Video Games need more “bosses”.

Do you remember the old Nintendo Days.  Finally fighting Ganon in Zelda?  All the “mini-bosses” in Metroid? Or the countless other timeless boss encounters? Or on PC, the “Doom” Demon Bosses?  Probably you remember the feeling of excitement, accomplishment, dread, and relief that was part of the encounter.  Where have all the boss encounters gone? Recently I have enjoyed playing Mass Effect 2 a ton… mostly because it has some decent Boss encounters here and there… but not as many as the old days!  To me a Boss encounter means that the Boss is actually bigger and more powerful than you could EVER be…  and to kill him, you must learn his trick/secret/weakness.  And that makes for some serious fun gaming!

What does this have to do with Marketing you ask?  Well, there are two lessons here:

  1. Marketing isn’t just promotion (how many times a day do I say that…).  The most important service Marketing can do is to give product guidance.  In this case, there is a target market that craves Boss encounters because the feeling of excitement, accomplishment, etc.
  2. Your target market might be hungry for Nostalgia!  If you can feed them something they used to love… you could make serious cash!