Happy 19th Launchversary to HALO 3! I was in line at @gamestop for the midnight launch 9/25/07. Took the next day off for a “HALO Holiday”. Spent 16 hours that day in multiplayer, memorizing every inch of the maps. All time excellently spent. What a game.
One of the biggest mistakes I see teams make is treating a large audience as proof of a convinced audience. Sometimes it is, but sometimes it's just attention. The challenge is knowing which one you have before making bigger decisions around launch, spend, positioning, or scale.
A lot of game teams know how to measure interest. Usually, that starts with wishlists. Often, trailer views and demo downloads. Sometimes, Discord server size. And if they have the bandwidth, creator coverage, social engagement and sentiment.
Understanding conviction matters because while interest can often be created through reach, novelty, promotion, or a particularly strong creative beat, conviction is harder to create.
At @GameFrameworks, this is a question I spend a lot of time thinking about: What do we actually know, what are we assuming, and what would need to be true for this launch decision to make sense?
Better decisions. Stronger games.
A game can be on schedule and still not be ready to launch.
Production milestones may be green. Build may be progressing. Marketing may be executing to plan. Release date may be locked. But the bigger question is: Should this game launch on this date?
#gamedev#games
This year, @gamescom organizers reported 368,000 visitors from 131 countries, including more than 36,000 trade visitors. For one week, the global games industry established residency in Köln, Germany.
And it was a stellar week!
@gamescom was enormous, chaotic and absolutely worth it. It was B2C, B2B, and an industry-wide exchange of ideas, all giving the week (and city) an extraordinary energy. It’s what @E3 should have become.