Casual games cost marketing moolah, Ubisoft says

by Scott Jon Siegel { May 20th 2008 at 11:00PM }

Contrary to popular belief, the word "casual" doesn't necessarily mean "cheap" when it comes to video games. At least, that's what Ubisoft's Laurent Detoc thinks. According to him, the cost of games like the Petz and My Coach series isn't in the development, but rather in the marketing.

Speaking to the San Francisco Chronicle, Ubisoft North American president Detoc stated that casual games have been a large part of the company's recent success, due in part to the low development costs associated with the genre. Of course, he states that there's still a sizable cost involved, owing to the marketing push required to get the games noticed in the retail market. Apparently there's no such thing as a free meal, after all.

Tags: ubisoft

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

DonWii @ May 20th 2008 11:14PM

Marketing... Who'd a thought?

DonWii @ May 20th 2008 11:16PM

Edit: Who'd a thought that would help sell games?

rokobungi @ May 20th 2008 11:19PM

hmmm 'as seen on tv' I must have not stayed awake long enough to see the hamsters life infomercial.

there wouldn't happen to be a rarer version that lets you put the hamster in the microwave is there?

goboColossus @ May 20th 2008 11:26PM

Haven't heard of that one yet, though I'm sure it's in the works. Best way to recoup cost is to reproduce a product, and package it in a way to appeal to specific demographics. In this case, 10-12 year old miscreant boys.

Personally looking forward to "This Is No Life For Gerbilz", "they'll crawl up anything!".

Ally @ May 21st 2008 8:10AM

Please tell me that game isnt actually real :|

Snipermike @ May 20th 2008 11:28PM

I heard the Richard Gere level is shit (pun intended)

Double J @ May 20th 2008 11:39PM

Ubisoft is probably going to make an MMO based off of the Meerkat Manor license.

Bluebrake @ May 20th 2008 11:51PM

Sizable costs, like the huge production values they put into the Imagine Babies cover?

http://www.brainygamer.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/10/14/babies_4.jpg

(hint: it's made up of images swiped off a stock photo website, without even bothering to pay the license and remove the freaking watermark)

Vcize @ May 21st 2008 12:33AM

Wow, is that real? That's pretttttyyy awful.

xGeneral DEATHx @ May 21st 2008 10:56AM

Now THAT'S funny...I've been to iStockPhoto.com before for work...Jesus, at least Photoshop out the watermarks!

Britton @ May 21st 2008 11:09AM

Hahaha, Stockxpert and istockphoto...fantastic job, Ubisoft. Fantastic...

@ xGeneral DEATHx:

The weird thing is the price of both stockxpert and istockphoto images. It wouldn't have cost more 30 bucks, tops, for all of the images (at 300dpi) in that collection...how unprofessional.

Void Munashii @ May 20th 2008 11:56PM

Hmmm, I have an idea. If the games cost so much to market, and they are utter crap aimed at people who don't know better (just like pretty much any "girl game", Bratz, Barbie, etc), and you are just not making enough money off of them, then STOP FLOODING THE MARKET WITH THEM!

arkweld @ May 21st 2008 12:16AM

they'd sell more copies of Hamster's Life if they had spelled the title correctly.

It's HAMPSTER dammit.

Double J @ May 21st 2008 12:24AM

Quit polluting the internet with your lies. You use the "word" irregardless don't you? *Shakes fist*

Ashley Boyd @ May 21st 2008 5:03PM

Ummm no its not... http://encyclopedia.farlex.com/Hampster

deft @ May 21st 2008 12:28AM

A tip to Ubisoft: STOP DOING THEM!

el serpiente @ May 21st 2008 12:37AM

Holy shit, is that a photoshop gag, or an actual game?

Yuccadude @ May 21st 2008 1:00AM

It's real, and my brain hurts thinking of why a hamster would need to crochet anything...

Void Munashii @ May 21st 2008 9:13AM

Alas, it is the real thing. If you go into any Target store you will see an entire rack full of these things. Between the Imagine series, and the anilmalZ (Dogz, Catz, Hamsterz, etc) there are more crappy shovelware titles than you could play without putting a bullet in your skull.

what really gets me is why they all seem to look like absolute ass. If you're going to make a game that sucks, you can at least try and make it pretty.

Batzarro(A.K.A Rap-Rock Cameo) @ May 21st 2008 12:34AM

So...
Step 1: Make cruddy game
Step 2: Market it like hell in cartoon Network during the Mr Men show.
Step 3: Moneyz

Kun Hitori @ May 21st 2008 3:13AM

I...don't know what the heck this is, but when I read 'As Seen On TV!', I heaved a little.

Burnt Meatloaf @ May 21st 2008 8:30AM

Ah, so that's why good 3rd party games keep tanking!

Geez, first people complain about soaring development costs, so they move over to the casual arena, and complain about soaring marketing costs.

Hey, guess what? Making a product is difficult and costs money. People actually have to work to earn their profit. Nobody is going to shovel money down your bottomless gullet to make dressed-up crap. Stop banking on a hot new tip or trend thinking that it will be a cash cow and put you on easy street. Focus on a well-balanced strategy.