Planetside 2 Hype/Advertising ideas.

[Cosmical]

Advertising is something that can make or break a new game, even with the previous fan base, with so many free to play games and fast paced shooters, Planetside 2 needs to stand out and retain an audience for years to come.

Whereas I have faith that an advertising campaign is in motion, and defiantly enjoy Higby’s association with us fans. I would like to discuss potential advertising ideas and concepts.

I’m sure you are all active gamers, and maybe even if you don’t enjoy other FPS’s you have been the victim of successful advertising at some point, my question is what was your favourite and why?

Personally I am a big fan of Rock Star’s recent advertising campaigns, (LA Noire, Red Dead Redemption) not treating the consumer like an idiot, yet using enough jargon proof language that even the technically clueless understands why they should be excited.

I suggest a few videos talking about the tech of Planetside 2, not from a coder’s point of view, but for the casual gamer. Pointing out exciting aspects like “here is a screen shot of 50 Sunderer’s, each of them containing 6 players”, and how that could quite possibly be a regular occurrence on the battlefield. I think time needs to be spent suitably explaining just how big and free flowing these battle are going to be. I’m positive most people assume they’re getting another MAG. Especially when developers use vague buzz words like “HUGE!” and “PROGRESSIVE!”

I’m sure all of this is on the way, and we will more than likely shape the hype of the game during beta.

But to reiterate, what other games advertising campaigns/trailers have worked for you? And what would you like the uninitiated to see of PS2 to get them interested in say a 30 second trailer?

[Kaotc]

i think one of the best things they could do, is get on board with Steam... that will yeild a very large number of 'oh, ill give that a shot' players (being that its F2P) and then the game will do the rest to get them hooked. (i hope)

[Kaotc]

The problem with Steam is they require 'X' amount of revenue generated from the game. Now with Sony already having a relationship with them with DCUO and it being F2P, they very well might have Planetside 2 on Steam and that alone would bring it potential thousands.

thats what im thinking, Everquest and DCUO are already on steam, so would make sense that SOE's next F2P to be on there aswell. instant massive audience.

[Scrima]

As long as there is a standalone client, all for getting more people through steam (personally I hate steam but I know it is very popular).

[DeathHaze]

i think one of the best things they could do, is get on board with Steam... that will yeild a very large number of 'oh, ill give that a shot' players (being that its F2P) and then the game will do the rest to get them hooked. (i hope)

I try every f2p game that ends up on steam. I'm not everyone, but this may be a good idea. I would love to see it on steam. That system is slowly acquiring all my games to the point where a small handful of the games on my comp aren't steam related, the rest, on steam. And with DCUO and steam together, the potential is there :)

Another advertizing idea may be getting a HUUUUUUUUUUGE group of ppl in beta, all real, regular people, and put that into a TV advertizement. With a caption somewhere along the lines of "Can the game you're going to play do this?" *Commence battle*

I'm sure there's a couple hundred players that would be willing to organize something like that if they had the chance of getting their character name onto tv. (not sure how that would all work, but I'd sign up for it)

[Kaotc]

problem with TV commercials for the game is that its quite a complex idea, and an unheard of franchise.
also, it is in the grand scheme of things quite a niche market (PC gamers) unlike MW3 or BF3, their TV commercials are aimed at anyone that has a games console, which is probably numbered in the 100's of millions.

Also, TV commercial for F2P game? thats a very big outlay.

[headcrab13]

Steam distribution is a great idea. I'm a huge proponent of Steam and PS2 sales can only go through the roof with a massive advertising platform like that.

I don't know exactly how many tens of millions of registered Steam users there are, but I for one would jump at that opportunity.

-HC13

[PoisonTaco]

They just need to let people play the game. If they think it's fun they'll get their friends in on the action. When a game is free, it's a lot easier to get a friend to try it out with you.

I think Planetside 2 would promote a lot of people bringing in their friends because it's going to be the type of game where you want a reliable group of people to play with. You're going to want your friends to join in with you to watch your back.

[Skepsiis]

A really cool cgi trailer that gets nods in 'best trailers of the year' type lists and can be thrown around the internet could be successful.

