An amazing game, the Call of Duty game line keeps providing good quality games, with consistently good (yet somewhat cheesy) story lines, graphics, and game play. This week however, I wanted to focus not on the game, but on opportunities games like this create. In this case, the opportunity presented itself to Jeep. This first came to my attention by reading a friend of mine's post, you can check what he has to say about this jeep here: http://blogs.ubc.ca/alexmk/2010/11/07/gaming-and-reality/
While Alex finds the approach an interesting, new way of marketing for games, I beg to differ.
I think it is really interesting for a video game to inspire production for a real car. It seems somewhat ineffective, in my opinion, to release a vehicle targeted at video gamers. The main reason being: its a CAR YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT! Sure, it is pretty cool to buy a wrangler designed after a game, but as far as buying it just because it is, for all intents and purposes, named after a game... come on! The car and the game have nothing in common except the name. Sure I would consider buying it if I liked wranglers, but I would never factor in video games in my car-purchasing decision. Ever.
The following blog writes states that: "
While labelling yourself as 'hardcore' may equate to having built an enviable online kill count or gathering hundreds of gameplay hours, we here at The Tech Herald believe you're not quite as hardcore as you think.
More pointedly, truly hardcore Call of Duty fans will be looking to order themselves a swanky and strictly limited edition Black Ops-themed Jeep Wrangler, which costs a pocket-testing $30,000 USD and comes equipped with special Call of Duty design features."
While I agree that extremely hardcore COD fans with $30k to spend might buy this vehicle, I should not have been geared towards gamers. The possibilities and rewards could be much higher in other market segments, and even though the idea is cool, and I would like to see more products based on video games, I don't believe a car would be a good idea for a promotion strategy.
If you're interested in finding out more about the specs and prices and what-not, check out this guy's blog: http://www.thetechherald.com/article.php/201042/6310/Black-Ops-Jeep-Wrangler-caters-to-Call-of-Duty-hardcore
