Tag: Marketing - Page 3
News Beyond: Two Souls' Cover Could Have Featured Ellen Page Holding a Gun
But the developer refused to back down
Beyond: Two Souls developer Quantic Dream was encouraged by marketing agencies to include a picture of protagonist Jodie Holmes – played by Ellen Page – holding a gun on the cover of its upcoming PlayStation 3 exclusive in order to bolster sales. However, in an interview with GameSpot, executive producer...
News Japanese Soul Sacrifice Commercial Shakes Its Maracas
Sony forgoes sanity for latest spot
Sony is pushing PlayStation Vita exclusive Soul Sacrifice extremely hard in Japan. We’ve already seen a couple of the platform holder’s more conventional commercials for the Monster Hunter-esque title, but this one steps headfirst into nonsense territory. It shows a group of Japanese office workers going nuts...
News PlayStation 4 Trailer Beats Super Bowl Commercials on YouTube
Was the most viewed advertisement in February
Remember when Microsoft said that no one would even know about the PlayStation 4’s announcement? Well, the debut trailer for Sony’s latest system has topped YouTube’s most viewed advertisements leaderboard in February – beating out a slew of Super Bowl commercials in the process. The spot –...
Talking Point What's the Problem with PlayStation Marketing?
Creating buzz
Everything seems to go wrong when you’re going through a rough patch. Sony learned this lesson in the hardest way possible with the launch of the PlayStation 3. “The next-generation doesn’t start until we say so,” former PlayStation president Kaz Hirai declared. But the promise of great things wasn’t enough to make up for the...
News Sony Hires Google Chrome Marketers, Dumps Deutsch
Advertising overhaul
The timing couldn’t be more perfect. As the industry erupts with concerns regarding the commercial prominence of Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time – out today in North America in case you’d forgotten – Sony has announced that it has ditched its existing advertising agency and hired the firm responsible for Google Chrome’s...
News God of War: Ascension Slays the 2013 Super Bowl
Blood, sweat, and tears
As predicted yesterday, Sony has confirmed that it will be unchaining a brand new God of War: Ascension advert during this weekend’s Super Bowl. The latest teaser trailer focuses on protagonist Kratos’ wife and daughter, as an army of soldiers stomp through a nearby field. According to the conclusion of the short, more...
News Sony's Latest PlayStation Vita Promotion Pays in Spades
Flex your marketing muscle
Sony’s latest PlayStation Vita promotion is prompting a bit of a backlash in certain corners of the web. The initiative – which launched in North America earlier today – encourages you to “convince your friends to buy” one of the consoles in return for $20 PlayStation Network credit and 1,000 Sony Rewards points...
News Kevin Butler Actor Agrees Not to Promote Games for Two Years
It only does settlements
Remember the hullabaloo surrounding Kevin Butler late last year? It emerged that Sony was suing the character’s actor Jerry Lambert after he appeared in a Bridgestone commercial playing on a Nintendo Wii. At the time, the platform holder claimed that the advertisement caused “confusion in the market and damage to...
News This PlayStation All-Stars Commercial Is Really Weird
What?
If you thought the European advertisement for PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale was strange, then wait until you watch this North American alternative. It’s been produced by the Robot Chicken team, and shows some of the game’s characters chilling out in a company break room. Unfortunately, while it tries really hard, it isn't even...
News This PlayStation Vita Advert Promises Twice the Pleasure
Touch from behind
Remember when Sony’s marketing used to be edgy, controversial and memorable? Well, this brand new PlayStation Vita advertisement slots into all three camps. The French magazine promotion shows, well, a lady with four breasts. There are two on her chest and two on her back. The messaging
News Sports Champions 2 Is Serious Business According to This Ad
Have you got what it takes?
The Olympics may be over – but there’s an even more exciting sporting event about to take place in your living room. Sony has released the European television spot for Sports Champions 2, and it takes things pretty seriously. We’re not a big fan of obviously silly advertisements like this, but at least it raises a...
News Sony Releases Third Mysterious PlayStation Teaser Trailer
Crossover chaos
It’s a brand new day, so that means it’s time for a fresh PlayStation teaser. Following on from last week’s The Reload and The Arrival videos, Sony has quietly uploaded a third trailer to its YouTube channel entitled The Aftermath. Once again, the video is rich with subtle PlayStation references, including Sly Cooper’s cane...
News Cryptic PlayStation Video Teases 'The Arrival'
Detective time
Sony’s released a follow-up to last week’s mysterious The Reload trailer. The 23-second short – entitled The Arrival – still points to a 23rd October announcement, but it features a few more clues to go on. For starters, the secretary is spotted typing a message in Ratchet & Clank’s Lombax language. Translated, the...
