Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: Fighting to the Top of the Industry 1 Table of Contents Abstract 3 Behind the Brand 3 Who is Nintendo? 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 Fusajiro Yamauchi, a crafter and business- man, in Kyoto on September 23, 1889 (“History of Nintendo,” 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, Hiroshi Yamauchi (“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 Donkey Kong, 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 Mario, The Legend of Zelda, and Pokémon (“History of Nintendo,” 2019). Nintendo currently stands alongside tech Goliaths like Sony and Microsoft as the three main hard- ware companies in the video game industry. 3 Fighting to the Top of the Industry What is Super Smash Bros ? Super Smash Bros is a fighting game 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 Satoru Iwata, former CEO of Nintendo, and Masahiro Sakurai, creator of the Kirby 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 Nintendo 64 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 Simon Belmont 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 Wii 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 downloadable content, or five previous installments. Second, series creator DLC, to the 3DS and Wii U 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 Solid Snake 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 Ridley 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, Inkling, Marth, Mario, Link, Pikachu, Ryu, Villager, Megaman, Snake, Ness, Pit, Donkey Kong, Sonic, Yoshi, Cloud, Kirby, Samus, and Bayonetta) 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 crossover 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 “Nintendo Direct” 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 E3 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 Animal Crossing: 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 The Game Awards 2018, announcement of Joker 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 Terry Bogard 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.