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Home , Bayonetta (character), E3 2018, E3 2019, Inkling (Splatoon), Japan Game Awards, Joker (Persona)

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: Fighting to the Top of the Industry

1 Table of Contents Abstract 3 Behind the Brand 3 Who is ? 3 What is Super Smash Bros.? 4 What’s so“Ultimate?” 4 Understanding fan demands 4 How it was named 4 Who they wanted to reach 5 What they wanted to accomplish 5 What they wanted to say 5 A 360-Degree Approach 6 Video press conferences 6 Social media support 7 The Super Smash Bros. Blog 7 Traditional advertising 8 Taking the fight to the field 8 Giving the gift of games 9 The “Ultimate” conversation starter 9 Addressing a stereotype 9 The Game of Making History 11 A historic best-seller 11 Media reach 11 A decorated title 11 Appendix 12 References 13 Fighting to the Top of the Industry Abstract To make a splash in a saturated market, video game companies need to go above and beyond their competitors’ and their own previous work. For the most recent installment of the game franchise Super Smash Bros., Japanese video game com- pany Nintendo aimed to do just that with the conception and release of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Based on findings from a worldwide fan feedback survey, Nintendo created Ultimate with players’ desires in mind. To strengthen the game’s launch on December 7, 2018, Nintendo conducted a 360-degree inte- grated marketing campaign, utilizing all available platforms, from video press conferences to media pitches to event tours.

Behind the Brand

Who is Nintendo? Nintendo was initially launched by , a crafter and business- man, in Kyoto on September 23, 1889 (“,” 2019). Originally, the company was a card shop that sold Hanafuda, beautifully adorned cards used in various traditional Japanese and Western-style 52-deck games (“History of Nintendo,” 2019). The company continued to make cards and expand un- til Fusajiro handed the baton on to his great-grandson, (“History of Nintendo,” 2019). His vision was to expand the company to create toys and amusement arcades, but in the 1970s, Nintendo followed the new trend in technology: video games (“History of Nintendo,” 2019). Since the groundbreaking release of , developed by now-gaming celebrity Shigeru Miyamoto, Nintendo has gone on to become one of the largest video game companies globally, with successful franchises like Super , , and Pokémon (“History of Nintendo,” 2019). Nintendo currently stands alongside tech Goliaths like and as the three main hard- ware companies in the .

3 Fighting to the Top of the Industry

What is Super Smash Bros.? Super Smash Bros. is a franchise that pulls togeth- er the worlds and characters of Nintendo’s most popular games to battle amongst each other. First conceived in 1996 by , former CEO of Nintendo, and , creator of the series, Super Smash Bros. began as a prototype fighting game called Kakuto-Geemu Ryuoh, or “Dragon King: The Fighting Game” (Shea, 2019). To create a more compelling game, the two decided to include the stars of Nintendo’s other games, and since the first installment,Super Smash Bros., released for the on January 21, 1999, Nintendo has continued to grow the Super Smash Bros. franchise for the past two decades (Shea, 2019). A collage of cover art for past installments in the Super Smash Bros. franchise (@Nintendo, Instagram). What’s so“Ultimate”? Understanding fan demands King K. Rool from the Donkey Kong franchise, and from the Castlevania franchise Following the release of the fourth and fifth in- (Source Gaming, 2018; PushDustIn, 2019). stallment in the Super Smash Bros. franchise, Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and Super Smash Bros. for U, Nintendo conducted a fan feedback survey called How it was named the “Smash Bros. Fighter Ballot” (Gordon, 2018). The name “Super Smash Bros. Ultimate” originates From April 1, 2015 to October 3, 2015, fans from from two sources. First, the game is a culmination around the world could submit requests for their of twenty years of the franchise, pulling characters, most desired characters to be added to the Super stages, and other game elements from each of the Smash Bros. franchise as , or five previous installments. Second, series creator DLC, to the 3DS and titles (Gordon, 2018). and game director Masahiro Sakurai chose the name “ultimate” to allude to his assumption that “this [in- While this data was marketed as such, the franchise’s stallment] is the last one” (Sakurai quoted by Shea, creator Masahiro Sakurai used the survey’s results in 2018). the conception of the next installment: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, as Sakurai revealed in his personal mémoire that characters who were cut from pre- vious installments, like from the Metal Gear franchise, were highly requested in the survey (Gordon, 2019). Evidence that the survey influenced Ultimate shows in the inclusion of all previously cut characters like Snake, as well as the addition of fan-favorite requests among the Super Smash Bros. community like from the Metroid franchise, 4 Fighting to the Top of the Industry