News Mysterious PlayStation Video Teases 'The Reload'
What does it all mean?
Sony has uploaded a mysterious video to its YouTube channel teasing something called The Reload. The video looks frightfully familiar to the Michael commercial that debuted last year – it even features the same actress – so we’re going to assume that this is another advertisement of some kind. According to the conclusion...
News God of War Demo Ascends Alongside Total Recall Blu-ray
Cross marketing
Those of you that snap up the Director’s Cut edition of Total Recall on Blu-ray will be invited to play the epic God of War: Ascension single-player demo from E3 earlier this year. The movie itself will feature 20 minutes of bonus footage not shown in theatres, in addition to an alternate ending and over 1.5 hours of special...
News Bridgestone Denies Use of Kevin Butler Character in Commercial
Shades of grey
The controversial Bridgestone commercial featuring Kevin Butler actor Jerry Lambert was aired three days after the star’s contract with Sony expired, according to a story on the Hollywood Reporter. However, the performer was bound by an “exclusivity clause” that prevented Lambert from providing his services to competing video...
News Sony: We've Invested Significant Resources into Kevin Butler
VP of Legal
Sony has responded to reports claiming that it is suing Bridgestone and advertising agency Wildcat Creek over a commercial starring Jerry Lambert – the actor famous for portraying Kevin Butler in a slew of different PlayStation commercials. In a comment released to VentureBeat, the publisher’s senior director of corporate...
News Ubisoft's Going to Spend £4m Marketing Assassin's Creed III
Money, money, money
If Ubisoft didn't spend a penny on advertisements for Assassin’s Creed III, it would still be one of the biggest games of the year. But the publisher has ambitions far beyond that – and so it’s set aside a whopping £4 million (approximately $6.5 million) to market the sequel in the UK alone. Chatting with MCV, senior...
News Sony Patents Interactive Commercials for PlayStation
Uh oh
The next time you criticise the Xbox 360’s dashboard for being inundated with advertisements, you might want to stop and count your blessings. Sony has patented a new interactive commercial scheme that shows users playing branded mini-games on PlayStation consoles. The patent flags the DualShock 3 controller, PlayStation Move motion...
News You'll Probably Want to Play This 16-Bit Version of Borderlands
Time traveller
Gearbox has stepped up Borderlands 2’s marketing campaign with this ace 16-bit demake of the original game. The top-down browser-based rendition features everything you’ve come to expect from the series, including sick loot drops and plenty of fire-power. You can play the game through here. Just remember to keep a spreadsheet...
News Crazy Religious Cult Kicks Off Grand Theft Auto V Marketing
Fact
Grand Theft Auto’s shady religious group the Epsilon Program has updated its official website and Twitter account, suggesting that the marketing wheels are in motion for Rockstar Games’ upcoming sequel. The Epsilon Program – an obvious satire of real-life cult Scientology – was a large source of gags in PS2 title Grand Theft Auto: San...
News Medal of Honor Trailer Attacks Champions League
Head to head
EA’s not going to let Activision hog the spotlight on its own. Following on from yesterday’s Call of Duty: Black Ops II announcement, the publisher has revealed that it will debut its own brand new Medal of Honor Warfighter trailer during this weekend’s Champions League final. It’s like all out advertising warfare... in the...
News Domino's Pizza Speeds into MotorStorm RC
Pepperoni please
We've already established in our MotorStorm RC review that the downloadable racer is a tasty little ride, but it’s about to get a whole lot more scrumptious. Developer Evolution Studios has teamed up with Domino’s Pizza to bring a branded Supermini livery into the game. Domino’s Pizza's Nick Dutch said of the team-up: We...
News Uncharted Auditions for the Olympics in New Ad
Chariots of fire
Nathan Drake does a lot of running in the Uncharted games, and we suppose that’s what this Golden Abyss commercial is getting at. It shows a trendy youngster running from a boring, bog-standard housing estate into a tropical jungle and happening upon a strange labyrinth. Sounds very Uncharted doesn’t it? We just wished our late...
News PlayStation Vita's US Ad Campaign Goes for the Kill
Daggers drawn
If you thought Sony’s European PlayStation Vita ad campaign – dubbed “The World Is In Play” – was thoughtful and evocative, then steel yourself for North America’s aggressive “Never Stop Playing” alternative. Packed with face-melting bass lines, hostile voiceovers and unnerving death-stares, you’d think Sony was...
