assasin's creed- trailers and marketing

David Hesmondhalgh: it is essential for media industries to minimise risk, and to maximise profit

Assasin's creed: valhalla

the next assasin's creed game to be released, the trailer has been released- but no proper gameplay ones as the game isn't finished yet.

Assassins creed Valhalla is a AAA game, to preorder you're looking at paying at least £57.99

Most people don't buy games when they first come out, but a lot of people do. one way companies encourage buyers to buy on release is an effective marketing campaign.

for this unit, we look at industry and audience, which means we can skip over man aspects of media language and representation.

for all three of these questions, you can use the trailer of assassins creed Valhalla.

-it attracts audiences

-it's part of production and promo

-the trailer is digitally distributed

How does this trailer target a specialised and generalised audience?

mass audience-

high production values- looks and sounds great. AAA big-budget video game. very well produced. fur and hair made extremely well- the trailer doesn't use gameplay footage it's made new cg for it.

paradigmatic features of film trailers, film conventions are another technique Ubisoft used to target a mass audience. the voiceover, range of scenes, hint of a wider compelling narrative and no hint of having to press any buttons etc, song probably not in the game, video games have done this for quite some time and it works.

a clear narrative, although basic there's a clear todorovian narrative structure. this isn't just pacman or space invaders its something exciting with story to it

intertextuality, references other assassins creed games- high production values, name, battles, stealth elements. references lord of the rings with the fight scenes, game of thrones with gritty dark setting, iconography and mise-en-scene- an extremely popular series with a pre-existing fanbase.

niche-

(people mad about games who have bought every other assassins creed game)

every assassins creed cover features a character with their face partially covered, on a misty background, holding some kind of weapon which functions as a proairetic code. all the backgrounds present their usp of being in different time periods. the game also uses sci-fi but that isn't in the trailer, because it's too confusing  

Theory, David Hesmondhalgh

-it's absolutely essential for industries to minimise risk and maximise profit.

the ign is the internet gaming network, a very mainstream online magazine.