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Xbox eMag March edition
Editor’s Comment A belated hello and welcome to the second edition of the Xbox eMag – your finger on the pulse of gaming and interactive entertainment. And indeed in the space of 30 days (ok, 40 days) since the last eMag, there have been significant developments in the field of interactive entertainment courtesy of BBC. We’ll also take a look at the rise of mobile gaming and Zynga’s foray into their own social platform. Seen the Zeebox adverts featuring a budget version of Paul Rudd? We’re looking at the second screen phenomenon and breaking down ‘TV’s newest sidekick’. Apple’s vision for the future of TV, the latest blockbuster release, and more in this month’s episode. As ever, feed your thoughts back to us: (josef.francis@ smvgroup.co.uk). Hope you enjoy, The Xbox Team 2
Content watch March has been a busy month on the content front for Xbox. In the UK, state funded BBC released their popular catch-up service BBC Conten iPlaye r on Xbox LIVE making it the UK’s only t content provider to make Its programmes available for free to all Xbox 360 users – a major coup! Complete with hand gesture and voice command recognition, this move also completes the BBC’s presence across all of the three major gaming platforms. The US was not without its own notable additions. Comcast’s Xfinity TV service, HBO Go , and MLB.TV were added to the Xbox LIVE roster towards the end of the month. Bringing the likes of De adw o o d, Band o f Bro the rs , and Ento urag e from the past as well as current popular TV shows like Eas tb o und & Do w n, Game o f Thro ne s and Bo ardw alk Emp ire , all three of these services will offer Kinect functionality. With Xbox LIVE users spending an average of 84 hours a month on the service, and half on entertainment vs. gaming, that’s 42 hours increasingly well spent. 3
Source: Brand Republic, Engadget, Mashable, Variety.com, Business Insider
Mobile Gaming on the Move In the past nine months, reports are filtering through of industry vets ditching console gamer production juggernauts (EA, Freestyle Games, Lucas Arts), leaving behind hugely successful ‘triple A’ titles like Madden, DJ Hero, and Maniac Mansion. Games like Infinity Blade, sophisticated role-playing games available in Apple’s iOS, are seen by some console killers
Why? A chance at a piece of that $4 billion Apple has paid out to App Store developers thus far surely couldn’t hurt.
Since opening in July of 2008, the App Store has generated over 25 billion downloads and earned over $5.71 billion in revenue;
developers.
70% of which is paid directly to
A closer inspection of those 25 billion downloads reveals
that 75% of the top
grossing apps are games, and the most profitable apps are of the freemium variety – those titles that are free to download and play, but give users the option to augment their gameplay experience via micro-transactions for virtual goods.
Are gamers abandoning their consoles in favour of mobile devices? Not necessarily. Sales of top, triple A, titles remain very strong as seen recently with the latest C all o f Duty release (first five day sales exceeding that of the final Harry Po tte r instalment). However as mobile platforms continue to develop, and the gap in price (£50 for a console game vs. £0.99 for a mobile) appears larger and larger as purse-strings tighten, we’re entitled to wonder whether the current console model is a sustainable one.
Source: Taken from PLAYED - Denuo’s March Edition
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The duality of the TV experience What enhances your TV experience? Top notch content? A bigger, sharper screen perhaps? The answer seems to be another screen in fact. The internet, and particularly mobile internet, is now providing a commentary track to popular TV shows. 80% of American mobile internet users use the Internet whilst watching TV. 36% say they look up information relating to ads they see. The average Xfactor episode gleans 94,000 comments in social media . Media is starting to take advantage of this dual platform. Apps, ever the caricature of prevailing trends, are at the forefront of the response. Mobile app Ge t Glue lets people 'check-in‘, showing what TV programmes they are watching. The uptake? 15m users since mid-2010, with top shows getting over 50,000 check-ins. Ze e b o x natives already know the score – sharing what you watch with what your mates are watching. Sky sees the potential, forming a ‘strategic partnership’. They’re already using Ze e b o x technology in their F1 iPad app, with plans to extend to their SkyGo and Sky+ services.
Source: Warc
What do you need to do? Bare in mind people watching your ads are probably on/have quick access to the internet. Push keywords throughout your campaign not just in search but in your ad creative too. Use social media to engage in these conversations, including real-time responses to consumer comments, good and bad!
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Delving a little deeper - Zeebox The app has been around for a while, but you may have only recently seen the ads on TV... Zeebox is a new TV app based around audience participation. Viewers can check what their friends are watching, research topics and buy products linked to the shows. So, if you were watching Jeremy Kyle you could research threesomes on Wikipedia and buy a Moonpig card without navigating away from the Zeebox page. Finally.
