“The Race of the Hemispheres” is a video game produced by the Adaptable Home Products Company (AHP). This product’s target audience is middle and middle-upper class men and women from 14 to 21 years old. The game will go on sale in August; however, the company has already launched a promotion action. The AHP specializes in home products and, therefore, the release of a game has become an innovation. The decent promotion of AHP’s new product is a way to take strong positions in the video games market. The current paper evaluates AHP’s marketing mix and analyzes strategies used by the major competitors.
Marketing Mix for the Video Game “The Race of the Hemispheres”
Product
As it has been mentioned in the introductory section, AHP sells a video game called “The Race of the Hemispheres” that targets youths. This game imitates a global boat race, and the players should overcome such obstacles as, for example, storms, lack of wind, or absence of supplies. Kotler and Keller (2016) claim that a company cannot become a leader in the market until its goods and services are not marked with superior quality. That is why a lot of attention was paid to the graphics, soundtracks, and the development of software free of bugs.
Another strong point of the new video game is that it could be played in teams and individually. Besides, the players will compete with other teams in real-time and experience a real boat race’s emotions. Most importantly, people with disabilities will receive a chance to immerse themselves in a race in which they are doubtful to participate in real life. Furthermore, AHP believes that “The Race of the Hemispheres” will become a great reason to spend an evening at home. Since the goal of AHP is to produce products that improve consumers lives, playing video games at home is a way to protect consumers from catching a coronavirus in an amusement park or a cinema hall.
Price
The video game “The Race of the Hemispheres” will be sold for $90.00. As Kotler and Keller (2016) put it, the quality of a good or service is much more important than its price. Therefore, we believe that the youths will be willing to spend this money on this video game. Undoubtedly, it is possible to find less expensive video games. Nonetheless, we guarantee that such products’ quality is inferior to the one of AHP’s game.
Place
AHP does not have its shops, and its goods are sold by retailers. Still, since the video game targets young people, the decision to install a pop-up shop in several largest shopping malls of Scottsdale and other cities of Arizona. A beautifully decorated pop-up shop is a useful method to attract youths attention. Additionally, it is necessary to sell the video game at online marketplaces such as Amazon.
Promotion
Traditionally, AHP promotes its products via magazines, television, and its website. However, it is essential to note that, according to the data provided by Statista (2020), youths spend much less time watching TV in comparison with people older than 35 years. Hence, AHP should employ new methods of promotion. More precisely, it will be more efficient to put targeted advertisings of a game on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. What is more, Tick Tock is increasingly gaining popularity and, hence, AHP should not ignore this social medium.
Evaluation of the Competitor’s Marketing Mix
The market for video games is marked by intense competition. The major competitor of “The Race of the Hemispheres” is Nintendo’s game called “The Legend of Zelda.” In this game, the players also should travel through different places and perform various tasks and missions. To promote new releases of its games, Nintendo usually presents disks with other games to everyone who makes a pre-order. Besides, Nintendo also launches promotional videos on YouTube. One of the most significant points of AHP’s game is that Nintendo is famous for players, and the average price of its products is about $84. Nintendo has several shops worldwide and sells video games, accessories, toys, books, T-shirts, and collectibles via its online store.
Recommendations
Nintendo’s marketing mix analysis reveals that AHP should insignificantly reduce the price so that not to be more expensive than the most demanded video games. AHP should also think of purchasing advertisements on YouTube because a lot of young people use it. Besides, it would be beneficial to produce items that could be collected by avid players in the future. For instance, these items might be small models of ships used in the first and the following video games.
Finally, it is essential to notice that in the top-100 games ranking prepared by Metacritic (2020), a platform that aggregates reviews on games, movies, and music, there are no “peaceful” games like one produced by AHP. From the analysis of Metacritic’s ranking, it could be inferred that games with some criminal or magic are more alluring to the players. Therefore, it is recommended to add some chases or magical missions to compete with other games more successfully.
References
Kotler, P., & Keller, K. L. (2016). Marketing management (15th ed.). Pearson.
Metacritic (2020). Game Releases by Score. Web.
Statista (2020).U.S. TV consumption: daily viewing time in 2009-2019, by age group. Web.