Report: GTA Online Has Generated Half a Billion Dollars

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Video game developer Rockstar Games is reportedly pulling in at least half a billion dollars in revenue with Grand Theft Auto Online , the multiplayer component of GTA 5 .

According to former Rockstar North president Leslie Benzies’ $150 million lawsuit against Rockstar Games and Take-Two Interactive, GTA 5 ‘s online multiplayer component known as Grand Theft Auto Online has generated “at least” $500 million in revenue from microtransactions. Of course, as many fans are probably aware,is completely free, but it offers incentives to players who wish to accelerate their progress with the use of in-game purchases, which has reportedly been a great benefit to Rockstar’s and Take-Two’s bottom lines.

Grand Theft Auto Online ‘s reported half a billion dollars is a ridiculously huge sum, but in order to provide some context for the figure, let’s look at the money garnered from Halo 5 ‘s multiplayer. While 343 Industries’ first-person shooter is certainly a close contender in terms of popularity when compared to GTA Online , its in-game purchases would barely even touch those from Rockstar’s title, as ‘s microtransactions have only generated $1.5 million in revenue.

Aside from development costs and fees scooped up by commissions from app-stores, as one of the lines from Benzies’ lawsuit explains, GTA Online ‘s microtransactions have a “nearly 100 percent profit margin.” Of course, if that’s the case, then the former Rockstar North president’s legal claim that “ GTA Online has the potential to achieve the greatest profit margin of any game created in the GTA franchise” would be precisely right.

Back in November 2015, Take-Two Interactive’s CEO Strauss Zelnick said that Grand Theft Auto Online had more than 8 million fans playing each week, and had called the mode “the gift that keeps on giving” when discussing the funds generated from microtransactions during April of last year. Not two months ago, in fact, Zelnick stated that players were still “highly engaged” with GTA Online , and went on to claim the mode’s revenue for 2016was still making bank.

On top of all the capital made from Grand Theft Auto Online , the title itself, GTA 5 , has shipped over 60 million copiesto date, which factors into Benzies’ lawsuit’s estimated revenue for the game as a whole being somewhere in the ballpark of a whopping $3 billion. With that kind of real world dough, fans would be able to buy veritable boatloads of GTA bucks.

Should all of this approximation on the income for Rockstar and Take-Two be accurate, it makes a lot of sense as to why developers haven’t exactly been prompt when it comes to releasing Grand Theft Auto 5 ‘s highly anticipated story DLC. Producing the materials would take manpower, which in turn would require the studios to remunerate creators for doing the work. So, if Rockstar and Take-Two can generate money hand over fist with fans paying for what’s essentially digital currency for in-game purchasing power, why would developers bother making paid content when it can rake in the moola with free content?

Grand Theft Auto Online can be played through Grand Theft Auto 5, which is out now and available for PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.

Source: Benzies v Rockstar — Scribd(via GameSpot)

Three More Backward Compatible Games for Xbox One

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Xbox Live’s Major Nelson announces that three more titles have been added to the Xbox Live Backward Compatibility list, and they’ll bring waves of nostalgia with them.

Xbox Live’s own Major Nelson has now announced the latest three titles to feature backward compatibilitywith the Xbox One, and we’re unofficially dubbing this week ‘the nostalgia update.’ The three new titles all originally came out between 1996 and 2002, and were all respectively ported to the Xbox Live Arcade platform sometime in the last 6 years. The latest backward compatible update brings in Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project , Garou: Mark of the Wolves , and Sonic The Fighters .

The previous update to the backward compatible library also introduced two fighting games into the fold(and one shortly before that), so it looks like Xbox One gamers who happen to be fighting fans are being quite spoiled of late. The library itself gets more complete every month, although some of the most in-demand titles – like Red Dead Redemption – are still delayed due to licensing difficulties.

Here’s Major Nelson’s announcement tweet of the update:

Garou MOTW, Sonic the Fighters & Duke Nukem MP are now available on Xbox One Back Compat https://t.co/qPMRNrLoTQ pic.twitter.com/bFSJ9Nrb0g

— Larry Hryb (@majornelson) April 12, 2016

Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project is an old arcade-style game, which several gamers might be inclined to say ended up being a better title than the long-awaited and ill-fated. The title originally released in 2002 (and was brought to the Xbox Live Arcade in 2010), and features masculine action hero Duke Nukem taking on a mad scientist hellbent on turning the creatures of Manhattan into deadly killers.

Garou is a port from the Neo Geo classic fighting game of the same name from the year 2000 (ported to Xbox Live in 2009), and Sonic The Fighters rings in as the oldest title between all three games, originally having been released for arcade systems in 1996 and later ported to the Xbox Live Arcade in 2012. It’s also a fighting game, and is a great choice for gamers looking to spend a few bucks and bring in a nostalgic Sega vibe.

Any gamers who have previously purchased these titles on the Xbox 360 should see them automatically appear in their Xbox One library. Gamers who didn’t previously own the titles, but are interested in purchasing a digital copy, can do so on the Xbox website here. Alternatively, gamers already on the Xbox One can take a gander through the new backward compatibility store.

Gamers who still don’t have an Xbox One may be swayed by the growing library of titles, but they’ll only have until the end of the month to enjoy the console being $300.

Those interested in keeping an eye on future backward compatible releases should watch Major Nelson’s Twitter account, where the Xbox veteran frequently posts updates regarding the service.

Source: Major Nelson

Rumor: FCC Filings Indicate E3 Xbox One Revision Reveal

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An FCC filing indicates that Microsoft may be planning on revealing an updated revision of the Xbox One at E3, though what sort of revision is unclear.

Never underestimate the capabilities of internet detectives, because they will find secrets and lay them bare to the world. Such is the case again today, with NeoGAF user ekimconnecting the dots between FCC filings and discovering a potential Xbox One-related E3 announcement. Ekim’s research indicates that Microsoft may be revealing the next iteration of their popular gaming console at the convention, though what form this Xbox One revision might take is yet a mystery.

