Bionic Marketing

This week’s entry in the Summer of Xbox Live Arcade promotion was the long-awaited revamp of the classic NES game Bionic Commando. Bionic Commando Rearmed takes the original game and jazzes it up with updated graphics and music and adds new features like a couple new moves, challenge rooms and two-player co-op. Unlike the previous games in the Summer of XBLA promotion, I bought Bionic Commando: Rearmed and didn’t receive a free download code, because I was a huge fan of the original game. Nostalgia alone is rarely enough for me to drive a purchase, but in the case of Bionic Commando Rearmed there was another compelling reason for me to check out the game: It is a perfect example of the phenomenon of selling marketing material to the audience in the guise of a stand-alone product. Bionic Commando Rearmed is, at its core, an advertisement.

Most gamers are aware of Capcom’s high profile relaunch of the Bionic Commando with the Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 game, also simply called Bionic Commando. Bionic Commando Rearmed is a marketing tool to raise awareness of the console game, pure and simple. Much like the Gears of War reissue I discussed in a previous post, the downloadable BC remake is intended to inform gamers who never played the original why they should care about the new game, and at the same time “activate” the existing fan base. It is definitely no coincidence that both games were created by the same developer, Grin, and that there are strong links between the two. Heck, Bionic Commando Rearmed features new moves that you’ll be able to do in the console game, and even includes a code that unlocks the classic BC costume in that title.

But I digress. Let’s discuss the existing fan base first. With any brand (video games or otherwise), there is a small core of devoted users who really, really love your product. They happily talk about their love of the product to anyone willing to listen. In marketing terms, these consumers are known as “evangelists.” Apple is a great example of a company with many evangelists. In the case of a revived video game franchise, your evangelists are the gamers who played and loved your game when they were young. How do you revive their enthusiasm? Give them that old game back, which is exactly what Capcom did with Bionic Commando Rearmed. Their excitement over the franchise returns, they go out and talk about it with other gamers, and as a result there are more people doing internet searches for Bionic Commando, more people talking about Bionic Commando, more people thinking about Bionic Commando. Marketing is all about awareness. Think about that the next time you see an ad for the current presidential campaign. Just as both parties are using YouTube, Google, FaceBook, texting and other modern technologies to spread awareness of their candidates, Capcom is using Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network to spread awareness of an upcoming product.

Product evangelist ideally influence the second group targeted by the release of Bionic Commando Rearmed: new players. This is a pretty simple formula. The idea is that all the excitement around the XBLA/PSN release will get players to take a chance on the game, download it, and become new fans of the series. Will the tactic of releasing a revamped Bionic Commando help the sales of the new console game? TIme will tell, but I think so. Capcom, perhaps more than any other company out there, has figured out how to maximize the profits of its games. It has reissued games like the Devil May Cry series, Viewtiful Joe, Okami, Lost Planet, Onimusha and of course Resident Evil 4 multiple times over now – clearly this is a strategy the company feels works. As the release of the new Bionic Commando console game draws near, expect to see a healthy marketing campaign for the game and many, many evangelists talking about how excited they are.