never pick up a club in real life, but still enjoy golf video games.” explains Brody. It also helps that they’re the most accurate real-world golf game in town. “We present the most realistic and complete golf simulation game to-date.” continues Brody. ”It is easy to learn but difficult to master, so a potential golfer turned gamer can jump right in and immediately see some of their favourite features of the sport reflected in the game.” Keen to also reach out to non-gamer golfers that may
any pro athlete during their season. We work closely with our partners at PGA Tour, as well as our brand partners and athletes’ teams to activate the brand in ways and at times that work for everyone.”
TRUSTING YOUR SWING
Contagions and calendar conflicts didn’t slow the PGA Tour 2K marketing machine down one bit, however, and Brody was keen to share some of his own personal highlights of their recent marketing campaign, including working with the actor that played Shooter McGavin in Happy Gilmore. “We had the Tiger Woods and Christopher McDonald interview, which placed two very different golf icons in a room together and resulted in a very entertaining video.” said Brody. “I also liked when we got the initial feedback from our first hands-on gameplay opportunity, which took place the same week as our game announcement. It was rewarding to see press and content creators enjoying our game and saying very positive things about it.” While you might assume that golfers and gamers
don’t have much in common, the vice president of global marketing strategy points out that their research shows the opposite. This is likely not only due to the fact that golf games have been around since 1979, but the fact that golf naturally lends itself quite well to a video game adaptation in a way that something another sport (like synchronised swimming, for example) may not.
turn into PGA Tour 2K players, the 2K Sports marketing teams understand that the key to that sort of appeal lies in simply being true to the sport. After years and years of PGA Tour branded games, simply demonstrating that the team wants to understand golf culture and put a spotlight on it at every opportunity it can is one of the key ways that they intend to keep their advertising and overall appeal fresh. “We try to target a wide variety
of consumers, in different ways. We’re not just targeting fans of golf or gamers, but also fans of sports, music, entertainment, and personalities who touch golf culture in any way. We made a point of partnering with personalities and brands that have an authentic tie to the evolving golf culture, because we know players are smart and recognise a tacked-on celebrity endorsement. That’s not what they want, and not what we want either. We leaned into working with golf content creators, golf fashion brands, musicians, athletes and actors who are golfers, etc.”
“Our market research actually shows that there’s plenty
of cross-over between golfers and gamers. Also, while the crossover group of gamers who golf also love PGA Tour 2K23, there’s also a percentage of gamers who might
YOU CAN ALWAYS GET BETTER Now that PGA Tour 2K23 has reached the end of its development, rather than look too closely at the past, it seems Muise would rather focus on the future and how he and HB Studios can move things forward even further for the PGA Tour 2K brand. That involves more listening to the fans in the short term, and undoubtedly will lead to more iteration and expansion when it comes to their next release. Much like hearing from a professional sports person at the end of a season, it feels a bit like the studio is already preparing for what will be its next go at it. “We’re always learning from our experiences and from players’ feedback.” explains Muise. “I think we’ve learned what we’re capable of and now we’ll push to do more. There will always be more pros, courses, brands, features and adjustments to incorporate and we look forward to those challenges.”
December 2022 MCV/DEVELOP | 61
PGA’s course designer. For designing courses
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64
