Videos games, brands, and design

[KevinGutowski]

Was watching Atrioc's Marketing Mondays and there were a number of interesting points being made about Elden Ring.

• How FromSoftware's games differentiates themselves from other games

  

• Addictive task completion and supporting UI in openworld games (Elden Ring vs Horizon Forbidden West) 1:10:09

• Counter example with Ubisoft's microtransactions to get over difficulty 1:15:13

  

• Brand Identity Model and how to think about what is key to a company's image 1:32:57

  

This last one I thought was pretty interesting as I don't think I've thought about product development or design in direct terms of a company's brand (at least not with the terminology used in the video). Many of the things I think about are in terms of solving a user problem or improving a particular metric. I am quick to brush off things like "brand essence" or "core identity" as things that a marketing designer should be thinking about.

• Do you have any examples of product development or design decisions that have been made in direct response to improving a company's brand (aka in service of keeping the company "differentiated, relevant, and sustainable").
• How useful do you think this kind of thinking is for product designers?
• Are you actively thinking about brand development when designing a new feature?

[KevinGutowski]

Ah here's the edited version https://youtu.be/GpPQYBSJzZw