Achievement Unlocked 10.22.09: Franchise Management

Posted by Rod Oracheski on 10.22.2009

This week in Achievement Unlocked, 411's Rod Oracheski looks at franchises and how they sometimes just don't work out the way people expect, while The Business handles Natal's growing dev support, Civilization on Facebook, and Wii gamers failing the Dead Space test. Plus HD video from the Borderlands in HD Unlocked!

Many developers go their entire careers without releasing a top-rated title that earns unanimous praise. Fewer still create the blockbuster hit that gets their name into the upper echelon of design. The Holy Grail of game success, however, is experienced by even fewer still. That grail is having their title earn the status of franchise, a lofty goal that's rarely realized.

Every gamer knows of a franchise or two. Super Mario Bros. Metroid. Halo. Call of Duty. Madden.

These are games that stand above the rest of the release schedule, towering properties that can force - with the announcement of a release date - other companies to reconsider their own release schedules. Take Modern Warfare 2, for example, and the flood of games vacating the November release window.

Franchises take hold of consumer awareness in a way that other games simply can't. Many Madden fans, for example, couldn't tell you when any other game will hit shelves but they know exactly when Madden is going to go on sale. Much of that awareness is fostered by advertising, of course. The deluge of ads surrounding the Halo 3 launch made certain everyone that could possibly be interested in Halo knew it was coming.

The allure of a franchise isn't set in stone, however. Seemingly strong franchises can lose their grip on fans, though the means by which they do so are varied. Some franchises suffer through a series of sub-par releases that cause interest to wane, while others fall back with the onset of a rival franchise from a competing publisher. Franchises can also be 'milked' to death, one of the more common reasons for a drop in popularity it seems.

It's also possible to rejuvenate a franchise, as EA recently did with the Need for Speed series. With a new focus, Need for Speed: Shift brought the franchise back from the brink of irrelevancy.

What seems impossible, however, is the deliberate creation of a franchise. Many developers and publishers have tried to foist a 'hey, love this!' creation on gamers, only to see the desired affection fail to materialize.

Microsoft succeeded in their creation of the franchise part of Halo. They took a very good game and made it something people desired to the tune of over three million units sold in the first week of Halo 3's availability. Even ODST, a title that was decried as 'just' an expansion pack - a criticism that the game wasn't able to shake - sold over 1.5 million units in the US alone in its first month on the charts.

Killzone

A franchise as yet unrealized

That's the kind of future Sony wants for two franchises: Killzone and Uncharted.

Sony wants those million-unit first day sales numbers, the kind of numbers that make mainstream media sit up and take notice. This free publicity then generates even more sales, sort of a PR snowball. Midnight launches, tie-in promotions, and a constant blitz of attention that will ensure anyone who games knows about the game - that's what Sony is hoping these franchises can become.

The Killzone franchise has, in comparison with Halo, underperformed thus far. The original game, despite strong imagery afforded by the Helghast's design, wasn't able to grab that mass-market attention needed for an entry-level franchise title. Killzone 2, released earlier this year, didn't generate the sales expected from a multi-million dollar development budget and four years of media pressure.

The Killzone franchise is, at this point, just not in the same league as a Halo franchise release, whether that's in terms of consumer awareness or retail sales, and that has to be frustrating to Sony executives. The flagship FPS franchise, outsold by a spinoff RTS title from the competition's franchise? There will be wholesale changes to the way the Killzone franchise is marketed prior to Killzone 3 after that. Expect to see far more TV spots and magazine ads, areas the Killzone 2 marketing seemed to fall short.

That turnaround can already be seen in the marketing for Uncharted 2. Prior to the game's release there were countless TV ads, done in the new 'put humor before the sales pitch' style started with the 'confirm or deny' PS3 Slim advertising.

Uncharted is obviously being aimed at a 'key franchise' placing in Sony's roster of titles and, unlike Killzone, it appears they've hit the mark with this one. It'll be interesting to see if sales indicate consumers think so too.

Halo

A million-unit monster

For Microsoft's part, they're still trying to find the line between 'not enough Halo' and 'too much Halo' with an announced six-year plan for the franchise. They've introduced - though not yet released - Halo Waypoint, a sort of 'Halo library' which can be accessed from the Xbox 360's dashboard and allows gamers to explore the franchise's setting in great depth. The full feature list for Halo Waypoint isn't yet known, though there are some interesting Achievement-related features that will bear checking out in the future.

