Fantasy
of the
Familiar
Or “Why do bad sales happen to good games?”
What is this about?
• Answering: “What makes games sell?”
• Why do some IPs channel the Zeitgeist and sell millions?
• Why do some really great games sell poorly?
Defining “Fantasy of the Familiar”
• It consists of TWO THINGS:
• A Familiar Premise.
– People must know a lot about the subject.
– Deeper general knowledge and interest in the
premise = more sales.
• Pre-existing Fantasies.
– People must already have dreams/desires to engage
in that premise outside of games.
– Examples: Race car driving, slaying dragons,
exploring space, playing pro sports, being a WWII
hero, being a Star Wars character.
FotF in Action!
• Licensed Games
• Sports Games
• WWII Shooters
More FotF in Action!!
• Tony Hawk
• Grand Theft Auto
• Need For Speed Underground
Even MORE FotF in Action!!!
• WWE Games
• The Sims
• Gran Turismo
Last Set, I Promise…
• Nintendogs
• Wii Sports
• Guitar Hero
Good Games That Sold Badly
Was lack of FotF part of the reason?
• Beyond Good and Evil
• Okami
• Mark of Kri
• Primal
• Ico
FotF at the Micro Level
• Using Familiar Associations Inside Games
– Hockey in Spyro 2
– Licensed cars in racing games
– The shotgun in every FPS
– The tank (“Scorpion”) in Halo
– The radio stations in GTA3
– Pirates in R&C Future
Fantasy of the Forbidden
• Letting you do things you Wouldn’t,
Couldn’t or Shouldn’t
– Because those things are:
– Illegal
– Risky
– Dangerous
– Scary
– Or Just Too Dang Hard
Examples of Fantasy of the Forbidden
• GTA
• Tony Hawk
• Hitman
• Need For Speed: Underground
• The Sims
“High Concept” in Movies
• What is it?
– A “High Concept” idea can be described in a single
sentence and immediately suggests boundless
possibilities.
– When you hear a High Concept idea you can’t help
but instantly think of some of the fun directions it
could go. That’s the “promise” of the idea. The film
has to deliver on the promise by coming up with ideas
even better than the ones you can think of when you
hear the concept.
Examples of High Concept
• Speed
• Click
• Mr. and Mrs. Smith
• Home Alone
• Toy Story
• Bruce Almighty
• Monsters Incorporated
• The Incredibles
What’s the Point of High Concept?
• The biggest issue in marketing movies is telling
people “What It Is”
– Who’s in it?
– What kind of movie is it?
– What’s it about?
– Is it my kind of movie?
• High Concept Answers “What Is It?”
– In a single sentence it offers you a “promise”. It
offers an enticing idea that sounds like it could pay
off in a funny/exciting/interesting way. When you
hear the one-line description you want to see the
movie and see the promise fulfilled.
High Concept in Games
• GTA
– Play as a gangster in a living 3D city where you can
walk, drive or fly anywhere and interact with
everything and everyone in the world.
• Dead Rising
– You’re stuck in a mall that’s taken over by Zombies!
Fight them off with whatever you can loot.
• Ratchet and Clank
– A futuristic platformer with high tech weapons,
gadgets and interplanetary travel.
FotF and High Concept in Games
• High Concept game ideas usually also rely on Fantasy of
the Familiar.
• You know a High Concept idea when you hear it because
it feels “filled with potential.”
• Most movie pitches have to be “high concept” to be
considered these days.
• Very few games, even successful ones, are “High
Concept”.
• Maybe the game industry should try to make more high
concept games?
• Maybe we should?
“Pre-Sold” Concepts
Movie Execs love “Pre-Sold” movies.
• “Pre-Sold” means the movie has a built-in
audience who will see it based on what it is.
Examples:
• Sequels to original hits.
• Big Licenses – Spider Man, Transformers
• Every Adam Sandler movie.
• Films based on popular TV shows, video games
• Pre-Sold concepts succeed because they are
familiar. People know what it is already.
