It’s no secret that gaming has surpassed traditional forms of entertainment, and Hollywood has taken note. Gen Z consumers spend nearly 15 hours per week engaging with games content (Newzoo). And that extends beyond platforms like Twitch and YouTube. From The Super Mario Bros. Movie becoming the highest-grossing film of 2023 to HBO’s The Last of Us attracting millions of viewers each week, video game adaptations have taken over the big and small screen.
In examining why gaming IP has risen to the top in entertainment, there are three key qualities that point to its long-term staying power.
Gaming has come a long way from just picking up a controller and playing with friends. In fact, only 47 percent of time allocated to video games is spent actually playing those games (Newzoo). Video games’ rich IP and elaborate lore offers ways for fans to play, watch, and engage. For example, an avid fan of League of Legends not only plays the game but might tune in to their favorite streamers on Twitch, cheer on top LoL competitors at Worlds, or even binge watch Arcane on Netflix. The depth of game IP and diverse collection of touchpoints across platforms makes it primed for adaptation into Hollywood’s next big cinematic universe.
From Pokémon to Mario, video games not only create fan-favorite characters beloved by Gen Z, but also tug at the nostalgia heart strings of millennials. By playing into their multigenerational appeal and staying true to their roots stylistically, film and TV adaptations of games are already poised for success. With this in mind, it’s no surprise that The Super Mario Bros. Movie was a box office hit. Watching Mario jump on pesky Goombas and save Princess Peach would certainly elicit a more passionate response from an audience who has been doing the same on their Nintendo since they were in kindergarten.
Amidst the proliferation of the creator economy, converting passive viewers into active participants has become an integral in the storytelling process. There’s perhaps no more interactive, hands-on form of media than games, as the player is an essential in progressing the narrative forward. The ‘gamification’ of content has become a widespread engagement tool across all forms of media, including traditional entertainment. Netflix has adopted this strategy frequently, most recently with Kaleidoscope, a “choose your own adventure” -style crime anthology that puts the storytelling power in the hands of viewers. The series was designed to be watched in any order, bucking the standard of sequential episode viewing and offering a variety of narrative experiences.
Between the ongoing streaming wars and the writers strike, the entertainment industry will continue to face new challenges amidst seismic shifts in the way we consume content. However, recent successes across streaming and the big screen tell us that gaming will continue to dominate as the primary form of IP development.
The past few months have been significant for SYBO, the Copenhagen-based studio behind the most-downloaded game of the past decade, Subway Surfers. Starting 2023 off strong, Subway Surfers claimed the title of the most-downloaded mobile game of 2022 and surpassed 4 billion lifetime downloads – a full decade post-launch. The game has additionally seen a recent viral resurgence on TikTok, where its following tripled last year alone, now boasting over 7.1 million followers.
In April, SYBO released the newest expansion to its hit Subway Surfers franchise – Subway Surfers Blast. Developed in partnership with Outplay Entertainment, the game allows players to explore the Subway Surfers world in an all-new puzzle adventure and is available now on iOS and Android. The studio additionally moved to a brand new headquarters office in Copenhagen last month, celebrating its continued growth and success.
Artificial intelligence (AI) has been making headlines for years, but it wasn’t until the introduction of ChatGPT in November 2022 that mainstream audiences really started to take notice. Alongside the launch of the chatbot came a collective — and familiar — concern: will AI take my job?
While the technology is still in its infancy and has definite blind spots (ChatGPT has until now only been able to pull from data up to 2021, though this could soon change), AI has the power to enhance and support many core communications functions. From media list optimization to copywriting, here are three ways that AI will fundamentally change the game for communications professionals.
AI is a great tool for getting media lists off the ground with its ability to go beyond a simple Google search, digging deep into reporters’ backgrounds and backlogs of content to analyze the focuses and tonality of their coverage. With AI tools built into PR platforms like Cision Insights and Notified, making use of this smart tech has become easier than ever.
While AI may never serve as a complete replacement for a skilled writer, it can certainly aid them. Crunched for time and need some quick copy? Ask AI, and it will generate an initial draft for you in a matter of seconds. Or, if you already have a draft of your own, AI can function as a first-pass editor, pointing to any redundancies and cleaning up grammar and syntactic issues instantaneously.
Another strength of AI can be seen in pattern recognition. AI can identify patterns between data sets that are otherwise too complicated to be detected by humans. By integrating data in sales, communication costs, and the reach of earned media, AI can draw accurate conclusions in regard to the return on investment of your PR efforts.
AI lacks intuition, and that is the exact reason why communication professionals cannot be replaced. But it doesn't mean AI won’t be a game-changer in our field. Investing in AI as part of your communications toolbox can ensure that as AI grows, you and your industry will grow alongside it.
Read Jenn’s full article on Forbes.
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