Levelling up: What brands can learn from three decades of gaming partnerships

This week, ahead of its official 30th birthday in December, PlayStation kicked off the celebrations with the launch of the anniversary edition of the PS5. 

It’s a colossal milestone for the gaming giant that transformed the world of entertainment by catering to a maturing gaming audience and producing some of the world’s best known and loved entertainment properties.

Gaming's all grown up

The latest trends, forecasts and media landscapes will all attest that gaming has now moved beyond its humble beginnings and is now a powerful media vehicle for people to engage with content, communities and, most importantly for marketeers, consumer-facing brands and products.

Gaming... is now a powerful media vehicle for people to engage with content, communities and consumer-facing brands and products.

Older gamers like me will chuckle at this and tell you that this is not a recent transformation, but rather the latest iteration of gaming’s evolution and a manifestation of the rich opportunity for brands to leverage gaming as a way to reach audiences.

Above: Sony is releasing a 30th anniversary edition of it's three decades old PlayStation console. 

Brands have been present in games since the early days of the video arcade. One of the earliest and most fondly remembered examples is 1984’s Tapper, sponsored by Anheuser-Busch, where players served drinks in a classic dive bar under the pixellated neon glow of a Budweiser sign. 

A smattering of similar branded games in the 90s – from Cool Spot, starring an animated 7-Up logo, to the McDonald's Mick and Mack series – show that even the early examples of brands appearing in this space demonstrate the unique opportunity for interactive storytelling through gaming. The McDonald's games, in particular, were tied to an environmental/CSR message more complex than could be communicated in a print ad at the time.     

Even the early examples of brands appearing in [video games] demonstrate the unique opportunity for interactive storytelling.

When PlayStation arrived on the scene in 1994 it marked a new level of maturity for gaming as an entertainment medium, providing increasingly sophisticated ways for brands to leverage it in their communications strategies. In-game touchpoints became more integrated, with PlayStation’s own Gran Turismo integrating real world car brands that would populate its menus. 

But the other shift was the scale of popularity of gaming, with the IP becoming more like mass market entertainment products than niche characters. PlayStation icons like Crash Bandicoot and Lara Croft were the faces of campaigns for Pizza Hut and Lucozade, appearing as part of on-pack promotions and in-store merchandise. 

Above: Brands have used video games for many years, such as in Tapper, Mick and Mack series and Cool Spot. 

Pushing boundaries with next-gen consoles

The arrival of the next generation of gaming consoles in the 2000s, as well as online digital distribution, further removed the friction for brands publishing their own fully-fledged titles. Games like Sneak King (Burger King’s take on the stealth action genre) and Toyota’s Yaris driving game have, over time, earned a cult status with gamers, but also remind us of a time when brands were experimenting with gamified brand experiences with mixed success.

While it’s possible for brands to build their own game, it’s not always wise to do so when you have to compete for the attention of gamers.

This was supercharged by the rapid rise of mobile app stores, with emerging tech platforms letting consumers play with their brand in new contexts. Using gaming platforms for not only advertising but product distribution became a reality, where Xbox 360 players could make, and then order, their own Domino’s pizza.

However, none of these experiments have stood the test of time. The lesson this era offers is that while it’s possible for brands to build their own game or destination, it’s not always wise to do so when you have to compete for the attention of gamers in an incredibly fragmented collection of ecosystems.