Social Listening with... FromSoftware
The year is 2011 and the Xbox 360 is competing with the PlayStation 3. Advertisements for the next Elder Scrolls game has fantasy lovers and role players alike searching through the Internets database for whatever they could find. But from the shadows, the hit Role-Playing Game Dark Souls rises and takes the prize. FromSoftware, the developer for Dark Souls is a Japanese video game company founded back in November 1986. Their most known games would include the Armored Core series and the Souls series.
FromSoftware's value proposition would come from how appealing their games are. Specifically looking at their Role-Playing Games. The Souls series games are notorious for the community nicknaming it the "hardest game made". In recent years, game reviewing groups such as IGN has even compared other games to this series. The Souls series started in 2009 as a PlayStation exclusive, named Demon souls. Two years later they took the series in a newer direction and put Dark Souls out for both Xbox and PlayStation, a port for the PC in 2012. The series had three titles under "Dark Souls", and another PlayStation exclusive in 2015 named Bloodborne. Fans soon began calling the series the, "Soulsborne series"
Because this series of games are notoriously known for being hard, there is cause for people to get upset and "rage" when they keep losing to other players or simply dying over and over from the enemies that plagues the areas within the game. Looking to the Steam marketplace, there are a whopping 66,982 game reviews on the computer alone for this game. And even then the game still comes out 89% rated very positive from the community, where people are still posting their own reviews.
Many of the negative things people say about Dark Souls mainly comes from the games difficulty mechanic. There is no hard mode, no easy mode, it just throws you into the game after you make your character. The problem people had with the game coming to the PC was that there were many problems with it, as it was just a port from the console version. Your mouse cursor would overlay the game and often get annoying if you choose to play the game without a controller plugged into your computer. It also didn't unlock the frame rate, where on console it was locked in at thirty frames per second (fps), on the computer it was still locked.
Other people saw this game as an utter masterpiece. Seven years later, people are still in love with the graphical design of the game and the clunky mechanics. The game itself teaches patience to the player as you must decide when to attack and when to go on the defense. Although many first time players find the game enraging, there is an underlining peace once you go back to play the game for a brand new run through.
Of course, this sparked many fights between the fans. The fans who thought the game was a flawed masterpiece came to the conclusion that the people who disliked the game and nitpicked the functions needed to get over themselves. The term "Git Gud" was adopted by the community as an insult for people complaining and making a fuss over something. More controversy sparked as the second installment to the series came out and revamped the entire mechanics system. Dark Souls 2 had many new functions that some people loved, and others learned to loath. The game was smoother and ran at sixty frames per second. Many complaints from people included that the game was too easy, and their expectations were not met.
Once Dark Souls 3 came out, it was seen as the successor to the first Dark Souls. The difficulty had been turned back up as FromSoftware wanted to end the series on the best note they could. And the community jumped on board as soon as they could pre-order the game on any console they could. After the game had been released for thirteen days, Bandai Namco Entertainment America released a short video that would only add to the hype of this game.
word of their next big games. YouTube, Facebook, Twitter are just some examples of where they post new game trailers and announcements. The challenges they face is that they don't advertise on any networks or channels on T.V., whereas some of their competitors are and still do. FromSoftware depends on their loyal fans to spread the word about their next up-and-coming games.
suggested that we expanded to having payed promotions on YouTube channels, and not just ads that
you're able to skip after five seconds. By viewing which "YouTubers" (People who create and post their personal content on YouTube) would have the biggest impact on this specific community. IGN could be one option, as their slogan is: "IGN is your #1 destination for all video game news, expert
reviews, and walkthroughs." Another channel that I would reach out to would be Rooster Teeth, a large group of people from Texas that has a large viewer base. They do their own different podcasts, animation shows, they have a channel specifically meant for gaming, and much more. Another interesting thing about them, is that they took over the video news that your local GameStop has playing when you walk in. By getting them to talk about new releases and upcoming games, you wouldn't have to search online to find out information about FromSoftware's new games. You could simply walk into your local GameStop and listen to them while browsing their selection of games.
And remember... Be safe out their friends. Don't you dare go hollow.
Thank you.
FromSoftware's value proposition would come from how appealing their games are. Specifically looking at their Role-Playing Games. The Souls series games are notorious for the community nicknaming it the "hardest game made". In recent years, game reviewing groups such as IGN has even compared other games to this series. The Souls series started in 2009 as a PlayStation exclusive, named Demon souls. Two years later they took the series in a newer direction and put Dark Souls out for both Xbox and PlayStation, a port for the PC in 2012. The series had three titles under "Dark Souls", and another PlayStation exclusive in 2015 named Bloodborne. Fans soon began calling the series the, "Soulsborne series"
Because this series of games are notoriously known for being hard, there is cause for people to get upset and "rage" when they keep losing to other players or simply dying over and over from the enemies that plagues the areas within the game. Looking to the Steam marketplace, there are a whopping 66,982 game reviews on the computer alone for this game. And even then the game still comes out 89% rated very positive from the community, where people are still posting their own reviews.
Many of the negative things people say about Dark Souls mainly comes from the games difficulty mechanic. There is no hard mode, no easy mode, it just throws you into the game after you make your character. The problem people had with the game coming to the PC was that there were many problems with it, as it was just a port from the console version. Your mouse cursor would overlay the game and often get annoying if you choose to play the game without a controller plugged into your computer. It also didn't unlock the frame rate, where on console it was locked in at thirty frames per second (fps), on the computer it was still locked.
Other people saw this game as an utter masterpiece. Seven years later, people are still in love with the graphical design of the game and the clunky mechanics. The game itself teaches patience to the player as you must decide when to attack and when to go on the defense. Although many first time players find the game enraging, there is an underlining peace once you go back to play the game for a brand new run through.
Of course, this sparked many fights between the fans. The fans who thought the game was a flawed masterpiece came to the conclusion that the people who disliked the game and nitpicked the functions needed to get over themselves. The term "Git Gud" was adopted by the community as an insult for people complaining and making a fuss over something. More controversy sparked as the second installment to the series came out and revamped the entire mechanics system. Dark Souls 2 had many new functions that some people loved, and others learned to loath. The game was smoother and ran at sixty frames per second. Many complaints from people included that the game was too easy, and their expectations were not met.
Once Dark Souls 3 came out, it was seen as the successor to the first Dark Souls. The difficulty had been turned back up as FromSoftware wanted to end the series on the best note they could. And the community jumped on board as soon as they could pre-order the game on any console they could. After the game had been released for thirteen days, Bandai Namco Entertainment America released a short video that would only add to the hype of this game.
Currently, FromSoftware is getting ready for their next release. While each new installment in the souls series made their previous installments popular again, their next release is their gift to us. While people beg and plead for another Dark Souls game, or a second Bloodborne or a sequel to Demon Souls, they decided to go back and remaster their first Dark Souls game. Their "flawed masterpiece" being revived for one more shot in the spotlight. While FromSoftware isn't going to stop making games anytime soon, this will supposedly be their last goodbye to the series.
FromSoftware generally sticks to online advertising for their new games, or press releases at conventions, and their website. Their partner, Bandai Namco Gaming, also helps them spread the
If I was working at FromSoftware when these games were first being advertised, I would have
Thank you.
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