Analyst Believes Consumers Have More Difficulty in Differentiating Video Game Franchises than Film

According to analyst Stephen Cheliotis, the general consumer can’t tell the difference between Modern Warfare and every other military shooter on the market because of the stark similarities between all of the games in the genre. On the other hand however, studies indicate that consumers don’t have the same problem with movies.

In an interview with Eurogamer, Cheliotis, the chief executive for The Centre for Brand Analysis explained his reasoning behind these claims.

If you look at awareness they’re not quite up there with the likes of Star Wars or Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings. Outside of the real keen gamers there’s a bit of confusion between different types of game franchises.

For those that are part-time gamers or loosely interested but not necessarily real keen players, they mould a little bit into one. With the latest release, they say, ‘is that part of that franchise or is it that one? I can’t really remember’.

He goes on, citing consumers’ inability to distinguish Call of Duty from the rest of the military shooter pack.

It’s just one of those big franchises and it’s a military shooter, and they’re all kind of the same. I don’t think people say, ‘Call of Duty is this, and this other one is that’.

That’s the difference. They blur. That’s where you’ve got a brand issue. There’s not much to distinguish them for the average player that’s just jumping in and out.

While one can see where his ideas are coming from, the fact that Call of Duty continues to shatter records year-in and year-out makes it hard to deny that fact that consumers can recognize the Call of Duty brand.

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