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A whopping 850,000 has been invested in promoting new PS3 racer Motorstorm Apocalypse.
Sony has pulled out all the stops on its action-packed game – set in an earthquake-ravaged city – which is out March 18th.
Marketing highlights include idents as part of the firm’s year-long sponsorship of Channel 5 movies, and special 3D trailers that will be shown in cinemas, on Sky 3D and Sky’s Pub Channel.
Central to the campaign will be next week’s Motorstorm Apocalypse Live event.
This tournament event will pit teams from the communities of IGN, CVG, FHM, OPM and GamesRadar against each other. Each media partner has been promoting the game and the competition, with ads designed to recruit gamers for their team.
We will be making a lot of noise above the line at release but Motorstorm Apocalypse Live is the lynch pin of our strategy,” Sony product manager Kerri West told MCV. The plan is to go all in against the core gamer audience and this event is the perfect vehicle to do that.
Like the game, it’s edgy and extreme – pitching our media partners against each other will invoke a lot of community spirit. And it will ensure we stay at the forefront of gamers’ minds for a good long run-up to release day.”
Finally, the weekend of release will see monster truck-mounted demo stands roll out to The Bullring in Birmingham and Westfield London.
RUINED WAREHOUSE CENTRAL TO GAME CAMPAIGN
No, seriously. The bulk of the marketing plan revolves around an event due to be held on Thursday, March 10th in a dilapidated Central London warehouse. Entitled Motorstorm Apocalypse Live, Sony has promised this will be more than just a tournament, with a few tricks up its sleeve to recreate the apocalyptic theme.
The event will apparently not be for the faint hearted”, and consumers at home will be able to join the mayhem through a Twitter-based voting mechanic. This lets them choose how to unleash the end of the world on the competitors.
