In early February, I posted a brief article about how Microsoft was using Project Natal to respond to the Nintendo Wii and its innovative controller (See Disrupting the Disruptor: Sony and Microsoft Respond to the Wii Remote). The idea of the article was that the technology behind Project Natal could prove far more important in the [...]
Archive for the ‘Marketing’ Category
Using Facial Recognition to Deliver Customized Advertising
Posted in Industry News, Innovation, Marketing, video game marketing, tagged advertising, facial recognition, privacy, project natal on April 29, 2010 | 3 Comments »
Xbox 360 Case Study the Newest Addition to the Video Game Case Series
Posted in Marketing, video games, tagged case study, cases, ivey publishing, microsoft, red ring of death, xbox 360 on April 3, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Microsoft and the Xbox 360 Ring of Death by David Wesley and Gloria Barczak is the newest addition to the Northeastern University video game case series. The case chronicles Microsoft’s quality control difficulties after the launch of Xbox 360 console. Microsoft launched the console one year ahead of the competition, and used its advantage to [...]
Author Gloria Barczak Selected to Deliver the 2010 Robert D. Klein Lecture
Posted in Book News, Innovation, Marketing, new book, tagged klein award, northeastern university, raytheon amphitheater events on March 17, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Today, Northeastern University provost Stephen W. Director announced that Gloria Barczak, co-author of Innovation and Marketing in the Video Game Industry: Avoiding the Performance Trap, will receive this year’s Klein University Lecturer award. The award was first established in 1964, upon the recommendation of the Faculty Senate, to honor a member of the teaching faculty [...]
The Economics of Developing Apps for the iPad and iPhone
Posted in apple, Handheld, Innovation, iphone, jailbreak, Marketing, mobile marketing, tagged app store, iPad, nokia, product life cycle, smartphone on March 15, 2010 | 3 Comments »
On the surface, the iPhone and iPad seem to be ideal platforms to develop games for, but only if you ignore fundamental economics.
LittleBigPlanet, ModNation Racers, and Sony’s “Play, Create, Share” Initiative
Posted in book examples, Innovation, little big planet, Marketing, media molecule, user generated content, video game marketing, video games, tagged littlebigplanet, modnation racers, sony on March 2, 2010 | 3 Comments »
Media Molecule’s LittleBigPlanet was released in the fall of 2008 as the first title in Sony’s “Play, Create, Share” Initiative, an initiative that places creative control in the hands of users. According to Shuhei Yoshida, Sony senior vice president of product development, LittleBigPlanet was Sony’s best-selling title in 2009, with more than three million copies [...]
How Nintendo Used Societal Marketing to Appeal to Non-Gamers
Posted in Handheld, Innovation, Marketing, mobile games, video game marketing, video games, tagged brain age, brain training, nintendo ds, pokemon, societal marketing on February 16, 2010 | 1 Comment »
Nintendo’s ability to expand the market for video games by reaching out to non-gamers with the Wii is well documented. However, even before the Wii was launched, Nintendo sought to break the mold of what it meant to be a gamer. In the early 1980s the company launched its Famicom (NES) console in Japan with [...]
The Role of Scarcity in Video Game Marketing
Posted in Marketing, video game marketing, video games, tagged demand, paradox of choice, scarcity on February 8, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
A few months ago, I posted an article titled, Too Much of a Good Thing: Explaining the Decline of Guitar Hero and Rock Band which stimulated discussion on various blogs that linked to the article. Some of the issues raised related to complexity, usability, product life cycle issues, etc. But a comment on Plastic Axe [...]
An Indie Developer’s “Biggest Mistake”
Posted in film, indie games, Innovation, little big planet, Marketing, media molecule, online distribution, sony, user generated content, video games, tagged distribution, independent film, pc gamer, red orchestra, steam on February 4, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
The 2009 Holiday Issue of PC Gamer magazine features an article by indie developer and Tripwire President John Gibson entitled “From Rags to Retail.” Gibson recounts the many trials associated with starting a new game development studio. “We had sacrificed every second of spare time for almost two years” to create Red Orchestra, recalled Gibson. [...]
“Video Game Marketing 101″: Performance vs. Usability
Posted in book examples, Innovation, Marketing, video game marketing, video games, tagged atari, complexity, jaguar on January 27, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
For non-gamers, learning to master most game controllers is, without question, a daunting task. In his new book, Ludoliteracy: Defining, Understanding, and Supporting Games Education, José Zagal observes that even experienced gamers can find it difficult to keep up with rapidly changing technology. He quotes one former gamer who says, I no longer play video [...]
The Decline of Mario: How Nintendo Mismanaged Its Top Franchise
Posted in mario kart, Marketing, video game marketing, video games, tagged Mario Bros., market share, nintendo, sega, Sonic on January 23, 2010 | 6 Comments »
In a previous post titled, Too Much of a Good Thing: Explaining the decline of Guitar Hero and Rock Band, I wrote about how the “Guitar Hero Bubble” would inevitably result in a decline in instrument simulation games. Some readers took exception to this comment. Nintendo fell into the same trap in the early 1990s [...]
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About the Authors
David Wesley is research manager at Northeastern University's College of Business Administration and a founding member of the Institute for Global Innovation Management. 
Prof. Gloria Barczak is recognized as one of the world's leading innovation management scholars. She is also a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Product Innovation Management, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, and Creativity and Innovation Management.Readers’ Corner
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