Have Any of Home’s Public Spaces Motivated You To Buy A Game?
by keara22hi, HSM team writer
This is the question I posed in the Home forum. I also spent many hours in each of the spaces mentioned in this article, interviewing the few people who did show up there. I asked them the same questions:
- Do you own the game (in some cases, more than one game in a space) that is associated with this space?
- Did you buy it because of your experiences here? Or did you own it before you came here?
- If you do not own it, is this space making you want to buy it?
Here are the conclusions from this grassroots research. And at the end of this summary, the words of the interviewees are reprinted as corroboration.
- A public space that has no activity going on, no mini game, no item worth winning (and by this, I mean NO t-shirts), and is never updated is a waste of money to maintain if the purpose is to sell games. Just opening a space and putting game trailers in there is a one-trick pony. People will come the first week out of curiosity and never return.
- An event promoting a specific game (such as the Killzone 3 promotion tied to a very desirable costume available only to game pre-orders) is probably the most effective way to sell a new game. From the answers received, it was clear that many people purchased this game that otherwise would not have done so.
- A mini game that becomes popular, such as the Reversi game on the Mui Mui ship, will keep some people coming back to a space and can have an influence on selling a related game.
- A mini-game that can be played only once (like the one in Magic: The Gathering) is not going to bring people back for return visits. The developer has one shot at inspiring the buyer who visits this space to look at his game.
So, what could a developer do to make an existing space a better sales tool for his company?
- If you have an existing space that is standing empty and you want to get people back in there for ‘branding’ impact (you are trying to get them to recognize your brand name rather a specific game title), add music. Many groups, clubs, and ‘fams’ in Home like to have parties, and clubhouses are too limited in capacity. So they look for a deserted public space and arrive en masse, quickly maxing that space to capacity and effectively keeping out non-members. Desirability of a public space is measured by the dance music – especially if the loop is a decent amount of running time before it repeats.
- If your space is empty and you want to promote a specific game, add consoles where they can play a demo of the game. It doesn’t have to be long – even a ten-minute demo that gives them a chance to try out your battle system will suffice. Look at what BioWare did with Dragon Age 2: They had more than one MILLION people play their demo online and preorder the game to get special weapons inside the game. How’s that for some great pre-release revenues!
- If your space is still pushing a game for a PS2 that cannot be played on a PS3 (unless it is one of the rare owners who has a backward-compatible console), all I can say is, “Why?”
What could a developer who is thinking about putting a NEW space into Home do to make sure it is profitable?
- Find a way to put in a playable demo! Even if it is only a console with a link that takes them directly to your website to play it, that will sell games. People are burned out on trailers. That was big news ten years ago. Nowadays, they all look alike. If you insist on doing trailers, at least show some real people playing the game. Not just screen shots of some great special effects.
- Put in a mini-game that has levels and trophies of its own. And sell optionals that relate to that mini-game. And a personal space. And items and clothing.
- Have music that changes frequently – not the same old thing over and over again.
- Have a bar serving ‘virtual’ drinks – gamers will sit there and talk about the demo they played. Nothing is more effective than word of mouth advertising.
Is this all starting to sound like what Lockwood has been doing with the Sodium Hub? No wonder they keep winning awards.
And here are the quotes copied and pasted from the Forum. These should give some valuable insights for any developer who is producing items, events, games, and spaces to sell in Home.
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“Uncharted 2 – Among Thieves. I went to the space lots of times and liked it. So I bought the game. Great decision – great game. And, Infamous. I always wondered how the game was after playing the mini game and watching the video so I bought it. Great game.”
“The Ratchet & Clank space actually made me remember how much I liked Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction and I did get R & C : A Crack in Time. Very cool game.”
“This is one piece of Home I love: the themes of different games, I think the mini games that are coming out now are keeping people in those rooms longer.”
“I buy these games before a Home space even comes out.”
“No. I make my opinions about games and decide if I want them or not based on info released via the media and game sites. Also, as I have found that the majority of people in game related spaces already own said game. Game related spaces also tend to not get any updates. That’s why many of them are empty a lot.”
“Uncharted 2 space made me buy the game after watching the videos and seeing how well Home devs caught the feel of it. The Godfather space prevented me from buying that. The LBP space is now going to influence me to choose it as a free download game as part of the welcome back thingy. After Home I have bought Sims on PC… does that count?”
