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Murr

Game Covers to cater for casual market

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So... Bioshock Infinite cover was shown on 1st December..

 

bioshockinfinite_boxart.jpg

 

 

And response from this forum was -

 

The boxart looks.... a bit boring and generic. I was expecting something better tbh. :/

 

Generic? A rugged lead male holds a gun and stares into middle distance? Getouttatown.

 

But it would appear that many other fans were disappointed with the cover, so much so that the creative director Ken Levine had to explain the choice of cover -

 

“We went and did a tour… around to a bunch of, like, frathouses and places like that. People who were gamers. Not people who read IGN. And [we] said, so, have you guys heard of BioShock? Not a single one of them had heard of it.”

 

“And we live in this very special… you know, BioShock is a reasonably successful franchise, right? Our gaming world, we sometimes forget, is so important to us, but… there are plenty of products that I buy that I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about. My salad dressing. If there’s a new salad dressing coming out, I would have no idea. I use salad dressing; I don’t read Salad Dressing Weekly. I don’t care who makes it, I don’t know any of the personalities in the salad dressing business.”

 

“For some people, [games are] like salad dressing. Or movies, or TV shows. It was definitely a reality check for us. Games are big, and they’re expensive, I think that’s very clear. And to be successful, and to continue to make these kinds of games which frankly, of the people who make these types of games, there’s not a lot of them, and they haven’t exactly been the most successful with these types of games that have come out in the last few years. I was thrilled because I love them, and I hope that we had some small role in getting those games greenlit… But they have to be financially successful to keep getting made.”

 

“I wanted the uninformed, the person who doesn’t read IGN… to pick up the box and say, okay, this looks kind of cool, let me turn it over. Oh, a flying city. Look at this girl, Elizabeth on the back. Look at that creature. And start to read about it, start to think about it.”

 

Full interview here - http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2012/12/bioshock-infinite-box-art/

 

 

Well recently it turns out Naught Dog was also asked to change their cover for Last of Us to feature Ellie on the back cover only -

 

Johnson suggested: “I feel like they don’t put women on the covers because they’re afraid that it won’t sell. It’s all gamers really know – and I don’t want to be sexist by any means – but I get the feeling, generally, that they think game’s won’t sell as well with a woman on the cover, compared to some badass dude on the front.”

 

“I agree with what Ashley said,” Druckmann added. “I believe there’s a misconception that if you put a girl or a woman on the cover, the game will sell less. I know I’ve been in discussions where we’ve been asked to push Ellie to the back and everyone at Naughty Dog just flat-out refused.”

 

full interview here - http://www.vg247.com/2012/12/12/the-last-of-us-acting-out-the-end-of-the-world/

 

 

Do you think that cover's really do make a difference? will having a gritty character with a gun on the cover really make the "frat gamers" or what ever they are labeled as pick up and try their game?

 

Surely the (I hate the term) Bro gamer / frat gamer will only ever pick up COD/BF, Madden/FIFA, NFS on an annual basis anyway and neglect any new game.

 

 

If it's such a problem having a women on the cover, what hope does Tomb Raider have next year?

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Covers definitely do matter, it's the packaging of the product, the same with any other product. It probably doesn't matter much to us, but the cover isn't aimed at us. We are the ones keeping up to date with game news. I imagine everyone here knows about or has at least heard of Bioshock. We know whether we're going to get it or not, but people that have never heard of it, they need something to grab their attention, and that's who the covers are aimed at.

 

As for whether a girl matters, it probably does. Yes the "bro gamers" are getting the games you said annually, but occasionally they're going to nip into game and pick up a new game, and these idiots are naturally going to be drawn to the most badassest cover on the shelf.

 

Most advertising is aimed at the consumers with the lowest levels of intelligence. A shiny package isn't going to sway the ones who are going to read review, compare specs and performance etc. But the magpie morons will be captivated by the shiny packaging, so that's who companies will target.

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If a great game has a bad cover then I see no problem. If they're altering the aesthetics of the product's shell but leaving the game itself untouched, in order to satisfy a wider market, then I see no problem. Yeah sure, admitting that this is the way the business works is unsightly and not what we, the vested (what a word) people, want the industry to be.

