The Ups and Downs of Final Fantasy XV's Marketing Campaign

Final Fantasy XV was an unquivering success for Square Enix. A project 10-years in the making, Square Enix has layed out all of their cards on this title, and fate rewarded them on their hard-earned efforts. FFXV's director Hajime Tabata explained how 2016 would be Final Fantasy XV’s year for a full marketing swing. Well, they sure as hell kept that promise.

As a consumer and industry analyzer, I expected the usual: pre-order incentives, development updates, appearances at big gaming conventions like E3 and Gamescom. While we sure did see a lot of FFXV in 2016 through normal marketing means, consumers got a whole lot more, maybe even too much. Regardless, it’s interesting to look back and see what went wrong, what was a success, and what can be done better for a video game’s marketing strategy, especially one as big as Final Fantasy XV.

What Went Right

The name change: In 2013, the silent project known as Final Fantasy Versus 13 was shown off with a new trailer followed by a new name: Final Fantasy XV. In an instant, the game went from a series spin off into a main numbered entry. It was a bold move for Square Enix since they were trying to divide Final Fantasy XV and its ambiguous connection to the extremely divisive Final Fantasy XIII series. Now as a main numbered title, Final Fantasy XV can be judged by its own merits to some degree.

Attending nearly every media-focused event: The more, the merrier as they say. It’s a no-brainer to attend the populated spectacles like E3, Gamescom, Paris Games Week, Twitchcon and more for publishers and developers to show off what they’ve been working on. Square Enix didn’t pull any punches this year with Final Fantasy XV, making an appearance in nearly every gaming convention. They even went the extra mile to host their own event called “Uncovered: Final Fantasy XV”, in which they revealed big announcements like the Final Fantasy XV Universe, the game’s release date, special collector’s editions, and more.

Final Fantasy XV Universe: The FFXV Universe is the idea of creating an entire ecosystem surrounding the characters, lore and world  in Final Fantasy XV. When Director Hajime Tabata was structuring the game’s development, it was decided to expand the game in different avenues of entertainment to reach a wider audience. From that idea came about the anime series Brotherhood: Final Fantasy XV, a full-length CG animated movie called Kingslaive Final Fantasy XV and multiple mobile games themed from the main game. Some say it may be too much, but it reached to another audience that have never played a Final Fantasy game. Most who watch Kingslaive or Brotherhood will now be mildly interested in the game.

Development Updates: Since its initial reveal in 2006, Final Fantasy XV went through many periods of silence, building frustration and irrelevance for consumers. When Hajime Tabata took the role of director in 2013, all of that changed. From then on, the team behind FFXV conducted ATRs, or Active Time Reports, to provide continuous updates on the game’s development. The transparency was such a refreshing take considering how secretive development is, but it’s what FFXV needed after so many years being in the dark. It also provided a personal look into the people making the game, Business Division 2 (BD2), and the dedication to make a game like Final Fantasy XV. Personally, I’m a huge nerd for video game development, so I enjoyed every update and seeing what changed or improved.

Coverage, interviews and social media: Having a social media following is crucial to awareness of what you want to promote. Square Enix has a decent e-footprint and used it to their advantage through social media fan campaigns and releasing mobile games related to FFXV. On top of that, many entertainment websites covered exclusive news and interviews about the game, including interviews with the game’s director. It’s important to have someone as central as a director to do interviews since they are essentially the heart of the game and its development process. For those who love video game music, it would be criminal to not share FFXV's mini concert presented earlier this year: Final Fantasy XV Live at Abbey Road Studios

Getting personal: The Final Fantasy series and its loyal fans has had an internal problem for a long time: the feeling of superiority. Final Fantasy games are hallmark titles that changed the industry on so many levels. There was a time where Square Enix felt invincible and special, and on the other side, fans instantly marked newer entries as mediocre and never surpassing their predecessors. Hajime Tabata dubbed this as “Final Fantasy disease.” He understood that in order to fix the problem, it must be addressed. It was a hard truth, but one that needed to be said in order for fans and Square Enix to get over their inflated expectations and focus on making the best Final Fantasy game possible.

What Went Wrong

Bad Presentations: While a few mistakes won’t make a big deal, a first impression stands the test of time. In perspective, there is rarely a time when a presentation for a video game goes without a hitch. With today’s complicated technology, bugs, glitches and frame rate issues are more to the game’s performance, which goes back to the developers, but can be overlooked as long it does not tamper the experience. FFXV has had its share of bad public demos including Gamescom 2016, where the player playing a live on-stage boss fight made it look haphazardly and confusing.