“One thing is for sure however… The new Ford space coming out will not make me want to buy a new car…”
“The long gone Warhawk public space def had an influence on me purchasing the game. Namco, yep. Ward of Despair made me very curious about Siren. I at least downloaded the demo of Siren afterwards. I bought Spelunkers based soley on the Home unlockables and the way you can game launch and how popular this public space will be when the Abandon Batcave comes and all those cool clothes in Home from the game we have. Public spaces that have games make me look twice at a game even if the game is bad.”
What really makes me buy a game based on Home? (besides it just being great) are things like Batman AA/with Batcave Apt. Mag with their preorder Sver Apt. Not many make quality items as such, but that is a huge influence on me and I think this is the best way to market your game. With a Home item like Pixel Junk Shooter and the whole Biohazard outfit, dear heavens its a must. Pixel Junk Shooter 2?…Not so much. The Home item kind of turned me away from the game and the developer actually. For me,a Tee shirt in your game for Home will actually turn me off to the game even if its a good game.”
“Good example is Socom…How many 20 year olds never even heard of the game till they saw it in Home. Also the Killzone Plaza. Probably the best example of one of the most anticipated games of 2011 and for me one of the biggest disappointments of 2011. I still bought the whole caboodle mainly because they came into PS Home with very quality gear. Marketing was better than the game itself.
If it’s one of these off brand games I never heard of and they have a Home space it makes me at least you tube the game video. So yes, Home CAN be a big influence on someone who really doesn’t even own a game.
Spaces that are designed only as an advertisement sways me in no form or fashion. The game is good or it isn’t but yes, when a dev goes out of their way and makes a great Home space, sure it makes me go, ‘Hmmm…lemme see here.'”
“Oh yes, what will make a public space better that also has a game?…Put a level of your game in Home like Spelunkers and Siren. THAT can be the demo…HA!”
Q: Have any of the public spaces motivated you to buy a game?
“No, I can’t say they have.
They could start with making video-game related spaces that are exciting to start with. Or putting something there that will be sure to bring people back. My favorite part about the game spaces is if they resemble parts of the actual game of which they are promoting; much like the Resident Evil 5 Studio Lot and Uncharted Sully’s Bar and Nepalese Village.
Regular updates would be ideal as well… Or else they get boring fast.”
“The only public space that motivated me to buy a game was E3 stage for Fat Princess. ( that cake is no lie)”
“I have made purchases from the Minis space. I just took a look at the EU Minis space and it only has one billiard game set up. It made me appreciate ours more. And, of course, Siren which I LOVE!”
“There’s only 1 space that motivated me to buy 1 awesome game. I remember that I hated LBP I said “it looks dumb”. (lol) After the space came online. I was “nice space”. I ended that day buying the LBP Pod Penthouse! And some furniture. 1 week later I went to buy the Beloved LBP.”
“I’ve always loved the quality of Irem items, and coupled with (dare I say it here now mentioning foreign lands) visiting Irem’s Pachipara space and meeting some Japanese friends I bought Pachipara 15. I had no idea what the game was like but mainly bought it to support Irem due to their high quality within Home. Since then I’ve managed to platinum Pachipara 15, and went on to buy Pachipara 16 and 17. Now I enjoy playing the games online whilst chatting to my friends in Japan (so hoping for a return soon for Japans PSN network).”
“I’ve never had the case where a space got me purchase a game…its mostly been the other way around. If I have a game and it’s featured in Home I often buy the products like the Tekken costumes. I also hung out in the Tekken space after I played thru the game.”
“I bought RE5 after visiting the cool Studio Lot…the tie-in to Home rewards like the sunglasses and treasure chest definitely helped as well.”
Some public spaces feel like this only a month after their release.
“For me personally – No – I pick the games I buy after I read up on them – see what they have to offer – and how my friends feel about the game/games.
I don’t think any public space on Home today has been designed to such an extent that it would factor into my decision of buying any game.
I have to say that the CP version of KZ3 actually turned me away from the game. I think most people who did order the game thru the CP was doing more for the Jetpack – than the game itself.”
“Actually after buying some of the Tekken costumes and the space(which was actually kinda cool) has made me actually want to try Tekken out.
The fat princess event and that awesome throne made me actually demo the game which I thought was a fun game.
And Buzz got me more excited to buy the game even though I already desired it.”
“I think that games should do more to bring people onto a platform like Home. Offering rewards like the KZ3 jetpack, RDR costumes and Lara Croft outfit may get more people to take a look at Home. Then gaming companies will have a larger audience to use Home to promote future releases. It has to be a 2-way street.”
