The first audience marketers should try to sell on a game’s marketing material is the development team itself.
#SKYRIM THE PEOPLE OF SKYRIM GIANT SERIES#
“That level of detail lends itself to the series as a whole,” Hines said. The ad material conveyed the realism of the game experience and used the same visual language. “About 800,000 people who came to the site spent time exploring the details of the wall. “It was extremely cinematic and exciting for fans,” Davis said. The first trailer had pulse-pounding music and dramatic narration, as well as the dented metal carvings on a wall. AKQA created logos that had the dented metal look of the actual emblems and swords in the game. Those materials had to match the game, Losi said, since everyone knew the fans would scrutinize the details in the ads. “It was about creating a vibe and mood that matches the experiences in the game,” she said.ĭavis said, “We wanted to show that detail, from every stitch in the armor, every dent, every scratch” in the game’s marketing materials. There is a way to present that in a way that is true to the game.”Įrin Losi (pictured middle), a marketer at Bethesda, said the approach wasn’t to give a list of features on the RPG. “It is a single-player fantasy game with elves and dwarves. “We didn’t apologize for what it is,” Hines said. It was almost movie-like in its marketing imagery and commercials, Davis said. They were able to portray the game as a modern, cinematic take on fantasy. The team spent six months or so together pulling together ideas before they presented to Howard, who wound up liking many of the marketing proposals, Hines said.Įd Davis (pictured left), account lead at AKQA, said it was rare for his team to have so much advance knowledge, developer relationships, and immersion in the Skyrim franchise as his people did. “We just walk upstairs and have a chat with Todd,” Hines said. Hines and Howard have worked together for 13 years. The team can meet with development chief Todd Howard as needed. AKQA, the digital agency, has an office 15 miles to the south. The developer, Bethesda Game Studios, is in Rockville, Md., and the publisher, Bethesda Softworks, is located downstairs in the same building. One key to getting marketing and development to work together is co-location. Some gamers are turned on by that, others turned off. Skyrim was a game world of enormous scope and an incredible amount of detail. Ideally, you start with a great game so you don’t have to trick anyone into buying it. Role-playing games (RPGs) tend to be so geeky and elaborate that they appeal to small, fanatical audiences, said Pete Hines (pictured right), vice president of marketing and communications at Bethesda Softworks. The conventional wisdom is that fantasy-oriented games are not mass market titles. Today at the Game Marketing Summit, the marketing team from Bethesda Softworks talked about the behind-the-scenes effort to make Skyrim a mass market hit. But bad marketing can hurt a great game’s sales and outstanding marketing can push it into mass market awareness. Marketing can’t do much to dress up a pig.
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