Collective insights

Happy holidays! ??

We’re impressed you’re still online, honestly. Thanks for checking out December’s issue of the Collective before you’re OOO for the year. Since you’ve been so good, we’ve gathered only the best news in gaming for December.

Events ?

The Game Awards for 2024 took place last Thursday in Los Angeles, and what a night it was! Featuring an instantly viral performance from twenty one pilots, some celebrity guest appearances (and an appearance from the Muppet peanut gallery), it was a Game Awards to remember. Here’s who took home some hardware.

• Astro Bot: Game of the Year, Best Game Direction, Best Action/Adventure Game, and Best Family Game
• Metaphor: ReFantazio: Best Narrative, Best Art Direction, and Best RPG
• Balatro: Best Independent Game, Best Debut Indie Game, and Best Mobile Game
• Black Myth: Wukong: Best Action Game and Player’s Voice
• Helldivers 2: Best Ongoing Game and Best Multiplayer Game
• Senua's Sage: Hellblade 2: Best Audio Design and Best Performance (Melina Jurgens)

As for the new game announcements and trailers, we definitely felt like Christmas came early! A co-op Elden Ring spin-off was announced, and we got a trailer for the next installment in CD Projekt Red’s Witcher series. Not to mention Split Fiction from Hazelight, the studio behind It Takes Two, a super-stacked superhero story game called Dispatch, and Naughty Dog’s new franchise set in space: Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet.

News ??

• Buying brand-loyal gamers: Advertising in-game and around-the-game proves lucrative ??

While more brands have dipped their proverbial toe into advertising in gaming, there’s still some skepticism across the industry about if those investments really pay off. Good news for us: they do.

An op-ed on The Drum by Instreamly’s CEO Wiktoria Wójcik ?? GDC breaks down some of the benefits around advertising to a gaming audience. While Instreamly tends to work more with sponsorships for popular streamers, aligning brands with the best voice to promote their products, the piece discusses the importance of perceiving gamers as an audience of cash-rich, brand-loyal consumers.

Wójcik covers the social aspect of gaming as well, highlighting how gamers often spend more time gaming with friends and family than they do on any other traditional social platform like X or Instagram. And the coveted Gen Z audience so many brands are trying to tap into? They’re gaming too.

Read Wójcik’s insights on the relationship between brands and gaming on The Drum here.

• Pre-installed fun: Telefónica devices will come with Fortnite ready to play ??

Epic Games just made a play to entice more mobile gamers. Through a deal with the Spanish telecoms company Telefónica, Android users in the UK, Spain, Germany, and Latin America may find Fortnite pre-installed on their device.

In addition to the addictive FPS, the Epic Games Store will also be installed on their device. It’s a genius marketing move to reach potential players, and it’s a great incentive for third-party developers to list their games on the Epic Games Store.

We think Epic could take it one step further by offering Android users a unique starter pack if they play on mobile devices with the store and game pre-installed. Regardless, we’ll be keeping a close eye on Epic’s mobile player base to see if the Telefónica deal boosts the game’s presence.

Read GamesIndustry.biz’s coverage of the announcement here.

• Good gaming tidings for the new year: Agencies are confident heading into 2025 ??

2024 marked the best year yet for spend in gaming, according to the gaming divisions within agency holding companies. And they’re expecting the same trajectory for 2025, due in part to an influx of Roblox partnerships.

The metaverse as a whole has provided uncharted opportunity for brands to connect with audiences. With so many consumers choosing to spend their time and money within gaming worlds and eschewing social networks or television, the gaming industry is rife with potential for advertisers hoping to capture consumer attention.

But it’s not enough to get involved in game advertising; agencies need to be ahead of the curve. Dentsu global gaming lead brent koning lauds the Roblox Partner Program, but stresses the importance of jumping in early for agencies.

“Being the first mover is so critical, because it allows us to be prepped…” says Koning. “It’s a big part of why our gaming strategy is so successful.”

Check out Digiday ’s article here.

• Apps on the naughty list: BBC reveals many mobile games aren’t disclosing loot boxes ??

The BBC concluded that almost half of the top mobile games currently on Google’s Play Store don’t disclose that they include loot boxes in their advertising, misleading users and introducing gambling to young players.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has made it clear that they can ban and remove any ads which don’t disclose the use of loot boxes. However, regulators and gambling safety trusts say that the ASA doesn’t have the resources to make good on this promise, leading to more games getting away without disclosing the inclusion of loot boxes in their game.

While loot boxes may seem like a fun, random mechanic within a game to reward users for continued play, some developers are locking content behind randomized loot boxes that only become available after the player pays. In 2022, the Norwegian Consumer council labelled loot boxes as gambling, stating they “often involve exploiting consumers through predatory mechanisms, fostering addiction, targeting vulnerable consumer groups and more.”

Read the BBC’s full report here.

• An unlikely condiment: Hellmann’s is getting into eSports and gaming ??

Gaming might just be the magic pill for brands looking to connect with a Gen Z audience. 联合利华 has already started to capitalize on the great wide world of around-the-game advertising with their sponsorship of team FURIA in the Esports World Cup. But now, they’re diving into in-game advertising with an exclusive Fortnite Island.

Players can enter a food-filled colosseum and compete to eat the most food before time runs out. Using a mayonnaise blaster, contestants can slather their snacks with Hellmann’s mayonnaise, proving that mayo does in fact, go with everything.

It’s an immersive activation by Artificial Rome , and as impressive as it is, it’s the agency’s first Fortnite map created with Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN). If you’re looking to take on the ‘All You Can Eat’ challenge, you can check out the map using the code 2535-8226-5643.

Marketing Beat covered the collaboration, read more about it here.

See you back here in 2025! ??

This month’s newsletter covers: #gaming #gamingindustry #gamingcommunity #gaminglife #gamingnews #advertising #advertisingindustry #publishing #publishingindustry #videogame #videogames #videogameindustry