Tainted Love: The Marketing of Duke Nukem Forever
- Thread starter JP Sherman
- Start date
I just have to say that I like JP and his articles on marketing, some of the best writing on the subject matter to be found on the Escapist and the web in general. I also think it?s a cruelly overlooked item on the Escapsist ? gamer marketing is some of the most aggressive.
This industry that we are all bought into relies heavily on non-mainstream marketing. When was the last time you saw a TV advert for a game? I think I saw one for Halo during the SuperBowl (?) this year and was shocked. I expect to see Mass Effect 3 adverts and see the same "what the hell was that" from my family and friends; nonganers just don't get them.
My wife works in accounts for an advertising company in Soho (London, as if there is any other), and games are a tiny part of their remit, even though they do work for Xbox live, the money just isn?t anywhere near the amount for games as it is for simple things like bread or old age incontinence pants. The money in traditional marketing spheres just isn?t there for games and so advertisers like Redcar have to resort to selling the myth and not the product. In the paraphrased words of Terry Pratchet; selling the smell of sausages without the sausage.
That?s what Duke Nukem Forever is, the marketing smell of a sausage but when bitten into you get the grizzle, lips, eyes and arseholes of disappointing gaming.
WaspFactory
This industry that we are all bought into relies heavily on non-mainstream marketing. When was the last time you saw a TV advert for a game? I think I saw one for Halo during the SuperBowl (?) this year and was shocked. I expect to see Mass Effect 3 adverts and see the same "what the hell was that" from my family and friends; nonganers just don't get them.
My wife works in accounts for an advertising company in Soho (London, as if there is any other), and games are a tiny part of their remit, even though they do work for Xbox live, the money just isn?t anywhere near the amount for games as it is for simple things like bread or old age incontinence pants. The money in traditional marketing spheres just isn?t there for games and so advertisers like Redcar have to resort to selling the myth and not the product. In the paraphrased words of Terry Pratchet; selling the smell of sausages without the sausage.
That?s what Duke Nukem Forever is, the marketing smell of a sausage but when bitten into you get the grizzle, lips, eyes and arseholes of disappointing gaming.
WaspFactory
I missed your articles greatly.
That said, I'd probably agree that the biggest problem was the fact that the victims were willing. To demonstrate...the cartoon Johnny Bravo (though lacking sexual overtones) is funny PRECISELY because he always struts around ladies, flexes his pecks and calls them names that are just hilariously lame in this day and age...and the girls ALWAYS give him a beating for it. That's what makes that type of relentless mysogony (light though it may be) funny - because you can certainly see women in this day and age reacting the same way (and not necessarily because he got what he deserved for all of you hypersensitive types that feel the need to think JUSTICE! at this point - Johnny Bravo is just genuinely clueless to the fact that the times have moved on from when this sort of approach was actually considered bold, something he and Duke Nukem most definitely share in spades). There is an even more awesome episode, however, about how Johnny Bravo's mysogony is at least honest and really is nothing compared to the lying sleazes that regularly successfully pick up babes but...that's getting off topic now.
The point being...that's the problem here really. It's not that Duke should be a different person - hell no! Duke should always be the Duke. The problem is that the game world, in which he finds himself, hasn't moved on without him. If he managed to stick to his guns to the end of the game through the adversity of modern sensibilities constantly trying to change who he is...then sure I might actually have a bit more interest. Because like it or not, that is the tale of a hero making it to the end in spite of the world telling him he's passe. And wether you agree with his style or not, it would actually make Duke a true old-skool hero again!
Unfortunately, by all accounts, the writers and game designers didn't have the savvy to think of doing something like this to surprise their audience with it. And instead we just got a mysogynistic fantasy land that really holds little long-lasting appeal. A shame really, because I'd probably like a story of someone, who is at the very least completely honest about himself, making it through to the end in spite of the many politically correct hypocrites that try to dissuade him from his path.
TL;DR It's not what Duke does during the game that's offensive. It's how the characters within the game react to his actions that is offensive by deliberately overestimating the audience's suspension of disbelief.