 

That they have basically admitted Bioshock: Infinite is basically a new IP shoved under the Bioshock 'brand'. It's ugly to read that a company wants to make more money, but it doesn't have to be disjointed from the company wanting to make better games. Even if that is the case most of the time :P

 

I've just started playing Binary Domain which I picked up very cheap, and I adjusted my expectations accordingly. The cover art suggests an 80s film poster and the 'retro' look kinda cheapens the game. Plus it was a whole new IP and I hadn't especially seen it touted by any media sources anywhere. The game actually plays like a cross between Mass Effect and Gears of War - it's highly polished visually and is much better than I thought -- the thought based, largely, on the cover of the game. If that's what I did then it's clear that the 'average gamer' would've overlooked the game too. If companies can't get their game to sell then what happens, hmm?

 

TL;DR - The underbelly of the industry looks similar to the inner workings of every other for-profit market. Pains us 'loyalists' to see it, but it's reality.

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The average consumer is going to be drawn to a game that has generic box art with the lead protagonist in a cliched "badass" pose. It's sad but true, more people will pick up a box like that and think "Oh cool, another awesome looking action game."

 

Bioshock: Infinite has a very unique setting, and will no doubt filled with deep philosophical/social undertones with well crafted characterization. Yet, the cover makes it look as if it's another shooter in the same vain as Call of Duty, which completely gives it the wrong message.

 

I can see why many companies do it, because it's likely to sell them more copies of their game, it's just a shame they have to resort to that.

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Irrational Games have responded, and they are doing a reverse cover. This is currently winning:

 

cover_close-upDESIGN04.jpg

 

http://irrationalgames.com/insider/poll/

 

I think they do have to make the outside cover appeal to the masses, but I like having good covers. There's also the problem of having ratings printed on the cover. The original BioShock annoyed me greatly with having a large "10/10" box on it. And that was one rating sticker. Then you have...

 

batman-goty.jpg

 

 

Still, having a double-sided cover would be the ideal solution.

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batman-goty.jpg

 

 

...Is that even real? I couldn't even read the effing title!

 

When I saw that, at first glance I actually thought the game was called "10 out of 10!" It appears to be the actual box art too. Seriously, who the hell designed that?!

 

On another note, double sided covers are definitely a great idea! :)

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Both the reverse cover idea and IG's refreshing honesty are brilliant responses the whole thing, although I'd like to see some kinds of facts and figures backing up the fact that middle-distance blokes with guns sell games. Skyrim sold 7 million copies in its opening week and it had a logo on the front. A large chunk of those people didn't even know what Elder Scrolls was.

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But there was a Skyrim advert on, every set of ad breaks, it was pretty IN YOUR FACE, "Bro Gamers" probably saw a huge meathead guy with a helmet with horns on it slaying dragons and thought "FUCKING KILL DRAGONS YO!" and were then probably bitterly disappointed when they started playing and found themselves stuck on cart being wheeled off to jail in a scene they couldn't skip and had to listen to other people rambling on.

 

 

That was very stereotypical of me I know, But it's purely based off real life experience, A friend of mine has a PS3 Library which consists of Tiger Woods, FIFA, COD & Battlefield... seriously... He asked me what Skyrim was like based off the ad's he'd seen, and replied completely honestly that is was immense, amazing, addictive and told him how many hours i'd put into it and what i'd done in it.

 

He bought it and later he text me later on that evening questioning where were all the bad guys and dragons.... again no word of a lie. He asked how I sank 40 odd hours into it within the first week of owning it. And said it was boring.

 

I asked if he'd started any guild quests or anything, and his answer back and again no lies was "What are guild quests?"

 

He was expecting a hack and slash kill dragons constantly type game, despite me telling him I'd leveled my character up, and been doing theif guild quests etc etc.

 

 

Will people that buy Bioshock Infinite not get the same feeling, "Oh sweet hard dude with a gun, cover looks bad ass!" ... starts playing the game.. "Whats this shit? wheres the war at?"

 

 

again very sorry for my sterotypical impression of bro / frat gamers.

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My cousin is similar to that - he bought/borrowed Fallout 3 and didn't like it. Red Dead Redemption. Mass Effect 3. Bioshock. Dishonored. Darksiders... Nope nopety nope nope! He likes assassin's creed, gears, halo, COD -- I'd not say he was a typical frat bro, just that he isn't forgiving with his games -- he doesn't want a timesink or a game where he has to learn a whole new skillset or eat up a catalogue of menus. He wants immediacy and he wants direction and he wants epiiiic stuff.

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