Brand Loyalty (was Re: [MUD-Dev] Requirements for MM (wasComp lexities of MMOG Servers))

[Daniel.Harman at barclayscapital.com]

From: Caliban Tiresias Darklock [mailto:caliban at darklock.com] 
 
> Which leads to the obvious question: what should game companies do
> to *create* brand loyalty? Clearly, brand loyalty was once very
> important to the American people, and it seems to me that it would
> be important again if it actually meant something. How could the
> game industry add meaning to their brands most effectively?

Surely the brands do have meaning, its just not necessarily the
positive one they might like. When I think of 'EA Sport', I have
images of derivative licensed sports games churned out every
year. That might not have been what they were planning of course.

The games industry is a little different to most, in that a fair
number of consumers read product reviews and comparisons before
purchasing. They also buy/experience a lot of these products. The
average car consumer, won't have a) driven a top end car to compare
b) be educated enough to notice the significant differences c) be
able to afford any better. I don't think one can say the same about
the games consumer. Unless a company churns out a string of very
good products, its almost impossible to build positive brand loyalty
in this environment.

When you look at games companies that have brand loyalty, its
because they managed to do so. I know I can rely on Id or Raven to
make decent FPS. I know that Blizzard haven't churned out a duff
game that I can recall. There aren't many other companies I'll buy a
game from without first reading a review, and even then its
unlikely.

Dan
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