In2Games: Real World Golf game launch
Tell anyone that there’s a new golf game coming onto the market and there’s a good chance they’ll smile politely and tell you nothing can take on Electronic Arts’ genre-dominating Tiger Woods’ PGA Tour. Tell them it’s by a small British company with little reputation called In2Games and the chances are they would have rated the chances of success as minimal.Yet in a three-month campaign Hotwire helped launch gaming minnows In2Games’ golf title Real World Golf (RWG), turning it into one of the most popular PlayStation2 titles of the year, reaching No.3 and spending 15 weeks in the PS2 charts. In addition to launching the game title Hotwire’s campaign constituted a re-launch of In2Games’ Gametrak peripheral, and turned it into one of the fastest selling PS2 peripherals of all time.
In2Games’ brief to Hotwire was to launch and drive sales for RWG and Gametrak and overcome the following challenges.
Limited distribution was a key threat to sales, with RWG stocked by only one third of In2Games’ target high street retailers at the time of the game’s launch. It was therefore critical the participating stockists were highlighted through the PR campaign.
Furthermore, a previous release from In2Games had received a lukewarm reaction, so there was litte existing goodwill amongst gamers or the media. Added to this, any new golf game faced inevitable scepticism within the gaming and media community due to the popularity of Tiger Woods’ PGA Tour series.
For In2Games the task was simple: shift stock – and lots of it.
More often than not new game releases don’t make it beyond the gaming publications, particularly golfing titles. In order to drive significant sales, Hotwire needed to reach not just the gaming pages of national/lifestyle publications – although this was important – it also needed to generate coverage in mainstream media.
Hotwires strategy was to use the unique ‘virtual-reality-esque’ features of the game to capture mainstream media attention and avoid direct competition with Tiger Woods. Hotwire also recognised they needed to position RWG as the perfect way to learn or improve “real-world” golf skills when off the course, creating a new market for the game with golf enthusiasts.
Finally, Hotwire needed to ensure they got the game into the hands of key influencers prior to launch so they could see it for themselves, overcome the ‘not another golf game’ scenario, and help create a buzz.
The first stage was a pre-launch event at the Sports Café in Leicester Square where a range of national and long-lead men’s lifestyle and golfing journalists were given exclusive previews of the game as well as review copies.
This was positioned as an informal session in which the press could play the game and talk to the developers.
Following the event, Hotwire arranged exclusives with three strategically targeted publications for coverage to appear the week before launch: Nuts, Golf Punk and the Daily Star (full page).
Hotwire then seeded preview copies and conducted briefings with every relevant journalist in advance of the official launch.
Following the launch event, Hotwire managed media relations for the retail launch of RWG at HMV in London, drove coverage in Manchester and Birmingham for RWG Big Screen Challenges and coordinated product placements and competitions in TV, national, men’s magazines, kids, online and golf press to drive coverage. Hotwire also pitched RWG as an ideal Christmas gift through inclusion in gift guides.
The results were outstanding, in terms of PR outcome as well as in business terms: Sales of Real World Golf were phenomenal, with the game selling out across the country (90,000 units and still selling) and reaching No.3 in the PlayStation charts. Taking into account that customers had to buy the Gametrak peripheral alongside the software, In2Games had a double-hit on their hands.
The campaign more than doubles Hotwire’s coverage targets with reviews and features across all media – television, radio, national newspapers, lifestyle magazines, regional newspapers, regional broadcast. Highlights included BBC Radio 1, The Times, The Daily Star, The Guardian, The Independent, The Mail on Sunday, The News of the World, The Observer, The Telegraph, Metro, FHM, GQ, Nuts, MTV, BBC Radio 2,Maxim and Sky News.
Publicity didn’t just help shift games though, the reputation quickly established for this little-known title forced the hand of the rest of the high street and within days further retailers, including Woolworth’s and Virgin Megastores had ordered their stock.
In2Games saw their investment in PR pay dividends with results clearly delivering on the client’s challenging business objectives.
"It's very easy for a PR company to give an impressive pitch, much harder for them to deliver upon it. Hotwire has consistently surprised us by going above and beyond the call of duty, delivering results way beyond those presented in the original pitch. Their team is professional, diligent, well-connected and good-humoured. We love Hotwire!" - Harry Holmwood, Commercial Director of In2Games
