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Article: Competing for share and shelf space, developers put millions into marketing.(Entertainment Quarterly--Let's Make A Video Game!)
- Article from:
- Los Angeles Business Journal
- Article date:
- October 6, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 CBJ, L.P. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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BACK when the video game industry was young, a marketing campaign for a new title might have cost $50,000, and would have consisted of full-page ads in gaming magazines. No more.
Million-dollar ad buys are routine, driven by the games' growing ties to Hollywood and to huge retailers like Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Best Buy Co.
Sony Corp. has spent $10 million--about what it would use for marketing an independent film--to promote the first installment of its "Ratchet & Clank" franchise, while Vivendi Universal S.A.'s game division spent $7 million to launch "The Simpsons: Hit & Run," a video game extension of the cartoon series.
Retailers, too, ...