Skyward Sword Marketing

[AlaskaAce1996]

It continues to amaze me that Nintendo has failed to market Skyward Sword, yet it seems close to the alleged release date. If Nintendo continues to be silent about Skyward Sword, then the only people who will buy it will be hardcore Zelda fans and not the casual gamer that the game is intended for. Poor marketing can really hurt a product. For example in 1989 the James Bond movie License to Kill was released, and was the worst performing 007 movie at the box office, however it's regarded as one of the best of the series.

The same can be applied to Zelda, while the game can still be great, it would fail to sell and cause problems for Nintendo. I think the only explanation is that Skyward Sword is not going to be released in Q1. Even that seems a bit strange as they seem to be close to finished. What do you guys think about the marketing and what do you think will happen?

 

[Ryan]

It's Zelda... any gamer who visits game sites like IGN or is subscribed to Machinima on Youtube probably already knows Skyward Sword, which makes a new trailer almost useless in terms of marketing, as does screenshots. What is a good idea is commercials and magazine ads to target the mainstream population who aren't in the loop. Of course, you have to release commercials and ads really close to the release or else casual gamers or anyone else will likely forget about it, I know, hard to believe right? lol

 

[Dukusword]

"If Nintendo continues to be silent about Skyward Sword, then the only people who will buy it will be hardcore Zelda fans and not the casual gamer that the game is intended for."
First this game is not for casual gamers, a casual game is a really easy game and SS is looking way harder then TP and did you ever think Nintendo just waiting till next month to say anything?, If your wondering what's next month it's Nintendo World where they are going to show off new stuff from the 3DS and the games (which means a new trailer for SS is 99.9% possible so you should wait for the game plus a rushed game=a bad game.

 

[Djinn]

Zelda is not simply a game for the hardcore fans. It has long been a cornerstone of Nintendo and one of their main franchises. Casual gamers will still know what Zelda is and exactly what system to find it on.

Now I doubt we will see a Skyward Sword edition Jeep Wrangler
http://www.insideline.com/jeep/wran...er-call-of-duty-black-ops-edition-debuts.html

Skyward Sword will definitely be marketed as much as any other leading Nintendo game made in the last several years. We are not hearing much about it now because Nintendo is still trying to keep a lid on development. But we will be hearing more about it the closer to the release date. Besides presales are already on sale now.

Also there is not much of a rush to get the word out since they are not trying to raise interest before Christmas 10'. So commercials and magazine ads for a game not coming out anytime soon are a waste of money. So Nintendo will spend that money on games they do wish to sell by Christmas this year.

 

[Locke]

My desktop is a slideshow of the official screenshots released shortly after E3 on the website, and I've had the following conversation several times recently:
"Oh I love Zelda! Which game's that screenshot from?"
"Skyward Sword."
"I haven't played that one."
"...it's not out yet."

Granted these people probably aren't the type of Zelda fan that would be predisposed to buying the game anyway, but I so see the effects of the lack of attention. I also agree that if they give it too much now people would get bored of it or forget about it before they even buy it, and its release would have less effect. They should certainly put a lot more effort into getting the title out there when we get closer to release.

 

[Link-182]

I agree with Djinn.
Why would Nintendo waste their commercial money and marketing strategies on a game that won't be out this christmas? They have tons of games they want to sell right now.
They have tons of commercials for Donkey Kong, Mario Anniversary, Red Wii, special DSi XLs, Kirby, Goldeneye 007, Fling Smash, Wii Remote Plus etc.

They haven't even released a release date for Skyward Sword.
Now if they said it would be out in January, but haven't done any marketing, then yes, I'd be a bit worried by sales.
When the game has a release date, I'm sure they will already have a buzz going from the hardcore fans from trailers and screenshots.

I'm sure they are gonna have a lot of marketing strategy for this game because its probably one of the last AAA titles for Wii that can boost sales for the console, the Remote Plus and the game. Nintendo isn't gonna waste money on marketing a product that doesn't even have a release date, let alone being on a shelf already. They usually start marketing their games once they are already available.

When the game is actually out, or very close to out, then yes, they will market it.

 

[ConsoleGamesFTW]

Nintendo knows it will be a good game, and thats how they market it. When I walked into gamestop when the wii came out, under TP was the rating the game got...wii owners listen to good reviews. For the "casual" crowd, I guarantee you they will have a commercial with those two guys who come into people's houses and play wii (lol, i'm pretty sure they've stopped those commercials but you get my point).

 

[Djinn]

Well it looks like the marketing is slowly getting started. I found the minifig/keychains announced

http://gachaworld.com/blog/?p=203

So I imagine more things like this will be appearing the closer we get to the release date.

 

[Aero_Dynamic]

Woah, those figures look for real!! Though why does it use TP's characters lol....
I'm sure they're cooking some new thing to show us soon, they can't forget about it, seeing how it's one of their number one fanbase.
Don't worry, we'll see something soon.

 

[Djinn]

Lol, I did not even notice the little figure pics on the side of the box. I just stumbled upon the link and thought people here would want to know about it. Oh well.

It is a pretty good fake though, whoever made it did a nice job..

 

[Jupiter]

When the time comes, they will market the daylights out of this one: trust me.

I think they are just waiting for the right moment to explode all of their marketing onto the scene...they are storying up details about the game, images, and promotions so that when the release of SS is nigh they can create a frenzy...

When the time comes, they will market the daylights out of this one: trust me.

I think they are just waiting for the right moment to explode all of their marketing onto the scene...they are storying up details about the game, images, and promotions so that when the release of SS is nigh they can create a frenzy...

 

[Beeker]

I agree with DJinn and Jupiter. Everything about Skyward Sword(well, almost everything) is being kept under wraps, and we still haven't learned many new details in the past few months. Because of this, there wouldn't be much marketing on the game just yet. Once the release is announced, or at least after when it's announced, is when Nintendo will probably begin to market the game. I could see them trying to market this one well, it is one of Nintendo's best franchises after all.