“The video game press is a direct reflection of the audience for which it is created.”
Video games are an essential part of a revolution that has changed the entertainment industry over the past 30 years. However, its influence in Mexico has been slowed by technological and economic constraints. Ignorance and disinformation have avoided the government from considering them as an economic development tool, as ingenuity enhancer, artistic expressions and information effective transmitters, which already occurs in developed countries.
Such are the barriers that impose a series of challenges to public relations professionals when working with this type of entertainment that many consider as "new" or "trendy". But the reality is that they change constantly, that it is not possible to define a period of "stability" in their evolution, that's the reason why they always seem "new".
In this text, we will discuss the video game industry in Mexico, the emergence of the specialized press, the difference between making public relations for video games and for other products and the particularities of target audiences and the specialized press.
MILLIONAIRES FIGURES OF VIDEO GAMES IN MEXICO
The relevance of the vide ogame industry in the Mexican market is undeniable. Let's see some figures that show it:
According to El Horizonte, in the current year the value of the video game market in Mexico will close at $27,032 million pesos, that means, 9.1% more than the $24,771 million reached in 2017. This figure already places video games above the Cinema industry and in 2010 it closed "only" at $12,857 million pesos.
Nevertheless, despite this growth, la firma The Competitive Intelligence Unit (CIU) mentioned that in recent months there was a sales impact due to price adjustments derived from the increase in the dollar. This 2018 figure could be modified.
Nowadays, there are 68.7 million gamers in Mexico (at the end of 2017), a figure that represents an increase of 15.1% compared to the previous year and that covers all types of gamers, from casual to hardcore, with smartphones the main access to the titles.
According to The CIU, Microsoft, with its Xbox, is the company most chosen by national gamers, followed by PlayStation (Sony) and Nintendo.
THE RISE, EVOLUTION, AND INFLUENCE OF VIDEO GAMES IN MEXICO AND OF THE SPECIALIZED PRESS.
70’s - 80’s
In its beginnings (the 70s and early 80s), both in Mexico and in other countries, the video games mentions in the press were linked to technology. This means they were treated as technological progress, "trend" and entertainment with potential, rather than talking about them as communication means, or storyline. The latter is understandable since, in its origins, video games did not tell stories.
After a while, video games left the laboratories and military installations to settle in the gaming machines (or arcades) and, later, in homes. This make interactive entertainment (the 80’s) much more popular, giving the media an identity, characters, and storyline, so the press began to treat it first as a mass phenomenon and then as a means of communication, giving way to the specialized press.
90’s
During 90's, the video game revolution finally took place, which was the creation of specialized festivals on the subject, discussions about its economic potential and its effects on society, the individual, and large releases, surrounded by marketing alongside the one already established to release a new Hollywood production.
While this was happening, the specialized press took a bigger boom and began to professionalize with emblematic magazines that were considered as "authorities". With readers eager for news of their favorite games, but especially, for opinions, since video games were not and are not cheap; so, well-thought decisions had to made. Magazines were a fusion between a purchases catalog and source of information.
At that time, such publications were the only way that fans could get close to video games. It was not until late 90's that they began to have more presence on radio and TV. It is also true that at that time, companies began to notice the importance of public relations.
Obviously, the panorama for both video game companies and PRs changed radically with the Internet since the beginning of the 21st century, but we will talk about this later.
In Mexico, during the 80's and early 90's, video games were still seen as "weird", but Nintendo's commercial influence in the country gave a push to TV shows such as "Nintendomanía" or "Intercontrol" and to media such as the legendary magazine "Club Nintendo", which opened the door to the video game industry.
2000’s
During 2000's, many companies followed the Nintendo example and established commercial offices in our country (Sony, Microsoft, Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, Konami, among others). In this way, Mexico became indispensable for the commercial expansion of video games in Latin America, which brought to light the creation of a public relations department or agencies that knew the local market, which was very different from Japanese, European or American.
2010’s
Nowadays, the video game industry in Mexico is in a dilemma. In one hand, it shows maturity and power, on the other, it continues to depend on the foreigner and is affected by the dollar fluctuation. Likewise, there is not yet a developed local market that exposes its economic and artistic potential that is why governments do not pay much attention to it. Fans are still dependent on imports, but there are already some signs of local production that in a very short time could change the industry.
VIDEO GAMES, A FERTILE FIELD FOR PUBLIC RELATIONS IN MEXICO
A public relations professionals job is essential to the success of a video game; however, this industry has very specific characteristics that PRs must take into account to better perform their job.
We will talk about them later. For now we must mention that despite the high numbers generated by video games, there is a great need to get these products to non-specialized audiences, which are not captive and often require to be demystified on the subject or that certain beliefs are disproved, because even though we are in 2018, many still believe in myths related to videogames as:
Although some games sell themselves thanks to "word of mouth", the majority of sales are influenced by the press and messages transmitted through public relations opinions. Something similar to movies, but with a big difference: the cost of a ticket ($60 - $80) is much less than that of a video game release ($1,200).
Taking into account the releases, it is important that public relations professionals know how to distinguish the messages goal they are going to transmit in order to achieve the expected outcomes.
According to the book "Marketing Hero. Las herramientas comerciales de los videojuegos" by Juan Carrillo Marqueta and Ana Sebastián Morillas, the communication goals can be divided into permanent and conjunctural:
Permanent:
Conjuntural:
As can be seen, there are several goals that can be covered with a public relations campaign, so the field of action is large.
THE TASKS OF THE ACTORS IN THE VIDEO GAME PUBLIC RELATIONS: AGENCIES AND PUBLISHERS
Speaking of its performance, video game public relations do not change much from other products or industries. So we have two main actors interacting with each other: publishers and agencies.
The publishers are the customers, this means, the companies that produce, publish and distribute the video game. They are usually international companies, so the information released from their Mexican representation should follow guidelines, and characteristics established from the global HQ.
Agencies are responsible for promoting products and helping brands reach new markets and as we will see later, many times, the most popular video games are promoted by themselves among specialized audiences. They need to "move" between new audiences, and this is when the public relations professional comes into action because they know the market where they work.
The agencies are responsible for providing the press all the necessary tools to carry out their job of a critic, prior, commentary, reporting, streaming, multimedia, etc. These tools are:
There is a particular subject within this whole system: indie or independent games. There are more and more titles developed by small studies or by a single person. The reality is that to have an adequate diffusion, it is up to the big publishers or agencies that make an important effort to place them in the press and gamers minds.
In this case the challenge is greater since often not even specialized press has them in mind; in addition, these companies do not usually consider in their small budget the hiring of a communication agency that helps them boost their creativity. Having this agency is key, especially for Mexican games.