“Killzone 3 didn’t have to be in the Central Plaza for me to buy the game. I think the people who end up buying games from within Home are what I call casual gamers. It really doesn’t make no difference to them what games are out they just get it if it looks good. However where me and other Veteran gamers who do the research and know the inside details of the game because gaming is their Hobby so to speak we all ready would pick up the game without the aid of Home. Remember gaming has been around longer than the Home beta project.
To me I think a few things have make me buy a game.
1.Knowlege of the game, if you know how it plays or have already played it before, you will most likely get the sequel.
2.Game Cover or looks. I have stumble upon a lot of great games using this method. I will be in the local Gamestop looking around and a cover would just catch my eye and I would buy it. This is how I bought Bloodrayne back in the day.
3.Friends would say the game was good. This is how I got hooked into God of War, a friend said it was a awesome game and I bought it. Friends are really good friends to share an awesome game with you
4.Magazines or Tv spots or internet media. I have several websites that I go to get the latest updates on new and old games. So if I am looking for one type of game I might run into another game that might spark my interest.
5.Game Developer, like I stated before, a good company that has a record of making good games tend to be on my radar for future purchases.”
“I think the Killzone event got me more excited to buy that game day of release, but the cake for me has to go to Socom. Both spaces got me to buy a game I thought I would hold off on. The spaces really worked both ways in the best way Home can.
People from Socom used Home to get the gun and people from Home played Socom to use thier “exclusive” unlockable. This is very similair to the Killzone event that unlocked multiplayer points.
Other than that I really enjoy the way the Konami space and the old EA spaces were. They have info on all sorts of games as well as general minigames that offer progressive unlockable items. I wouldn’t say I have bought a game because of these spaces, but it does keep me reminded of the games I do want that I haven’t picked up yet (Castlevania).”
“Killzone 3 in Central Plaza made me want the game. I ended up getting it, and hated it, but got the platinum trophy at least.”
“I’ll add that while Home may open the doors to get me looking into a game, it would have to be a pretty well-reviewed for me to end up buying it. But as for piquing my curiosity, I think Home is quite successful in this.
On a related note, I’d love to see a Rockstar Games space like LA Noire, RDR, or GTA IV.”
“For me, it has. After conquering the Ward of Despair, I was able to track down a PS2 copy of Siren. If it weren’t for the space, I wouldn’t have known what Siren was.”
“Nope! They just build spaces and then forget about them. If there were continual content updates that would be kind of different. I remember a long long time ago there was talk about EA doing a thing where you could see your Madden video uploads in their space. Well that obviously never happened.
It all really goes back to the central ideas of marketing. If you’re not continuously engaging with your customers, you’re losing out on the benefits of making an interactive environment. When it’s all just static content, in advertising terms that’s like dumping out a single ad that someone can casually visit if they want to.
The problem is that businesses, when it comes to advertising, aren’t always savvy as to what will actually generate sales numbers. I’ve read plenty of articles lately about how businesses have poured money down the drain, to the tune of millions, in Facebook advertising — and all of the recent changes on that platform to make most users only see the most interacted with pages/friends have kind of cut that all away. It’s the businesses that continually work to get top-of-mind awareness and regular customer interaction that are successful on that platform.
I really see that being the fundamental problem with some of the advertising in Home. It’s just not engaging enough from a marketing perspective — not the model that they’re using anyway. You don’t build an interactive community and leave out the interactive part.”
“Considering that most spaces come out after I’ve bought, played and traded in the game, I’d say “nope. not a one has got me to buy a game.”
“Some public spaces have influenced me into buying games “on Home”. I have bought items and spaces thanks to the public spaces on Home… So, Home keeps me on Home and updated with everything SCE… I just love how Home has turned out and what its becoming… Long live Sony and all of its PlayStation entertainment! Woot Woot!!”
A lot of money goes into a virtual space; don't let it end up like this.
“No, none of the public spaces in Home have motivated me to buy a game.”
“To the OP, I can’t really say that Home spaces made me buy any games. I have played near 200 different games as I just counted from my trophy card. Playing everything to trophy score over 2000 trophies. But I can’t really say that Home had any affect on my purchases. I do love to visit a Home space after playing a game to see the details that they put into the space. Then I buy content and dress in the game gear. I loved to visit the God Father ll space after I platinumed it. That’s what I enjoy about Home. Play the game then go into Home and see what they created for us.
