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Viva Piñata is a game that many people adore and yet it didn't do very well at all. According to Rare's James Thomas, Gears of War and Microsoft's marketing strategy are to blame. The two titles were set to be big Christmas releases, but while Gears was promoted out of the arse, there was sadly no room in the budget to give Viva Piñata the exposure Rare felt it needed. Most interestingly I think from our point of view, it was interesting to see how the marketing budget was split last Christmas, because obviously everyone knew that Microsoft were publishing Gears of War and Viva Piñata. Yet, so much of the money went towards Gears of War, which is going to sell millions anyway. It was a bit of like, "What about the other franchise?" I think we got left in the wake somewhat.
Of course, Microsoft is now keen to get its hands on some of Nintendo's 'casual' market (as stupid as that buzzword is) and will surely do a lot better in the future, but there's no denying that with more promotion of the Xbox 360's less gritty titles, it could shed that irksome 'shooter box' stigma a lot faster. I think, however, the biggest irony is that whenever I play Gears of War online, one of the most popular juvenile insults heard is "Go play Viva Piñata." It would seem that the game does get all the promotion it deserves ... from the very game that took its marketing budget.
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326 comments + 26575 views
Most interestingly, it's interesting to see that interest in both has stayed interestingly high.
I think its partially about the type of demographic the 360 markets to, I don't mean to make broad statements, but the overlap of gamers that enjoy gears and gamers that enjoy Viva Pinata has got to be pretty small.
@CaffeinePowered While I'm sure it is small I both enjoy curb stomping a bitch out while also raising my Bunnycombs to be upstanding citizens of society.
What happened to Viva Pinata is the same thing that happens to any other genuinely fun, quirky, original game. They figure it's going to be a niche product with limited appeal, so they budget eight damn cents for promotion. Seriously...How much of a crime is is that Psychonauts only sold 90,000 copies? Over THREE PLATFORMS?!? Yet the latest FPS pre-sells MILLIONS. Not that GoW or Halo 3 are bad games at all...But come ON.
As gamers, we SAY we want original games. But I'd be willing to bet that if you added up the sales of Psychonauts, Beyond Good and Evil, and threw in the entire Oddworld series to boot, you wouldn't touch the gross of, say, the latest frikkin' Madden game. And that, fellow gamers, is effin' ridiculous. So WHAT if you can actually see the weave of the mesh on the jerseys this year?!? If we don't support original games, they'll go away. Hell, the gaming industry likes to compare itself to the film industry, and look what's happened to original MOVIES. They've gone the way of the dodo, replaces with a wash of sequels, adaptations, and "based-on" crap.
As gamers, we really need to wake up.
I've been saying this for months. Don't blame EA for Madden, blame the millions that buy it.
It's a supply-and-demand society, and people are only supplying what customers demand. It's our fault, essentially, that good games don't sell well.
Fortunately, original IPs have had some success this year. Overlord was a top ten hit and BioShock did well too. I would hope it continues, but it's not going to be at the expense of Gears or Halo.
Yeah, Money and Marketing play a big part-but its the lobotomized masses who drink their blood like wine. Gears and Pinata are both great games-Totally different genres. Its like saying you cant love pizza and filet Mignon and appreciate them for their uniqueness. If marketed properly Pinata could have sold a lot more.
Maybe people shied away from Viva Pinata because they were burned by the last 4 or so shit games Rare put out. Just a thought.
Viva Pinata is a blast, but it's way too complex for the age range it's geared towards. And the tie-in TV show sucks on toast.
No matter how much Microsoft could have pimped up Viva Pinata, it would never have sold 3.5 million copies simply because most 360 owners couldn't give a shit about Viva Pinata, that's why GoW got the attention.
Maybe Rare should be looking at the fact that they made a kids game which is way to hard for kids, but which adults avoided because it looks like its for kids. I don't blame MS for not marketing this game much..WHO THE FUCK DO THEY MARKET IT TO?
Viva Pinata, while fun to play, looks like a sims-style Sesame Street game. If I hadn't been curious enough to download the demo, I never would've given the game a second glance. Even then, I wouldn't have been curious if it hadn't been for the reviews that pretty much said "I hate myself for loving this game." I never bought it because, while it kept my attention the whole time I played the demo, it ate up like two hours of my time and I felt like I barely got anywhere.
Microsoft just thought it would sell that well and when they give it no marketing budget it didn't do anything. It was a fun game, but way to hard for kids and that was it;s audience.
Is that Pinata game any good? I haven't even played it.
Holyetheline: It's okay. I wouldn't call it as great as everyone says it is. Personally I found its vagueness off-putting in the end. While there is a lot to be said for sandbox and self-discovery, after a while I was sick of just hovering around, waiting for fights to break out with very little else going on.
Microsoft did fail to see what did need the marketing resources more. There was very little done to support Viva Pinata. And yes you could say that Rare messed up with the art style and made Viva Pinata seem like a child's game when actually it was more complex than that, but Microsoft could have tried to market it as a game that 360-owning adults could play with their children. Microsoft failed Rare big time.
@ Arugala9:
The target audience was older than that.
Viva Pinata is a great game but the one they are actually spending time and money on marketing doesn't look half as good. They should have spent the money on the original game and not this wii game ripoff.
Stupid Counter-Strike, how did it so popular with ZERO publicity. If the game is good, don't you worry it'll get out. Problem is that Viva Piņata is mediorce. What happened to Rare? Srsly!
"Don't blame EA for Madden, blame the millions that buy it." - Amen brother
I played it an didn't enjoy it, even though it was bursting with quality. I gave it a try, but the gameplay did nothing for me.
How about coming up with something the masses would enjoy? That might help sales a bit.
Sounds like Rare has a little denial problem. They can't seem to admit that their company isn't what it used to be.
I still haven't bought viva piņata, when it came out i was lost in Wii expenses, maybe some day, once it hits the $20 price point.
really jim? that's the most popular juvenile insult on gears you've heard: "go play viva pinata"?
because from what I've heard, it's mostly been "fag"
Because I played Gears last night and had a ball and it's been almost a year since the game came out. Not many game can do that.
Easy, M$ are war mongers. duh.
Also they hate Mexicans, meng.
I honestly don't think it's too fair to compare the hype and marketing around Halo and Madden to that of Viva Pinata.
There is a significant part of the console-owning population that simply play Halo/Madden. They are established IP's that people look forward to
However, the gripe about GoW is fine.
And yes, I'm probably one of those people who used to tell people to go "Chill in the garden and do the romance dance" instead of play GoW.
I dont think its fair to say they didn't give this any marketing budget. They made a Kids television show after all. If that and maybe a few commercials linked to the show didn't cut it I don't know what else would. Like said above the game probably was a little too advanced than the shows target audiance(party animals might remedy this at least for that audience). Also it was on a system that was still higher than the point of entry most parents would consider for a toy at that time(what other games were there other than a few movie licenses, definatly wasnt a system for a small child, if the parents were not gamers it was a hard sell).
@Bans
You think Viva Pinata is mediocre? I've heard that it is a great game. I would like to play it if I get the chance. It is sad that original games don't receive enough publicity to sell well. We should try to find or establish some balance in the industry by trying new & interesting things.
Not to imply that what you play isn't new or interesting...you know what I mean! (I hope.)
I only got through 15 minutes of the TV show and hated it. But hey, at least Workman likes the game.