Speaking of point of views, Conan O’Brien, a late night show host, has a popular segment called “Clueless Gamer.” It’s a hilarious series where Conan, a comedian who hates video games, sits down and plays through triple A titles with a guest star then reviews it. Final Fantasy XV made an appearance, and it sets up a pretty bad image for the game. Regardless of the intentions of the skit and Conan (obviously) not being a serious outlet for video game reviews, it presented a false representation of FFXV. So much, that even some who were initially hesitant about the game are now extremely doubtful. On the other end, some who witnessed the ridiculousness of Final Fantasy XV on Clueless Gamer made them interested. It’s a balanced situation in my eyes, but it was a publicity move Square Enix didn’t need to make, especially with the next day’s media headlines that took advantage of Conan’s comments bad mouthing the game. 

The “Ultimate” Collector’s Edition: During Uncovered: Final Fantasy XV, a special package of the game was announced dubbed as the Ultimate Collector’s Edition, which included a plethora of goodies like the FF XV game, an (expensive) action figure of the main character of Noctis, and a lot more. The main concern for the UCE was its price point of $270 (which didn’t seem like a good deal and more a true cumulative price of everything in the package) and its limited quantity of 40,000 units. To put it in perspective, $30 more can net you an Xbox One or PS4. Did I forget to mention that the Ultimate Collector’s Edition DOESN’T include the season pass of future downloadable content (DLC)? Or any of the retailer exclusive DLC? Yeah, not much of an “Ultimate” Collector’s Edition if you ask me.

The DLC bonus pre-order problem: We have seen our fair share of ridiculous pre-order incentive practices in the video game industry, including this year’s Deus Ex Machina: Mankind Divided (a game that has the same publisher as Final Fantasy XV. Yikes!). While FFXV's situations is not as dramatic, it’s still an annoyance for the consumer on where they should pick up the game if they decide to pre-order. To give you an idea of how comical this marketing strategy is, FF XV’s YouTube page uploaded 16 different pre-order DLC trailers.

16.

Not only does it make it hard to follow, but it alienates customers from something they may want. Mind you, the DLC seems purely cosmetic or non-game changing, but it’s still an unfavorable gimmick publishers love to use. And let’s be honest here - fans would rather come across an older Final Fantasy-themed weapon they found in FFXV than say, “Oh yeah, I got this cool spear from Final Fantasy XIV by pre-ordering from Amazon.” 

There is such a thing as “too much”: As excited as I was for FFXV, I had to frequently create space between myself and the game’s coverage to avoid fatigue. At that point, FFXV may have been the video game with the most trailers… ever. Staying relevant in people’s minds before launch is obvious and mandatory, but sometimes it’s all too much. The trailers themselves gave a lot away, with some of its best in-game moments being in the trailers. When credits rolled, I was disappointed that a lot of the scenes I experienced while playing were from trailers.

Keep These Ideas In Mind

Transparency: As a whole, FFXV is a community-focused game. Director Tabata realized he needed feedback from fans to make the game the fans wanted. 2 years in full development, gamers were able to get their hands on FFXV's first demo in beta form, Duscae. BD2 considered and implemented the criticisms and suggestions from fans, again emphasizing their idea of making a game the fan’s wanted. In early 2016, Square Enix released another demo, Platinum FFXV, which provided a better and more refined version of the game, but it didn’t reach its full potential. However, that changed in the Fall of 2016, where nearly every media outlet and fan that have played the latest build gave overwhelming praise for the game. Due to fan feedback and BD2 listening intently, FFXV was in a great place with the community.

Making the tough decisions for the better: FF XV was a project in development hell from 2006 – 2012. After it’s name change in 2013 and spot light attention soon after, the inevitable release date left gamers anxious. At the Uncovered: Final Fantasy XV event, the game’s release was dated for September 30, 2016. In August, Director Tabata decided it would be best to delay the game until November 30 to provide the best version possible. This announcement was more sweet than bitter considering the intention to make the game better for launch. It’s extremely commendable, and for Tabata to deliver the message himself shows how much respect he has for the fans. Yet, the game could have used even another year or two, considering how much better of an experience Final Fantasy XV is in 2018 vs 2016 when it released.

Know your audience: Believe it or not, JRPGs are not for everyone. Adhere to more casual fans can lead you astray from the essence of a JRPG, while sticking to standards of the genre too much nowadays can disinterest new players. I find Final Fantasy XV in the middle. It’s a proper modernization that can lure in old and new fans, and it worked in their favor.

I’m sure Square Enix learned a lot with Final Fantasy XV. For them, it was either go big or go home and boy, did they go big. Despite some mistakes, FFXV's marketing throughout 2016 was a success. As an aspiring worker for the video game industry, I learned so much on promotion, messaging and creating the relationship between consumers and developers/publishers.