Home is just a application to draw you into the ps3 to get you hooked then you end up buying games and spending on content. It’s good for people with no money that want to play games. But seems most of Home’s campers do not play games and use it as an alternate reality lifestyle.”
“I bought Burn Zombie Burn, Hot Shots Golf, Modnation Racers and Uncharted because of the Home spaces.”
“It a bit of a reverse because for much of my games, I bought the game then Home comes out with the spaces What I really wish is that games would include Home personal spaces like the Batman Arkham Asylum game did though.”
“That update that turned Central Plaza into Helghan motivated me to pick up Killzone 3. Earlier I had been wondering if KZ3 would get a home space since Guerilla has been so involved with Home. But I think this turned out better than a separate space would have been.
I like going back to the Siren space just because there’s always so many people there, either waiting for the nurses at midnight or waiting to get in the hospital. But spaces like FarCry and Hotshots are completely empty most of the time, and I wouldn’t miss them if they were removed.”
“I have actually done the reverse. I find that I’m more likely to buy a space after having a game. For instance, I bought the S.V.E.R. space because I have and play MAG. I’ve also been thinking about the Blaster’s Paradise space as I have and play Salt Shooter.
And it might not be directly related, but I bought the Post-Apocalyptic space because I have and play Fallout 3 (and the space looked cool too + it was on sale for $2.49 xD ).
I did buy Namco Mus. Essentials for the items though”
“I would agree, keep the spaces, even if people might not go to them often. At least they provide more places to go in the event someone or a group of people decide they need somewhere different to go to in Home. Also, there are many many older spaces that a lot of people in Home associate with being classic Home spaces that sort of create that sort of history and foundation of Home. Quite often many people like to revisit these spaces to play the games or just to be in them. I would agree with monstertie too. The Siren space is definitely one of those classic Home spaces. The game is fun and the space itself has a special atmosphere that many people enjoy also.”
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The goal of this article is not to denigrate the parties that have developed public spaces for Home; to the contrary, our hope is that this article helps give Home’s various developers some insights into what actually works, with this particular virtual community, in drawing and retaining traffic to their sites for the purpose of greater financial gain. Home is a for-profit commercial enterprise, yes, but the real magic — and revenue — comes when you can successfully blend art, entertainment and commercialism together.
June 3rd, 2011 by keara22hi | 16 comments
Keara is also known in Home as DarthGranny. She is a wicked little old lady with a wild sense of humor.
The best advertising,besides word of mouth,is advertising that’s fun and doesn’t feel like a 3 a.m. infomercial.You really nailed it keara,get some music and games in there and your sure to get many eyeballs on your product.Even if ppl don’t buy that particular game if the public space is done well they will remember the developers fondly and possibly buy future games from them in different genres.If the sights on the killzone gun in Central Plaza weren’t inverted,or had an option to un-invert them,i would have pre-ordered it and i usually don’t buy FPS’.If a company is going to invest in a public space on Home they really should do it right,like you pointed out above,otherwise it’s just wasted cash.
I hate to admit it… I like the rewards and the games. If it has neither, I don’t waste the download. It has to be a good reward to, because I don’t chase t shirts any more, those days are over.
Great stuff!!
Has a space motivated me to buy a game? Not yet, but I’m not ruling it out either. It certainly has opened my eyes to looking at games I may not have given a second glance at.
What I find some game spaces provide (for me personally) is an opportunity to interact with others who are either fans of the game specific to that space, or the franchise it’s attached to in general.
Well..I bought Resistance 2 because of the shooter game in the space. I bought the blaster space because of the mini game. I bought High Stakes Poker because EA shut down the poker rooms in order to stop me getting my 12th diamond bracelet. If they had a Hall Of Justice space I’m sure it would have accelerated my DCUO purchase.
I know that this kind of market research is sorely needed in Home. It goes far beyond the Polls; a poll measures ‘did they like it’. But open ended questions get the information on WHY did they like it -- or dislike it. If I was a developer thinking about putting some big money into a promotion in Home, this is the kind of information I would want, not pie charts, graphs, and tabulations.
That is why I believe that Sony has a golden opportunity with the HomeForum to use it as a large Focus group by posting these kinds of questions. And until they do, HSM staff writers will continue to gather information of this type and publish it for the benefit of all.
