The success of a game can seemingly depend on pitching things
right, not alienating fans and feeding your gaming community.
You might have
heard how a dude
who made Fallout Posters had the lawyers sicked on him when he
seemingly breached an IPR right. That kind of response can turn the fan love
off in a second but this post is really about two examples of game producers
doing in right.
This week Bioware responded to the story of
Mass Effect 2 being accidentally included with the release of Call of Duty:
Black Ops II:
"Rumor has it
that about a thousand customers who purchased Call of Duty: Black Ops II for PC
today were also treated to a surprise copy of Mass Effect 2. If you were one of
the affected, chances are you thought it was a mistake, but we prefer to think
that it was an omen, and when the universe talks, you should listen.
If the universe
thinks that you should be playing Mass Effect right now, who are we to argue?
In fact, we want to help! The first fifty fans affected by this phenomenon to
send us a picture holding their special disc 2 will receive a code for a FREE
PC copy of Mass Effect Trilogy.”
Bioware is of
course well aware how
the fans react when things get screwed up so that’s a pretty cool way of front
footing an issue. The cynic in me wonders if the inclusion of Mass Effect was
accidental so a bit of promotion could be made for the Mass Effect trilogy...
The second example is a Halo related one from Microsoft / 343 Studios
The second example is a Halo related one from Microsoft / 343 Studios
Www.forwarduntodawn.com is a pretty good Halo fan site, so
named for the vessel that harboured the Master Chief at the end of
Halo 3. When it came time to promote Halo 4 and the internet film named Forward
Unto Dawn, one could have imagined 343 Industries were tempted to claim some
kind of IPR right* over that website url. They didn't and instead they went in
massively with the promotion of Forward Unto Dawn which meant that the fan
site received a massive amount of publicity - and that's keeping with
the Halo spirit developed by Bungie so clearly 343 have taken that mantle on board very well.
I think these two examples are really cool actions by the
producers and other game makers will do well to heed the examples. This writer figures fans will respond and respect such moves - everyone recognizes the business is about making money but carrying yourself in an honest and decent manner will work wonders - especially if you're looking for repeat customers.
*I haven’t checked but I doubt any one from Microsoft or Bungie
trademarked the phrase 'Forward Unto Dawn’ when producing Halo 3.