!

[Icarus Moonsight]

Your mom is self-contradicting!

Cool burn! :p

Rest of thread - *facepalm*

[garagesaleking!!]

I went to see the movie Sucker Punch, so yeah ads work.

They were so convincing. Thankfully I never saw it.

[buzz_n64]

"Does advertising really work?"

Yes.

Why? People see/hear about it, spread the word. Some of those people buy the product.

[Gamevet]

I bring this up because people keep bringing up "this would have sold more if it was advertised better, etc." However, there are games that get no advertising and sell very well, and other games that have had a ton of advertisement and have sold terribly.

I'll mention EA as someone mentioned that Shadow of the Damned would have had better sales if EA advertised it better. So I'll bring up Dante's Inferno, which had a decent sized demo, commercial advertising, and viral marketing as church protests(which ended up getting on the news to spread word of the game.) Dante's Inferno didn't bomb, but it sold poorly for how great of a game it was and for how much advertising it had.

Dante's Inferno had to match up against God of War 3 on the PS3. It didn't help that Dark Siders also came out around the same time.



Dungeon Siege 3 from Square Enix is another game. Dungeon Siege 3 had advertising links all over websites. I'm not sure if it had any commercial advertising, but Square Enix was really trying to push the game. The amount of sales it received, we probably won't see another Dungeon Siege though.

So why spend tons of money advertising when your game is going to sell only marginally better?

Was DS3 really a marketable game? You're talking about a franchise that hasn't exactly lit up the charts throughout its history. It doesn't help matters, when the game doesn't rate well on the internet either. The internet has totally changed the way we look at games.

Medal of Honor had all kinds of promotions behind it, including Beta invites and Gamestop promotions, but it didn't matter, because COD: Black Ops was available around the same time. Bulletstorm suffered the same fate, because it was released around the same time as Killzone 3, and the hype of Crysis 2 shortly after.

[kupomogli]

Dante's Inferno had to match up against God of War 3 on the PS3. It didn't help that Dark Siders also came out around the same time.

God of War 3 doesn't effect all the gamers who were exclusive to the 360. I understand that an overhyped game like God of War 3 might turn some heads, but this game didn't get the sales it deserved on either console. According to VGChartz, the PS3 version sold more in all regions.

As for Darksiders, the game isn't even comparable God of War 3. The game doesn't even hold a candle to Dante's Inferno. How the game is getting sequel surprises the hell out of me. Good thing you brought it up, because both versions of Darksiders happened to sell more than either version of Dante's Inferno, and I didn't even know about the game until the demo appeared on the PSN. So if it had an advertising budget, then it wasn't very big at all.

As for Dungeon Siege 3. It received a score of 72 and is a Diablo clone. Sacred 2 received 71, Sacred 74, Untold Legends 1 and 2 65 and 68, Champions of Norrath 85, Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance 87, Dark Alliance 2 77, and Return to Arms 77. Aside from Champion's of Norrath and Dark Alliance, and obviously the Diablo series, these games just don't get high ratings, no matter how good they are.

The only thing about Dungeon Siege 3, like these other titles, is that it's not a super high profile game. I can only go by the demo of Dungeon Siege 3, but it was an enjoyable game. It's something that if I went out and purchased it right now for $39.99, I wouldn't feel like I wiped my ass with the money and flushed it down the toilet which is exactly how I'd feel if I were to go and repurchase Final Fantasy 13 again.

I only mentioned Dante's Inferno and Dungeon Siege 3 because advertising for these two games were pushed more than any game this gen in my opinion.

Also, reviews don't really factor in as much as you'd think. Because a game that got decent advertising and good review scores is Brutal Legend. This game sucks balls in my opinion, yet the scores it received on Metacritic is 82(higher than most of those good Diablo clones I listed.) However. This game sold like crap. What? Decent advertising and a high Metacritic score and the game bombs? I thought Metacritic was like the bro code. Everyone on the internet lives by it.

*edit*

I think regardless of advertising, people pick and choose their favored games at random. One of my best friends favorite games are UT3 and Call of Duty, but dislikes games I've recommended him such as Borderlands, Battlefield Bad Company 2, Mirror's Edge, Uncharted 2, etc, etc. He dislikes Yakuza 3, but he likes garbage like Castle Crashers. He likes Champions of Norrath, Return to Arms, and the Untold Legend games, as do I, but he dislikes Sacred 2(which I happen to like more than the others.) It's like. Seriously. What the fuck. Do people just pick this shit out of a hat. Like I said he's one of my best friends, but when we hang out we rarely game together because he has such shitty tastes.

