The art of (over?) exposure : Ken Levine discusses Bioshock Infinite Promotion

[IGlegacy_Felonious]

So I came across this interview and article -- http://penny-arcade.com/report/edito...hock-infinite/


Followed by a kotaku opinion article on the subject - http://kotaku.com/5904494/at-least-t...shock-infinite


Basically talks about the promotion of Infinite over its two years as well as the opinion of those writing the article as how much promotion is too much.


I found the articles interesting and can agree with some of the points made on both sides. I think their has been a lot of information for Bioshock Infinite released and I don't think it's a bad thing. I think if there is an issue its that its been over 2 years and by the time Bioshock Infinite will be released it will be 2 years since we saw the first 10 minute demo of actual gameplay. It will also be almost a year and half since the tears were first explained. For much of those 2 years fans were left wondering the release date. Think about that for second, think how the plot,setting,and video of AC 3 has only been revealed some 7 months before release. Look at Halo 4, COD Whatever, or Max Payne 3 and think about how much time their was before release before the first footage of actual gameplay was or will be shown.


I think Bioshock Infinite has incredible awareness due to being promoted so long but the tradeoff is the discussion and excitement which occurred after the initial announcement has waned. An observation on these forums since the game was announced, not as many of the people who were posting a year ago are still posting now, and even fewer are posting who were around at the announcement of the game. I think it's safe to say for those user's, they may be just as excited for Infinite as before but they have been exposed enough to not want to talk about it anymore. I know if I wasn't moderating the threads - my visit to this section would be much less than the first year of the game's announcement - because I've seen any relevant subject on Infinite probably rehashed over and over - every few months. Bioshock Infinite is still my most anticipated title of year but I think I would be lying if I said I was just as excited now as I was when the game was announced the mysterious shimmering effect (tears) was known as just that.


So what's your opinion? Is their ever too much exposure and why? If you were a developer would you want to trade in riding the hype of excitement or have more product awareness at time of a game's release?

[laforzadimente]

They come to you. Justin was a game reviewer. He probably got most of his games for free before,” Levine said. “I can understand why he doesn’t want to be exposed, the game is going to be on his doorstep.”

I chuckled.


I would agree though that certain things should be left for the player to discover but I also am 99% sure the team is keeping other parts of the game under wraps. I'll bet there are new vigors we haven't seen referenced yet and I'm sure there will be "boss" characters such as Cohen that we will come across to satisfy the thirst for unique villains.


In the end though I would say only a portion of any sort of Marketing is science. I think a lot of the decisions made can be based upon the pitch and robustness of an idea and the receptivity to that logic by the receiving party. Something may sound like a great idea with sound reasoning but only turn out to anger or confuse the viewers (and vice versa).


Take the trailer for instance, they may have thought the best way to clear up any confusion about the title and to etch in stone that the game was leaving the original title behind (as referenced by Ken in that first article), was to release the gameplay footage first. But one could also argue that later on, it will be harder to release new material to maintain viewer interest once the gameplay footage has been released because it may seem like a step backward. Both ideas have merit but only one can be acted upon. As such, I think some of this art is a gamble than gets repeated from game to game.

[IGlegacy_Felonious]

laforzadimente said:

They come to you. Justin was a game reviewer. He probably got most of his games for free before,” Levine said. “I can understand why he doesn’t want to be exposed, the game is going to be on his doorstep.”

I chuckled.

I would agree though that certain things should be left for the player to discover but I also am 99% sure the team is keeping other parts of the game under wraps. I'll bet there are new vigors we haven't seen referenced yet and I'm sure there will be "boss" characters such as Cohen that we will come across to satisfy the thirst for unique villains.

In the end though I would say only a portion of any sort of Marketing is science. I think a lot of the decisions made can be based upon the pitch and robustness of an idea and the receptivity to that logic by the receiving party. Something may sound like a great idea with sound reasoning but only turn out to anger or confuse the viewers (and vice versa).

Take the trailer for instance, they may have thought the best way to clear up any confusion about the title and to etch in stone that the game was leaving the original title behind (as referenced by Ken in that first article), was to release the gameplay footage first. But one could also argue that later on, it will be harder to release new material to maintain viewer interest once the gameplay footage has been released because it may seem like a step backward. Both ideas have merit but only one can be acted upon. As such, I think some of this art is a gamble than gets repeated from game to game.

Remember that the 10 minute gameplay demo wasn't the first released media, this 3 minute reveal trailer was - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQZd5jGWUOo . If anything it has caused more confusion than anything with people saying look at that "Andrew Ryan" like guy on the balcony. The Diver holding the conch shell being a Big Daddy and so on. The ten minute gameplay demo came out a 2 months later.


I agree I'm sure their is plenty of surprise to be had still, as much it maybe the amount of information released, as I said I think the length of time for one who has been following the game from reveal to release is just as much to blame.

[japester]

Like that article points out, I don't think we are the primary audience for all this promotion. And that's something hardcore fans have a hard time wrapping their minds around.


Let's take the folks who were regular contributors here but who have since disappeared. Sometimes as much as a year ago. Does anyone doubt that every single one of them will buy BSI? They were convinced a year or more ago. Whether they still talk about it is immaterial. It's the NEW customers that the promos are aimed at. People on the fence. People who aren't aware of the game. I've seen people avoid buying a game because they didn't know enough about it. I've never seen someone avoid buying a game because they thought they knew too much about it. Gamers complain about not being 100% surprised, but complaining seems to be as far as it goes. They still plunk down their cash (just liked they clicked the links that lead to the videos/articles....)


