Author: Lauren Brady

Today, the video game community is vast and encompasses people from all walks of life. The hobby has never been more popular. What this creates is niches within one larger community. In an industry growing more reliant on games as a service (GAAS), with a model of continuing content, fostering a community has never been more important.

Without a player base, games seeking longevity are doomed to die – see 2017’s Lawbreakers which was shut down after just a year. Many developers appreciate what a healthy, core audience can do for a game. But how do they go about making sure that same audience wants to stay?

 

And they say there’s no such thing as a free lunch

DLC has been bountiful since the PS3 and Xbox 360 generation. And depending on how loose your definition is, expansion packs of yore fit a similar bill. But, with the rise of GAAS, releasing paid DLC after paid DLC is sure to turn audiences away, especially if they’ve already paid upwards of £50 for the privilege of playing the game in the first place. Add to this all the deluxe editions, pre-order incentives, and season passes and suddenly the entry point for a game is above £100. And that’s before any microtransactions!

There are still new examples every year; they introduce an aspect – say, an in-game economy – which is rebalanced after launch, thus locking in positive reviews and purchases before pulling the rug from under everybody.

It’s why those whose communities continue to thrive choose to release new content for free. In something like Blizzard’s Overwatch, it comes in the form of new skins and maps. Epic Games’ Fortnite has a season system that keeps introducing new elements. They even have unfolding mysteries and references to their own internal lore. While on a business level it’s used to keep players in the ecosystem, it also makes them feel valued. They would even see such a company as one who puts players first, money second. Warframe has a dedicated following and manages to be one of the top ten most played games on Steam. They adopted a fair cosmetic microtransaction system that eschews loot boxes and randomness.

That’s not to say the DLC model is dead – it’s still incredibly profitable. Some mix the two styles together; take Destiny 2, which added the ‘Forsaken’ expansion, yet made some a lot of its prominent features available to those who didn’t purchase the DLC. There’s another critical aspect of fostering community in that last example – open communication. By opening up and providing regular updates, sometimes done in video form à la Civilization VI right now, you make audiences feel involved in the process. Almost as if you’re letting them see something they shouldn’t.

 

A wink and a nod

Appreciation for the community extends to game trailers too. For long-lasting series or entries, including in-jokes and references is always a sure hit. The Hitman fandom loves one of Agent 47’s signature weapons more than the rest – the rubber duck. It’s made its way into trailers for the game, even though they are serious affairs, and one was included in the Collector’s Edition.

It’s effectively a meme among the community, one that IO Interactive is more than happy to fuel. It makes the trailer feel like it’s for them and they can unite behind this one joke only they understand. The same can be said for StarCraft II – Blizzard snuck in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it gnome decoration hanging in a ship’s window. Pointless addition? Not if you ask the community. One reddit thread had over 100 comments about it.

An impressive example is last year’s trailer for EVE Online, which was made to celebrate its 15th anniversary. Community was the imperative word – especially in a game that has a relatively small community by AAA standards. The entire trailer is a thank you to all their players, their loyalty, and everything they have accomplished over the years. Special moments, of galactic battles and interstellar intrigue, created solely by the players, are now a part of the game’s lore and environment. The trailer culminates in a spectacle of fan-submitted clips and real-life videos. It’s true appreciation for the people they know built this game. It wasn’t the developers who did it; it was the fans.

And that’s what fostering a community is about: appreciation. Developers and players share a symbiotic relationship, where one cannot exist without the other. With derision thrown at developers in the past who chose to squeeze money out of their players, many have wised up and recognised what lets them thrive. It’s the community.

RealtimeUK understands the importance of community and can bring that to life in your cinematic trailers. Get in touch with me today at [email protected] to discuss your next

Pocket Gamer Connects London has grown substantially in just a few short years.  Now in its fifth year, I last attended in 2017 and its easy to see not just how much the event has grown in the last two years, but in how much has changed. 2017 saw an abundance of VR, with most of the first floor awash with indies pitching their latest VR offerings and investors seemingly falling over themselves to find the ‘next big thing’. Two years on, and it wasn’t until halfway through my second day that I saw my first VR headset – a clear indication of the games industry’s love affair with VR is waning.  Not that it will disappear anytime soon – VR remains exciting territory and something for which there remains huge demand from REALTIME’s Automotive division. It will no doubt find its niche in many other industries, whether it be the car configurators REALTIME’s Automotive team create, or any other number of useful applications within other sectors. All of whom will benefit from the new ground that was broken by the innovation of the games industry who first adopted the technology as its own.

