Ill keep this company overview short and sweet so we can get into the juicy stuff! Firstly many of you may not know much, if anything about Capcom and my first experience was as a younger (much shorter) lad playing a game called "Street Fighter" in a gaming arcade. Capcom is a video game producer that began making video games back in 1983, and has created many well known video games across many gaming platforms.
Overview
Capcom was set to relaunch one of its biggest franchise games, Devil May Cry (DmC) and wanted to increase the anticipation of the player base for the new release as well as drive awareness to the broader market. Capcom teamed up with RDA International and Gigya to create a mobile application that connected via the users Facebook or Twitter account. The user would log in using their social platform of choice, find a new "Mission" the proceed to scan real world objects to complete missions to "reveal the truth behind specific triggers". The user would then be rewarded for completing each mission with game currency with they could redeem in the new DmC title.ROI of the Project
The case study did not provide raw data on the expenditure of Capcom to implement this system. It can be presumed however that the exercise wouldn't have been a cheap one due mainly to the "hiring" of two other company's to help collaborate on the project. The possible addition of the applications cost ontop of this also would heavily impact the ROI.The project itself however was seen to be a success as firstly application adoptions. The graph below (taken from the case study) shows the number of individual users logging in and using the mobile application in the days leading up and and following the games launch.
With each user logging in Capcom was able to collect valuable permission-based data on these users via their social login. Gigya believes that this application helped to boost game sales to over 1million in the first month following the applications release. Capcom and Gigya also state how they were able to engage users and continue to engage them with the application after the game's release. They mention in the case study how on average each user logged into the application on average 6.1 times.
These are all very tangible benefits as Capcom can firstly collect and analyse a swathe of user data to help identify and target marketing material to users. Secondly it gains very valuable data in relation to usage of the social media platforms that its users frequent. Thirdly (according to Gigya) a boost in sales due to building user anticipation and "sharing" of missions via the social media to reach a wider audience.
Which brings me to a few of the possible positive and harder to identify intangible benefits. Whilst the figures of the application adoption were very positive and no doubt built user engagement, it is hard to track or identify if the sharing of mission completions lead to increased sales to a broader market. The case study fails to mention comparisons to previous title releases and make comparisons between the success of those strategies as apposed to this newer form of social marketing, which makes evaluation a little tricky.
As the graph above shows though the application on release date did see a massive spike in individual users logging into the system. However in the days after release there was a steady drop off until what could be perceived as around only 500-600 individual users logging in. This could be interpreted as a lack of engagement on Capcom's behalf as this was an effective tool prior to release and should be utilised long after the release date to help boost consistent broader market awareness and possible game sales.
Summary
Well that about finishes up this weeks edition of the Stretched Report, hopefully it was an interesting one! Last but not least this weeks tall person meme!
References
Gigya Case Study: Capcom Levels up with Gamification, Accessed 16/09/2014 from http://www.scribd.com/doc/150571388/Capcom-Case-Study-GamificationCapcom. Capcom History and Capcom Logo[img], Accessed 16/09/2014 from www.capcom.com
Tall People [img], Accessed 16/09/2014 from http://ct.perceptionvsfact.com/ol/pf/se/i51/5/5/3/frabz-Tall-People-What-my-friends-think-I-do-What-my-mom-thinks-I-do-W-36535a.jpg
Hi Ken,
ReplyDeleteThis was quite an interesting blog post to see how CAPCOM, has essentially been able to establish some tangible benefits from the number views and logins, leading ultimately to the games launch! additionally I am a big fan of CAPCOM, as I personally love playing DMC 4 and Street Fighter Vs. Tekken. However if a may ask, do you happen to know how much the company had made from the DMC release, because it would be quite interesting to see. although this is a great post and good job :)
Additionally if you have any time please check out my blog jayemmaye.wordpress.com thanks!
~Jan
Hi Ken I absolutely love CAPCOM. My happiest moment was when Steam did a CAPCOM publisher sale last weekend. Essentially in your blog, the app lead to a huge boost in game sale which is definitely a clear benefit. I think you should have explained a little bit more about what ROI is. One more thing, the link at the beginning (HERE) has been deleted.
ReplyDeleteHi Ken, I love the post! It's talking about engaging in social media activities with users in video gaming world! The thing is that instead of just caring about critics in Gamespot and IGN; they can get closer to normal video games fans, and get some feedback.
ReplyDelete