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Rare Questions Microsoft's Marketing of Viva Piñata

Viva Piñata developer Rare has questioned why its owner Microsoft decided to back Gears of War with such a high-profile marketing campaign, which left its own new franchise in the shadows last Christmas.

Software engineer James Thomas feels that the new family-friendly IP lost out to Epic's Gears of War, which enjoyed a much bigger marketing budget from Microsoft, helping it top the charts all over the world.

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ItsDubC - moderator
Published: 802 days 3 hours ago | News | Xbox 360 | Industry News

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SuicidalTendencies - 802 days 3 hours ago

1 -

I'm gonna side with Rare on this one. They made a very fun and entertaining game with Viva Pinata. They should have given the same type of marketing as Gears or Halo. This game could have sold a lot better.

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jcgamer - 802 days 3 hours ago

2 - To be honest, I didn't even know what the game was last Christmas...

besides J Allard or Peter Moore name checking it...I didn't know what genre or anything specific...Gears certainly overshadowed Viva...

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Dukester101 - 802 days 2 hours ago

3 - Viva was Fun

While a childrens game at heart, the core of the game was for older players looking for a relaxing moment raising pinatas, flowers, fruits, and keeping all things happy.

It was a huge underrated game, and I enjoyed playing it when Gears of War was becoming monotonous. It definitely should have had more marketing. That would have made the Xbox look like it DID have children's games, and wasnt just a "FPS" console.

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DarkSniper - 802 days 2 hours ago

4 -

They shouldnt have signed up with Micro$oft. Because of this, Viva Pinata will lose out to the better marketed Little Big Planet. That's Rare's mistake...Oh well

$niper

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chester - 802 days 1 hour ago

4.1 -

i don't think it would've mattered what kind of marketing viva had, it wouldn't have come anywhere close to the more innovative and exciting littlebigplanet.
i loved viva pinata. i still play it every once in awhile as a relaxing and fun game without taking it too seriously. i picked it up because of word of mouth. i originally saw the previews and all that and thought it looked like a retarded kiddy game that i'd never touch. i read some reviews and heard some good things so i picked it up. word of mouth is honestly the best marketing that this game had, as it's appeal was far more then just it's look.
LBP is something completely different then basically everything out there today. it's best marketing is showing people that's it's unlike anything out there today. it's the reason i have a ps3 (i bought it almost a year before LBP comes out just for that game) because of what i've seen about it.
bottom line, viva isn't losing out to littlebig because of marketing.

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Zhuk - 802 days 2 hours ago

5 -

500,000 copies sold is pretty respectable imo, but with some more marketing muscle it could have topped a million, a great game

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RadientFlux - 802 days 2 hours ago

6 -

I don't know if a bigger marketing budget would have helped Viva Pinata espically since Viva had it's own tv show.

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P4KY B - 802 days 2 hours ago

7 - Its not a kids game! Its more Adult than Gears of War

Its all about incest and inbreeding.
You can smash poor defenseless animals to death with a shovel.
You can even beat an old homeless guy with a shovel too.

It is a great game.

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Brainiac 8 - 802 days 2 hours ago

8 - It was far from a kiddie game....

I am in agreement with Rare. Microsoft did them a great disservice when it came to this game. It was a fun and very involved breeding/care giving sim that deserved much more attention.

While kids could play it, it was much more involved than most kids would be able to do. It's much like Pokemon, most shrug it off as kiddie when it's as if not more involved than most RPG's out there.

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BloodySinner - 802 days 2 hours ago

9 -

This was exactly what I was talking about a few months back. Microsoft was so focused on Gears of War and left Rare in the shadows. YET Microsoft STILL uses Viva Piñata as an excuse that the Xbox 360 is trying to appeal to the general audience. If that's the case, why not promote that, Microsoft? Why not flood the audience with advertusement the same way you did with Gears of War?

I'm glad Rare brought this up, because I was beginning to wonder if I was the only one who felt the same way.

How pathetic of you, Microsoft.

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GameClearer - 802 days 2 hours ago

10 - rage r sell outs

rage should have stuck with nintendo if they want more money and should not have sold it to ms they could have been number 1 on the wii that is some big money they lost out on ha ha

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ElementX - 802 days 1 hour ago

11 -

I really enjoyed this game. I even recommended it to a buddy of mine to purchase when he bought his Elite last month. He enjoys the game also. Figuring there's a television series based on the game though, I think that's sort of a marketing campaign.

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12 P1MPDADDY | 802 days 1 hour ago - User only got 1 bubble - Show

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Phlapp - 802 days 1 hour ago

13 -

I think we forget that GoW was up against the PS3 flagship Resistance, which Sony were using to push PS3 sales. I seriously don't think MS could fend off the PS3 flagship with Viva pinata! In hindsight I think they should have held the Viva release back and given it the time and effort it deserves once the Gow vs R:FoM thing died down.

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GrooveChampion - 802 days 1 hour ago

14 - It only took a year to figure this out...

I don't know if anyone from Rare has checked the release dates this year either, since VP:PA is shipping within a week of COD4.

I'm sure Activision is going to market it aggressively with accompanying MS branding all over it.

So much for Party Animals

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Double-Edged - 802 days ago

15 - This game is fun

sold it though for cars...

cars was more playable... for my little cuzzins.

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cherdman - 802 days ago

16 -

Rare shouldn't be blaming their average games on MS marketing.

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MC_KOOL_K - 801 days 23 hours ago

17 - it was way to early in 360 life to release such a kids game / adult

10 mil mainly hardcore owners arnt all going to rush out and buy a kids game

a blind gimp would have seen this coming

three are four years into its life is the time for a game like this when people are tired of the fps

i heard a gamer say last year he was embarrassed to buy the game because the box looked like a dame barbie doll game

sorry rare your f**k up taking your eye of the market your trying to sell to

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etownone - 801 days 23 hours ago

18 -

It was Rare's own fault for putting out an average game...

Gears got over 30 game of the year awards.... that is a flagship console selling blockbuster game. Not VP.

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stuntman_mike - 801 days 22 hours ago

19 -

i feel it was a waste of rares and microsoft time getting together, i think rare only did it for the money but microsoft has had not much of a comeback from them as regards to games.

imo i think they should both split company with each other it would do them both a great lot of good, rare can get back onto making stuff they want and microsoft hopefully can reclaim some of the money they spent on them.

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20 tomfoolery | 801 days 21 hours ago - User only got 1 bubble - Show

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