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Microsoft spends more on Reach than Halo 3
Publisher says heavyweight campaign can make Reach “biggest release of the year” by Dominic Sacco
FORGET CALL of Duty or FIFA – Halo: Reach could be this year’s biggest video game. And to help it along its way, Microsoft is putting more of its marketing spend behind Reach than it did for 2007’s Halo 3. A huge mainstream
marketing campaign will see the title promoted across TV,
radio, print, events, websites and retailers – both before and after release.
“
Entertainment and devices director Stephen McGill told MCV: “Halo: Reach is extremely important for us. Not just from a revenue and business perspective, but Halo is such an iconic franchise, and
one that has delivered huge innovation with every release. It’s a game that’s extremely close to our hearts.
“The marketing campaign
for Halo: Reach sees a 60 per cent increase over what was spent on Halo 3. “But aside from spend, we’ve again seen some really innovative marketing execution around the game.”
Halo: Reach is extremely important for us and retailers are getting behind it as the biggest release of the year. Stephen McGill, Microsoft
[NEWSWIRES]
2K GAMES: Duke Nukem Foreverwill arrive on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC next year. The title was previously in development for 12 years at 3D Realms and is now being finished by Borderlands developer Gearbox.
TAKE-TWO: The company posted $6m profit for its third fiscal quarter ending July 31, 2010. This was largely due to the success of Red Dead Redemption,which has sold 6.9m copies since release.
REALTIME WORLDS: An anonymous US company has completed the purchase of Project MyWorldfrom the collapsed Dundee studio.
BLIZZARD: StarCraft II: Wings of Libertyhas shifted 3m copies worldwide since its release, surpassing the lifetime sales of the original.
SONY: Killzone 3 has been given a US release date of February 22nd.
TV advertising kicked off in April and will be followed up with a special two-minute ad on Channel 4 on the game’s September 14th release date. Online promotions are running on Facebook, Twitter,
www.rememberreach.com, and the Xbox Live Dashboard, with a free Halo: Reach theme
”
THE FLOOD of FIFA games released this year means FIFA 11 could attract the largest audience in the series’ history. In addition to strong sales of
FIFA 10, the brand has benefited from the release of 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa, Facebook game FIFA Superstars and the PC-only FIFA Online. EA claims this has extended the franchise’s reach even further than in previous years. “It has enabled us to take
FIFA to more consumers ,” EA senior product manager Luke Cousens told MCV.
“We’ve made changes to
FIFA to help bring in new players, particularly those who thought they’d struggle to get to grips with the controls.”
Reach’s marketing budget is 60 per cent bigger than that of Halo 3
available to all of Live’s 25m users next week.
A big launch event took place in London last night (Thursday, September 9th), with football star Rio Ferdinand making an appearance. A wide range of POS
material is available to retailers, including full window takeovers.
“Retailers are absolutely getting behind this as this year’s biggest release,” added McGill. “The consensus is this is the biggest and best Halo game ever. We’re really confident it will deliver in terms of quality, and can’t wait to see where the Halo universe goes next.” Microsoft: 0870 601 0100
Multi-SKU strategy boosts FIFA brand
FIFA 11 stands to attract more consumers than any previous entry in the series
Cousens also believes FIFA
11 is perfectly positioned to capitalise on the public’s passion for football as the Premier League heats up.
“As football fans, we were all disappointed with England at the World Cup, but that’s all forgotten now as we return to club football,” he said. “There is always a lot of excitement and passion around the start of the season and FIFA’s release is the signal that the season is in full flow. “We are truly excited about the launch of FIFA 11 and we’re confident we’ll have a very successful year.” FIFA 11 will be released on October 1st. EA: 01483 463000
CHECK OUT THIS WEEK’S VIDEOS:
Halo: Reach PlayStation Move Harry Potter: Hallows
Videos are available within the free iPad Edition of MCV on iTunes and the PC Digital Edition, which can be accessed at
MCVUK.com
GUILLEMOT: In last week’s issue of MCV(dated Friday, September 3rd), we gave incorrect contact details for Guillemot and its Thrustmaster line of accessories. The correct number is 01932 577546.
MCV 10/09/10 9
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