Quality Control

The Halo series is arguably among the most successful gaming franchises of all time, Microsoft aims to  make Halo 4 its most successful game ever as it is being rumored to have one of the largest budgets approved by Microsoft, approx $100million.  Microsoft is not using its traditional developers to make the game, as Bungie is no longer making this game but 343 industries is stepping up to take the role. I agree with the notion that when game developers such as Microsoft switch the studio developers for a game, subsequent games usually don’t do well. In this instance I think I will have to make an exception, this is why:

Game Review

In the gaming industry Microsoft has released roughly 800 copies of the game to media outlets in the US alone, so they can rate the game and provide reviews online. Metacritic is an important review website as it aggregates videogame reviews from various game publications such as Gamestop, Game Informer magazine, and AOL. It gave the game an impressive score of 91 based on 37 current reviews.

Promotional Strategies

Forward unto Dawn and WOM: Microsoft decided to create a live web series based on the Halo universe. Real life actors play cadets who are training to fight the newly advanced alien race. The online series is free on YouTube and is generating a lot of buzz leading up to the game’s actual release on Nov 6. The Budget for this series was about $10million. Take a look at one of the episodes installments below, it already has over  7 million views!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfJVgXBfSH8

Partners: Pepsi Co in North America and Pizza Hut in the UK are some of the bigger Partners for Microsoft’s marketing campaign.

Limited Edition Version: The version of the game adds serious dollar value not only to the halo buffs but also to the average gamer.  This special version of the game comes in a steel case and includes things such as War game map packs, early access to multiplayer specializations and more. One user on a gameranx review site sees the value: