I wanted to push away from the usual track of video games themselves and take a look at the success, or failure, of different video games. Putting aside the game itself, I want to take a look at brand reputation and things other than the actual in-game features.

To begin with I am going to look at the Publisher and studio branding. How much of an impact does this have on overall sales? I believe like many products in the world today, gaming studios with a sufficient reputation stand a better chance than new start-up companies. For instance, say a really good game was developed by a new independent company; the game might very well sell well based on the game itself. However, the same game published by a well-known and liked company such as Activision or Ubisoft is likely do better, whether because of the ability to push advertising or simply due to the brands reputation.

Gaming companies build up brand awareness in the same way as any other company. Start by putting money in to logo design and a catchy brand name. Then make products everyone likes (obviously this is easier said than done). Lastly, publishers plaster their logo and name all over games, in splash screens, introductions, credits, advertisements and websites relating to the game. All of which increases the awareness of the company more and more.

Keep in mind, just making your company well-known isn’t the only requirement, up until recently with games like Dead Space, Electronic Arts (EA) has received plenty of bad rep due to a mountain of publisher buy-outs and releasing games of mediocre or poor quality. This has given EA a negative stigmatism. Although through sheer brand presence most of their games still manage to sell reasonably well.