A spread of some of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s playable characters (Nintendo UK). (From top left to bottom right: Pac-Man, Fox, , , Mario, Link, , , Villager, Megaman, Snake, Ness, , Donkey Kong, Sonic, , Cloud, Kirby, Samus, and )

Who they wanted to reach What they wanted to say As a company often regarded as ‘family-friendly’ For their “ultimate” installment, Nintendo wanted to but with a long history in the video game industry, convey to their target audiences that they were able Nintendo targets its games a two primary demo- to “make the dream of all [previous] fighters come graphics: long-time company fans, or ‘loyalists,’ who true” by including 74 characters in the game’s launch have grown up playing Nintendo games over the last roster (Sakurai as cited by Shea, 2018). They also four decades; and new, young video game players wanted to convey that Super Smash Bros. Ultimate can who begin their gaming experiences on Nintendo be considered the biggest in gaming his- consoles. With these target demographics in mind, tory (Sakurai, 2018). Additionally, Nintendo aimed Nintendo could focus on who best to target Super to create an experience fans of all levels could enjoy, Smash Bros. Ultimate to, which can be noted in the from casual fans to competitive gamers (Sakurai and execution of their 360-degree marketing campaign. Fils-Aime as cited by Imad Khan, 2018a). What they wanted to accomplish The primary goal of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate for Nintendo is to increase franchise sales—previous installments Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and Super Smash Bros. for 3DS sold 5.2 and 9.5 million copies respectively since September 2014 (“IR Information,” 2019). The secondary goal was to increase overall media coverage of this newest installment from previous games’ numbers.

5 Fighting to the Top of the Industry A 360-Degree Approach Video press conferences As an integral part of their 360-degree marketing plan for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Nintendo regularly released information about the game through a series of online video press conferences. These video con- ferences, called “” broadcasts, are Nintendo’s primary tool for announcing news about the video games they produce. When highlighting Super Smash Bros. Ultimate news, the company included trail- ers of the game alongside pre-recorded video releases by the game’s producer, Masahiro Sakurai. Each Super Smash Bros.-related segment of Nintendo’s broadcasts highlighted the updates and additions made for the new installment, such as characters, stages, music tracks, and game modes. Some video press conferences were specifically catered toSuper Smash Bros. only, called “Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Direct” broadcasts. Information specifically highlighting DLC characters for the game, to be released between December 2019 and February 2020, was detailed in live-broadcasted presentations, as opposed to pre-recorded video releas- es, also hosted by Sakurai. The following is a timeline of Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros. Ultimate news release schedule, which includes information on downloadable content following the game’s December 2019 launch: • March 8, 2018 – Initial teaser trailer, announcing the new game and the addition of Inkling • June 12, 2018 – Initial gameplay introduction at announcing the return of all previous fighters as well as addition of Daisy and Ridley • August 8, 2018 – Addition of Simon, Richter, Chrom, Dark Samus, and King K. Rool announced, as well as the inclusion of 103 stages, roughly 900 music tracks, and various new game modes • September 13, 2018 – Addition of Isabelle announced alongside new game : New Horizons • November 1, 2018 – Super Smash Bros. Direct announcing the addition of Ken, Incineroar, and Piranha Plant, the new Adventure gameplay mode “World of Light,” online gameplay features, 59 assist trophies, and other features as well as the plans to release 5 DLC fighters in a “Fighters’ Pass” • December 6, 2018 – At 2018, announcement of as the first DLC fighter • April 19, 2019 – Details of Joker and outline of new 3.0.0 update changes • June 11, 2019 – Announcement of Hero as the second DLC fighter and Banjo & Kazooie as the third DLC fighter • July 30, 2019 – Video demonstration of Hero to be release July 31 • September 4, 2019 – Announcement of as the fourth DLC fighter, video demonstration and release of Banjo & Kazooie as well as the announcement of the development of more DLC fighters past the “Fighters’ Pass” • November 6, 2019 – Video demonstration and release of Terry Bogard

