I got your point. I think Sony will market it and market it well, BUT it WON'T have the marketing budget of SM, GOW, or HZD. That's all I'm saying and have been saying. That's it.
Death Stranding Blows Past 2.1 million trailer views in 6 hours. Fastest viewed / liked Game Trailer of 2019
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It's stupid easy, You plaster posters covered with Norman Reedus and Mads Mikkleson's face. One of the poster boy for the post RIck Grimes era of The Walking Dead and villain from the best Daniel Craig Bond movie.
You're going to tell me that the writer/creator/director of one of the most globally popular video game franchises on Earth (Metal Gear) isn't going to get as much advertisement/promotion on his new work than the Killzone factory did with their first IP, Ginger Cavewoman fights Robot Dinosaurs (Horizon)?
Cmon man.
I've been a Death Stranding skeptic for years, but I'm completely sold now.
The game feels "significant." It's hard to truly convey why, but it just seems like it has the potential to be something truly fresh and new in an industry that's become rather predictable.
The game feels "significant." It's hard to truly convey why, but it just seems like it has the potential to be something truly fresh and new in an industry that's become rather predictable.
The average person doesn't care about those people man/lady. They have nothing to do with a game. When's the last time you heard someone say "Oh I want to play this game because it has this actor as the lead character"? And, Horizon has much broader appeal than DS and apparently MGS as well if sales are any metric to go by. When you just dole out money because of a name, you end uo with situations like Cliff Blizenski and Radical Heights, Lawbreakers. Banking solely on a name can lead to a waste of resources.
C'mon man.
My man I've heard people who don't even game talking about that crazy game with Darryl from The Walking Dead.
Then we will have to agree to disagree. I completely think the opposite. Why would they? Do you think DS will sell anywhere near any of those? It'd take some crazy ass miracle for it to beat Spiderman or GoW, let alone Horizon.
But will someone buy a game just because it features the likeness/actor they know? I don't think so but I could just be out of touch. I think it's a scary thought, but I've never been one for celebrity worship.
It's a forum. People give their opinion. You're going to have to deal with it.
If that's the case then why does Call of Duty trot out the actors every year for their first huge marketing commercial push? Why do they have Eminem licensed music as the soundtrack for them?
Call of Duty Actors
Let's not even mention the controversy when everyone found out Keifer Sutherland was replacing David Hayder as the voice of Snake.
And you're looking at Horizon in retrospect, it was a HUGE gamble for Guerilla Games, if you had told them 6 months before Horizon came out it would sell 10M they would have laughed in your face, they were terrified about it.
Sauce
You are comparing Cliffy B to very famous actors, that's absurd.
And that's not how PR works. You need to get the name out, make it stand out on a big stage.
These actors will be on late night shows talking about it etc., it's easy marketing. Linda Rousey just did that for MK11.
10M is too high for such a weird game, but if it's score as high as God of War, and winning many GOTY awards, with a positive mouth-to-mouth, I can see it happen, I mean, remember when many were laughing at some users predicting God of War selling above 10M? Because the other games sold around 5 ~ 6M and Ascension way less, and when launched it did 5M first month, now above 10M first year.
Of course, it does not even have as wide an appeal as God of War and Horizon, but both games will sell 14M plus,even though Death Stranding sells less, 10M is possible with the above mentioned conditions,even more.
And I did not understand how Pokémon would influence sales, different platforms, totally different games with different appeals, besides the fans of Kojima are one of the most loyal and fanatic, I think the game will do very well.
But this looks like a never-ending cycle, we saw this with Horizon being a bomb for launching near Zelda lol, God of War and Days Gone too.
And of course, we can never forget how ERA does not know anything about sales.
The marketing will be huge,I espect to be the biggest ever for Sony,until The Last of Us Part 2.
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Do better. I'm comparing Cliffy B. to Kojima. Sorry if that wasn't clear. I'm not sure Ronda Rhousey did much to help MK11. Those games always sell. I can't tell you a person who was like Ronda Rousey is in it, I need to get it but I have heard the opposite here and in real life no one mentions the actors. Just had a convo about the game and the only things spoke about it were Sub-Zero and fatalities.
