Fandom

 Henry Jenkins - fandom theory

"If it doesn't spread, its dead."

Fans are textual poachers - taking elements from media texts to create their own culture 

The development of the new media ha accelerated participatory culture in which audiences are active and creative participants rather than passive consumers 

They create online communities, produce new creative forms, collaborate to solve problems, and shape the flow of media, this creates collective intelligence.

From this perspective, convergence is a cultural process rather than a technological one

Jenkins prefers the term spreadable media 

Macro:

  1. Nintendo co. ltd, headquartered in Kyoto Japan, has created franchises that have become household names worldwide 
  2. It has sold 5.5billion games 
  3. Estimated value of $55billion - impressive, yet less than its competitors with Sony ans Microsoft who are large global conglomerates that diversify their income
  4. Animal Crossing is the 13th highest selling game of all time (Minecraft no.1)
  5. It released to critical claim, averaging 90/100 on review aggregator site, Meta 
Monetization
Nintendo originally resisted industry developments in monetization, avoiding the lucrative allure of 'loot boxes'. Instead, Nintendo focused on releasing high quality, bug free releases. However Nintendo has capitalized on the industry monetization trends , it costs £17.99 a year to play Nintendo online. Animal crossing released for £49.99 - it included no micro transactions, players would ave to wait real time to get their fictional currency 'bells' and encouraged players to limit long play sessions, take their time and relax.
  • Doom Eternal and Animal Crossing were competing therefore this drove sales higher
 
  • Amiibo - a card which someone can buy and get a character brought into the game 





  • Nintendo branched into mobile games with Mario Kart Tour and Animal Crossing Pocket Camp






  • synergy with other products eg Monopoly;animal crossing 




  • Happy home designer DLC 







  • Nintendo seal of quality - guarantees that you have purchased Nintendo quality
Unlike platforms like steam for PC, where games can be discounted for 90%+, Nintendo games depreciate slowly in value, discounts on the 'Nintendo store' for games like Zelda and animal crossing are rarely higher than 20%


Instead of using a sea of quality to promote their products, steam use reviews, other people can review games so that others can see them and either buy or not buy a certain game.














Console Wars  
Nintendo is often seen as separate from the console wars, instead of focusing on high graphics, it markets itself as a family friendly company. It focuses on offering unique experiences like the touchscreen Nintendo DS, it focuses on first party games like Mario and Animal crossing.
  • Doom and Animal Crossing are released on different platforms and published by different companies. Competition can be a good thing 
Nintendo design philosophy in a nutshell - "if its not fun, whats the point"
Nintendos attitude to game publishing - "a delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad" 
Proven : for example Red Dead Redemption 2 was delayed from fall 2017 to October 26, 2018 and is considered one of the greatest games of all time with 97% of Meta-critic, 10/10 IGN, 9.7/10 IMDB, fall guys, The Last Of Us 2 
Wrong : Cyberpunk 2077

No mans sky
Came out in 2016, very rushed, bad reviews however the developers have updated and improved the game over the years, disproving this theory. A rushed game is not forever bad, it can be fixed and improved.


Digital convergence 
The switch is fundamentally a 'hybrid' console - both a handheld and a home console, this is built in digital convergence. In Japan where it is most popular, handheld culture is huge and thus convergence helped catapult sales. However, Nintendo is often seen as behind with other digitally convergent features. While Microsoft and Sony have store for media apps.
  • Synergy between YouTube and Twitter etc all accessible by phone increased spread ability of art, articles etc. Jenkins 'if it doesn't spread, its dead'
Animal pocket camp
  • Released in 2017 and was a huge risk for Nintendo bringing an established franchise to mobile phones rather than Nintendo hardware 
  • Digital convergence on mobile devices means that a lot of audience members who may never own a console or handheld were introduced to the franchise
  • While hardcore gamers disliked pocket camp, it attracted a new audience due to this convergence some of this audience will have been swayed into buying new horizons 

Japanese culture
  • The switch's popularity in japan was largely due to it being a a hybrid console, particularly teh handheld. typically, long commutes and high use of public transportation makes them an attractive proposition 
  • Nintendo consistently outsells Sony and Microsoft, particularly because Nintendo is operating on their home turf as a Japanese company, partly because of the hybrid functionality 
Consumers as prosumers 

Nintendo has sometimes been seen as backwards with regards to interacting with the online community. Famously, it has been known to 'copyright strike'  who makes lets pays and tips and tricks content. Despite Nintendo hostility towards creators, the fandom of Animal Crossing and and Nintendo have huge fandom across twitter and Reddit 


  • People are creating shareable content on Twitter and Reddit eg art, memes etc

Further industry content - Microsoft has officially acquired activision blizzard for $69billion

Activision blizzard are an american video game holding company 


Activision blizzard own Candy crush, call of duty, Diablo

Target Audience 

Activasion Blizzard has a wide target audience as a result of a wide platform, with different genres of games for different people, for example Candy Crush is a game mostly played by casual gamers, it has a large following of women aged 25+, its addictive yet simple. However activasion blizzard has games for other demographics for example, 



What is Microsoft?
Microsoft are a multinational technology corporation who are known for their:

Software = windows operating system including Word, Excel and power point 
Gaming = The Xbox and entertainment consoles = Xbox only games include the Halo franchise and Forza 

Microsoft was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in 1975, the current CEO is Satya Nadella
What do microsoft own?
Microsoft own Linkedin, Microsoft 365, Skype, Microsoft edge
Target audience 
Wide target audiences, fro individuals to large companies
Used within education for word, microsoft teams etc 

QUIZ













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