GTA IV
The very popular video game series Grand Theft Auto released its newest version of the game last night at midnight, "Grand Theft Auto IV". This game is expected to be one of the highest, if not THE highest grossing entertainment sales releases of all time. This is including music, movies, and all video games just for starters. The Blockbuster Spiderman 3 reportedly holds the first weekend record at $380 million, and Grand Theft Auto IV is expected to hit $400 million. Lines formed outside of electronics and gaming stores around the world as people waited to get their chance to be some of the first to own GTA IV the minute it was released.
The Grand Theft Auto series has been welcomed by customers with open arms in the past, beging one of the highest grossing video games series of all time, but this comes with consequence as well. The gameplay is so appealing, simply because it gives users the chance to pretty much go anywhere, and do anything within a populated area, most of which includes violence, crime, and many other socially and morally unacceptable things. Critics and activist groups have been giving each game from the GTA series criticism for years about the negative aspects it has on children. It's been used in psychology studies, on news reports, and in public protest demonstrations, and who is to say whether this free publicity is hurting or helping the game's sales.
To be perfectly honest it is a pretty awesome game nonetheless. This was the one game growing up that your parents didn't want you to play, but when you got the chance to you could never stop. I can understand the argument that it may cause violent tendencies in some kids, but it is just a video game and people that look way to far past that can start to get a little out of hand. That may be part of the media strategy of the gamemakers though. They knew they had something that was SO out there, and SO racy that they knew it would be talked about for a long, long time. This is a way of free advertising and publicity that they probably realized as they decided the certain elements to put into the game. It's almost as if they chose an entirely free medium to advertise on, without ever having to purchase single GRP. This could probably be looked at as extremely smart, or going above and beyond social acceptability. Whatever the case Grand Theft Auto IV sales are going to be through the roof, there is no doubt about that, and I'm sure a whole other bout of controversy and publicity will come out of this game release, just like the others.
posted by dtrach @ 3:53 PM
2 Comments
2 Comments:
Definitely some good points you brought up, especially in the third paragraph. I had never thought about it in respects to this game before but it does seem so reminiscent of a lot of other marketing campaigns that raised buzz through controversy. Whether it is on purpose or not these tactics do raise a good amount of free advertising for the brands. Just like the marketers that posted all those signs around Boston and got people scared of a terrorist attack and the website that gave away money in New York and started a riot. Either way, the new game seems to have been just as controversial as the earlier ones if not more, and I agree with you that there’s a good chance that was intentional.
From an advertising and marketing perspective, Grand Theft Auto is an excellent branding opportunity. Not only does GTA produce captive viewers, but the game reaches a multitude of people. Many of these gamers probably are actively involved with the game repetitively. Although not all products would fit too well into a game based on a game that promotes crime, those brands willing to get involved are virtually guaranteed to reach an extremely high number of potential consumers.
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