The Adventure Game Is Dead–Long Live the Adventure Game–Part 2
The Adventure Game Is Dead–Long Live the Adventure Game!
Part 2
Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, the adventure game is positioned for an industry-wide rejuvenation. Mask of Eternity, Grim Fandango and Gabriel Knight 3 are all poised to transport players to a new level of adventure gaming. But what happens if these games do not sell? What if the abysmal slump that adventure games are mired in continues? Maybe now is the time for Sierra, LucasArts, et al., to reconsider some of their staid marketing strategies. There are numerous avenues that adventure game developers/producers/marketing departments have largely ignored and that should be given strong consideration before we end up tossing that last shovel of dirt on the adventure genre.
Marketing
As it is now, Company X will have an adventure game scheduled to be released in November. In February of that year Company X will run a few one-page advertisements for their new game in all of the major computer gaming magazines. As the release date nears, the sales pitch will increase to a glossy two-page spread and will now contain some glowing quotes from web sites and magazines that have previewed or played a beta of the game. There might be some positive word-of-mouth on the newsgroups and some of the major software chains might have standees or posters advertising the game. That’s it. That is usually the extent of publicity received by an adventure game. Then when a Curse of Monkey Island or a Black Dahlia don’t meet or exceed expected sales figures, LucasArts or Take 2 bemoan the fact that adventure games are dead, and they question whether or not it would be profitable to produce another one. Did it ever occur to these companies that their staid marketing policies are a large part of the problem? Turn your television channel to Fox or WB or Nickelodeon some night or morning and what do you see? Crash Bandicoot, Mario, Sonic and countless others cavorting across the screen. Open up a comic book, look at the back of a cereal box, visit a toy store and you are visually assaulted by video game mascots hawking their latest escapades. Figures that are seen by millions of potential customers every single day. Does anyone really believe that Curse of Monkey Island would have had such dismal sales figures if LucasArts put the same effort into marketing its adventure games as it does its Star Wars franchise? The Blackstone Chronicles by John Saul and Big Brother (based on George Orwell’s 1984) are two soon-to-be released games based on novels. Might these games not enjoy better sales if they sent fliers to fan clubs of these two novelists or ran some advertisements on the Arts & Entertainment network? How about some plugs in literary magazines and bookstores to cross-promote the games. The possibilities are only limited by marketing departments that seem to be bankrupt of imagination.
Outside of a computer environment, how many other places have you seen publicity for Grim Fandango? None. Why not advertise in detective magazines? Or sponsor some 1930s and 1940s mystery films on the American Movie Classics channel or Turner Movie Classics, two television stations that appeal to the “film noir” audience that Grim Fandango is attempting to reach. Let’s expand our reach beyond the core gamers and bring in some fresh blood. Take a chance, rechannel some of that advertising revenue that is currently being wasted on junkets, promotion parties and E3 and seek out some fresh arenas of advertising.
Merchandising
A second area where marketing departments have completely missed the boat is merchandising. King’s Quest, Gabriel Knight and Zork, to name but a few, have been around for years, but how many of you have T-shirts, mugs or even action figures from any of these best-selling series of games? Stop by your local Toys R Us or Electronics Boutique and you will find numerous action figures from Duke Nukem, X-Files and Resident Evil, all relative newbies to the field. Now even in my wildest dreams I don’t believe that Gabriel and Grace would have the wide appeal of Mulder and Scully, but why not offer limited-edition collectible figures to the fans? Plus, if these figures were to be produced on a limited basis, they could easily become much sought-after collector’s items. There is a hardcore audience who would love to have action figures/T-shirts/posters of their favorite characters from the King’s Quest, Space Quest and Quest for Glory series, to name but a few. Items that focused on the fantasy and/or horror aspect of these games could draw numerous new fans to the genre. An entire market for revenue has once again been overlooked simply because marketing departments have never had to encourage consumers to purchase adventure games that once sold simply because of their company logo.
Add-Ons
It’s not as ludicrous as it sounds. Add-ons and expansion sets are what have kept games like Quake and Command and Conquer at the top of the bestseller lists. Not only is the replay value of these games enormous, but you do not see many of them for sale soon after their initial release since you need to own the original to play the add-on. Imagine, though, that you have just spent about 40 hours and 50 dollars completing Mask of Eternity and you know with regret that it will be at least another two years until Sierra releases a sequel. You have two options, either sell the game at a loss or, if you are a collector, let it gather dust on your shelf. But what if there were that one unexplored area of Daventry that you wondered why you could never access during your quest. Wouldn’t you purchase an add-on for $14.99 or $19.99 that opened up new and uncharted areas of exploration? If the original were required to play the add-on, wouldn’t that cut down on the selling of the games on the newsgroups (thus forcing more people to buy the game new) and also encourage new players who wanted to buy the add-on to also purchase the original? It would be a win/win situation for the consumers and the publishers. According to a JA survey we conducted last month, over 70 percent of our audience would purchase add-ons if they were available. So the only question remaining is, what is stopping Sierra and LucasArts?
