To Be Determined: A Critical Look at Personalization & Gaming

For decades, the Video Game industry has been working towards creating fully customizable experiences, allowing users to have as much control as possible in the media. Customization ranges from creating a character all the way to the player’s in-game experiences. Initially this sort of customization prompted players to simply choose their characters, but now it allows for customization of every intricate detail, from large items such as names to even the minutest items like how far a chin should protract. Players can also customize their aesthetics with options to have user music replace in game tunes. While these customizations have always been a delighter in terms of benefit, the real depth of customization comes from the game experience itself.

(Even in the upcoming Sonic Forces you can make your own speedy quadruped. Credit: YouTube)

Since open world games like Grand Theft Auto 3 and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild have risen to the forefront of the industry, players have been able to customize their games in how they experience the content. While games may still have a set of boundaries, this relatively new phenomenon of allowing users to decide what, when, where, and how to approach objectives brings forth unparalleled customization. Best of all, it looks like these opportunities will only continue to grow and develop over time, bringing fully individualized experiences nearly impossible to replicate. While this is all well and good, customization is not the purpose of this post. Rather, it’s personalization, something lacking in the industry.

When I look to define personalization, I look towards the combination of individual preference and systematic probability. It’s rendered best in the music industry, where leading companies can personalize a listening experience by creating playlists that focus both on the user’s saved tracks and system predicted songs that the user might enjoy given his or her tastes. As another example, when a user orders through an online pizza service, at checkout the system typically offers either a side or beverage that was previously purchased, simply to remind the user that he/she may have previously enjoyed it and might want to order it again. This strategy works in helping repeat purchases and revenue growth, and yet, in a multibillion-dollar industry in Video Games, it barely exists.

While there are the occasional advertisements on the console home screens or random pop ups of new content either in game or as part of the console platform, it never feels truly focused on the player. An example is that when viewing games online there is almost always a section titled “Games Like This” or something that highlights potential products to the player; however, these notices barely carry any weight. They are typically put out of focus on the screen and do not seem overly intriguing, and here is where the greatest opportunities lie.

                                

    (The screen prior to starting up Bloodborne is barren, a missed opportunity. Credit: PSN)

Think for a second about the systems of yesteryear. Sure, a game cartridge might house additional saves where data would be stored to justify stating there was an understanding of time spent with the game, but never really was there any attention paid towards understanding the consumer (not to mention that data never was relayed back to the parent company). Historically speaking, game companies realize their brand’s impact through sales figures, followers, review scores, and other external metrics, but what if they thought about their brand and its following internally? If FromSoftware knew that I had beaten Bloodborne four times, either the company or Sony should have reached out to me in some capacity to state something simple like “Hey! We see you’ve sunk a lot of time into this game. Why not try our other ones that are similar in content?” or “Hey! If you enjoy this game, you need to try out the DLC. It’s even better!”. Instead, despite my immense satisfaction with Bloodborne, I waited months before picking up another FromSoftware game. Now, I’ll freely admit I’m a longtime gamer and thus had an interest in the other FromSoftware games after finishing Bloodborne, but what if I didn’t have that interest? I would have missed out on what has become one of my favorite franchises ever in the Souls’ series.

As another example, EA Sports typically comes out with a new iteration of their Football, Basketball, and Hockey franchises annually, and these are all viable opportunities to generate income. If they recorded data that I love playing as the Celtics in basketball games, well maybe they could offer up an opportunity to purchase a throwback jersey in game. Maybe in an action game, if the system were able to determine that I enjoyed playing as one character specifically, it could target me for the DLC associated with that character. These unique instances rarely happen, and, in my opinion, they should.

Perhaps I’m optimistic, but I think there is a huge amount of money lying on the table for these companies to capture. They just need to fully understand the data they have acquired from their impassioned fan bases. In fact, I think it’s only a matter of time until they do. The danger with the gaming community at times is that there can be an over-saturation of misguided attempts, and the only thing that’s worse than an error prone advertisement is one that fails to make any impact. In the ultra-competitive world of gaming where companies are fighting for players, dollars and everything in between, one misstep could spell doom for a campaign; however, as long-standing companies become more mobile friendly, there could be an alternative avenue for personalization to make the impact it needs to become a mainstay in the industry.