To summarize ekim’s findings, the FCC regulates any device that includes data transmission — including consoles that feature internet connectivity. The FCC currently has a filing specifically for the Xbox One’s wireless chip, which Xbox Oneowners can verify by seeing the number #1525 written on the bottom of their consoles. Two new FCC filings were recently submitted. Normally all details regarding submissions are under strict NDA, however certain things slip by. Both listings reference including technology from the #1525 filing. That is to say that these two FCC filings are likely for new Xbox One hardware.

The second part of the rumor, that Microsoft will be revealing this hardware at E3, is due to the date when the NDA’s will be expiring for the two listings. The first will expire June 25, not too long after E3 ends, and the other will end July 29. These dates heavily indicate that the products for these filings will be fully unveiled much earlier than their FCC NDA’s expire. These dates are set in stone, which implies Microsoft already has their reveals scheduled and planned.

It’s possible that Microsoft is developing an Xbox One Slim console, an iterative take on their hardware that slims the beast down to a more attractive product. The simplest theory is often the most likely, and considering that previous console generations have often provided their own slimtakes on each console, this bet is the safe one.

Yet this generation isn’t like others, is it? Sony is shaking up the scene with the release of their virtual reality headset later this year for one, and two, reliably sourced rumors are swirling regarding the looming announcement of a “PlayStation 4K” hardware upgradeat E3. Sony’s potentially going to release the “New 3DS” of consoles. There’s now a not unlikely chance that Microsoft is also going to announce an updated Xbox One with higher performance hardware.

The third choice is, of course, why not both? Two different consoles are potentially being worked on, according to the FCC filings. Perhaps an Xbox One Slim is planned for the late-June NDA drop, meaning it could be released reasonably close to E3. Perhaps the second filing is for the Xbox One Plus, with a later NDA drop meaning it’s planned for release later this year. A fourth choice is of course neither console being a reality, which would suck as much for Microsoft with the daunting holiday season in 2016as it would for consumers.

As ever, expect more information regarding Microsoft’s plans for the Xbox One at E3 in June. Though there’s always the chance of more information leaking in the next two months. For now, please consider the information speculated upon in this article as rumor. It’s only official when Microsoft makes it official.

Source: NeoGAF

These 12 startups go for gold next month in Silicon Valley

This sponsored post is produced in association with Nvidia.

Image Credit: BriSky

With the number of tech startups growing each year, and increasing competition from around the world, startups are finding it increasingly tough to break out from the noise.

It’s hard for them to get in front of potential investors, execs, customers and the media, as they struggle to find a foothold in the market.

One of the best breakout opportunities is coming up next month in San Jose, when 12 startups will take the stage in front of an audience of technology executives to compete for $100,000 and the exposure that comes with winning Nvidia’s Early Stage Challenge.

The Early Stage Challenge, an event at the Emerging Companies Summit (ECS), is designed for start-ups in the GPU ecosystem that are ready to expand their visibility and demonstrate their potential to investors.

“We’ve been working with startups for many years,” says Jeff Herbst, VP of business development at Nvidia.

“What’s become clear is that a few people in a small company, with a few GPUs, can do amazing things.”

No question, Herbst is passionate about the opportunities that ECS provides to GPU startups. “We’ve had hundreds of companies at different stages of development come to ECS over the years,” he says. “They get a big boost in exposure, they get valuable feedback and insights, and many have become incredibly successful, like Oculus Rift and Natural Motion.”

Companies that apply to compete in the Early Stage Challengemust not have raised more than $1 million in seed funding. A four-person committee from Nvida, which puts on the event, sifts through more than 100 applications that come in from all over the globe.

Only 15 to 20 companies make the final cut, which then get pared down to a dozen finalists who present at the conference. “Getting from 20 to 12 is the hardest part,” Herbst says.

The make-or-break criteria

The overriding criteria comes down to two main fundamentals: Is there a big market to support this idea? And are they trying to solve an important problem within that market?

“We’re looking for the company that has the best prospects for commercial success,” Herbst says. “We’re looking for innovation that can be commercialized in a meaningful and profitable way. Even though we might see a great technology, if it doesn’t have a big market opportunity, or a good business plan, or good people behind it, we wouldn’t select them.”

The challenge, he says, is that at this stage, these companies often still struggle with marketing.

“Some companies present better than others, but that doesn’t mean that their business plan is better,” says Herbst. “We’ve had instances where the loudest guy in the room might be the weakest guy in the room. Just because the guy speaks the loudest doesn’t mean he’s the smartest or the strongest.”

“We’re willing, in this selection process, to look for the diamonds in the rough,” he continues. But it all comes back to the company with the best economic prospects.

$100,000: only one reward

For the Early Stage Challenge, each CEO will have four minutes to present their tech and business plan live onstage, and then face four minutes of questions from an expert panel, which includes tech pundit Rob Enderle; Brandon Farwell, partner at Rothenberg Ventures; George Hoyem, partner at In-Q-Tel; and Herbst.

Once the last competitor has finished, the panel and audience votes, and the winner gets $100,000 on the spot.

The cash is clearly a great perk. But the real reward is the visibility each startup gains — not just in front of a live audience of investors, developers and tech writers, but also the opportunity to meet, share and educate, bathe in the buzz, and gain insight into the tech and investor ecosystem they’re diving into.

The global factor

This year’s competitors — from across North America, Europe, India, and Asia — are the most diverse Herbst has seen. It’s a clear sign that entrepreneurship and innovation is becoming more global in nature.

It also indicates that the GPU ecosystem is broadening, increasing opportunities for investors and entrepreneurs.

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The third annual Early Stage Challenge will take place from 2-5 pm on April 6 at the San Jose Convention Center. Overall 95 startups will participate in the Emerging Companies Summit, which takes place during the GPU Technology Conference.

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The companies competing in this year’s Early Stage Challenge are (in order of appearance):

Aerialguard (Israel) — Provides autonomous situational awareness for drones and UAVs, dramatically increasing safety, survivability, and mission capabilities.

CogniCor (Spain) — Uses AI and natural language processing for handling product queries, claims, and other customer support issues.

Lucid VR (U.S.) — Develops LucidCam, a stereoscopic 3D camera for consumers with 180-degree wide-angle lenses and spatial audio.

Linkface (China) — Offers facial-recognition technology powered by deep learning. Its cloud platform provides free services for non-commercial use and high-concurrency services for business use.