Main Reasons Movies Succeed
• Who’s in it
• Strength of the genre
• Pre-Sold Concept
• Compelling High Concept
• Word of mouth – i.e. was it any good?
Main Reasons Games Succeed
• Pre-Sold concept (sequel, licensed property)
• Word of mouth
• Fantasy of the Familiar
• Compelling High Concept
• Strength of the genre
• (NOTE: We can’t control the first two factors.)
Let’s Look at Recent Sales
• We’ll look at top 10 on DS, PS2 and 360
• We’ll include titles released 2005 and after
• Sales are counted up through June 2006
(that’s all I have data for)
• How many titles use FotF?
• How many are “High Concept”?
• How many have a large “Pre-Sold” base?
Top 10 DS Games
• Nintendogs 4.6M
• Pokemon (Diamond and Pearl) 2.8M
• New Super Mario Bros 2.6M
• Brain Age & Big Brain Academy 2.4M
• Mario Kart 2.0M
• Super Mario 64 1.9M
• Animal Crossing: Wild World 1.3M
• Pokemon Mystery Dungeon 0.9M
• Yoshi’s Island 2 0.8M
• Pokemon Ranger 0.7M
Top 10 DS Games (New IPs)
• Nintendogs 4.6M
• Brain Age & Big Brain Academy 2.4M
• Pokemon (Diamond and Pearl) 2.8M
• Cooking Mama .42M
• Spectrobes .29M
• Asphalt: Urban GT .28M
• CATZ .28M
• DOGZ .28M
• HORESEZ .20M
• Trauma Center: Under The Knife .20M
Top 10 PS2 Games
• Madden 06: 3.3M
• Madden 07: 2.8M
• Gran Turismo 4: 2.1M
• God of War 2.0M
• Guitar Hero 2 2.0M
• Star Wars Battlefront 2 1.9M
• Kingdom Hearts 2 1.9M
• Lego Star Wars 1.7M
• Final Fantasy XII 1.5M
• Need For Speed: Most Wanted 1.4M
Top 10 PS2 Games (New IPs)
• God of War 2.0M
• Black .79M
• Gun .74M
• 50 Cent: Bulletproof (*) .69M
• Destroy All Humans .63M
• Bully .59M
• Mercenaries .56M
• Naruto: Ultimate Ninja .46M
• Thrillville (life simulation) .45M
• 25 To Life (shooter) .33M
• * = not sure whether this counts as a “license”
Top 10 360 Games
• Gears of War 2.1M
• Madden 1.2M
• Call of Duty 2 1.2M
• Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 1.2M
• Elder Scrolls: Oblivion .94M
• Call of Duty 3 .94M
• Fight Night Round 3 .92M
• Rainbow Six Vegas .87M
• Guitar Hero 2 .84M
• Saint’s Row .75M
Top 10 360 Games (New IPs)
• Gears of War 2.1M
• Saint’s Row .75M
• Dead Rising .70M
• Crackdown .67M
• Lost Planet .54M
• F.E.A.R. .31M
• Kameo .28M
• Viva Pinata .27M
• Table Tennis .23M
• Chromehounds .22M
Summary
• The biggest new IPs over that time span
benefited from Fantasy of the Familiar.
• The top overall sellers, not just new IPs,
all have FotF.
• The best sellers tended to be familiar
ideas but offered something new to
games.
So, Is Fantasy of the Familiar the
Opposite of Creativity?
• Well….. Sort of?
– Being “too creative” can be a liability.
– Creating a world where there is nothing familiar or
accessible is likely to have a very small audience.
– But creating a familiar world isn’t enough. Nobody
wants to play “Let’s explore downtown Burbank.”
• The most successful concepts are usually the
ones that tap into pre-existing human dreams
and fantasies.
Conclusion
• This isn’t a road map
• Games without FotF can still be hits
• These are observations, not guidelines
• Some mega-hit games don’t fit this mold: