Capcom: Case Zero as Good as Multi-Million Dollar ad Campaign

Capcom, publisher behind the Dead Rising games, has said that the small episodic title Case Zero they released as a prequel on XBLA has been as effective as multi-million dollar TV ad campaign.

Capcom’s UK product manager Karl Reader said that “it’s the most dynamic sales weapon we have ever had in our arsenal, giving us the equivalent exposure of a multi-million pound TV campaign” and that “we foresee other publishers will follow suit. With increasing development budgets and increased risk, several smaller projects is only sensible.”

Case Zero has sold around 400,000 copies since it came out and with the full game due out tomorrow it’s certainly put the sequel onto my radar. While he’s no doubt right about it being an effective advertising tool, there’s also the risk that people simply won’t buy the full version. I probably won’t, being quite content with messing around on Case Zero until the second round of DLC comes out in a few weeks.

Readers’ most interesting comments are on the idea of the episodes as a barometer: “Finally, it serves as a barometer for us as a publisher, allowing us to gauge demand for the title and adjust our marketing plans for Dead Rising 2 accordingly.”

I like the idea that pushing out a portion of the game can help publishers with marketing, but also change elements of the game. If there’s a feature that people don’t use or something that really irritates reviewers, as long as they publish early enough they could potentially change those things.

Of course, all of this has only been available for Xbox. Eurogamer recently spoke to co-producer Shinsaku Ohara and asked whether not releasing either episode on the PS3 would alienate its users. He replied that Capcom is “sorry that it seems like you’re getting a little bit less of the Dead Rising 2 universe” but that the full game “was completely designed to be a self-contained and enjoyable experience, beginning to end, regardless of the prologue and the epilogue.” His arguments aren’t all that convincing but it makes sense. There are exclusives on both sides of the console so in the end it will all balance out.

I’ve said before that it’s nice to see a company pushing new ways to make money while not totally screwing gamers over. I was very unsure about this, but for a fiver you can chop up zombies with a chainsaw paddle. And really, what more could you want?