Intelligent Voice (U.K.) — Offers speech-to-text technology and analysis of unstructured communications for compliance purposes, including the collection, processing, and analysis of audio and other data types.

Horus Technology (Italy) — Develops a wearable device that uses computer vision and machine learning to aid visually impaired people, describing the environment through bone conduction.

Hypercubes (U.S.) — Develops satellites that reveal unprecedented details of Earth, with the ability to remotely classify chemical compositions for applications such as precision farming, mining, and oil and gas operations.

BriSky Technology (China) — Develops all-weather industrial drones that use computer vision and deep learning to conduct tasks such as autonomous inspections of power lines, wind turbines, traffic monitoring, surveillance, and public security.

TempoQuest (U.S.) — Develops software as a service to meet the need for faster, more accurate weather forecasts for commercial users and government agencies.

Sadako (Spain) — Develops a robot that uses computer vision, deep learning, and careful manipulation to sort household waste, enabling the recovery of materials such as PET and HDPE plastic at lower costs than alternatives.

Entropix (U.S.) — Enables inexpensive cameras like those in smartphones and drones to capture extremely high-resolution images at up to 8K.

Analytical Flavor Systems (U.S.) — Uses machine learning and AI to identify and predict real-time flaws, contaminations and batch-to-batch deviations for food and beverage producers.

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Microsoft Details Blockbuster Press Conference for E3 2016

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E3 is just two months away, and now Microsoft has detailed its press conference plans, which will once again precede addresses from competitors Sony and Nintendo.

As June draws nearer, the video game industry is beginning to set its sights on E3 2016. The biggest week in interactive entertainment will occupy the Los Angeles Convention Center from June 14 to 16, and now Microsoft has officially detailed its press conference scheduled for earlier in the week.

Microsoft will take to the stage at 9.30 PT on Monday, June 13 — which suggests that the company will lay down the gauntlet, leaving its competitors to respond. While E3 is always a big deal, the 2016 iteration of the expo looks poised to be one of the biggest and most surprising in recent years.

Xbox fans have plenty to look forward to, as Microsoft is prepping instalments in two of its biggest franchises to launch later this year. Given that neither have been showcased at great length as of yet, it seems certain that they’ll be given a major spotlight during the company’s conference.

Gears of War 4 looks set to be the biggest Xbox-exclusive release of the year. It’s been five years since the last mainline entry in the series, and a compelling showing at E3 2015gave fans plenty of reason to be excited for the first original title developed by The Coalition.

Meanwhile, one of the biggest surprises from last year’s show was the reveal that underappreciated console RTS Halo Wars would receive a follow-up. The game is still scheduled to release across Xbox One and Windows 10 this fall, so it’s sure to be featured prominently at the show.

Of course, all this talk of software leaves out the biggest question mark lingering over E3 2016 — the possibility of new hardware. We know that Sony is working on an update to the PlayStation 4that supports 4K resolutions, but it remains to be seen whether Microsoft has similar plans, and if they’re advanced enough to share with the public.

This is to say nothing of the bounty of other titles that might pop up; indie darling Cuphead , Rare’s pirate simulator Sea of Thieves , and Keiji Inafune’s intriguing ReCore all being top contenders. Plus, there’s bound to be some new announcements that come out of nowhere.

The hype train to E3 2016 is leaving the station, and there’s every reason to believe that anticipation for this year’s show is warranted. For all the biggest stories as they break, stick with Game Rant for complete coverage of Microsoft’s conference on June 13, and the rest of the news to come out of E3 week.

Source: Gamespot

Leslie Benzies Sues Rockstar Games for $150 Million

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Former Rockstar North president Leslie Benzies sues for $150 million, claiming Rockstar Games owes him royalty payments for his work on the Grand Theft Auto series.

Earlier this year it was announced that Leslie Benzies would be leaving Rockstar Northafter almost two decades at the developer. Rockstar Games explained that Benzies, who was a key developer in the Grand Theft Auto series and also worked as a producer on games such as Red Dead Redemption and L.A. Noire , had chosen not to return to his position as president of Rockstar North following a sabbatical that began in September 2014. At the time, Rockstar Games also said that Benzies would “always be a friend” to the company, that they would miss him and they also wished the developer “the absolute best” for the future.

However, it now seems that Benzies’ departure was less than amicable as he has now filed a lawsuit against Rockstar. The lawsuit details “numerous deceptions” from Rockstar Games, Take-Two Interactive (Rockstar parent company) and Sam and Dan Houser (Rockstar co-founders), and it also accuses the Houser brothers of trying to force Benzies from the company, as well as denying him $150 million in royalty payments “based upon arbitrary actions by the company’s royalty Allocation Committee, a committee that may or may not have actually ever met.” The lawsuit also accuses Sam Houser of having “mounting resentment” against Benzies as a result of Benzies receiving the same amount of compensation from Take-Two as the Houser brothers.

Another claim, detailed in a statement from Christopher Bakes (a partner with Locke Lord LLP, the firm representing Benzies), is that “when attempting to resume his duties upon conclusion of his sabbatical on April 1, 2015, Mr. Benzies found himself unable to enter the Rockstar North office because his facilities access device had been deactivated.” It also explains that “after being let inside by building security, Mr. Benzies was then ordered to leave by the Rockstar North office manager without reason.”

The lawsuit also alleges that the sabbatical wasn’t Benzies’ idea and that “the Defendants flew Mr. Benzies to New York and encouraged him to take a six-month sabbatical to recharge his batteries.” During this time the Housers allocated $93 million in profit-sharing payments to themselves, while “Mr. Benzies did not receive a single dollar in profit-sharing payments,” says the lawsuit.

Take-Two and Rockstar have also counter-sued Benzies, saying that between April 2015 and January 2016 the parties had been trying to settle the dispute and that by disputing the the royalty compensation committee, Benzies’ lawsuit is a breach of contract. According to Game Informer , this is an effort to make the courts settle the matter.

While it’s currently unclear just how long it will take for Rockstar and Benzies to agree, with or without the courts’ help, this spells out another sticky legal battle for the Grand Theft Auto developer. In addition to this royalties lawsuit, the company is also facing claims from Lindsay Lohan that it used her likeness in Grand Theft Auto 5 and it is also suing the BBC over its Grand Theft Auto drama(though it’s unclear where that lawsuit stands). There’s a lot of work for Rockstar’s lawyers there, but Game Rant will update with any future developments.