Following the broadcast of each Nintendo Direct, new character trailers, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Direct presentations, and Sakurai’s live DLC character broadcasts were uploaded to Nintendo’s main and Super Smash Bros.-focused YouTube channels. By only using owned channels to announce content updates, Nintendo was able to control the timing and messaging around their new installment.

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Social media support To reinforce Nintendo’s frequent news updates in their video broadcasts, the company posted Super Smash Bros. Ultimate content on social media. The primary account used was @SmashBros on Facebook, a dedicated Super Smash Bros.-focused account that updated regularly from the game’s initial announcement. From announcement to the game’s launch, Nintendo posted 176 times on that account, garnering a total 717k likes, 130k comments, and 148k shares, as well as 1.6MM Facebook page likes. Other social channels were used to support Super Smash Bros. announcements, including @ NintendoAmerica and @NintendoVS on , @Nintendo and @SmashBros on Facebook, @Nintendo on Instagram, @Nintendo on Pinterest, and @Nintendo on LinkedIn. As a snapshot of the performance of these accounts’ Super Smash Bros. content, @Nintendo on Instagram posted 26 times related to the Ultimate installment and garnered a total of 1.2MM video views, 2.3MM post likes, and 31k comments. Below are two images: a screenshot of a post from @SmashBros on Facebook and another Super Smash Bros.-focused post from @Nintendo on Instagram.

Left: A Facebook post highlighting newly added assist trophy“Chef Kawasaki” from the Kirby franchise (@SmashBros, Facebook).

Right: An Instagram post highlighting the 74 playable characters available in the game at launch (@Nintendo, Instagram).

The Super Smash Bros. Blog Alongside frequent Super Smash Bros.-related social media content, Nintendo created and regularly updated the “Super Smash Bros. Blog” on the officialSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate website, which was launched June 12, 2018 following the Super Smash Bros. presentation in Nintendo’s “Nintendo Direct” broadcast. Blog updates were often contained information comparable to the content posted on @SmashBros on Facebook, 7 Fighting to the Top of the Industry

except with less regularity. Between June 12, 2018 and present day, the Super Smash Bros. Blog was updated with 187 posts, though the statistics on post traffic are not publicly accessible. Below is a screenshot of a post from the Super Smash Bros. Blog. Traditional advertising As a traditional piece to their 360-degree marketing campaign, Nintendo produced video and print advertising for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Video advertisements were broadcasted on televi- sion, with different ads produced for specific countries, as well as A post from the Super Smash Bros. blog highlighting the new“Spirits” feature added on online video platforms like YouTube. Video advertisements to the game (Super Smash Blog, 2018). were also tailored to target the primary audience of older, long- time Nintendo fans in some and younger, new-to-gaming audiences in others. Print advertisements were produced and displayed internationally in the forms of posters, banners, bill- board advertisements, and large-scale wall clings. Prominent print examples could be found in London, UK; Tokyo, Japan; and Paris, France, where Nintendo placed adds on billboards, in train stations, and on the walls of travelators (Craddock, 2018). Images of these advertisements can be found in the Appendix (p. 12). Taking the fight to the field Surrounding the release of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, from September 22, 2018 to January 1, 2019, Nintendo partnered with Wendy’s to bring the new installment to ten college football stadiums across America (“Nintendo Partners,” 2018). The “Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Wendy’s College Tailgate Tour” used a cus- tomized Super Smash Bros. Ultimate-branded trailer retrofitted with six play stations and gave college sports fans an opportunity to try the game while tailgating for their favorite teams (“Nintendo Partners,” 2018). The tour ended on January 1, 2019 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA (“Nintendo Partners,” 2018). As part of the event tour, Nintendo invited some influencers, including players from the Tennessee Titans NFL team (Nintendo of America, 2018). The schedule of visits is as follows: • September 22, 2018 – Stanford @ Oregon • October 6, 2018 – Alabama @ Arkansas • October 13, 2018 – Wisconsin @ Michigan • October 20, 2018 – Oklahoma @ TCU • October 27, 2018 – Clemson @ FSU • November 3, 2018 – South Carolina @ Ole Miss

