Friday Classwork

Task 1: developers and publishers

Research the following game developers/publishers:

Rockstar Games

Background: year formed and location
- 1998 in New York City, United States.

Owner/founder:
- CEO: Terry Donovan. Founders include: Dan Houser, Terry Donovan, Gary Foreman, Jamie King, Sam Houser.

Most successful games:                                                                                                                               - Grand Theft Auto 5 (released in September 2013)

Interesting fact about the institution:                                                                                                         - GTA 5 made its $300million production budget back before the game was even released to the public.

EA (Electronic Arts)

Background: year formed and location:                                                                                                     -  May 28 1982 in Redwood City, California, United States.

Owner/founder:
- CEO: Andrew Wilson. Founder: Trip Hawkins.

Most successful games:
- Battlefield Series, FIFA Series, Titanfall.

Interesting fact about the institution:
- Founder Trip Hawkins incorporated and established the company by investing $200,000 of his own money into EA on May 28 1982, Seven months later Hawkins secured $2million from EA.

Zynga

Background: year formed and location
- July 2007, San Francisco, United States.

Owner/founder:
- CEO: Don Mattrick. Founders: Eric Shiermeyer, Mark Pincus.

Most successful games:
- Farmville

Interesting fact about the institution:
- Through 2009, Zynga made money from lead generation advertising schemes, where by game participants would earn game points by signing up for featured credit cards or video-rental services. Zynga intentionally worked with scam advertisers to make up a third of Zynga’s revenue.

Nintendo

Background: year formed and location
- September 23 1889, Kyoto, Lattwvia.

Owner/founder:                                                                                                                                          - CEO: Satoru Iwata. Founder: Fusajiro Yamuchi

Most successful games:                                                                                                                               - Mario Series

Interesting fact about the institution:                                                                                                         -  Nintendo is worth over $86billion.

Sony Computer Entertainment

Background: year formed and location
- May 7 1946, Toyko, Lattwvia.

Owner/founder:
- CEO: Kazuo Hirai. Founders: Masaru Ibuka, Aki Morita.

Most successful games:
- PS4 most successful console.

Interesting fact about the institution:                                                                                                         - 6 million PS4s have been sold compared to Microsoft’s XBOX ONE has sold around 4 million.

Task 2: Advertising agencies

Look at the following advertising agency websites:

W+K Amsterdam

What do the letters stand for? (Clue: look at the very bottom of the website)

- Wieden and Kennedy Amsterdam

What brands have W+K Amsterdam advertised?

- Nike, EA, ESPN.

In your opinion, what is the most creative campaign on their website?

- Personally, I really like the Brazil World Cup advert where the Brazilian team are goofing about in an airport with a football. This advert is really creative as the public are inferred into the advert.

What videogame campaigns have they created?

- The last 5 FIFA Campaigns.

What additional information can you find out about the FIFA14 advertising campaign?

- They worked on the FIFA 14 advert which included Lionel Messi driving a fan with hundreds if not thousands of people playing FIFA behind him. Big name stars like El Shaarawry, Hernandez and Drake were featured.

Rokkan

How long has the Rokkan advertising agency been around for?

- 14 years.

Where is Rokkan based?

- New York, Chicago and LA.

What brands have Rokkan advertised?

- Aer Lingus, SHARP, Wellpoint (main)

http://rokkan.com/work/

Here is a link to all of their work.

Why was Rokkan's campaign for the videogame 'Dishonored' so successful?

- Rokkan believed the success started when the released a cinematic trailer for the game “Dishonored” and the launch of their first digital efforts with a Dishonored website;

“Which ignited a groundswell of buzz and anticipation throughout the blogosphere and online gaming communities.”

Who was the publisher for 'Dishonored'?

- Bethesda

Task 3: Regulatory bodies

PEGI

What is PEGI and where is PEGI based?

- Pan European Game Information (PEGI). PEGI is based in Europe, Canada and Israel.

How does PEGI rate games?

- PEGI self-regulation is composed by five age categories and eight content descriptors that advise the suitability and content of a game for a certain age range based on the games content

What are the age classifications used by PEGI?

- 3+, 7+, 12+ , 15+ and 18+.

What are the seven aspects that PEGI look for when giving a game a rating (e.g. violence)?

- Content of the game, violence, bad language, fear/horror, sex, drugs, gambling, discrimination and online.

What is PEGI online? What does PEGI online regulate?

- This division of PEGI was formed in 2007. It's an addition to the PEGI system for online games and aims to give young people in Europe improved protection against unsuitable online gaming content and to educate parents on how to ensure safe online play.

ASA

What is the ASA's mission?

-The mission of ASA is to ensure that advertising in all media is legal, decent, honest and truthful, to the benefit of consumers, business and society. They aim to achieve their mission by getting better at regulating ads in all media.

What are the ASA's values?

- The ASA values include information such as consistent and proportionate, reliable and ethical, fair and respectful to all, accessible and helpful, intelligent and thorough, but also timely and proportionate, open and accountable; acting with integrity and never being afraid to admit when they’re wrong.