3. Marketing for core games is seemingly a fraction of the ad campaigns that have been pushed for other Nintendo titles. Are there any plans to expand marketing in the future to reach the core audience? Do you believe what marketing you are doing for titles such as Metroid Prime 3: Corruption is enough to spread awareness?
Marketing is shaped by what’s appropriate for a particular game. While it might seem to some that games that appeal to the expanded audience get more attention, that’s probably because the expanded audience has a steeper learning curve. Core gamers and their friends are tuned into the gaming news and blog sites, so they already know a lot of what’s going on. This new audience is just getting started, so our initial outreach might be more focused on education – in fun and unique ways – then we can begin to communicate the availability of titles they might find appealing.
And as I said, we take a different approach with every game. Just look at Super Smash Bros. Brawl, for example. Mr. Sakurai posted something new on the Dojo site every single day leading up to launch. That probably represents one of our most aggressive flows of information, and that’s a game that definitely resonates with our loyalists.
10 Questions: Nintendo’s Reggie Fils-Aime – Video Game Features, PC Game Features
Nintendo has done such a great job at recognizing the importance of non-hardcore gamers.
Increasingly, as each tech sub-industry’s audience starts to be made up of more and more newbies, the all or nothing approach to marketing will have to end. This is definitely more costly, but it shows to the consumers that they are important. If you just cater your messaging (and content for that matter) to hardcore gamers, newbies will be put off. Make it to newbie friendly and hardcore gamers will feel it’s not challenging or get bored. Diversification is key.
So simple, yet with slashed marketing budgets becoming more prevalent “in these troubled times,” a simple rule to forget.
Joi Podgorny 