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Beyonce's onto something, you know

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  • Beyonce's onto something, you know

    Did you see that Beyonce released an entire album the other night, completely out of the blue? Yep, in a stunning move that makes Radiohead's choose-your-own-price release of In Rainbows look like risk-averse toe-dipping conservatism, the 32-year-old started selling a collection of 14 new songs online, complete with 17 music videos. "Surprise!" she wrote in a press release - the existence of which appears to have been her main concession towards industry convention. Apparently she was "bored" of releasing stuff the traditional way.
    The games industry, of course, is hardly short of new and exciting distribution methods. Over the past few years we've gone from CDs and DVDs to shareware-style digital downloads, alphas, betas, free-to-play, freemium, paymium and all sorts of other things that sound like elements on Gordon Gecko's periodic table. But these things are always still a little experimental or independent, however big they then blow up to be. Waking up on Friday to a new Beyonce album is more like saying "Xbox, on" one day and discovering that Halo 5 isn't just happening; it's already on Xbox Live.
    I'd love to see more of this, and although I commentate on the games industry rather than working within it, I know a few people on the inside who believe in this sort of thing as well. A few years ago I found myself talking to a marketing director at a major games publisher (don't worry, I killed him as soon as I realised who he was) who told me about an abandoned plan for a triple-A game that would have seen it announced in a whirlwind of traditional publicity - you know, press previews and viral videos and so on - and then, with a magician's flourish and a "ta-da!", announced for release a mere six weeks later. It was a risky idea, but just imagine the buzz it would have generated.
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