• November 10, 2018 – TCU @ West Virginia Top: Members of the Tennessee Titans playing the • November 17, 2018 – Miami @ Virginia Tech game at the Super Smash Bros Ultimate Wendy’s College Tailgate Tour (@Nintendo, Twitter). • November 24, 2018 – Michigan @ Ohio State • January 1, 2019 – Rose Bowl: Washington vs. Ohio State Bottom: Tailgaters lining up and playing the game during the Tailgate Tour (@Nintendo, Instagram). 8 Fighting to the Top of the Industry

Giving the gift of games To highlight Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and other high-priority games for the holiday season, Nintendo hosted a second, larger scale event series called the “ Holiday Experience” (“Take holiday shopping,” 2018). From November 10 to December 16, 2018, Nintendo hosted installations in shopping malls across America to give gaming fans the opportunity to play major titles, like Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu!, Pokémon: Let’s Go, Eevee!, Super Mario Party, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, on large video displays (“Take holiday shopping,” 2018). For the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate demo in the exhibition, fans stood in line for the opportunity to play one 4-player match with access to the game’s entire playable roster. Participating loca- tions are as follows: • Arrowhead Town Center, Glendale, AZ • Del Amo Fashion Center, Torrance, CA • Westfield Valley Fair, Santa Clara, CA • The Florida Mall, Orlando, FL • Mall of Georgia, Buford, GA • Queens Center, Elmhurst, NY • King of Prussia Mall, King of Prussia, PA • Memorial City Mall, Houston, TX A rendering of the Nintendo Switch Holiday • Tysons Corner Center, Tysons Center, VA Experience kiosk setup, featuring Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and other Nintendo games (“Take holiday shopping,” 2018). The “Ultimate” conversation starter Integral to any 360-degree marketing campaign, Nintendo pitched to gaming-focused and non-gaming, tra- ditional media outlets in both broadcast and online. The majority of pitched articles were for reviews of the game, which came out around the time of the game’s release, while others focused on new changes to game features, the eSports community for the Super Smash Bros. franchise, and downloadable content release post- launch. One broadcast pitch was a three-part series on TBS’s Eleague that followed the events of the “Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Invitational” tournament held by Nintendo at E3 2018 (VentureBeat, 2018). The Invitational was a Nintendo-sponsored competitive tournament featuring major Super Smash Bros. eSports athletes from around the world. The three-part series highlighted the players involved and the matches they fought to crown a victor (VentureBeat, 2018). The series was broadcasted on November 16, 2018 and the two following Fridays to highlight the launch of the game the next month (VentureBeat, 2018). Another pitch came in the form of an interview segment with influencer and prominent streamer Tyler Blevins, AKA “Ninja,” on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon where the two men played Super Smash Bros. Ultimate to test and compare their gaming skills while highlighting the release of the first DLC character, Joker from the franchise (The Tonight Show, 2019). Addressing a Stereotype On November 2, 2018, Nintendo hosted a livestream showcasing gameplay of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate following a Nintendo Direct broadcast. One character that was featured was Mr. Game & Watch, a character that draws on imagery from Nintendo’s early portable game systems, the Game & Watch line. For the new 9 Fighting to the Top of the Industry

installment, Nintendo updated Mr. Game & Watch’s animations to better reflect the originalGame & Watch games’ artwork. However, one anima- tion included in pre-release versions of the game included racist imagery, depicting the character wearing a feather on his head while trying to light an opponent on fire. The anima- tion comes from a 1982 Game & Watch handheld game, Fire Attack, where players control a cowboy warding off Native Americans that try to set fire to his fort (Frank, 2018). Because Fans playing Super Smash Bros. Ultimate during the November 2 live broadcast. Featured is the animation for Nintendo marketing this as a game Mr. Game & Watch depicting a negative Native American stereotype (大乱闘スマッシュブラザーズ SPECIAL, 2018). that many audiences, young and old, casual and competitive, could enjoy, this imagery posed a risk to not only