The f2p aspect will hopefully entice a big population base quite quickly as well.

And of course steam distribution and publicity would be a mega-boost.

Hitting the big gaming conventions with engine tech and gameplay trailers should be done too.

[CidHighwind]

Settings: Grand Canyon, Las Vegas Desert, Rocky Mountains, California Coastline, Red Wood Forest.

Setting transfer: CGI of participants getting into IN game vehicles with hardcore, country, alt-rock, classical and dubstep music.

IDEA: All of the Planetside 2 staff participating in a massive Laser tag (simulating real) combat situation at each setting. After a 5-6 second clip of T-ray, Higby, Storm, etc all in their respective empire costumes and at different locations, they get in a Reaver, Mag-rider, Hoof-it, and all end up in a central setting where they continue to duke it out - not breaking the flow is important to convey one huge battlefield. Maybe throw in a 'tag-team' moment to indicate a persistent world.

Cmon. seriously. how badass would it be to see T-ray and higgles duking it out with high powered laser rifles as an advertisement scheme? eh? eh? :groovy:

EDIT: Yes, i know, its already been done in a way... but MOCKING that commerical will draw in that crowd, especially if you tease it by saying "yeh, know that game you like? Yeh, how about an endless battle with no 'maps'... get out with that old s***, and play this free, better stuff!"

[Mastachief]

They just need to let people play the game. If they think it's fun they'll get their friends in on the action. When a game is free, it's a lot easier to get a friend to try it out with you.

I think Planetside 2 would promote a lot of people bringing in their friends because it's going to be the type of game where you want a reliable group of people to play with. You're going to want your friends to join in with you to watch your back.

This like over 9000 times.

The original came too early (obligatory"that's what she said hur hur hur") and i found that although i had lots of friends and attended many large LAN parties it was nigh on impossible to get people to try a game they had never heard of that cost £30 for the game and then £7.50 permonth.

Back then if you didnt have a top of the range pc you could not enjoy the game, so that also led to issues

If you didn't have the best broadband connection available you also could not play the game.

Today everything is different.

F2p will allow even your granny to have a go along with this she'll be able to play it on that 4 year old gaming pc you donated to her on her free broadband connection that shes getting with her premium television subscription and phone package.

The game no longer has a £2000 entry cost to play, even console people could scrimp together £500 for a half decent computer and try it out.


All this said even with it being on steam some sort of long term advertising plan would only serve to improve and grow the community.


Word of mouth is free and everyone should do it, (i'm making and wearing a planetside2 shirt to a LAN party this weekend) I got my sister to play the game (which she now plays more than me) and i have at least 10 friends that are following my updates about the game.

[Saintlycow]

dont make a 100 million advertising campain for a dumbed down game.

+1 cookies for the first one to find out what i'm reffering to

[Bags]

Yeah chief, I've got about 10 - 15 people interested and willing to try PS2 who have never heard of the first.

Wouldn't say no to advertisement and promotion though.

[NivexQ]

Also, TV commercial for F2P game? thats a very big outlay.

Lord of the Rings online had a massive advertising campaign just for the switch to f2p

The Lord of the Rings Online Free-to-Play Launch Video - YouTube

[Crazyduckling]

When it comes to advertising, I have emailed SOE about this.

Please invite the FreddieW channel from youtube to SOE for a tour of the facilities and demo PS2 for them. Pay for all of their travel expenses. Give them game assets and let them create anything that they want for their channel. By letting them do what ever they want, they will be advertising PS2 to all of their fans without alienating their fans.

Also, invite the guys from Machinima (Seananners mostly) to see the game. Youtube is an easy way to advertise the game.

Get the Yogscast to cover the game more. They already did a small commentary on one of the PS2 videos. Give them some incentive to continue covering PS2. I now Lewis is looking forward to it.

Notch from Minecraft has repeatedly thrown his support for PS2. I even got him to tweet at Higby about his support for the game.

These are simple and easy ideas to implement once the time is right. I'm not saying we should bribe these people, but instead give them incentive to help cover PS2.