[shopkins]

I work in marketing. It works a treat. Even on people who think they're unaffected by it, it just kind of worms its way into your brain.

[alec006]

Does it, of course it does, I mean how many times can you play the same game *cough* Pokemon*cough* and still enjoy it...damn you Nintendo! Especially when you can hum those annoying catching tunes in your head..in your sleep...ugh!

[Baloo]

I work in marketing. It works a treat. Even on people who think they're unaffected by it, it just kind of worms its way into your brain.

Worms your way into your brain, this statement reminded me of commercial jingles especially. Red Robin, Gordon's Fisherman, Sloman's Shield, Folgers, those jingles where you can sing/say about half of it and the people around you chime in and finish the jingle.

[Gamevet]

God of War 3 doesn't effect all the gamers who were exclusive to the 360. I understand that an overhyped game like God of War 3 might turn some heads, but this game didn't get the sales it deserved on either console. According to VGChartz, the PS3 version sold more in all regions.

The PS3 version sold more, because it has more content (Devine Edition for PS3) than the 360 game. The multi-console owners may have bought the PS3 version because of that.


As for Darksiders, the game isn't even comparable God of War 3. The game doesn't even hold a candle to Dante's Inferno. How the game is getting sequel surprises the hell out of me. Good thing you brought it up, because both versions of Darksiders happened to sell more than either version of Dante's Inferno, and I didn't even know about the game until the demo appeared on the PSN. So if it had an advertising budget, then it wasn't very big at all.

Advertising for Darksiders was all over the internet and gaming magazines. It certainly had better looking boxart than DI, as well.


As for Dungeon Siege 3. It received a score of 72 and is a Diablo clone. Sacred 2 received 71, Sacred 74, Untold Legends 1 and 2 65 and 68, Champions of Norrath 85, Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance 87, Dark Alliance 2 77, and Return to Arms 77. Aside from Champion's of Norrath and Dark Alliance, and obviously the Diablo series, these games just don't get high ratings, no matter how good they are.

The only thing about Dungeon Siege 3, like these other titles, is that it's not a super high profile game. I can only go by the demo of Dungeon Siege 3, but it was an enjoyable game. It's something that if I went out and purchased it right now for $39.99, I wouldn't feel like I wiped my ass with the money and flushed it down the toilet which is exactly how I'd feel if I were to go and repurchase Final Fantasy 13 again.

I've played Dungeon Siege on the PSP. It was just an average game. Hell, I enjoyed The Bard's Tale on the PS2 more than that PSP game.



I only mentioned Dante's Inferno and Dungeon Siege 3 because advertising for these two games were pushed more than any game this gen in my opinion.

Yeah, Dante's Inferno received a ton of advertising, but I didn't exactly see the same for DS3. Retail seemed to make a push for DS3, but considering how large the release list was for that month, it makes sense.



Also, reviews don't really factor in as much as you'd think. Because a game that got decent advertising and good review scores is Brutal Legend. This game sucks balls in my opinion, yet the scores it received on Metacritic is 82(higher than most of those good Diablo clones I listed.) However. This game sold like crap. What? Decent advertising and a high Metacritic score and the game bombs? I thought Metacritic was like the bro code. Everyone on the internet lives by it.


The reviews really didn't seem to paint a true picture of what that game was. I played the demo on the PS3, and thought that it would be a kick-ass game, but after reading the countless threads about it, the demo really didn't convey what most of the game really was, strategy. This was a case of the internet boards setting the record straight and no amount of advertising could sway that opinion. Yes, advertising works to a certain degree, but with the internet providing the information it does, advertising can only go so far.

[kupomogli]

While Gamefaqs polls are usually just a myriad of votes, the most recent poll asks "what influences you the most in game buying." Advertising has the least votes.

For me. I'm one who might end up picking up a hyped game months or years after it's out and wanting to see what all the fuss is about(see God of War series,) but rarely does advertisement ever sell me on something.

http://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/index.html?poll=4422

[Icarus Moonsight]

Advertising is targeted more generally. The fans get their own promotional strategy.

The goal of ads is to increase awareness of your group, project, brand, product or service. Once you are a supporter, it's preaching to the choir.

[moggles]

LOL@ the original question.

[Gameguy]

Advertising helps me become aware of a game, then I do further research to find out more on the game and if it still looks good I'll read some reviews and if most are good I'll buy it(or make a note to buy it at some point). I won't buy a game just because of advertising alone.

There are some games that weren't advertised well, not surprisingly I can't remember which ones at the moment but I kept forgetting about them until seeing them in person years later. Good advertising should market the game as if it's going to be a big deal, then people will remember about it long enough to look further into it.