Death Stranding will be Sony's big game for the fall, you bet your ass they will market it from heaven to hell when even Days Gone gets such a big push.
Almost at 4m now. I think it's outpacing TLoU 2 E3 2018 and Cyberpunk 2077 E3 2018 at this point and without ad plays like CP2077.
Yes, it was a gamble but any time you do a new ip and leave your comfort zone, it is a gamble. They went from making fps to an open world game. I remember Kevin Spacey from Advanced Warfare but I don't think that was a talking point for anyone, let alone gamers. Do you think gamers actually cared? Do you think gamers care that Shane from TWD will buy GR:BP because he's in it? You can't be serious. Also music is different than hiring an actor to be the literal face of a game.
People cared so much about Keifer Sutherland replacing David Hayter that MGSV:TPP went on to become the best selling MG game. Yup, ultimately they really cared...no, they were just bitching about inconsequential things which is quite common amongst gamers just because.
Why wouldn't it sell on the level of those games? And the more people know about a game the better chance it has to sell as word of mouth is a powerful force.
I didn't say that they wouldn't market the game. In fact I said that they would market it well because it's an investment of theirs but it won't have the marketing budget of the 3 games fI mentioned from my post that you quoted.
If you are talking MK and it goes to Sub-Zero and fatalities then that's not the same crowd a famous actor is supposed to bring in. That's much more of a casual audience.
And again: it's not "oh Linda is in it, I'm going to buy it", it's more about having the name be recognizable and in the back of your head the next time you think about a gift or whatever.
Because nothing Kojima has produced has? Even his own legacy, established franchise hasn't so why would this with its more abstract concepts and less action-focused gameplay?
1/4 of the views are people who keep checking back to see the view count
CP2077 didn't get ad plays till much later on though. Fallout 76 on the other hand was heavy viewed via ads from my recollection.
You've missed the entire conversation and seem to be speaking without understanding the context. We are clearly speaking about this game's broad appeal and I was arguing that those actors don't matter to the casual audience, the largest market out there. So creating this whole marketing scheme that centers around actors won't help sell the game to the wider audience and its strange themes, aesthetic and emphasis on connectivity rather than shoot-bang won't do it any favors with them either.
If gamers didn't care, then video game companies wouldn't be willing to continue paying famous people to be in their games/ads. You only have to look as far as those ridiculous ass free to play mobile games that plaster Kate Upton and Maria Carey on the face of it to generate revenue.
This was said about HZD, GOW, TLG and many other Sony games and were not just proven wrong but significantly so. Repeating it about DS is ignoring everything Sony and its studios have been doing for the entire console generation.
I wish we had some alternate reality viewing mirror where we could peer into another universe, one without famous actors attached to games, to see how they perform comparatively. When it comes down to it, I don't think gamers give a fuck about what actors in a game but ultimately how it plays and is it fun.
I have so much doubt.
Neither had anything GG had done before HZD. Sony have a strong track record this gen and I'd assume DS will be in that marketing push tier of Uncharted 4, HZD, GoW and Spidey. Now that's not to say it's a nailed on thing, like the game could blow arse and then sure, it becomes far less likely or they could cock up the marketing, but there's really nothing stopping it from potentially matching those others at this point, there's clearly a lot of hype for the game.
HZD and GOW are entirely different compared to what came before them and are more appealing to a larger audience than either studios previous games. TLG wasn't some sales giant to my knowledge. Death Stranding is a lot more abstract than MGS even from what little we've seen of it compared to the tomfoolery coolectively in all the MGS games. This is why I think it will sell well, maybe 6-7 million, as I've said before but won't sell akin to HZD, GOW, or SM.
It was getting them too, I remember seeing them fairly often, more than anything outside of 76. Though it was nowhere near 76's level, which was like 9 times out of 10 for weeks it seemed.