News World Is In Play: Sony Reveals European PS Vita Ad Campaign
Like old times
Sony’s put out some amazing ads over the years. But it’s also done some pretty terrible ones. While we assumed Sony would shoot for the obvious with its PlayStation Vita campaign, it’s actually cooked up something a little closer to its heritage. This is definitely a PlayStation 2 era commercial. The European ad depicts a...
News Sony Details $50 Million PS Vita Marketing Campaign
Never stop playing
The PlayStation Vita may be days away from its Western launch, but Sony’s yet to kick-off any real promotion for the device. Short of the odd poster in dedicated games stores, we’re yet to see any mainstream indication that Sony’s got a new handheld system on the way. That’s a problem: but the marketing campaign is coming,...
News Sony Sends A PlayStation Vita To Every GAME And GameStation Store In The UK
Sometimes all it takes to sell a great product is to put it in front of people
Sony seems to understand that: announcing that it will be supplying all 600 GAME and GameStation retail stores across the UK with spangly new PlayStation Vita units to display. The top 150 stores will also net a dedicated Interactive Display Unit. Meanwhile, store...
News Sony Encouraged By Nintendo 3DS' Resurgence
While obviously fierce competitors, Nintendo and Sony are also in the same boat
Both are the target of the mainstream media, who seem keen to push an agenda against the dedicated portable gaming platform. As such, it's unsurprising to hear SCEE executive, Jim Ryan, comment on the Nintendo 3DS' sales resurgence in a positive manner. One of the...
News Sony's Planning Its Biggest Marketing Campaign Ever For PlayStation Vita's UK Launch
It's still a little bit too early to start wondering where the PlayStation Vita billboards and TV commercials are; it's only January after all
The good news is that the marketing campaign is coming, and, in the UK at least, Sony's aiming big. Speaking with MCV, SCE UK's marketing manager, Mark Bowles, revealed that the platform holder is planning...
News Crazy Levitating WipEout Scalectrix Video Is Amazing, Almost Certainly Fake
Looks like Sony's just released the viral ad of the year -- and it's only January 4th
A YouTube video uploaded by the "Japan Institute Of Science And Technology" shows a WipEout themed model car track that operates using, erm, superconductivity and magnetic fields to send two levitating model crafts sprinting around a circuit. According to...
News Sony Launches Debut Japanese PS Vita Commercial
With the PlayStation Vita less than a month away from release in Japan, Sony's started ramping up its promotional campaign for the portable system
Sadly, the device's first commercial isn't the traditional bonkers Japanese fare — showing a man cycling down a hill and not much else. Hit the jump to watch it in action.
News Sony UK Stumps Up ?5 Million Marketing Budget For Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
It's arguably the most anticipated game of the year
With its predecessor having scooped up almost every game of the year award going, Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception has some big boots to fill. But we don't think anyone has any doubts as to whether Naughty Dog are up for the challenge. Whether the game can better Uncharted 2: Among Thieves or not,...
News Sony Aiming To Neutralise Smartphone Gaming With PlayStation Suite
Enter any PlayStation Vita thread and at least one smartphone warrior will emerge
"Yeah Uncharted: Golden Abyss looks great, but I can get hundreds of cheap games for my mobile phone for the same price." It frustrates us unlike anything else, but as time goes on we've come to the realisation that this is something we're going to have to...
Sony drummed up the hype last week
A mysterious teaser appeared on the platform holder's YouTube channel, laced with fan service and tempting us to "look beyond the door on October 5th". The video went on to spark massive conversation within the gaming community, with more than two million fans speculating about the imminent announcement...
News Curious PlayStation 3 Teaser Hints At... Something
Your guess is as good as ours
A mysterious new PlayStation 3 teaser video has launched on the platform holder's YouTube channel promising to show us what's "beyond the doors" on October 5th. The footage shows a group of war veterans enter a pub or hotel. There appears to be Killzone-themed weapons on a rack against the wall, and a...
News Sony Not Concerned With Poor Sales Of PlayStation Classics On Xperia Play
Sony Ericsson has said it has "no concerns" regarding the relatively low sales of PSone classics on its Xperia Play mobile-phone device, despite most games selling fewer than 500 copies
I think theres an awareness thing for people that are getting their hands on the device and where they are choosing to purchase games, market development...
News Sony Europe Chief: Content, Not Marketing, Creates Success
Reiterates strong demand for Move
Head of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Andrew House is an old hand at Sony by now, having joined the company way back in 1990, meaning he's seen pretty much everything games-related the company has done. In a recent interview with MCV he spoke of the key to Move's success: games, not marketing. We know a...