[Marth Koopa]

My advertising idea is to scrap the current trailer completely from existence because it shows broken gameplay and many placeholder things

[Scrima]

They should totally put PS2 on the cover of a major gaming mag (PC Gamer perhaps?) and hand out beta keys in the magazine, that's a great way to get a ton of people hyped. Oh wait...

[SuperMorto]

22,000 views I have got from one idea,

This number is a rough guess of course, but its due to the hours of interviews I have been doing and the streams of content, plus this is spread over 4 TwitchTV channels and 5 YouTube channels but, its bringing new/old people back/into the game and PS2.
The idea is working. If you build it people will come and take a look, and also we are still in the early days. We are hoping to quadruple this before PS2 is in beta.

But we can only try our best, in fact we have already beaten our expectations by random people on the stream looking into PS2 more because of us streaming and having a bit chat about it. this is what we set out to do, to get one person involved in Ps/PS2 and we have, so anything more is just a massive plus!

Planetside 247 Twitch TV = 5,371/35 been going for 2 months. 1000's of views on the YouTube channels to. And we are still just testing the streams.

Also its fun to talk about the ideas, but you have to get stuck into them, just like I do around here, I know some of my post seem crazy, but when you post as much as me, and contribute as much as I do, then you will have shit days. But joining in with other peoples ideas, and keeping them all linked together, so "we" as a community grow.. along with the game.

The Startcraft community is very good at this, regardless of what they do, they help and promote each other a lot, and openly support projects.

Also the reason why I created Planetside 247 was for this purpose alone. The whole idea was based on the fact Planetside 1 was under advertised, of course I was around in the first few years of Planetside, so I know how bad it was. Ok if Planetside 2 is promoted good, then we have nothing to worry about, but we can only do good, adding more and more folks to the fight.

If you cant help a project then say nothing! There is far to much of this on these forums, creative criticism is fine, but if you have no intentions in joining in the keep your mouth shut and let the idea unfold/die naturally.

But..... if you can help/join in...... then fucking go for it, join in with one of the projects here at PSU or even start your own, and lets make this game a world wide success, help a project out, doesn't have to be 247, or even the AGN, just look on the forums there are loads of things we can get our teeth into. Fuck me 247 is only doing so well due to the input of community members, and it started here at PSU.

Another idea is not to go over the top, don't start anything that is to big, it will die a death and so will you probably before the idea is even finished. Take something on you can handle or get folks to help you out. Me and Ripfang from the Blue Lions outfit where talking about this last night just after another interview. 247 is getting to big for me, as I am self employed and work long hours. So I will be calling for help, don't be afraid to do that too, I asked Xytech to help with the logos for 247 and bam! they have been copied on the internet 1000's of times!

Just ank for help if you need it. You never know ;)

Anyway there's my £1 worth. ;)

Morto.

[Graywolves]

I have nearly 700 views on my youtube video, almost finished my next one.

[SuperMorto]

I have nearly 700 views on my youtube video, almost finished my next one.

1 of them will be me ;)

[nomotog]

The best advertisement for a game is a good wiki.

[SuperMorto]

The best advertisement for a game is a good wiki.

PSU has one :)

[nomotog]

PSU has one :)

Um a little better then that. The PS wiki has a few too many red links. A good wiki has pages for every item, enemy, level and more.

[Cosmical]

Please invite the FreddieW channel from youtube.

Yes. I thought of that when i started reading replys, and low and behold you had it. I think theyre perfect to set the tone of what the average player should be excited about, or atleast get "Planetside" typed in to google a few 1,000 times.

[Chefkoch]

i think one of the best things they could do, is get on board with Steam... that will yeild a very large number of 'oh, ill give that a shot' players (being that its F2P) and then the game will do the rest to get them hooked. (i hope)

This...even Indi games make profit with steam. I dont see why Planetside 2 woud not ?!

[NewSith]

This...even Indi games make profit with steam. I dont see why Planetside 2 woud not ?!

Pride.

Besides Valve has low support for EA and Sony games for they're all their direct competitors. At least that is what you can figure out by looking at steam store today. They mostly promote indies and games by THQ.