It's interesting to note that the game was announced due to fear of an eventual leak. Leaks are so common now, nobody seems to bat an eye. Which is a damn shame. And if BSI had been leaked, too, it would have been a non-event. However, by controlling when they announced it, Irrational achieved a rare honor in keeping a game secret for 3 years. A lot of studios can't keep something secret for 6 months. It speaks to the level of loyalty and honor among IG's employees.

[IGlegacy_Felonious]

japester said:Like that article points out, I don't think we are the primary audience for all this promotion. And that's something hardcore fans have a hard time wrapping their minds around.

Let's take the folks who were regular contributors here but who have since disappeared. Sometimes as much as a year ago. Does anyone doubt that every single one of them will buy BSI? They were convinced a year or more ago. Whether they still talk about it is immaterial. It's the NEW customers that the promos are aimed at. People on the fence. People who aren't aware of the game. I've seen people avoid buying a game because they didn't know enough about it. I've never seen someone avoid buying a game because they thought they knew too much about it. Gamers complain about not being 100% surprised, but complaining seems to be as far as it goes. They still plunk down their cash (just liked they clicked the links that lead to the videos/articles....) <img />

It's interesting to note that the game was announced due to fear of an eventual leak. Leaks are so common now, nobody seems to bat an eye. Which is a damn shame. And if BSI had been leaked, too, it would have been a non-event. However, by controlling when they announced it, Irrational achieved a rare honor in keeping a game secret for 3 years. A lot of studios can't keep something secret for 6 months. It speaks to the level of loyalty and honor among IG's employees.

Whoever the primary audience is and whether the hardcore fan's realize they aren't doesn't change how some may feel. No one is arguing who the new promos are aimed at. I agree I doubt anyone is not going to buy Bioshock Infinite because they know too much.


Come release will some hold off or put off on buying it Day one because some of the other releases surrounding Bioshock Infinite which might be off more recent reveals or PR campaigns? (assuming I.G doesn't reveal anything major till release). Is an interesting question at least to me.


I'll disagree that people not talking about something because they are already buying is immaterial-- word of mouth is one on of the best forms or advertising. Def want your customers buying and talking !


Edit in - I guess I'll get back to my original question of whether you want more brand awareness (err game awareness) or do you want to release near the peak of the hype/excitement for your game with perhaps fewer people being aware at release. Better question - what is the sweet spot to hit on all cylinders and if you have an example by all means share.

[vsharres]

Its a good question indeed.

I was thinking this today , they announced the game almost exactly two years before the actual release.Yes this could make the hype for the game fade out a little during the path from announcing and actual releasing the game.That being said, I did get very hyped in the first months , but every time the release just a bit of information my hype got back pretty quick.

But I think only apply to the more hardcore fans of the series, really don't know for the general public.I think that maybe it could happen what happened to Skyrim.In the beginning it was a more fan-based hype, but at the time the game was launched there was a lot of marketing flooding the internet.

It could also be like the original Bioshock, that one of the factors was the critic's response to the game.In Metacritic Bioshock is still one of the best rated games of all times, if Infinite can surpass that, I'm sure it will sell pretty well.

[japester]

felonious said:

I'll disagree that people not talking about something because they are already buying is immaterial-- word of mouth is one on of the best forms or advertising. Def want your customers buying and talking

No disagreement there since I was specifically referring to posting on this forum, which I consider very different from word of mouth. We can't tell how much people are talking amongst their friends--only how much they are talking here. And pretty much everyone who participates on a forum like this is already sold.

[Muskel]

Interesting. They wanted to beat a leak? I wonder how they knew it would be leaked? A leak on this game would've been pretty bad for me. They wouldn't have been able to mess with my mind. The moon thing, and the trailer showing a big daddy was perfect for me. That was truly a great surprise. Had it been leaked, it would not have had that impact. So good job IG.


I think Crytek did a good job on Crysis 2. They needed to get that awareness out to the console crowd. I was on the consolization fence with this one. Every week or two, they would show an item, or map. Not too much, not too little. They slowly built up my hype over maybe a year. That would've been hard to do over a two year period.


If I made a new IP, I would prefer more product awareness over hype. I think of Kingdoms of Amalur here. The hype happened right when they released the demo. A really crappy 3rd party demo, had me turned off completely. Luckily, someone bought it for me as a gift. What a different game compared to the demo. I think if I had more awareness before the demo/hype, it would've been different.

[losstarot]

I think with the october release being so far, they should talk less, show more. By this I mean nothing too compromising plot wise of course, but that would keep people on the edge saying, "hey BSI still intrigues me, I think it'd be worth checking!"

I don't know what has been the recent heavy hitters vids' reception among the crowds; did they wake further curiosity in us, I mean fans, or in indecise gamers? to me they were a little unsatisfactory, as they showed almost nothing. This might have been carefully planned, I won't deny it but this isn't like this they're gonna draw masses towards buying the game.

We wanna see vids of some the vigors, nostrums we'll be acquiring and some gameplay footage too; until now the vids were really character story centric, so it's time they showed the real thing.


So all in all, less talk, more footage, pics, media now. There will be fierce competition after summer ends and BSI needs to be more present than ever.

[IGlegacy_Felonious]

So in the today's message it looks like no E3 or Gamescom, would assume PAX Prime as well since that is literally 2 weeks after Gamescom. With the delay it appears like we will be hitting a bit of a dark period as far as new media/and perhaps info on Bioshock Infinite. I could see them talking about weapon management and game mechanics during this time. Not quite the usual approach, a lot of coverage/exposure followed by a much quieter period which I'm sure will ramp up a few months before release.