Source: GamesIndustry.biz, Game Informer

How RetailMeNot and Hotel Tonight create massive user loyalty (webinar)

Missed it?

Image Credit: Shutterstock

Missed it? You can still hear our power panel of mobile marketers share secrets from the front-lines about turning casual users into die-hard customers who stay engaged and purchase again and again.

Driving user engagement and loyalty is key to the success of RetailMeNot, the savings destination giant, and Hotel Tonight, the rapidly growing mobile-first Expedia and Travelocity challenger.

“I hear a lot of marketers talk about acquisition in the mobile space,” says Marissa Tarelton, CMO of RetailMeNot, “and not enough talking about how they actually keep the valuable customers they’ve paid so much to acquire.”

Tarleton and Amanda Richardson, VP of Product at HotelTonight, joined VentureBeat analyst Wendy Schuchart for our recent free webinar, “Killer mobile app user loyalty,” to discuss how their user-first strategy boosts engagement by up to 10x and propels their bottom line.

The tools you need

“Marketing automation tools are a big part of what we try to do,” Tarleton says. A tool should be customer-oriented, agnostic of device, and allow you to be truly relevant, Tarleton continues. It should also be integrated across mobile, and have strong location-based technology to ensure that you’re relevant and timely.

Richardson adds that near-real-time data is essential, as well as the ability to export into a data warehouse. “The ability to make sure that we can actually retain and own the data long-term, and slice and dice across the different tools through our data warehouse, is pretty essential to our success,” she says.

But most importantly, she adds, a tool should allow you to see a whole picture of the user’s experience, rather that isolate channels.

Giving to get

“One of the opportunities in marketing is to use the onboarding process to give customers a reason to identify themselves,” Tarleton says. “You can deepen the relevance and the timeliness of the relationship by them identifying.”

Richardson emphasizes the give-to-get expectation. Be thoughtful about what kind of content, what kind of change in experience, what kind of additional features the user can obtain by exchanging a little bit of personal information to gain user trust.

“There’s so much clutter in the app environment in particular,” Tarleton adds, “that I think consumers will give you a chance and provide information up front, but very quickly uninstall if the relevance factor is not there.”

Making loyalty happen

“It starts with watching the signals our users are experiencing,” Tarleton says. “We can determine if a customer is having a positive experience, or if they’ve shared our app or a savings opportunity. And at that point we offer up ways for them to share and engage with us.”

It’s really important that you capture a win, she adds, based on the signals that you have on the consumer, and then deepen the relationship as soon as you can — as quickly as possible.

“Make sure you don’t abuse that relationship,” Richardson adds. “Make sure you’re thoughtful about what you’re saying and when. It’s like dating. Don’t appear too desperate.” If you over-email, over-push, inundate a consumer with content that is not relevant, you’ll quickly drive them away.

Keeping them loyal

“The best way to make a loyal user isn’t to have great tools,” says Richardson. “It’s to actually fulfill your brand promise.”

No amount of creative and no amount of communication tactics are going to make up for a really bad experience, she says. Invest your time and energy in your user experience and your full brand experience, rather than trying to find a tool to layer on top of something that’s not really meeting the expectation of your users.

Personalization, Tarleton says, performs significantly better in response rate and engagement rate with the consumer. “In email in particular, you can see up to 10x improvement in interaction with a consumer if it’s relevant to them,” she continues. But it needs to be done right, and it needs to be integrated through all communication channels.

Preventing churn

“It’s about knowing what’s going to get someone back into the app experience or the product experience to prevent the churn,” Richardson says.

RetailMeNot uses a variety of different tactics to re-engage a customer at the point of potential churn. “One might be education about a new type of product or offer,” Tarleton says. “Another might be that we have an app, so that they know we can help them save while they’re shopping in a mobile environment in store.” In some cases, she adds, they turn to lapse prevention offers, and actually pay money to prevent the customer from lapsing.

Most importantly, says Richardson, is to have a target. “You can’t get everybody to be loyal,” she says. “Rather than trying to shift all your different tools and all your different channels to satisfy an infinite number of users and requests, think about who you want to be loyal, and focus on getting those users. Because you’ll never satisfy everybody.”

To gain more insight about the tools to use, an in-depth look at personalization, and more, check out our free webinar, “Killer mobile app user loyalty,” now.

Don’t miss out!

In this webinar, you’ll learn: What combinations of push, in-app messages and email messaging convert casual users into fans How to leverage personalization to add user value How behavioral triggers should drive app messaging
Speakers: Marissa Tarelton , CMO, RetailMeNot Amanda Richardson , VP Product, Hotel Tonight Ehren Maedge , VP, MoEngage
Moderator: Wendy Schuchart , Analyst, VentureBeat

This webinar is sponsored by MoEngage.

How Smule’s social community has spurred 70% increase in growth (webinar)

It’s a tidal wave: Every day over 2.5 million Facebook posts, 277,000 Tweets and 216,000 Instagram photos are shared.

Image Credit: Smule

It’s a tidal wave: Every day over 2.5 million Facebook posts, 277,000 Tweets and 216,000 Instagram photos are shared. If your social media strategy isn’t on point, your content is getting lost at sea. Find out how to surf the wave.

Smule’sastonishing growth is a testimony for the power of social media. A global leader in social music, Smule boasts a vibrant community of over 35 million monthly active users, and sales are up 70 percent year over year.

Smule users are the engine driving this growth. The platform allows users to create, share, and discover music, as well as connect and collaborate with other users. Smule users tend to stick around, and regularly recruit new and loyal users from across the globe.

It’s no question that the company has what seems like a golden ticket when it comes to shareable content, say Jeffrey Smith, co-founder and CEO of social music giant. Those 35 million active music creators and curators have become 35 million promotional channels for the service. But the same principle applies to any company — find a way to build community and turn your users and followers into your brand ambassadors.

“Social media only works if the content is expressive,” Smith explains. “Rule number one, when you’re trying to drive content growth and community growth, expressive content works, and content that isn’t expressive doesn’t.”

