343 Industries: Halo Marketing Is 'A Community Effort'

Author: by Staff

In the latest Gamasutra feature, 343 Industries franchise development director Frank O'Connor says every product released under the Halo franchise is there to "answer a question." He notes that each marketing decision is based on what the Halo community is asking for, and looks to satisfy "specific needs" rather than simply being put forward by the marketing team. "Our marketing people at Microsoft actually only market our games, " he says. "Our marketing people don't work on books, or the novels, or the comics." "Every single one of those products, what you might call "ancillary products," was designed to answer a specific need. Fans wanted this; fans wanted to know this story." O'Connor calls it "almost a literally a community effort," noting that all the comics and figurines released to complement the game series are not part of the product cycle. "[Someone says,] 'I want a Master Chief action figure,' and we went and made that happen. And, 'I want to know more about this angle of the universe' or 'this back story in the universe,' and we just went and made it happen. Everything has answered a question," he explains. "We're literally looking at making a grunt plushie this year, and not because -- well it'll probably sell a lot and make a lot of money -- but because it's the single most-demanded item that we haven't fulfilled in the franchise history. 'I want a grunt plushie!' But the weird thing is, it's the hardest core fans that want that." He adds, "It's just trying to make sure that you reach a state where 100 percent of that demand is met successfully. So yeah, I don't worry about saturation, or overexposure, because all of these things are what our fans want, one way or another." The full feature sees O'Connor answering questions regarding the passing of the Halo torch from Bungie to 343 Industries, future plans for the franchise and what the Halo community can look forward to. The full feature is now live on Gamasutra.