I addressed this previously, HZD has much greater appeal than KZ, which still sold millions per individual release. However Killzone was a bit of an acquired taste and not everyone appreciated the realism that was imbued into it. Funny, considering the post RDR2 world we live in. I'm not denying there's hype for the game, if you read my posts, that much is clear. I just don't think its message is an easily translatable one for the casual consumer audience.
That we will.
I didn't miss anything, maybe don't be so full of yourself.
Why are game companies so eager to put famous actors in their games if it doesn't matter? Not even in marketing, according to you. So many of them do and it's not cheap.
I agree, but the discussion was about marketing. And part of having a famous cast is that you get unintentional free press and free word of mouth. LIke when Del Toro and Mads do AMA's on Reddit and get asked about Death Stranding and the processes. Or when Norman and Hideo show it off at Tribeca. Famous people bring in alot of additional eyes which translates to alot of additional sales. When you've got Norman on Instagram posting the posters featuring him it's going to reach a much broader general mainstream audience than it typically would in the gaming world.
Even if DS doens't sell 10+ million, it's likely similar to a prestige project that movie studios make even though it won't be a huge commercial hit. Get people talking about your platform by highlighting the unique experiences you can't get on others and perhaps that will push a consumer to buy your console.
Building your brand with quality product is just as important as large sales, especially in the future given the pending flood of new platform options.
I will be there Day 1 for sure.
Building your brand with quality product is just as important as large sales, especially in the future given the pending flood of new platform options.
I will be there Day 1 for sure.
I don't disagree that it's marketing is likely more challenging than most, given it's full undiluted Kojima, that's why I'm not ruling out the possibility they fuck it up eventually with the marketing, though nailing it so far, but I think you are underselling how hard HZD was too in that regard, it was similarly doubted by people that it'd have more limited appeal than say Uncharted, TLoU, KZ etc and GG haven't done anything like it, so it has that going against it too and it'd even flop a lot of people thought, there was a biggest flop of 2016/17 thread on Gaf and it was a big part of it.
I don't know. I don't believe it matters. Another poster with your opinion believes it's for publicity and is something that the actor will speak on when doing a publication circuit. I don't think it really does much but perhaps I am wrong, and many people keep these actors/actresses in mind when deciding on a purchase. I choose to think that the average consumer wouldn't even have that in their mind. I see it as wasted dollars, because there are plenty of games, likely many, many more that prove that you don't need a face to sell your product than the opposite. Apologies if I've offended.
The talk shows, I see that as free publicizing but the AMA's I believe people in the know would already be on those platforms and would have some idea about either the game itself or the actor's/actresses's work and that's why they are in the AMA in the first place.
You must not have been around before HZD and GOW released as you sound just like a lot of nay sayers. "A post apocalyptic game starring a tribal redhead lady fighting robot dinosaurs from the Killzone people? That's weird and I'm not sure this isn't gonna do so hot."
TLG sold more its first month than Ico's entire lifetime sales combined with the first 8 months of sales for SotC which was a $40 game on the PS2. It sold significantly more than its predecessors.
True. But it's a pretty good gamble that there are plenty of Norman's 6.3M Instagram Followers who are not gamers or involved in the gamer world whose curiosity is now piqued with his recent posts and having the trailer to DS linked in his Bio. I mean his last post is a minute long video of the headshots of the cast and it's already up to 157K views.
I think that partly had to do with people not believing in Guerrilla in general and after some of their more disappointing KZ releases but if you watched gameplay for the game when it was revealed, there's no way any sane person could believe HZD would be a flop. Assassin's Creed+Dark Souls+Far Cry+Robots+Dinosaurs, in what world would that flop!? Gaf's hate was just at an all time high, it's no different than Resetera and Days Gone. I knew both games would succeed, but others who were biased didn't think so.
I have nothing to back this up, but of his 6.3M followers, maybe 6K will be influenced enough to pick the game up, but hey like you said, it's free advertising.
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