What the the company needed to focus on was making it easier and more fun to create that expressive content. Perhaps even more importantly, they turned their attention to developing a collaborative community in which users feel uninhibited and creative, and collaboration and sharing is encouraged.

“We’ve spent seven or eight years trying to crack the code of trying to figure out how to get users to do that, how to build that engine, how to get people motivated to do that,” Smith says.

“We’ve tinkered with building incentive systems to motivate people to share more content,” he continues. But as Smith explains, that tactic totally backfired. To be sure, uploads doubled, but click-throughs dropped by half.

“What that told us what that when we were incentivizing the behavior, we weren’t getting good content,” Smith says. “We weren’t getting content that other people were really interested in and sharing across the network.”

It all comes back to authenticity, Smith says. Users want content that comes from a real person, and seems agenda-free. They see through the veneer of traditional marketing, but they rally around realness.

This is essential even for B2B companies. “This authenticity is becoming critical for anybody who’s trying to build more awareness for their brand or even generate more leadflow, if people are going to discover their brand through social media,” Smith says. “That’s kind of the world we live in right now.”

Smith joins VB analyst Stewart Rogers who will spill research insights from VentureBeat’s latest report, “Social Media Management: Tools, tactics — and how to win.” The report surveyed over 1,000 social media managers, scored and ranked 28 social media management tools, and dove into 10 tactics for success. Join the webinar, and you’ll hear the most important takeaways — and hear from Smith with deep insights into the social media ecosphere.

Don’t miss out!

After the webinar, you will: Understand how social media management can help your brand Know the best social media management vendors to investigate for your business Recognize the tactics, metrics, and techniques you need to promote your content via social media
Speakers: Jeffrey Smith , CEO, Smule Stewart Rogers , Director of Marketing Technology, VentureBeat
Moderator: Wendy Schuchart, Analyst, VentureBeat

Email marketing: How to stay out of the spam folder and increase open rates by 500% (webinar)

Consumers are more protective of their inboxes than ever, which goes hand in hand with the glut of email now.

Image Credit: Shutterstock

Consumers are more protective of their inboxes than ever, which goes hand in hand with the glut of email now. J oin VB analyst Jon Cifuentes and guest panelist Realtor.com CMO Nate Johnson as they share how to how to break through instead of getting banished to email purgatory .

With 43 percent year-over-year growth and up to 50 million unique visitors a month, Realtor.com is the fastest growing online real estate company in the category. For Nate Johnson, CMO of Realtor.com, email marketing is central to their user engagement strategy.

“Every web property, every mobile app, wants people to come to their site multiple times a day,” Johnson says. “But the reality is, there are a lot of other places out there for people to visit.”

Email actually allows you to reach out to users and re-enage those that might not necessarily be coming back naturally. “We don’t really think of it as marketing emails,” says Johnson. “We actually think of our email as an extension of our product experience into a user’s inbox.”

Every email needs to have the same attributes and characteristics that their product does, Johnson says: It needs to be helpful, useful, relevant, timely. And when that content shows up in a user’s inbox, it should really feel like a very seamless experience between that email and actually visiting the site or opening the app.

It takes great content that’s highly relevant to address the delivery challenge and break through the cluttered inbox, says Johnson. Realtor.com boasts a long-standing relationship with the National Association of Realtors as well as the realtor community at large, which allows them to offer a ton of expertise to users, including news and advice content.

Personalization and testing are also key. They found that Realtor.com users were 3x more likely to open up an email with a city-specific subject line, says Johnson.

And at LinkedIn, where Johnson spent three years as Head of Consumer Marketing, extensive multivariate testing revealed that the right opening hook in an email made users seven times more likely to take action on the LinkedIn website.

Even the time of delivery is an essential part of the puzzle. What day of the week and what time are users most likely to be thinking about your product and willing to engage? With Realtor.com, their sweet spot is towards the end of the week as home-buyers start to stake out open houses. Other businesses need to determine their customers’ habits specific to their industry.

“The motto is ‘Always Be Testing,’” Johnson says. “There are always new challenges, and this is why I think it’s such a fascinating medium in general.”

One of the other critical challenges email marketers face is mastering mobile. “We need to understand what our emails look like when they’re displayed on mobile screens,” says Johnson, “making sure they’re responsive and delivering a clear user experience.”

As important, is knowing what happens once a client clicks within an email. Deep-linking into apps is critical to create a seamless experience for Johnson, and if a user doesn’t have the app downloaded, or open, and clicks through to the mobile web from an email, Realtor.com will prompt the user to download or open the app for a better user experience.  It’s connecting all these dots that makes Johnson see email as part of a much bigger picture in the total product experience.

Join this packed webinar for as Johnson will share more insights and best practices on leveraging the power of email marketing — and VB analyst will divulge the most helpful email solutions based on VB’s cutting-edge research.

Don’t miss out!

In this webinar, you’ll learn how to: Boost sales and cement customer relationships Address implementation challenges Discover best practices for high tier email marketing Choose the right, highly-rated email marketing solution for your business.
Panelists: Jon Cifuentes, VentureBeat Research Analyst Nate Johnson, CMO, Move Inc. (Realtor.com)
Moderator: Wendy Schuchart, Analyst, VentureBeat

This webinar is sponsored by Sendgrid. All research is conducted entirely independently.

Want a content strategy that gets results? Focus on ‘inspiraction’ (webinar)

Content isn’t just about filling funnel — effective content should push your audience to action that shows concrete results.

Image Credit: Shutterstock

Content isn’t just about filling funnel — effective content should push your audience to action that shows concrete results. Join VB’s free webinar and panel of content pros to unlock the secret of creating content that inspires customers to action.

WeddingWire, a leading global marketplace that provides wedding-minded consumers with a host of planning tools and connects them to event professionals, was built on context-based content, says Sonny Ganguly, co-founder and CMO of WeddingWire.

It began as a content hub with user-generated reviews and conversation about wedding planning — and their marketing strategy evolved from there. Highly-targeted content is the main driving force for connecting with and engaging users on both the consumer and business sides.

“It’s about content with context,”Ganguly says. “It’s not just about creating a ton of great content, putting it out there and getting traffic. It’s also making it clear why that content is valuable to your business, which is sometimes a little bit more of a challenge.”

