Games Sweatshop Workshop is cranking out video games at a frenzied pace, but is this killing the Warhammer brand?
When a company wants to get some brand recognition it does things like use that name, a lot. Warhammer is quickly becoming Games Workshop brand. Recently, Games Workshop has been transitioning to Warhammer in it’s retails stores. Games Workshop, I’m surmising, is in the midst of a name transition, perhaps not a corporate name change because that’s crazy expensive. If I were a betting man I would say their goal ultimate goal is to have Warhammer synonymous with bloody, violent, grim dark-y, games.
Don’t believe that repetition IS one of the keys to marketing? Go watch this head-on commercial and tell me you’ll forget that product any time soon.
So, how does one go about making their name brand a household name like Kleenex or Windex? Well, one way is to develope a target audience, better yet maybe a dozen target audiences, and then tailor a campaign aimed directly at them.
I agree, for us already in the Warhammer culture, it can get a little tiresome to see Warhammer this and Warhammer that. I mean how many times have I said it in this article already?
There is no such thing as bad publicity.
As an artist the biggest hurdle isn’t getting your art to be amazing; the challenge is getting people to just look at it.
If the idea is that there are too many games and the customer can’t distinguish between all the “Warhammer Titles”, I feel like that’s underestimating even the average gamer.
When I was 13 I was looking at magazines, asking friends, and looking at the back of a new game box hard before I pulled the trigger on my next football game. (This was before the internet revolution)
Now a days information is at the tip of our fingers. On Steam you get a video intro, screenshots to help you idea of what kind of game you’re getting into. Maybe if my mom was buying me a game, sure, that would be a problem. However, nowadays I’d be asking my mom for her credit card to complete a purchase on my iPod touch.
You, me, all of us reading this, have already bought in to the Warhammers. We are x-level committed to the universe. We are the fanatics who invest time, effort, and time just trolling the intrawebs; we’re addicted. The next goal for the video game players from GW’s perspective is to look at these new markets and get them x-level committed.
So, how many types of gamers out there? Lots, obviously, and one game isn’t going to fit all. I look at Total War: Warhammer and think, oh that’s cool, not sure I want to buy a new gaming rig to play it. I look at Vermintide and think, oh, that’s fun, I might want to play it, hmm, that’s two great games in franchise I love, still not 100% ready to invest. Then I might look at a game like Freeblade, realize I have an iPhone and think, hmm, this Warhammer thing looks kinda neat, let me try it out. Of course if I had a PC game already maybe I try one of the other games.
Maybe I have a PC and an iPhone and I try them all. All of them great games. Either way, one game or three, mission accomplished, I’ve been exposed to the Warhammer universe. Maybe I go buy a new novel book or a dozen; with so many different factions in such a large universe you can’t just write one book and call it a day. What would happen if I didn’t like one of the three games listed above? Audience lost? Probably. See, the thing about games is that there’s a flavor for everyone. The thing about Warhammer is that it has the potential to suck just about anyone in, but you need to be exposed to it first.
However, if Freeblade gave me a taste it might make me want to go buy an Imperial Knight so I can put it on my desk. Or maybe I want a model from another game I saw, guess what, now I know they exist and that could be the hook that gets me into the table top game.
True Story, Dawn of War did it for me, now I don’t buy computers or play video games because I’d rather have some plastic crack. When I first saw a Games Workshop store years ago, I went in and thought it was neat but I didn’t commit. Later I played the Dawn of War series and kept my Warhammer addiction to the PC. Then I got a starter box for Christmas and finally got sucked in.
My path is different than many others, (I can’t believe it’s been 13 years since I first walked into that store) Now Games Workshop is making different paths for more people. You don’t hook all the fish with one line, you have a whole box of tackle to get all the fish. Games are Warhammers hooks. I think we should let them do what they do, those games are not necessarily for you or me.
What is dangerous however, are games which degrade the IP. Games which don’t measure up, and will sour an entire audience. A customer might play a game, hate it, and never come back to the universe.
From that perspective, too many games can be bad.
As long as Games Workshop/Warhammer keeps the games solid, I think they’re doing what is best for their brand. I feel like this article, the one before it, and all the comments prove that their Workshop has cranked out enough games to get us talking about their Brand.
Warhammer: 1 Us: Broke.
Header Image Source, and Article Inspiration: Kotaku
