If you’ve ever scrolled through the comment section of a cultural event release announcement, the meme above is old hat.
Although taken slightly out of its original context, it often describes a commenter’s desire to own a certain product even if they have no idea whether they will like it or not.
On the surface, such a customer base seems like a dream. You announce a product and before it’s even ready to ship, people are throwing money at your company, excited for your latest product.
Until about ten years ago, the phenomenon was mostly predominant in the niche industries of nerds and geeks; gaming and comic books. But with Steve Jobs and what he did for Apple, it proved that any industry could get that sort of hype and dedication.
But at the very core, the marketeers who truly understood hype culture were still working with gaming.
But over the last couple of years something changed. Where hype culture had once been about getting the consumers all hot and bothered about a new product, the was an attitude change. Some pundits blame greed, while I see it as a result of big business getting into the geek industries and not really understanding the target demographic.
Now, somehow a couple of notions got into the minds of the “geek culture” companies. The first makes some sense, given that big capital had infiltrated the industry; the companies began to care less about their customers and more about their investors. This is especially apparent in the gaming industry where game developers and publishers began removing certain fan-favorite features and selling them back to consumers. After a while companies decided to stop selling actual games, and rename the interactive entertainment as “live services”. Then loot boxes. Then loot boxes were deemed as gambling aimed at minors in several countries. Then they decided that games should have a message containing divisive politics and inform consumers who felt that political grandstanding was problematic to “not buy it”. Others decided that a highly anticipated sequel to the hit franchise Diablo needed to be a highly monetized mobile app, to which a fan in the crowd asked: “Is this a joke?”. After the crowd was assured that it wasn’t the company reps replied to the loudly booing mass of consumers: “What?! Do you guys not have phones?”
The result? Disappointing sales. Still enough that they break even, but far from successful enough to impress investors.
And they’re not alone. While many companies spend a decent amount of money to insulate themselves against social media outrage mobs and shitstorms, very few apparently have any idea of what to do when the customers stop buying their product. They blame a shift in demographics, but this isn’t true. The fans are still there but now they’re spending their money elsewhere.
See you in part 2
PhunnyB1 - the waning nerd 