Too often content is created without a strategy for action behind it. It’s seen primarily as a way to bring in traffic and garner top-of funnel metrics. WeddingWire’s strategy,Ganguly says, is to create “inspiraction.”

“I use this word quite a bit,”Ganguly says, “and I think my team makes fun of me from time to time.” But relevance, he says, is power. Content that inspires a consumer to contact a vendor, content that has a business signing up for an account, is what moves users through the funnel.

“Ultimately,”Ganguly notes, “that content is there to do something.” Content needs to act as a catalyst. Every piece of content that is created by WeddingWire’s editorial team, the thought leaders they tap, or their user base, is integrated into the experience.”

On the consumer side, a planning checklist triggers a throughline of relevant articles, advice, and vendor interviews that ushers a couple through the planning process. On the vendor side, once a wedding planner jumps into a whitepaper, a webinar, or a case study written by subject matter experts, they’re guided through the next steps in growing their business, whether it’s marketing or finance, HR, legal, or sales.

To do this, a company has to know their users, understand what they want, and know how to give it to them. “It’s not just about creating great content on a cohort basis,”Ganguly says. “It’s really personalizing content based on each individual user.”

It starts simply at the top of the funnel, with a sign-up for an email newsletter, and then WeddingWire tracks metrics obsessively  to build a picture of each of their users at every step of their journey, from engagement to wedding and from business launch to business success — with increasingly relevant content guiding them every step of the way.

To learn more about why content marketing is so essential, and how to create the content that keeps them clicking, sign up for our free webinar, “webinar title.”

Don’t miss out!

In this webinar, you’ll learn: Design a content marketing program that complements your marketing initiatives Find your voice – and how to adhere to it across media and platforms Learn which internal professionals to target for particular platforms (and how to get them to agree to do it) Uncover the benefits of content marketing, such as lead generation, expanded social presence, cementing brand recognition, and building individual executives’ brands Determine the ROI of content marketing, plus the tools and metrics to use
Speakers: Stewart Rogers, Director of Marketing Technology, VentureBeat Ada Pia d’Errico, CMO, Patch of Land Sonny Ganguly, CMO, Wedding Wire
Moderator:

Wendy Schuchart, analyst, VentureBeat

Report: Nintendo NX Launch Games May Include Console Ports

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Nintendo blogger and leaker of secret information, Emily Rogers, reveals that there are multiple Wii U games being ported to the upcoming Nintendo NX console.

Another day, another rumor about the Nintendo NX. Like the Zelda having gender options rumorthat made waves on the Internet a few days ago, this latest rumor comes from Nintendo blogger Emily Rogers, who is now claiming that there are four Wii U games being ported to the NX to serve as launch titles for Nintendo’s new console.

Rogers made this claim on Twitter, though her tweets have since been removed. She didn’t specify which games exactly would be coming to the NX, but one has to imagine that the Wii U’s more popular titles, such as Super Smash Bros. , Super Mario Maker , and Splatoon , are all distinct possibilities.

It’s been previously suggested, by Rogers and other sources, that The Legend of Zelda for Wii U is being ported to NX, making that game an obvious choice for an NX port. The new Zelda is rumored to be releasing this fall, so the timing is right for it to launch as both a Wii U game and a Nintendo NX launch title.

Besides the four Wii U games supposedly coming to the NX as ports at launch, Rogers said that other Wii U titles were also being ported to the system, for release later on. Again, she stopped short of being specific about which Wii U games are in the pipeline, but considering its rather small library, one can make a few educated guesses.

With the Wii U passing 12 million units sold worldwidejust recently, the console has a significantly smaller install base than the PS4, and to a lesser extent, the Xbox One. If these rumors turn out to be accurate, then it seems as though Nintendo’s strategy is to try to win over those that never purchased the Wii U by padding the launch lineup of the NX with Wii U ports. While Wii U owners may not feel especially excited about this, there’s not a whole lot of Wii U owners to begin with. To that end, most Wii U owners are probably Nintendo faithful, and the Big N likely already has their business.

Now, the question is, can these rumors be trusted? Like with any rumors, take the information with a grain of salt, but be aware that Emily Rogers does have more credibility than others that leak information online, since claims she’s made in the past have actually turned out to be true. For example, Rogers revealed that a Paper Mario game was coming to the Wii Umonths before Nintendo made the official announcement.

If these rumors are true, Nintendo’s strategy to pad the NX launch lineup with Wii U ports could help convince those that never purchased a Wii U to take the plunge. However, Nintendo will also need to make sure that the NX has high quality releases of its own, otherwise the company risks losing the dollars of dedicated Nintendo fans that already own a Wii U. With E3 2016 just a couple of months away, we likely won’t have to wait too much longer to learn a lot more about the Nintendo NXand its launch lineup of games.

Which Wii U games would you like to see on the Nintendo NX? Leave your thoughts on the matter in the comments below.

Source: Segment Next

Pep Boys shows how their marketing cloud scored triple-digit ROI (webinar)

Imagine every piece of data about a customer, or a potential customer, at your fingertips.

Image Credit: Shutterstock

Imagine every piece of data about a customer, or a potential customer, at your fingertips. Find out why top marketers say that investing in a marketing cloud solution can help you unlock the full promise of data-driven marketing.

Rachel Silva, AVP of marketing at the multi-billion dollar auto parts and service chain PepBoys, has been implementing marketing cloud solutions for her company since the day she walked in the door.

And the foundation of any marketing cloud strategy, she says, is finding the right vendor. Even if you think you’ve found your match, “Be open to other solutions out there,” she says. “Because at the end of the day, while our relationships are really important to us, we want to make sure we’re using the best solution — and prove out the great solutions we have in place as well.”

No question, they’re doing something right.

“We saw our [marketing] costs decrease and our returns increase,” Silva says. According to Silva, Pep Boys’ cloud-driven prospecting models had a 52 percent lower CPA, and an extraordinary 365 percent increase in ROAS over a two-year period.

Yet, she warns on becoming too comfortable. “We’ve always seen positive results,” she says, “and we continue to see an improvement in results year after year.” But, she quickly adds, “I’m always testing. You need to constantly test, optimize, and then expand.”

