OK, it’s a trend.
Yes, after weeks of me ranting about what’s going on in gaming, what it means for your career, and why I’m still confused half the time, there is a trend I distinctly want to call out.
Merchandise-game integration. Let’s call it MGI so we have a cool acronym.
Awhile ago at NerdCaliber I called out that we were on a cusp of a trend where games were integrated heavily with merchandise. and marketing. My example was Disney Infinity, which was pretty much “Skylanders” with Jack Sparrow and a sandbox mode.* I felt this was one to watch because I could see a lot of properties done MGI style, and transcending some of the previous attempts out there.
(Disney is so confident, they don’t mind a delay – that may mean selling more)
Ironically, of the many properties I discussed where heavy MGI possibilities lay, I missed one, and of course some smart guys and girls ended up creating the most obvious MGI I could have seen, only I didn’t see it.