Multi-Platform and Cross-Genre Games
There are two categories that some adventure game distributors have taken notice of and that is the possibilities of increasing their audience through releasing games on multiple platforms and combing genres. Though the bigger boys, i.e., Sierra and Lucas Arts, have yet to recognize the profit potential, some smaller companies like THQ (Broken Sword) and Broderbund (Myst and Riven) are to be commended for their foresight in this area. It can only be a positive that a younger PSX crowd is now being exposed to adventure games that first appeared on the computer. In Japan and France, there is a noticeable increase in the amount of PSX adventure games available mainly due to a larger adult playing base for he console. The majority of Americans still look at the consoles as electronic toys for kids. A bright spot on the horizon is Douglas Adams’s decision to release his new version of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy for the Playstation and the PC.
With the release of Redjack: Return of the Brethren, THQ is also one of the first companies to release a cross-genre action/adventure game. There exists an inherent danger of alienating your adventure audience if the game relies too heavily on the action aspect, yet if the action elements are too easy to master, then the action crowd will quickly lose interest. This attempt to appeal to two diverse groups of gamers is indeed a risky proposition. According to Mark Ellermeyer of THQ, the early sales figures for Redjack are very good, and that is encouraging news for fans awaiting the release of Mask of Eternity and Redguard, two action/adventure games waiting in the wings.
Children’s Adventure Games
This is a largely untapped market with an enormous potential for growth. Currently, the majority of children’s adventure games are being produced by Humongous and are aimed at children aged 10 and under. Putt Putt the Car, Freddie Fish and Pajama Sam have all endeared themselves to thousands of youngsters. But, more encouragingly, a lot of these children have now had a positive exposure to adventure games and may carry this preference over into their teen and adult years. The drawback here is that there are very few adventure games aimed at the teenager. Are You Afraid of the Dark and Goosebumps were both excellent titles, and Sabrina the Teenage Witch will soon be enchanting players, but overall this in one area in which adventure games are sorely lacking. It is almost as if the adventure game producers have conceded the teenage years to the Doom generation. The jump in intellect from playing a Humongous product to struggling through a LucasArt/Sierra game is enormous and may actually discourage rather than encourage future gameplay. There exists a huge void in the marketplace for adventure games created specifically for teenagers, let’s hope it is soon filled.
The Clearance Bin and Compilations
Actually, the so-called “death” of the adventure game may turn out to be a blessing in disguise. As new games have not sold to expectations, they have in turn been relegated to the clearance bins. The prospect of owning an excellent game such as Amber or The Last Express or Callahan’s Crosstime Saloon for $10 to $15 has tempted thousands to purchase games that they would have never even considered previously playing. Games that did not find their audience the first time around have had new life breathed into them. Adventure newsgroups are alive with discussions about games that are years old simply because thousands of newbies were enticed by the bargain basement price and figured they had nothing to lose for such a low-cost expenditure. What many of them got was probably a memorable gaming experience that will encourage them to purchase future adventure releases.
Surely another huge factor to consider in the adventure game resurgence will be the game compilations currently lining store shelves. Sierra, LucasArts and Legend have all released affordably priced collections that have allowed new fans to acquire and try numerous games from an entire series. A few of these compilations, such as the Roberta Williams Anthology, are also excellent introductions to the historical progression of the adventure game. Unlike Doom and Quake collections that are nothing more than a thousand different ways to kill someone in a thousand different settings, the King’s Quest/Space Quest/LSL series, et al., invite you to be a part of their world in a positive and not a destructive way.
Endgame
So where does the adventure game genre stand at this moment? Has it breathed its last? It is still too early too know for sure, but I have a suspicion that this holiday selling season will be the telling factor as to whether the genre lives or dies. The big-name companies cannot afford to have any more of their product sold at bargain basement prices. But it is also time for these same companies to quit putting the blame for low sales on the consumer. There is a new generation of gamer out there that will not buy a game simply because it was made by Sierra or LucasArts. The new breed wants flashy advertisements on television, catchy magazine spreads and cutting-edge technology. The bottom line here is that there is absolutely no feasible reason why the adventure genre cannot offer all of this and more, for no matter how flashy the advertisement, no matter how colorful the spread and no matter how 3D the graphics are, the game will still be, at its heart and soul, an adventure game.