Cloud marketing has become the backbone of Pep Boys’ retargeting and prospecting strategies, helping the  marketing team maximize their spend. Cookie pools are huge, she notes, but you can’t remarket to everybody. How do you best leverage your dollar?

“Retailers don’t have CPT budgets,” she adds, “so we need to be as cost-effective as possible and we also need to drive sales.” She believes marketing clouds are the solution for businesses without the budgets required to carry out large-scale awareness campaigns. It completely replaces that traditional, more scattershot marketing approach with something far more targeted because of the tremendous amount of data available.

To attract new customers and increase online sales, Silva leverages pooled real-time transactional and browsing data to build a picture not only of the existing PepBoy audience, but their potential customers. Lookalike modeling based on cloud data efficiently and cost-effectively targets new prospects.

“With the expansion of cloud marketing, there’s a lot more data that can be looked at,” she says. “Layer in data whenever and wherever you can, because it’s just going to make results better.”

But how do you determine the best way to get that data? While Silva and Yeoman Technologies CEO Michael Healey will be sharing insights from the front lines, VB Director of Marketing Technology Stewart Rogers will be sharing essential take-aways from our recent report: “Marketing Clouds: How the best companies are winning via marketing technology.”Rogers will share how many of the top vendors scored on a number of features and who’s really killing it today.

After this webinar, you’ll know: What makes up a marketing cloud and why it may be right for your organization The five different types of marketing cloud VentureBeat’s best marketing cloud software bets for SMBs, enterprises, and startups The ROI marketers can expect from their implementation How to encourage and improve user adoption
Speakers: Stewart Rogers , VentureBeat Michael Healey , CEO, Yeoman Technologies Rachel Silva , Assistant VP, Marketing, Pep Boys
Moderator: Wendy Schuchart, Analyst, VentureBeat

This webinar is sponsored by IBM Marketing Cloud.

Yext’s CMO joins peers to talk about allocating resources across the customer journey (webinar)

How do leading CMOs really drive customer loyalty and boost revenue?

Image Credit: Shutterstock

How do leading CMOs really drive customer loyalty and boost revenue? Join top marketing minds in the C-suite as they discuss the right KPIs, budget allocation across the customer journey, structuring teams for success, and more.

Increasingly CMOs are expected to be technology authorities, with in-depth knowledge of martech second only to the CIO’s. In the midst of wrangling the overwhelming flood of increasingly sophisticated technology, CMOs can lose sight of the most important piece of the marketing puzzle: the customer relationship.

“It’s not just logos and colors and messages,” says Jeffrey Rohrs, chief marketing officer at Yext. “It’s experiences. One of the biggest mistakes CMOs make is not investing in the types of face-to-face contact that, over the long haul, build that community around your brand.”

And that’s because studies show that, even in the B2B space, these purchases can be a deeply emotional choice. Not only is it investing in an extended relationship, but that person’s job is, in a very real way, on the line in terms of the success of the technology partner they choose.

In fact, says Rohrs, “Do it wrong and everyone’s job is on the line. Some of these purchases, you’re talking about are six-, seven- figure purchases, and if they don’t produce results…..” Well, you know.

So your customer is focused intently on making sure they’re not only spending wisely on a partner that’s got their back in terms of delivering desired functionality and results, but also innovation.

“It’s not about being stagnant,” Rohrs continues. “It’s about continuing to push and evolve. And they want you not just for your technology — they want you for their expertise.” A strong relationship with powerful rapport develops that kind of trust in your ability to help them grow.

“There are a lot of different ways to measure success,” Rohrs says. “But KPIs don’t measure interpersonal success. They don’t measure that trust. They don’t measure the value of experimentation.” Those qualities are built through face-to-face contact, through empathy, and through a real appreciation for what that person is feeling and the stresses that are driving them.

It ultimately comes down to communication. “I think CMOs largely get this,” Rohrs says. “I definitely know that a lot of the folks that report to us don’t.”

Generationally, Rohrs notes, too often marketers haven’t had an understanding of how to develop great face-to-face rapport, how to navigate difficult, contentious conversations, or recognizing when reliance on technology is coming back to bite them.

“If you are a junior marketer or somebody who’s looking to grow in your career,” Rohrs says, “understanding when you need to escalate out of email or out of instant messaging or whatever channel that you’re in and get face-to-face time, or pick up a phone is essential. You have to use all of the tools at your disposal to communicate.”

To learn more about building powerful customer relationships, increase loyalty, and think like a CMO, join our panel of great minds our free webinar roundtable.

Don’t miss out!

In this webinar, you’ll learn: CMO perspectives on KPIs, team structure, and resource allocation How CMOs are measuring marketing results Tips and advice on setting your organization up for success
Speakers: Jeffrey Rohrs, Chief Marketing Officer, Yext Chip House, Chief Marketing Officer, Four51 Ramon Chen, Chief Marketing Officer, Marketing & Product Management, Reltio
Moderator: Kevin Bobowski, Chief Marketing Officer, Act-On Software

This webinar is sponsored by Act-On Software.

Star Fox Zero Has A Touching Tribute To Satoru Iwata

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Upcoming Wii U space shooter Star Fox Zero features an emotional send off message for fallen Nintendo CEO and beloved gaming personality Satoru Iwata.

While many gaming CEO’s come and go, gamers agree that there was one CEO that stood out among the rest: Nintendo’s Satoru Iwata. Despite heading one of the biggest game companies in the world, Iwata seemed to be a personable and entertaining man of the people – who was as comfortable lending his voice to a puppet as he was shepherding billion dollar franchises like Pokemon . Thus, when Iwata passed away, the gaming community mourned the loss of a beloved public figure. While Nintendo has marched on – appointing long-time Nintendo financial executive Tatsumi Kimishima as new CEO– the company has not forgotten the selfless work put in by the affable Iwata. With the release of Star Fox Zero , Nintendo has even opted to pay homage to the fallen programmer and president with a touching send-off message.

