Nicolas Games has opened pre-orders for the upcoming release of Afterfall: Insanity on their website (www.afterfall-universe.com) with what could be considered the craziest, most ambitious (unrealistic? maybe) marketing campaign ever; Pre-Order Afterfall: Insanity for a dollar. That’s right! A dollar for the game, the original game soundtrack, and the warm fuzzy feeling you get when you donate to a good cause. If you’re like me, and you love survival horror games, you were probably all set to purchase this game on day one anyways. Nicolas Games has found a marketing strategy that is truly a win/win situation for both gamers and one of the biggest charities in the world.
They’re goal? 10 million pre-orders. If you pre-order Afterfall: Insanity for a dollar, and Nicolas Games reaches their goal of 10 million pre-orders, the game will be distributed to p2p networks, and you won’t have to pay another cent. Not only that, but 10 percent of the money raised by pre-orders will be donated to one of the largest charity organizations in the world. If Nicolas Games does not reach their goal of ten million pre-orders, the price of the game goes back to it’s normal amount minus the dollar you used to pre-order, and 100% of the money raised in pre-orders will be donated to charity.
Now is this goal pretty over-ambitious? Definitely, but it’s a great marketing campaign, and everyone still wins in the end. Even at full price, which is looking to be around the $35 mark, this game is looking well worth the money for all of us survival horror lovers. If Nicolas Games reaches 10 million pre-orders, that means $1 million will be donated to charity. Now let’s say they reach 4 million pre-orders. Since they didn’t reach their goal, all of the money brought in by pre-orders will be donated. That means $4 million dollars will be donated to charity, Nicolas Games still wins crazy in sales, and I still get the game I was already prepared to buy for half the price of a normal game these days. This kinda has me hoping they fall just short of ten million, because even if they fail to reach their lofty goal (which is extremely likely), everyone still wins in the end. I am really excited to watch this marketing campaign unfold, and see what effect an indie developer like Nicolas Games can have on the video game industry.
Afterfall: Insanity is scheduled to be released on November 25, 2011.
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