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Zeebox links online to TV, increasing consumer engagement with product placements and ad breaks. How? Zeebox provides branded click through opportunities that coincide with what they see on TV. Take Hardy’s wine, who sponsor Come Dine With Me – viewers could be led to their site via a Zeetag just as they fancy a glass of wine. And during the ad break, when a Loyd Grossman zeetag prompts them to buy online at Tesco, they are more likely to take action than when watching the ad on TV alone.
Zeebox in apption: Zeebox in apption: • Popularity gauge of programme •• Twitter/Facebook commentary Popularity gauge of programme •• Live Zeetags driving online purchase Twitter/Facebook commentary •• News, apps and downloads Live Zeetags driving online purchase •• Chat/watch with (presumably News, apps and downloads unemployed?) friends about ‘This Morning’with (presumably unemployed?) friends about • Chat/watch
Cutting the middle-man - Apple TV Apple’s vision for the future of TV is becoming clearer – here’s the dream: • • • • • •
Build a TV set that is much cooler and easier to use than anything else out there Charge twice as much for it Assemble, in essence, a cable company with tonnes of great content by cutting deals with content providers Pay the content providers practically nothing Reduce cable companies to pipes and vehicles by redesigning and taking control over the television interface Capture a subscription revenue stream, the sort currently owned by cable
If this sounds like bullying, it’s something we’ve already seen them do to the music biz, namely: • • •
Give us your content and let us package it in the way we (and consumers) want Let us charge what we want for it Take what we give you
If you find yourself in the unlikely position of sympathising with the TV industry, hold on just a cotton-picking minute. They’re extremely rich with resources and power Apple’s fallen foes in the music, publishing and printing industry can only dream of. Only if Apple are willing to spend billions of dollars on content will they wrestle the content away from the cable companies.
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Source: BusinessInsider
Mass Effect 3 release Decisions with consequences – that’s what the Mass Effect trilogy has traded off extremely successfully in the five years since its first release in 2007. Mas s Effe c t 3, the concluding title released in early March, sold 1.85 million units in its first week. This puts it ahead of both of its predecessors, widely believed to be two of the greatest games ever made. And yet, there are forlorn cries from the faithful. It seems as though all choices lead back to more or less the same ending – mon dieu! Fans took to the blogs to voice their disappointment, with Mass Effect developer BioWare describing the feedback as “incredibly painful”. A miserable end for such a distinguished franchise? Happily not. BioWare will produce a downloadable ‘extended cut’ for the summer hooray for public outcry! Insiders say those wishing to see hero Captain Shepard on a beach sipping cocktails will be disappointed. Rather, the end will focus on dark, moody bits.
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Zynga’s Social Expansion Zynga, the guys who wasted hours of your life with FarmVille and Emp ire s & Allie s , have long teased us with plans for a social gaming platform – those devils! On March 1st, Zynga revealed that they would be launching a beta later this month of their new Zynga Platform on Zynga.com.
The platform will serve up existing Zynga games and new games by third party developers, with a social engine to help players connect and discover new titles. The Zynga Platform allows other game developers to use its platform and API to host their own games. Most recently, they announced that powerhouses Konami, Playdemic (makers of Gourmet Ranch), and Rebellion would be launching games on Zynga.com. What does this mean for Zynga’s relationship with Facebook? After all, accounting for 12% of Facebook’s revenue (through the 30% cut they get from all in-game payments and the advertising revenue they generate from Zynga’s 240 million monthly active users), a break-up would surely impact on Facebook’s upcoming IPO. Zynga.com’s General Manager Manuel Bronstein remains committed to partnering with Facebook: “We have a great partnership and relationship with Facebook, and we see Zynga.com as an extension of that relationship”. Friendly words. Perhaps we’ll see whether Facebook will indeed benefit from this ‘extension’ over the coming months.
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Source: Taken from PLAYED Denuo’s March Edition
Hack of the month
D.I.Y. kinect games on your Xbox. Is it real? Check it out for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z83wzJwrBK0&fe ture=related 10
Sales figures A good start to the year for Playstation leading unit sales. This result leaves the PS3 (62.9m) just behind the Xbox 360 (65.9m) in total Lifetime unit sales – Wii still way out ahead with 95.9m.
Driven by strong sales in the APAC region, Nintendo 3D’s latest mouthful of a title takes top spot globally. Elsewhere, Mass Effect 3 and Resident Evil are doing the business, with COD Modern Warfare still pulling in sales so long after its November release.
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Source: Source: www,vgchartz.com www,vgchartz.com
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