That said, I'd probably agree that the biggest problem was the fact that the victims were willing. To demonstrate...the cartoon Johnny Bravo (though lacking sexual overtones) is funny PRECISELY because he always struts around ladies, flexes his pecks and calls them names that are just hilariously lame in this day and age...and the girls ALWAYS give him a beating for it. That's what makes that type of relentless mysogony (light though it may be) funny - because you can certainly see women in this day and age reacting the same way (and not necessarily because he got what he deserved for all of you hypersensitive types that feel the need to think JUSTICE! at this point - Johnny Bravo is just genuinely clueless to the fact that the times have moved on from when this sort of approach was actually considered bold, something he and Duke Nukem most definitely share in spades). There is an even more awesome episode, however, about how Johnny Bravo's mysogony is at least honest and really is nothing compared to the lying sleazes that regularly successfully pick up babes but...that's getting off topic now.
The point being...that's the problem here really. It's not that Duke should be a different person - hell no! Duke should always be the Duke. The problem is that the game world, in which he finds himself, hasn't moved on without him. If he managed to stick to his guns to the end of the game through the adversity of modern sensibilities constantly trying to change who he is...then sure I might actually have a bit more interest. Because like it or not, that is the tale of a hero making it to the end in spite of the world telling him he's passe. And wether you agree with his style or not, it would actually make Duke a true old-skool hero again!
Unfortunately, by all accounts, the writers and game designers didn't have the savvy to think of doing something like this to surprise their audience with it. And instead we just got a mysogynistic fantasy land that really holds little long-lasting appeal. A shame really, because I'd probably like a story of someone, who is at the very least completely honest about himself, making it through to the end in spite of the many politically correct hypocrites that try to dissuade him from his path.
TL;DR It's not what Duke does during the game that's offensive. It's how the characters within the game react to his actions that is offensive by deliberately overestimating the audience's suspension of disbelief.
I really don't think that is the case. I imagine they took a few concept boards and such from the initial 10-11 years of developing to help with stage ideas but that was the extent. Everything beyond Duke's humor and some of the levels feels like a Halo reskin. In my opinion, it was made from the ground up within the past year or so. They just chose to model it after the modern games which, for a game that is being sold on nostalgia, was probably the worst move possible.Sovvolf said:
I think, if anything, DNF proves how bad the modern FPS age is. If this was Halo, people would have been all over it, 10/10 from every reviewer on the Microsoft payroll, because it IS a Halo game. But, we went into it expecting a Duke Nukem game; the "old school" shooters. When all we got was a reskin of Halo, the nostalgia goggles broke and it got the scorn it deserved.
First of all,
Thanks for the warm reception back to the fold. I really appreciate it.
I'll take aim at the critiques first:
- typos and grammar flubs. Good input, I re-read the article and found a couple of them... I'll put more time in editorial to make sure those rookie errors happen less frequently.
- holier than thou tone:
obviously, that's not my intention, however like any writer, I need to weigh the information, the emotion I want to convey and my audience.
I appreciate your critiques and will work to do better.
Again, I had a blast writing this and by all means, if you have any burning questions about the marketing of video games, drop me a DM and I'll put it in my spreadsheet of article topics. My goal is a new article every other week.
Thanks again!
Thanks for the warm reception back to the fold. I really appreciate it.
I'll take aim at the critiques first:
- typos and grammar flubs. Good input, I re-read the article and found a couple of them... I'll put more time in editorial to make sure those rookie errors happen less frequently.
- holier than thou tone:
obviously, that's not my intention, however like any writer, I need to weigh the information, the emotion I want to convey and my audience.
I appreciate your critiques and will work to do better.
Again, I had a blast writing this and by all means, if you have any burning questions about the marketing of video games, drop me a DM and I'll put it in my spreadsheet of article topics. My goal is a new article every other week.
Thanks again!
Welcome back. Always nice to get a little inside glimpse at how the wheels turn.
Honestly, this was exactly what I expected from DNF. A metric ton of hype, and zero follow through. Hopefully they just needed to get 12 years of constipation out of their system, and now a real Duke Nukem sequel can get started. (not exactly holding my breath for that one though)
Honestly, this was exactly what I expected from DNF. A metric ton of hype, and zero follow through. Hopefully they just needed to get 12 years of constipation out of their system, and now a real Duke Nukem sequel can get started. (not exactly holding my breath for that one though)