I my case no. Of course the types of games I play haven’t got any Home spaces so that is probably why that is the case. I can say that smart marketers would probably offer at least home avatar items (other than t-shirts) when you even download the demo of the game. Generosity begets generosity I think. I loved the fact that Rockstar had a contest for RDR avatar items and PS3 won so we got free outfits for our avatars, that was smart marketing. I also palyed the demo for infamous the other day to see if it is one of the games I would like to get free and when I came back to Home I had received free avatar items for my male avatar. Now if they gave those for females as well I would be really impressed, but I won’t look a gift horse in the mouth.
These replies came in after I had put together the article, but they really deserve to be added. Also, I was delighted to see Glass Wall’s question and Aiken Drum’s response. It really made the work of doing that thread and then this article worthwhile.
GlassWalls wrote:
I have a question for you all. Since many of the game-related spaces in Home are not updated because they were made to celebrate a single title (not necessarily a game franchise consisting of many titles) and game titles are not really updated on a core level after release, would you prefer we retire (remove) some of these spaces after some time once the game is out for a while?
Aiken Drum wrote:
Of course not. Not only do I love some of those spaces, but they I guarantee they DO generate sales well after they seem to be pointless:
I bought several Disgaea titles as a result of the Disgaea space. Then I bought some related titles as a result of buying those. Then I bought some similar titles that were on sale next to the related titles. In all, I think the Disgaea space is the root cause of my buying maybe 8-10 games. I still go back there, too, to play the in-Home games and listen to the music.
The Siren space got me to try out the game. I didn’t like it, but at least it generated enough interest for me to check it out. As far as the space was concerned, it did its job. That the game couldn’t back up the hype was the game’s fault. And, again, even though I’ve won the minigames a hundred times, I still go back, because I get a kick out of the space and the dopey 70’s music that plays occasionally.
I happened on these spaces well after other people got bored with them, mind you. If they’d been closed, that would have been a ton of potential lost. Not to mention fun. They not only kept me looking at retail games, they kept me in Home, where I have spent stupid amounts of money on a thousand items that I can’t even see simultaneously.
So, no, don’t delete them when they’re past their prime. Just Say No to Carousel.
But what if a space gives no items and has no games to play?I think Sony should be keeping track of the traffic each public space gets.If a space gets zero traffic,has no games or items,and is promoting a game from 3 years ago it’s reason for existence is no longer valid.So if it’s just taking up space that could be better utilized I’d say yank it.I would hope that it would be a long process to yank a space in order to acertain the traffic numbers but if there are spaces that aren’t being used for much and IF the number of public spaces is limited then why keep them around?Of course if the number of public spaces that can be created is unlimited then keep them.
Sorry on my blackberry: *ascertain
Never been motivated to buy a game based off of an advertisement in Home. I told some friends about the free battle points you could get in the Plaza when the KZ3 thing happened, but after a group of friends played the actual beta, we all decided it was cancer and nobody bought it. Buying a game because of exposure to marketing tactics on Home is the same thing as “judging a book by its cover.” The demos in the store do a better job of helping me make a decision.
Yes. That’s what I was hearing in the personal interviews, Travis. The trailers and the posters and the public spaces are not as important as word-of-mouth from friends you trust and from being able to play a demo of a game.
Home needs to have playable demos in here or a Hub that can connect you directly to a demo of a game. Maybe that is a feature that could be added to the Gamers’ Lounge area.
Incidently,if Sony were to keep track of the traffic to each public space they could then use that info to have a better idea what to charge for advertising in that particular area.High traffic areas would command higher advertising prices,with the addition of a survey they could keep track of a whole lot of useful info for advertising purposes.I’m kinda surprised that this isn’t done already.I mean there is already a large group of ppl using Home,why not ask them directly what kinds of advertising works best?what kinds of products they would use and pay for?And many other questions.Turning Home into a giant focus group might be offensive to some but it would be totally voluntary,hopefully.
Interestingly enough, Outso do exactly this in all their spaces. They have developed some phenomenal statistics gathering servers and use them all the time.
A good example of this is the Sodium One space, which has been redesigned twice now after listening to feedback and looking at the statistics tracking every player in the space to learn exactly what worked and what didn’t.
They have since released this system as a separate company too: http://www.playmetrix.com/
Lol I should have figured they would be on this.They always seem to be on the forefront of things that work well.Thanks for the info. Cubes and keep up the good work Outso.
In a word, “No.” Home hasnothing really to offer me in the way of influencing my game purchasing. Even with games that I have an enjoy playing, like LBP, I would not have purchased it based on what I saw on Home. However, talking with people on Home has had an impact on what games I have purchased.