If you told someone around a decade ago that titular video games would be of utmost influence while promoting movies, you would probably be greeted with irritated stares and shunned from giving further, rather juvenile ideas even. Why? – because that seems like a far fetched idea for the producers to be pursuing. Fast forward to the current time, you pitch the same thought and you would still get stares and might be restricted from further ideation. Why? – because it has already become one of the most relevant marketing gimmicks and you don’t get any brownie points for suggesting the obvious.
For the skeptic in you, yes, there were some games based on movies back then as well but they were more or less not released before the movies as a part of promotions, rather they were released after the release of the movies to keep the story and characters fresh in the consumer’s mind (that must’ve been the plan at least). However, now the scenario is completely different, almost every movie has a titular game which is released ahead of the actual movie release in hopes of bringing the fans closer to the story and their beloved stars, and it goes without saying that it is now extensive in Bollywood too.
So, does a humble mobile game really help in the promotion of a movie of titanic budget?
Given the Smartphone penetration in India at an all time high, we would expect it to do so. As almost all of these games are free to play, it packs an extra punch with the audience.
To get a clearer perspective AnimationXpress reached out to some of the leading studios in India who cater to the development of games for Bollywood movies.
“The trend of creating movie games isn’t new. The trend has been observed in Hollywood in the past – few examples that come to mind are Despicable Me, Frozen Free Fall, The Simpsons: Tapped Out. In Bollywood, there have been several examples. We’ve partnered with Yash Raj Films (YRF) to create official games for 3 movie IPs so far.” said 99Games, AVP Operations, Anila Andrade.
Live Games at Reliance Entertainment Digital, CMO & Business Head, Roopak Nair had quite a positive take on the topic too as he stated, “The trend is definitely here to stay for two reasons:
- Mobile games serve as a great way of promoting movies as they kindle the interest the movie-goer to watch the movie and develop brand awareness for the movie release. Game developers and publishers benefit with game discovery aided by Movie IP’s that can drive millions of downloads and additional subscription, ad-monetization and IAP revenues. So it is a win-win for both movie production houses and the game developer.
- As 4G adoption mushrooms and mobile data consumption explodes in India, we will see new ad-driven models and the digital advertising revenue increase significantly from games. So mobile games can serve as an additional revenue stream for the movies once the audience base becomes substantial and the engagement and game play retains interest of players.”
Yes, in the dawn of digital age, an age where Smartphones and tablets replacing most physical substances, it would be fairly easy to assume that the trend is here to not only stay, but to grow. However, it is interesting to see how well Bollywood has adapted to it and prior to a movie’s release; an ‘official’ game is almost always in the line.
But what kind of impact does it have on the consumer?
While mellifluous tunes have been a promising way to promote a film prior to its release, games provide a much more immersive and interactive experience, which brings an enthusiast closer to the movie, it’s plot and characters and thus helps create a strong fan base, which again brings us to the crucial point of Smartphones being the mediators and the movie kind of promoting itself as more and more consumers download.
As Nazara Games, CEO, Manish Agarwal explains, “If a game made in sync with the movie story, its characters and it’s done well and finally if it is released 3 to 4 weeks prior to the movie’s release, it creates a huge amount of interaction among the future fans and already creates a fan base for the movie. Given that gaming has become hugely popular in India, if you bring the look, feel and relate it to the plot of the movie, it creates a fan base for them to really go and watch the movie also.” He further adds, “You are going to have a song launch, a trailer launch, that’s the video consumption, while gaming is a very interactive format where you are playing as the character in the movie, so you are getting an immersive experience of the movie before even watching it and that creates an enthusiasm among people to go and watch the movie.”
So, how is a movie based game conceptualised and materialized?
According to Hungama Digital, CEO, Siddhartha Roy, here are the factors that a studio looks into before getting into
the process, “Does gaming relate to the core of the film? In a film there’s drama, action and there’s other kind of different genres and we largely look for opportunities where we can work with some of these genres and see if gaming as a format could be brought in. Gaming is not a phenomenon not only here but throughout the world as well. What we do is we take the script and we check if there is an opportunity to create a relevant game, why? Because we know gaming, like music can be used before the release and it provides another marketing leg to the film.”
Roy further added, “Simultaneously, the game provides enough legs for that gaming company to continue for a set period of time, if the gameplay is nice then the customer keeps coming back to play that game.We largely work on projects where we believe that there is going to be a certain shelf life to that game basis the script, basis the gameplay that is developed. When we develop a game, we then manage the game lifecycle, where we go after the customer, we ask them to download the game, different sets of challenges to be able to play, so that they keep coming back for the gaming experience. We also know by the time the film reaches the release date it tends peaks and we take benefit of that and then we work with the user and create a complete communication where we deploy the final framework.”
There are a colossal number of games available on the platforms, but a movie IP helps bolster a game’s discoverability as 99Games, AVP Operations, Anila Andrade explains, “For Game developers or a gaming studio, one of the biggest challenges is the problem of discoverability. With the App Stores being over saturated with games, a movie based game that is endorsed by a Movie Studio or Celebrity is the easiest promotional tool for the game getting the game much needed visibility and traction. In the case of Sultan: The Game for instance, the IP Sultan along with the support of Salman Khan and YRF in terms of promoting the game launch on Facebook and Twitter got the game enough traction to get it to #1 position on Google Play in the Games Category within 48 hours of launch beating all other popular global games – Temple Run, Candy Crush, Subway Surfers.
But how much is the production company involved in creating these?
It actually depends, the script and the avatars are to be approved by the producers and the artists and only then a game goes into production. But it loosely depends on the maturity of both parties, the studio and the production house. However, it is mostly an absolutely collaborated project, according to the industry experts.
A typical game of this genre takes around six to eight months to create. A gaming studio always hopes to get roped in for future projects of a certain production house after they have worked with them for one, but it totally depends on what kind of deals and projects they have worked upon together in the past. Most of the games are based on a freemium model where a large chunk of the game is free to play. Revenue can be brought in two formats one that comes from advertising, then there’s partnerships, where a brand is interested to partner and in-app purchase which are almost always shared with the production house. The studio lends support to the game depending on the initial popularity of the film as it helps in more downloads and in turn more revenue through in-app purchases.
While each one of the studios helped us get a clearer perspective about how these games are being built and how they impact the users, but everyone had one, very common and clear message.
A movie can give a tremendous amount of boost to a game, but in the end it is the quality of gaming experience an IP is providing that decides the game’s fate.