Franchise Freight Train

What's in a name? One should never judge a book by its cover, but in videogame stores games are judged by their branding all the time...

It's time-warp time again. You are back in the early 1990s, a time that will no doubt come to be known as the pre-PlayStation era in years to come, and you are picking out a game for your Sega Mega Drive, or perhaps your SNES. There are ten, maybe eleven different games on offer on the shelf of the local Woolworths, where you make many of your gaming purchases, as games-specific shops do not really exist yet, nor does Internet shopping. What is it that you're looking at as you cast your eyes over the display boxes? The box artwork or the game's title? Possibly. The words 'Made by Nintendo/Sega'? Perhaps, but not necessarily. A recognisable brand name? Quite probably not. It's too early in the evolution of videogames and brands have not really had the chance to establish themselves yet; you're as well looking for a favoured developer as you are for a favoured series.

Fast-forward to 2005, and every second or third game on the shelves of your local well-stocked games-specific store is a sequel, prequel or continuation of a franchise. Names like Zelda, FIFA and Disney spring out at you from the packaging, immediately recognisable because of the prolific advertising that you have seen out on the streets and in mainstream media. It's a very different situation from that of twelve years ago. It's clear that a quite phenomenal change has been implemented in the intervening years; what is perhaps not so clear is what influenced that change, and how exactly it has affected the industry that, twelve years ago, was as familiar with popular franchises as the average fifty-year-old.

It's easy to be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of titles that flood the shelves of videogame stores on a monthly basis

It's easy to be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of titles that flood the shelves of videogame stores on a monthly basis. The ever-increasing variety of games on offer must seem especially daunting to the Christmas mothers and first-time console owners of the world. Even once the arduous console selection process is complete, there is still a mind-boggling amount of choice available when purchasing the actual games; much of the market relies on branding in order to distinguish between the reams of software presented to them. It's easy to pick out a FIFA or a World Cup football game from the dozens of less familiar names of which non-games-players have seldom heard, and people always like to think that they know what they are buying.

Brands and the familiarity that they bring with them are important to consumers in any industry, whether it be food, films or video games. Consumers feel far more comfortable when they are familiarised with the product that they are buying, either through having played a game in the same series, had it advised to them by a friend or through having seen it advertised in mainstream media. Buying less familiar names feels like a stab in the dark.

Advertising, of course, is tremendously important to the process of familiarisation. If the public has heard about your product, more people are likely to buy it, quality regardless. Ten years ago, gaming was still a relative niche market; the launch of the PlayStation played a fundamental part in gaming's transition from hobby to popular pastime. Thanks to its launch, the market that games were being presented to, as well as the image of the games industry, changed significantly, bringing about a proportional increase in the importance of advertising. Choosing a recognisable name provides today's average customer with a security net, as if a game's name is familiar, it's easy to assume that lots of people must be playing it and, therefore, that it must be reasonably good. For this reason, it's important for publishers to try and get their game's name Out There, which, especially for smaller developers, can be quite a formidable challenge.

Advertising has without a doubt changed the way in which the industry works. As well as budgeting for development costs, publishers also have to think about advertising costs as well. If a game is to sell well in this day and age, it has to be recognisable. Of course, a way to save money and ensure that a game will be familiar to the average customer is to use a licence from outside of the games industry; hence the increase in film, book and TV-licensed games in recent times.