On the games front, we already know about Halo: Reach, and though little apart from the title is really known at this point, the game is already seeing quite a bit of discussion on possible plot points and gameplay features. The backstory of Reach (a titanic battle between Covenant and UNSC forces) was revealed, at least partially, in a Halo novel called The Fall of Reach - with speculation spinning off from that jumping point.

Depending on who you ask (and on what day) Halo: Reach is anything from just another Halo game with a brand-new graphics engine, a squad-based shooter more akin to Ghost Recon, a third-person shooter mixed with action game elements, and a host of other ideas.

That's the grasp that a franchise has on its fans.

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Developers keep saying they like what Microsoft's motion controls offer, Civilization will appear on Facebook, and the Wii userbase fails the Dead Space test - this week in The Business.

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Rare Sees Natal's Potential

In an interview, Rare's George Andreas said the development studio sees unlimited potential in Microsoft's upcoming motion control system.

"The thing that I've personally seen over the last nine or ten months working closely with Natal is that boundary [limitations set by a standard controller] just isn't anywhere in sight yet," Andreas said. "It's a massive ocean of possibilities and it really is going to open up the mind. At the moment we haven't got anywhere near the limitations of what that hardware will be able to bring to entertainment in the future."

While it's not surprising that a Microsoft first-party studio would find potential in the company's new control scheme, it's not the first praise the upcoming motion control platform has seen. A panel of Japanese developers heaped accolades on Natal during a TGS panel, while EA has expressed interest in Natal, and Epic's Mark Rein recently said any future 360 title would likely include Natal support.

It's interesting to see an idea like Natal gaining ground with the development community, but is any of this translating into consumer interest?

Credit: Now Gamer

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Civilization To Appear On Facebook

With the word that Farmville, a free-to-play Facebook game, is the world's largest game (reportedly hosting over 30 million players) it's perhaps not unusual that Sid Meier's Civilization series will be appearing there as well.

Dubbed "Civilization Network" the game is due in 2010, and though not many details are known it seems a good fit for the social network. Civilization is a franchise that many casual gamers know, and Facebook's potential userbase (reportedly over 300 million accounts) offers a potentially strong consumer base for microtransactions.

Credit: Gamasutra

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Wii Userbase Fails Dead Space Test

EA's Dead Space Extraction sold a dismal 9,000 units in September's NPD, not a solid showing for a title that EA previously said they considered a test of the platform's penchant for mature content.

The game is just the latest to fall flat in a string of Wii releases aimed at a more 'hardcore gamer' crowd. It's a trend that, as it continues, publishers will be forced to accept in the future.

Wii owners, if you want those games - get out there and buy them. Lack of support from third-party developers is directly related to a lack of support for third-party games.

Credit: Industry Gamers

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Borderlands

Not recommended for those with OCD

After getting Borderlands a few days early I had planned to be sitting here with a level 10 in each class and have something comprehensive to say about the game today. Unfortunately life got in the way, as it's known to do, and now I have a new car, a new dryer, and a level 20 Hunter. Well I did manage to play some after all.

In any case, here's the game in a non-comprehensive nutshell. You choose one of four classes based on what appeals to you, then jump into a game that feels remarkably like Diablo if it was a FPS. Enemies don't show a great deal of brainpower, though they do occasionally take cover behind objects (sometimes objects that are explosive, which is just a poor idea) and explode into a glorious shower of ammo, upgrades, and weapons when they die.

Performance is outstanding from a graphics perspective, with a unique look (the game's much talked about switch from 'standard Unreal Engine' to a more cel-shaded appearance) and little in the way of framerate drops or screen tearing. Even the network code has been rock solid, with four-player action for hours without an issue.

One caveat there, though. The game runs from the host, and when they leave it'll disconnect everyone else and dump them to the main menu...without saving. If you're in the middle of buying something, you might find yourself without it if the host leaves. Simple solution though - just have the other players leave the game first, then have the host quit.

I'm not sure this will endure the Modern Warfare 2 juggernaut that's coming in a few weeks, but there's definitely enough here that you'll get your money's worth prior to that November 10th release. It's also unique enough that I think you'll be tempted to jump back in when Modern Warfare burnout starts to set in.


Just one from Borderlands today, but check the YouTube channel for more during the week.



If you have any questions or want to request any videos, leave a comment below. Until next week, I'm out.