High Dynamic Range Lying

It is no secret that one of the chief steps in gaining and subsequently maintaining market dominance is brand loyalty. Nintendo maintained a strangehold on the 8 bit and 16 bit eras because of the often rabid fanbase that Nintendo has gathered over the years. Sony dominated the last two hardware generations, because Sony fans once believed, and still believe, that the Playstation brand meant something special to them.

Market Dominance and brand loyalty tend to go hand in hand. Because of the large amount of competition in the hardware circle in the current wave of hardware consoles, brand loyalty is becoming increasingly necessary. As third parties continue to take more and more of their properties down the multiplatform path, first party companies are finding that building a stable of quality first party properties is the most reasonable way to differentiate themselves from the competition. Many older gamers are also able to purchase multiple consoles, so it’s important to create loyalty among your fanbase.

Not to mention that a loyal fan can act as free marketing. Gamers, like any person passionate about their hobby, love to share with others what they think is great. Fans of a particular brand are more likely to introduce games associated with that brand to others than games have encountered on other platforms. That kind of advertising is not only trustworthy, from the view of the potential customer, but it also costs the company absolutely nothing.

It’s difficult to build loyalty purely via business practices. Creating great first party games, making affordable hardware, and making sequels to much loved franchises are all steps in the right direction, but each of these does not necessarily build loyalty, specifically at the expense of the competitor.

Quite simply, loyalty is a two way street. If you do not remain loyal to your own customers, they will likely not stay loyal to you. This stretches to the most basic of business practices, as one would imagine. Games for Windows Live! is an excellent example of a crack in loyalty. Staunch supporters of Xbox Live and the Xbox brand have recently been rather vocal about the pricing structure of the soon to be released Live initiative on PCs, calling its forced pricing on previously free features a “rape” of the PC gamer.

Sony also had its fair share of turncoats after its initial pricing announcement of the Playstation 3. Once rabid Sony fans vehemently opposed the pricing model, some going as far as boycotting the product until a suitable price drop, or a complete restructuring of the price model took place.

Loyalty gained through honest business practice isn’t enough. The company must gain something more than just brand loyalty: frothing demand. The many methods by which a company can go about this are plenty, and many of them have been done before, to great effect.

The following are some successes in philanthropic marketing from all over the industry, and why they are successes.

Club Nintendo

Club Nintendo is Nintendo’s Japanese rewards program. Players collect point cards by purchasing Nintendo products. Point card codes are then entered into the Club Nintendo website under the owner’s account, and points are added to the owner’s total. From there, points can be used to purchase items off the Club Nintendo site. The genius in Club Nintendo is two fold: not only are all products on the site (including figures, Nintendo Music CDs, and even games) exclusive to Club Nintendo, but members that gain a certain number of points over the course of a year are made Platinum Members. Platinum members then choose a free gift from a list at the end of the year, which is then sent to them, free of charge.

Playstation Underground/Gamer Advisory Panel

The Playstation Underground has been around since the days of the original Playstation. Players sign up for a subscription to the Underground, and receive demos and exclusive beta invitations via e-mail and snail mail. The Gamer Advisory Panel, on the other hand, is something entirely new. Considered somewhat of an internet focus group, the Gamer Advisory Panel is basically an invitation only network that allows Sony gamers to post their game collections, blog about their thoughts on gaming, participate in pivotal gaming surveys, and more. The whole idea is made to make the gamer feel special; to make them feel as if they have the ability to change the course of game development. Who knows? Maybe they actually do.

Xbox Live Marketplace

Now it looks as if every next generation console has internet access with the ability to download additional software. Sony has its Playstation Network Store, and Nintendo has its Wii Shop Channel. The Xbox Live Marketplace was really the first fully functional online marketplace for gaming consoles, though. Primarily created to purchase extra content for games already purchased by the gamer, Xbox Live Marketplace has become the sole vehicle by which demos for the Xbox 360 are disseminated to the public. Players don’t pay a single penny for demos, and don’t have to purchase a magazine to access the demo. They don’t even have to leave their homes! The only problem is that demos for big games often never see the light of day, sadly.

NIS America Merchandise Shop/RosenQueen

Nippon Ichi Software is a niche developer in both America and Japan, but they have gained quite a following in recent years in the States, due to releases like Disgaea and Makai Kingdom. To answer demand for NIS related products, such as Prinny plushies, and Disgaea figure sets, NIS opened an online store where those products are exclusively available. The store recently became Rosen Queen, but instead of changing their merchandise, they have expanded it to include products published by other companies, such as XSeed’s Valhalla Knights. The NIS store doesn’t rank as high as others on this list, because it is a regular store like any other (with no point system to speak of), even if their fan products are exclusive.

Nintendo Mobile Shop Japan

Nintendo has such a wide catalogue of games lying in every genre, so it’s not surprising that their mobile shop has something for everyone. Other gaming companies also have cell phone shops like Nintendo’s where you can download ringtones, wallpaper, and games related to franchises owned by the company in question. Some of the sites even have a far bigger selection than Nintendo’s, such as Square Enix’s au EZWEB mobile shop. Why is Nintendo’s on the list then, and not the others? Simply put, Nintendo offers ring tone and wallpaper gifts to visitors with absolutely no membership or purchase necessary. Last May, Nintendo offered a free midi download of the Super Smash Bros. Brawl main theme, composed by Nobuo Uematsu, more than a year before the game’s release.

Do you think services like these are important to market success, or do you think it’s a waste of time and money? Let your voice be heard, and comment!