by Terra_Cide, HSM Editor-in-Chief

Jeremy Clarkson has a theory that the best automotive brands can be summed up in a phrase — and, often, in a single word. Ferrari: perfection. Alfa Romeo: the soul. BMW: chav. Toyota: washing machine. The list goes on.

Norse has, more than once, espoused this same philosophy with Home developers and their branding efforts. Lockwood are the masters at being just a little bit better at everything. LOOT are the tech heads. nDreams are the surrealists.

And Juggernaut? Juggernaut are the innovators.

This doesn’t mean that every experiment pays off. It’s easy to spend a bunch of money on developing something for Home; recovering that money is another matter entirely. And frankly, Juggernaut doesn’t do itself any favors by keeping its prices low, just to win popularity points with a bunch of forum whiners, because they ultimately end up leaving money on the table when they do score a hit (which, to be fair, is quite often). Innovation can and should drive a premium price tag — a lesson already learnt by Granzella and Lockwood — but that’s ultimately up to their discretion.

So. Let’s talk product.

In this case, the innovation is a most interesting one. Hot on the heels of Bramblenook Farm, the most overtly Facebook-style game Home’s ever seen and packed to the gills with suggestions and features requested at length by HSM team members, we get to their Emerald Isle Adventure Pack.

And this poses a challenge.

The challenge is this: Home’s been around for a while. So, yes, every year there are holiday-themed items and such released. Which, after half a decade of accumulated stuff, raises the bar and makes it difficult for anything to stick out. Not only do you have to create something that gains some measure of attention, but you have to top what you – and everyone else – did the prior year. Now, granted, by the time another year has rolled around, there have been at least two major core client updates which introduced new features, so there’s historically been room for new features and the like to be exploited.

But it still requires imagination. And, more importantly, a keen sense of what the market wants. So let’s see what the lads in San Diego have cooked up this time:

In a nutshell: not bad.

Let’s start with the obvious: Juggernaut’s on to something with these Essence commodities. Every good Home developer has a halo product — the Gift Machine, the portable EOD/RadioIO, the Casino chips, etc. — and Juggernaut’s various Essences embody the idea of reinventing your personal estate, breathing new life into old investments. It’s a brilliant innovation (even if they misspelled it in their own promotional video), and it shows that Juggernaut is learning a lesson that really only Lockwood (and perhaps Digital Leisure) have mastered: namely, simply bundling items together and selling them isn’t enough. They have to be packaged in such a way so that the package itself is a sub-brand.

Take Lockwood as an example. Lockwood is the main brand. Then there’s the Sodium Universe, which has its own distinctive post-apocalyptic aesthetic. After that you have Drey, which has established itself as a sub-brand for a particular style of fashion. Now you have a third tier, with Drey Noir being introduced. Lockwood did the same thing with personal estates, by tying multiple properties together under the “Dream” aesthetic — and even bringing in the Gift Machine sub-brand to further enhance it.)

With these various Essences, Juggernaut has something which is more than just a stand-alone product. And that’s critical to building brand awareness, reputation, and repeat business. Because the Essence lamp, in its various forms, is synonymous with Juggernaut. This leads to increased awareness for any products tied in with it.

From the video, the Essence of the Emerald Isle doesn’t seem to do much beyond sprout four-leaf clover patches throughout your estate. But that’s not important. What’s important is that it carries on Juggernaut’s successful concept of having user-controlled environmental effects. And, further, it draws us into the rest of the commodities:

• The Shamrock Table and Chairs, which seats four people but only takes up three furniture slots (another practice which Juggernaut has latched onto; note their Festive Table from their Winter Adventure Pack), and appears to be giftable;
• The Mysterious Rainbow Maker, which looks like a fun, semi-environmental effect which can be used in multiple settings;
• The Butterfly Perch, a three-person sofa with what looks like a nice butterfly animation added to it (something I can’t recall seeing much precedent for in Home);
• A “Speedy Hover Shamrock” LMO — odd, and yet why not?
• Festive clothing accessories and dancing, which we’ll talk about in greater detail momentarily; and
• Paddy the Pot O’ Gold companion — a surprising choice, considering companions as a market segment are virtually dead, implying a heavy dependence on impulse purchase.

Here’s what catches my attention, personally: the festive dancing. The night before I received the email from Elena over at Juggernaut, I had bought the nDreams dance pack (because I love me some Carlton), and in that moment, had thought out loud that Irish step dancing would be perfect in Home, complete with Michael Flately’s modified yoga warrior pose. So imagine my delighted surprise at seeing this.

When you see it…

Back when LMOs were first introduced, this publication clamored for authentic jig, reel and hornpipe Celtic hardshoe dance animations. This is due in large part to the fact that Norse actually knows how to perform those dances (which I’ve witnessed in live action and will one day record for our collective viewing pleasure) and is an unabashed Flatley fan. Still, even if there were no sound effects added, who wouldn’t want to see Home’s ubiquitous running-man trains replaced with spontaneous Riverdance lines? Juggernaut’s stab at it is a bit limited — judging from the video, it looks like it’s not much more than your basic shuffle-hop-step (with the ankles barely crossed), and possibly a variant hitch-kick, but at least it’s a step-dance in the right direction.

In case you’re one of the five people on the planet who missed the Irish dance craze:

Besides, I’m a Celtic redhead and I want to see a feis in Home. Because that’d be some damn good craic. Somebody needs to make it happen. Déan láithreach bonn é!

Is there still sufficient appetite for another round of holiday-themed commodities in Home? Without Sony doing much on its end to try to attract new users to the service, developers are fishing from the same pond of hardcore spenders that have been around for a while now. But these items from Juggernaut are definitely worth a look, if nothing else. And likely worth your money. Because here’s what Juggernaut does quite well: for the most part, they stay focused on what people want to buy, rather than just what they want to sell.

And from a publication which focuses heavily on Home’s consumer behavior economics, praise doesn’t come much higher than that.

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One Response to “Juggernaut, and the Luck of the Irish”

1. Jin Lovelace says:

   March 6, 2013 at 2:16 pm

   An enchanting article. I’ve never been into the festivities of St. Paddy’s day but it’s quite interesting to see something like this on Home to keep traditions and cultural experiences alive.

   Kudos.

   Reply