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.