Nintendo’s target audience by their position as a family-friendly gaming company. When Nintendo was reached for comment by fans online who protested the racist imagery and called for its removal, the com- pany assured that it would alter Mr. Game & Watch’s appearance before the game’s December 2018 launch (Frank, 2018). Nintendo responded that the company had been playing to distribute an update to remove the feature from the animation of Mr. Game & Watch (Nintendo quoted by Frank, 2018). They also stated that the “original game on which this depiction of the character is based was released more than three decades ago and does not represent our company values today” (Nintendo quoted by Frank, 2018). Nintendo apologized for the fact that the change was not noticed in their marketing materials and pledge to continue to work on making Super Smash Bros Ultimate “an experience that is both welcoming and fun for everyone” (Nintendo quoted by Frank, 2018).

A closer look at the removed Mr. Game & Watch Following Nintendo’s response and software updates distributed animation in question (Phillips, 2018). for the game on the day of the game’s launch, the animation was altered to remove any racist imagery, and the issue did not resur- face again. Nintendo successfully solved the issue and prevented further controversy.

10 Fighting to the Top of the Industry The Game of Making History A historic best-seller prior to the game’s release (Imad Khan, 2018b; Muncy, 2018; Martinez, 2018). In the aftermath of the game’s release, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is regarded by critics and fans as the best installment in the Super Smash Bros. franchise, A decorated title overtaking previous popular titles in sales and in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has also won and been placement in competitive tournaments. Since the nominated for a number of industry awards. It game’s release in December 2018, Ultimate has sold won five awards at the 2019 Japan Game Awards, a 15.71 million units globally, making it not only the SXSW Gaming Award for Excellence in Gameplay, best-selling game in the Super Smash Bros. franchise, the Gamescom 2018 Award for Best Game on but the best-selling fighting game in history (“IR Nintendo Switch, and a Game Critics 2018 Award Information,” 2019; Mamiit, 2019). for Best Fighting game, among others (AFP Relax News, 2019; Zarmena Khan, 2019; Keane, 2018; Media reach Watts, 2018). It was also recently nominated for in the categories for “Game of In addition to the game’s record-breaking sales, the Year,” “Best Fighting Game,” and “Best Family Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s promotion and launch Game,” a mark that demonstrates the game’s ability earned over four thousand media placements glob- to appeal to a wide audience as well fighting game ally since its initial announcement in March 2018, fans and families (Webb, 2019). including major gaming outlets like IGN, , , and and non-gaming focused, traditional outlets like TIME, Forbes, The Washington Post, USA Today, Variety, Businesswire, GQ UK, CNET, Wired, The Verge, The Guardian, Newsweek, Business Insider, Mashable, Bleacher Report, ESPN, Metro, Yahoo! Finance, Fortune, Telegraph, and SyFy. Overall, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate received majority positive press and high review scores, earning a 93/100 on Metacritic based on 99 critics’ reviews and an 8.7/10 based on 2,194 user ratings. Ultimate director and series creator Masahiro Sakurai According to a media analysis, including a sampling accepting magazine’s 2018 Game of the Year Award for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Iggy, 2019). of 30 media hits, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate garnered 79% positive press, with 12% neutral and 9% neg- ative. The only negative press in the sampling con- tained the following critiques: that the game did not provide enough options for eSports players; that the game was too extensive; that it took too long to get all 66 unlockable characters, when the game starts with only 8 available; and an article regarding the Native American stereotype with Mr. Game & Watch 11 Fighting to the Top of the Industry Appendix

Above: Billboard ads for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate in London, UK. Below: A travelator ad for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate in Paris, FR.

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