Final Case Study Research

Name of game: Flappy Bird

Release date: May 24, 2013

Institutions behind the game (game studio/publisher): Developed by  Nguyễn Hà Đông and produced by .GEARS Studios

Gaming platforms it is available on (e.g. PS4, PC, Wii etc.): iOS, Android

Print

1. What print adverts were used to advertise the game? Find examples and post them on your blog.

  

1. What key conventions of print adverts can you find on the example you have chosen? Product name? Font? Slogan? Central image? Colour? The name of the game as well as the logo can be seen. These are not print adverts as I could not find them but these are screen grabs of the game and they show the game studios name as well. The central image is clearly the logo of the bird.
2. Find three reviews for your game that were originally published in video game magazines. Are they positive or negative about the game? Copy and paste one quote from each review. 

Positive: To me, Flappy Bird game never felt like it was difficult by design. That's what makes it so markedly different from really hard games.

Positive: This is totally my new favourite game of all time. From now on when I think of fun, I think of this game. It's so addicting and playful and just great. The controls are as simple as they come, but non the less perfect. I love this game. One day I'll be aiming for a legit high score.

Negative: With derivative visuals, no sense of progress, no stats beyond scores, no challenges except Mario Bros-like tubes and no sense of real fun, Flappy Bird is cheap entertainment

1. Did your game feature on any video game magazine front covers? Find examples and explain why a front cover feature is so successful in promoting a game to its target audience.

Yes Flappy Bird has been featured in the magazine the Rolling Stone in an article named 'Flight of the Birdman'. The article featured exclusive detail of the creator Dong Nguyen and this was successful as nowadays Flappy Bird fans can have an idea of why it was taken down as well as information whether it will ever come back or not. The front image is;

Broadcast

1. Did your chosen game use a TV advert to promote the game? Embed it from YouTube if it did and explain how it fits the key conventions of a TV advert. Flappy Bird did not use a TV advert to promote the game.
2. Is there a game trailer on YouTube? Embed it on your blog and explain why it is effective in promoting the game to its target audience. The trailers on YouTube are fan made and are simple gameplay.
3. Can you find any other broadcast features on the game - interviews, launch party events, video reviews, clips of the gameplay on YouTube etc. Write about how they effectively promote the game to its target audience. 

This video effectively promotes the game even more because it shows the viewers how the game is played as well as the fact that the guy who made this video is 'Pewdiepie,' the most famous game commentator on YouTube which means that there are a lot of people watching his videos (over millions).

E-media

1. Visit your chosen game's official website. How does it attract and maintain the interest of its target audience? The official website for Flappy Bird is: http://www.flappybird.com/ This website maintains the intrest of the audience as it keeps them informed with the so called successor of flappy bird flappy john and tells new players all about the game.
2. Are there any creative or interesting aspects to the game's official website? There's a trailer to Flappy John as well as a link to download the game from.
3. Does the game have a YouTube channel? No.
4. Can you find any examples of user-generated content on YouTube that players have created and uploaded from the game? Embed any examples on your blog. 

1. How does user-generated content such as gameplay videos help to promote the game? The millions of viewers on YouTube watching that gaming video will see the YouTuber they like watching playing it so they might try it and even tell their friends about it.
2. How many 'likes' has your chosen game's Facebook wall had? 68,152 likes.
3. Choose five of the posts on the Facebook page's wall, screengrab them and explain how they appeal to the game's target audience.

1. What is your chosen game's Twitter hashtag? #flappy
2. How did the campaign use Twitter to promote the game? Flappy Bird was promoted by Twitter as there are so many hashtags for the game other then #flappy which thousands of people talk about such as; 

#flappy #android #flappybird #ios #ennuie #jeu #pire #horrible #2048 #me #we #bird #ı #record #they #new #you #happy #flybird #nice #tardis

1. Can you find any other creative uses of e-media to promote the game? This might include hashtags, competitions, Instagram, user-generated campaigns or anything else that is designed to draw attention to the game. There are a lot of users worldwide who make games similar to Flappy Bird like Flappy John for example to try to copy the game but they can't. This promotes the game as all of these fan-made games relate back to Flappy Bird.

Pre- and post-release

1. What was the game's release date? May 24, 2013
2. What is the earliest reference you can find to the game before the release date? Was it announced at a gaming conference (such as E3)? How did the publisher get a potential audience excited about the forthcoming game? There wasn't as the game was intended to make a few hundreds a month by the producer in Vietnam. It was only in early 2014 when the game had a sudden rise and topped the free charts in the US.
3. How did the institution promote the game after it was released? Word of mouth was the biggest aspect in Flappy Bird as people started to tell the friends which increased its promotion.
4. Does the game have any way of making the publisher additional income post-release (such as in-game purchases)? Yes as adverts in the game gave the developer even after post-release more income a day, in 2014, he got $50,000 a day before it was taken down on the 10th of February.

Other

1. Who do you think is the target audience for this game? Make up a potential target audience demographic and explain why you think it fits the game. What psychographic groups would be attracted to this game? Ages 18-40, both male and female, mostly Mainstreamers.
2. What else can you find from the marketing and promotion of your chosen game? A launch event? Stories appearing in newspapers? Celebrity endorsement? Scandal or controversy? There are no launch events for Flappy Bird but Kanye West did have his own version of Flappy Bird. However, there are many stories appearing on the news such as "Flappy Bird Game Withdrawn by Developer" or "Flappy Bird to return, says creator Dong Nguyen."
3. How does the campaign make an emotional connection with the audience? What is the audience appeal of the advertising campaign? The biggest emotional connection is that the game is super addictive. Players around the world have been seen playing 8 hours+ non-stop just to reach new high scores. This appealed to the audience as they had that feeling that they wanted to succeed to reach the highest score and to keep trying. 
4. Can you find any images of how the game was promoted in-store - displays, point-of-sale promotions, window displays etc.?

There aren't any images of how it was promoted these ways as this game is a mobile game but I found these: