Gaming Audience and Identity

Motivation Model

Action- Scorpion/Tarantula attacks
Make friends/socialise - Animal crossing new horizon has an online mode and was released during covid
Challenge/strategy/mastery- Golden tools if your the best
Achievements - Catch all the fishes in animal crossing .
Escapism/Immersion- Creating your own world within the game with endless different designs, real time clock and covid release
Creativity/imagination - Build world/ houses especially in DLC happy home designer

Animal crossing has a universal audience

Age rating

one way to appeal to an audience is to keep your age rating low

Pegi.info ratings are:

In game purchases have to be legally declared

animal crossing is rated a 3 due to online but this is not good enough as you can get groomers who use facist flags

Types Of Players

animal crossing gamers could be all 3 of these types of players

Hearts of iron 4

Hardcore- extended play sessions

Mastery and strategy

Niche audience

Independent game so has a small budget

Fortnite

Universal audience

High budget

Appeals to all gamers

Audience and identity

maintaining audiences:

DLCs
Appealing to player motivation either mass audiences or niche
Different age ratings to target wider audiences
streamers to stream the game
Target different types of gamers, casual, core and hardcore
Exclusive games and quality- Nintendo seal of approval
Double release games- doom and animal crossing, creates competition and encourages players to try both
Franchise collaboration- Animal crossing monopoly, Fortnite and Lego
Memes
Merch
Esports
Free to play games- Fortnite
Good games

Marketing:

Animal crossing grandma

Viral content, audrey the grandma sent a free animal crossing new horizon switch, and after she passed they put her in the game through audie the fox

Ashton Williamson Media Blog