Mini Ninjas

“With Mini Ninjas, we feel that we’ve created characters, a story and a world that has as much depth and emotion as any blockbuster animated movie out there,” says Eidos’ UK marketing director Jon Brooke.

“As a result, we firmly believe that we’ll be releasing a fantastic kids game into the market, designed and created by a great developer in IO Interactive, with the additional bonus that adults will get just as much enjoyment out of the game as their children.”

As with all original IPs, Eidos is optimistic about Mini Ninjas’ potential. The game already bears the polish of an established franchise and should it prove to be successful at retail, the company is hopeful that the brand could be expanded in future.

“The unique art-style, quality of characters, depth of the backstory and the personality and charm of the animation certainly offers us the potential to take this product wider than just a video game, but let’s take one step at a time and make sure it’s a successful game first,” says Brooke.

“We feel the time is right to bring out a game that’s designed and built for today’s market, one which appeals to a wide audience.

“There aren’t that many new brands coming to market, so when they do emerge, you know the publisher has a good feeling about. I have a good feeling about Mini Ninjas – I think people are going to love it.”

Players control Hiro and his five companions, using their individual abilities and strengths to progress through the colourful environments. Only by employing each character’s skills and the agile moves of a ninja will they be able to progress, as well as accessing secret areas.

Enemies can be defeated in melee combat or gamers can use their ninja skills and magic spells to be more creative. For example, stealthier ninjas can take control of animals and use them for surprise attacks.

THE TACTICAL APPROACH
Given that Mini Ninjas is new to the industry, Eidos is working particularly hard to raise awareness of the game’s upcoming release. An extensive marketing campaign has been prepared that will promote the game to both avid gamers and families through a variety of media.

“We’ve put a lot of work into the marketing campaign and believe we have a really well developed and exciting plan,” Brooke explains. “Essentially we are using the school holidays to build early awareness to the characters and the product. We’ll do this with a 60-second cinema advert in all the major summer family movies.

“Alongside this, there will be a dedicated TV sponsorship and a summer of experiential events with our costume characters and gaming pods. Additionally, there will be a fully integrated online layer to the campaign that covers the most heavily trafficked kids siets with a mix of traditional ad formats, as well as mini-games ringtones and wallpapers.

“As we move out of the summer holidays and into the new school term our campaign shifts to launch advertising. As this stage we introduce TV advertising into the mix as well as an in-school, outdoor and leafleting layer. Overall, it’s a really comprehensive campaign, which will defiantly launch Mini Ninjas as a must-own, must-play game.”

Expect this one to perform well when it arrives on shelves in September.