Topic: US military can learn from game marketing, says ex-Call Of Duty director

[idolminds]

Read it and weep.

When it comes to introducing unpalatable ideas to the American public, the US government could learn a thing or two from the marketing strategies of AAA games.

That's what former Call of Duty director Dave Anthony told a think-tank forum in Washington this week. According to a report from Businessweek, Anthony's talk explored potentially controversial solutions to national security problems in America, and he had an intriguing take on how those solutions could be sold to the public.

"When we have a new product that has elements that we're not sure how people will respond to, what do we do as a corporation?" he asked, referring to his time as writer and game director on Call of Duty: Black Ops and Black Ops 2.

"We market it, and we market it as much as we can - so that whether people like it or not, we do all the things we can to essentially brainwash people into liking it before it actually comes out."

What did I just read? What is happening? Shut it down! SHUT IT ALL DOWN!

[Cools!]

Oh boy.... like that's not how it's already done....

[Cobra951]

"We market it, and we market it as much as we can - so that whether people like it or not, we do all the things we can to essentially brainwash people into liking it before it actually comes out."

Wow . . .  That will come back to haunt him, if it it hasn't already.

[scottws]

It's true though.  Look at Halo, a mediocre game marketed like crazy to sell the Xbox and it worked.

It is true for movies as well.  Just look at all the marketing behind that Dracula movie.  You can just tell it is a turd but probably cost a lot to make so they are pushing it hard to get butts in the seats the first weekend.  They probably know it won't have positive word of mouth to carry it beyond that so need a strong opening weekend to make any money on it.

[gpw11]

It's true though.  Look at Halo, a mediocre game marketed like crazy to sell the Xbox and it worked.

You know, I don't know if Halo is the best example of that.  For the time, and for console FPS games especially it was pretty far ahead of the curve.   

[scottws]

I couldn't disagree more.  It was a shitty game.  Everyone remembers the multiplayer but that's because everyone had it due to said marketing and because it was a launch title with little competition.

There is no question it's had lasting influence (see recharging health bar), but I don't agree at all that it's success was anything but a product of marketing.  Frankly, I'm not sure there is a better example to illustrate the point.

[PyroMenace]

That's a pretty extreme opinion. I see your point, you didn't like it and I don't blame you but it was far from being mechanically bad, it went so far as to color the FPS genre for consoles after.

Also I'm not sure I follow that article accurately, but there's been plenty of examples of games failing miserably counter to having a big marketing and ad push.

[idolminds]

I agree with scott, Halo was terrible. I am very anti-Halo. #HaloGate

[Quemaqua]

Likewise. I was excited about Halo until I played it. That game was mechanically awful and riddled by poor design choices. Pyro does have a point, though. Plenty of games with huge marketing pushes have failed. Sometimes people see something for what it is. Other times they don't.

[gpw11]

I HATE ALL OF YOU.