Instead, replacing VR at this year’s event was Blockchain gaming – something so prevalent it even justified its own co-headline conference alongside the main event. ‘Blockchain’ is this year’s latest trend in gaming and it was everywhere – not surprising given its potential to revolutionise the way in which games will work in the future. Based on the same technology as cryptocurrency and bitcoin, blockchain gaming has the potential to increase security and instil greater confidence amongst players when making in-game purchases. Whereas items that are ordinarily bought in a traditional game are stored on the developer’s server, and therefore technically owned by them, blockchain decentralizes this, offering direct ownership and a permanent record of all transactions ever made. It offers the potential to create unique experiences and rewards in games that can be traded on a direct peer-to-peer basis.

So it’s no surprise that the Games Industry should grab the opportunity to seize this exciting technology as its own. Like VR, UE4 and the countless innovations that precede these, the games industry has a rich heritage in pioneering new technologies, developing them as their own before their potential is unleashed in other sectors. A good example of this is the continuing advancement of UE4 which continues to find new applications outside of games. Obviously, it continues to be used within games to create cinematics such as those we’ve created for ‘Sea of Thieves’ and ‘Dakar’, but is also used to great effect by our own Automotive team and even applications in TV & Film – something that will no doubt help REALTIME as it continues its future success in this area (Watch this Space!).

In summary, Pocket Gamer not only provided a great opportunity to meet up with old friends and new, it proved to be an opportunity to reflect on how far the Games Industry has come and how it continues to push into new territory that will shape the world of the future.

I look forward to seeing where it will take us next.

CG Trailers

Despite their huge impact, video games are a medium that have long fought to be considered art. In the eyes of the masses, they have previously been labelled as childish, gauche, or a waste of time. But the industry has spent decades trying to shake away that derision, and today they generate billions in revenue from a global audience. The mobile market alone dwarfs Hollywood.

Games have grown up. All sophisticated in one way or another – whether they boast bleeding-edge graphics, a stellar narrative, or award-winning performances – they have matured as a form of media. And today, with CGI an easily accessible tool, cinematic trailers have become the de facto way to show what you are all about. Nowhere is this more necessary than in the realm of mobile gaming.

 

Mobile dominance

The dominating presence mobile gaming has in the overall gaming market is undeniable. Almost half of UK smartphone owners use them to play games. But it is a saturated market that only grows more competitive by the day. Free-to-play, freemium, or in-app purchase models remain popular as they are a commitment-free way to get eyes on your game.

It’s not uncommon to see apps advertised within other apps, creating a web of interconnectivity. But the quality, or lack thereof, shines through. Slap-dash constructions designed to eat up 30 seconds and convey the point of their game in the blandest way possible. There are better ways of getting the attention of your audience, surely?

 

One in a million

CG trailers are commonplace at any video game convention, such as E3. They are a representation of what the game is or will be. Not in any literal sense, but in an emotive one. In a marketing sense, they bridge that gap between developer and consumer. What makes a CGI trailer stand out is the story it tells. In the case of this Smite trailer, it takes the concepts present in the game and weaves them into a story of tooth-and-nail scrapping in the battleground of the Gods.

Or take Subnautica, an aesthetically-stunning open world game set in the aquamarine seas of some distant planet. The fan favourite game has been making waves on Steam since the release of its cinematic trailer that gained over 4.5 million views within two weeks of its release.

But do they work for mobile games? They do if you want to stand out. There are 800,000 games on the App Store, many carbon copies of one popular format or another. The key is what you do with your cinematic trailer.

 

Saying something

What matters most is the story you tell. It doesn’t mean it has to be emotion-laden like the seminal Gears of War trailer. The story it tells needs to be a reflection of the game itself, its creators, and the audience. Shooting games usually have trailers filled with bombast and explosions. Puzzle games tease you with a quiet, enigmatic vibe. They are selling an image – as well as selling the game. What does it aspire to be? What does it want you to aspire to be?

There’s no reason this same logic can’t be applied to mobile games. Despite being one of the biggest names in the market, Clash of Clans still sees the benefit of creating CG trailers. They inject their humour and take advantage of the cartoonish art style to craft a narrative that engages the audience. As of writing, this trailer is one day old. It has almost a million views.

What you need is a vision. You needed one when you made the game, and you need one now. You can always leave it to the professionals, those with the experience at crafting trailers that evoke powerful emotions within the target audience. They have the knowledge to plan a trailer from beginning to end, always staying respectful of your end product. In this cramped market, they might be the edge you need.

REALTIME is one such company, creating trailers for the likes of SubNautica, War Robots and Zombie Gunship. Our staff are visionaries who can create a stand-out trailer worthy of hitting the E3 stage. If you would like to discuss your upcoming project, please contact me at [email protected].