Comms of Duty - Modern PRfare 2
So for many of the uninitiated, Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 was released this week. This has been the most anticipated video game since GTA IV which came out in 2008. CoD MF2 is already a record breaker with over 1 million copies being sold in day one, analysts expect 10 million sales in the run up to Christmas.
That’s mental! Record companies would bite your hand off for those figures especially when the game costs around £50 a pop.
The reason this is relevant to the PR industry is the buzz around this game this week has been incredible, it has secured coverage across not only in the traditional gaming press and blogs but also mainstream broadcast and national press with MP’s debating the games’ release in Parliament. Shouldn’t they be sorting the country out rather than discussing a piece of entertainment that has already been classified and approved by the British Board of Film Classification?
I have no doubt that the game is a great piece of workmanship and entertainment and I am looking forward to playing it. What I was impressed with was the PR launch of the game. Many shops were breaking sales embargoes and there were large queues of fans waiting to get their hands on it. The most impressive aspect of the launch was the permission to use Leicester Sq in London as the site to unveil the game. This is predominately reserved for Hollywood movies, so the fact that there was a massive scale PR event with full military occupation including camo vehicles and personnel added to the drama and event. The launch also had the red carpet feel with a number of celebrities attending, proving that gaming is part of our modern culture just as music, art and movies are.
The revenues of the gaming industry worldwide are overtaking the movie industry very quickly due to huge sales and high prices for games. The scope for executing well planned and large PR campaigns for games has arrived and will be a major aspect of the PR business sector in the years to come. Expect a lot of big agencies to be pitching for software houses such as Activision, EA, Epic, Rockstar, Eidos and Ubisoft as well as crazier and bigger PR launches.
Game on!
Tags: PR, technology, VideoGames
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Comments (1)
November 13th, 2009 at 11:15 am Posted by David Millar
Interesting round-up of an explosive launch! Thought you might be interested in a recent US report by NPD on how gamers gain information on games before making a purchase. 41% rely on word-of-mouth above all other sources, followed by 31% relying on hands-on play on friends’ consoles. This means that a powerful launch - like the one you described - that creates an initial sales spike will have a major effect on the success of the title throughout its life cycle.
A bit more info at:
http://www.npd.com/press/releases/press_090914.html
Worth a read.
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