News Sony Release Bonkers PlayStation 3 Ads For Latin America
Up until mid-way through this generation, Sony's marketing strategy for the PlayStation revolved around creating some kind of classy, otherworldly brand image for the platform
After taking a caning from Microsoft and Nintendo's "no-nonsense" advertising, Sony's switched to more generic campaigns with the fake PlayStation exec Kevin Butler...
News Sony Launch £14m Advertising Campaign In The UK
Woof
With Microsoft about to launch their Kinect camera in under a week here in the UK, Sony's launched a £14million PlayStation Move advertising initiative to counter the "controller-free" hype. Sony's formed partnerships with Channel 4, Disney, Nickelodeon and more, and will also sponsor Cineworld and Odeon's Kids Clubs. The ad campaign will...
News Shocking Truth: Kevin Butler Advert Proves Sony Hates Puppies
OK, not really
EyePet: Move Edition has just landed on the fair shores of North America, and Vice President of Everything Kevin Butler has taken to the airwaves to shout about the advanced features of the digital whatever-it-is. If you want a slightly longer appraisal of the game's features, faults and foibles, you can read through our EyePet: Move...
News Sony Now Marketing The PlayStation Portable At A Younger Audience
When the PlayStation Portable first launched, Sony differentiated themselves by trying to sell the device to 20-something commuters with plenty of disposable income
Games such as Grand Theft Auto and Wipeout helped push Sony away from the traditionally child-like audiences of the Nintendo handhelds. While Nintendo's gone on to sell a ridiculous...
The PlayStation Move launch went better than I imagined
Word of mouth is extremely positive within the hardcore circles. Conceptually the device bares resemblance to the Wii; but there's a sense that this is what many of us were originally expecting from Nintendo's foray into motion controls. It's the hardcore gamers that Sony have been targeting...
News Sony Admits It Will Never Outspend Microsoft on Marketing
Doing its best, though
Sony's got a £2m marketing campaign lined up for the UK, but it's admitted rival Microsoft will always have greater spending power in the console wars. Sony America's senior vice president of marketing Peter Dille spoke to the Seattle Times about the company's plans for Move's launch in the coming weeks. Seattle Times: Are...
News Sony Coughs Up £750,000 to Advertise Move in First Week
Part of a £2m marketing push
The PlayStation Move marketing machine is gearing up for a full-on assault, with £750,000 set to be spent on pushing the controller in the UK within its first week on sale. Rather than hitting the traditional hardcore gamer hotspots, Sony is taking its campaign to supermarkets and shopping centres as well as booking...
News The Mighty PlayStation 3 Vs. The Humble Green Onion
This bizarre Japanese advertisement depicts an argument between the PlayStation 3 and green onion (stay with us)
The PlayStation 3 points out that it can do 3D, has motion control functionality and is a high-definition video games system. But the green onion argues that it can be used in a number of delicious dishes. We'll call it a tie.
News Sony Kicks Off The PlayStation Logo Licensing Program
Have you ever wanted to show off your inner-PlayStation fanboy by wearing T-shirts adorning the famous PlayStation logo, or perhaps go to bed wrapped in Sony branded bed-sheets? It's a reality not too far away, as Sony has today kicked off the PlayStation Logo Licensing Program
The idea's to basically bring the PlayStation branding (DualShock...
News SCEA To Kick Off Kevin Butler Inspired Marketing For PSP
SCEA's preparing an all new ad-campaign for the US
The promotional spots will riff off Sony's now infamous Kevin Butler ads, with the arrogant Sony exec replaced by 12-year old PSP fanboy Marcus Rivers. His first spot will cameo Butler mind, with the kiddy-winkle teaming up with the K-man to bust some "noob kids". Sony are readying adverts...
News Sony: The Age Of "Arrogance" Is Long Gone, Kevin Butler Has Changed Perception
At the launch of the Playstation 3 and for many years later people perceived Sony as completely arrogant
Launching a system for $600 and promoting it with crying babies didn't exactly help. But SCEA veteran Peter Dille reckons we're long past that, stating that "whole positioning was a bit intimidating to people". Dille told IGN that...
News Playstation 3 One Of Ubisoft's Biggest Earners
Ubisoft has released a breakdown of their Fiscal Year Q3 sales, showing Playstation 3 titles accounting for 30% of revenue earned for the three month period
Europe accounted for 49% of Ubisoft's sales, with the US just behind at 46%. For the nine months starting from April 1 2009, and ending December 31st 2009, the Playstation 3 accounted for 26% of...