Iwata, a perennial company man who cut his teeth at HAL Laboratorybefore making the transition to Nintendo, dubbed himself a “gamer at heart,” leading to the president taking a hands-on approach to many of Nintendo’s titles. In his regular Nintendo Direct presentations, the CEO would talk at length about the various games and systems that the Japanese developer was working on. Thus, when it came time to unveilto the public, Iwata took a personal interest in the title, leading to his famous puppet-appearance at E3 2015.

However, Iwata did not live to see the release of Star Fox Zero , leading to the Shigeru Miyamoto produced game paying homage to the fallen CEO. In a video uploaded by a YouTuber dubbed “Jack Williams,” footage shows the message left for the departed Iwata. The video has since been taking down, but, upon completing the game and sitting through a few credits, gamers are treated to a bright sky with a message that reads:

“This game is dedicated to our wingman who fell in battle.”

While several Nintendo producers (such as the creator of Super Smash Bros. ) have paid homage to the beloved CEO, this small, touching gesture feels like the proper send off for the fallen Nintendo luminary. With Nintendo continuing to look towards the future, this small nod to the man responsible for Nintendo’s past is sure to please fans of the amiable gaming personality. Gamers looking to earn the message themselves can see the it in all of its glory after playing through Star Fox Zero later on this April when it releases for the Wii U.

Star Fox Zero releases exclusively for the Nintendo Wii U on April 21, 2016.

Source: YouTube(via Destructoid)

EVO 2015 Player Breaks Fight Stick, Still Wins Street Fighter Tourney

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There’s no question that eSports participants take competition extremely seriously, as well they should.

participants take competition extremely seriously, as well they should. In fact, with the entirety of the prize pool for this year’s Ultra Street Fighter 4 tournament at EVO 2015 – Evolution Championship Series, for the uninitiated – being set at $72,270, not many can say making a career out of playing video games is unviable. Having said that, it’s important to note that the spoils of victory don’t come without rigorous and disciplined training, as evidenced by the skills of fighting game aficionados GamerBee and Momochi.

While the fast-paced Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom and the gory Mortal Kombat X were featured at EVO 2015 along with many other great tournaments centered around various popular titles, the most interesting one was most definitely focused on Ultra Street Fighter 4 . After defeating multiple opponents to reach the final match, the Taiwanese player GamerBee and the Japanese gamer Momochi had a tense battle, especially when the latter’s fight-stick controller malfunctioned during the second round.

After GamerBee’s impressive run earlier in the day, he had arguably become the crowd favorite, with many expecting him to come out on top during the Grand Final. However, Momochi came out swinging, and took the first bout with Evil Ryu being his character of choice. Although the Japanese underdog had the upper hand momentarily, the match came to a screeching halt after his controller somehow failed to register its connection to the Xbox 360console hosting the battle.

The breakdown led to a lengthy delay, during which GamerBee showed a great deal of sportsmanship. Rather than utilize the situation to his advantage by building up his Super meter to take the second round, the Taiwanese pro set the fight to an even playing field by knocking Momochi’s health bar down to roughly the same as his own with a couple of quick jabs from Ultra Street Fighter 4 ‘s Adon. While event coordinators scrambled to find Momochi another controller – of which should have been immediately available due to it being a fighting game tournament – the competitors allowed the time to elapse until the next bout could properly be played, as the Japanese professional had to forfeit the round.

There’s no question that the mechanical hiccup caused both players to lose momentum, but after another controller was procured, Momochi ultimately came out on top during the EVO 2015Grand Final with a magnificent combo that quickly bested GamerBee. Also, in a strange and ironic twist, Momochi was later awarded a golden fight stick which certainly would have been handy during the technical delay. Nevertheless, neither competitor left empty handed, as Momochi won $33,362 for first place, and GamerBee took home $14,454 for second.

With both participants having mastered Ultra Street Fighter 4 , once Street Fighter 5 releases, it’s only a matter of time before GamerBee and Momochi become the players to beat in later tournaments. So should one be looking to train for future tournaments, they should brush up on EVO 2015’s rules regarding stick failure by checking out the full set of regulations on the matter.

EVO 2015’s full breakdown regarding gear malfunction during tournaments:

Reporting Equipment Failure : Video game hardware has a tendency to break down during tournaments. Buttons or joysticks will occasionally break down in the middle of a match, leaving the player on the broken side at a significant disadvantage. The following rules will be used in the event of a breakdown:

• In the event of an equipment failure, the player has the option to stop the Game in progress to obtain an replacement.

• If a Game is stopped in progress, the reporting player must forfeit the current round.

• New equipment must be immediately available. If replacement equipment cannot be obtained in a timely manner, the player must continue to play on their current equipment or forfeit the Match.

• Once replacement equipment is obtained, the player is given the rest of the round to configure their buttons and test the new equipment. If the player gains an undue advantage by doing so (e.g. charging an abundance of super meter), they must forfeit the Game.

• A player may opt to switch out equipment between Games at no penalty. When this occurs, the player will be given ample time to configure his buttons before the next Game begins.

Ultra Street Fighter 4 is available now for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Nintendo 3DS, PC, and Mac.

Source: Fighting Game TV(via Kotaku)

Ultra Street Fighter IV’ Community Speaks Out About PS4 Port

‘Ultra Street Fighter IV’ Community Speaks Out About PS4 Port
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Fighting game communities are extremely competitive, yet incredibly supportive and tight-knit groups.

Fighting game communities are extremely competitive, yet incredibly supportive and tight-knit groups. Whether the fan-base is driven by popular arcade-supported fighters like Tekken 7, or more console-centric brawlers likeit’s guaranteed that there are droves of online collectives for such games where players can share tips and tricks with one another in order to beef up their battle skills.

One such congregation that is never hesitant to be vocal about their opinions is the Street Fighter community. And today, according to myriad reports from its members such as Maximilian, Alex Valle, and Damien “Damdai” Dailidenas, the PlayStation 4port for Ultra Street Fighter IV has had a significantly poor launch.

Apparently, the PS4 version of Ultra Street Fighter IV is experiencing a bunch of different issues, such as erratic stuttering during gameplay, tremendous lagging and slowdown while navigating menus, and input delay even if gamers are playing the title in its offline mode. Chances are that the PlayStation 4 iteration could be used for Capcom Pro Tour tournaments and events in the near future, but with a release this rough, it will most likely make the fighting game community cautious of adopting the port. And really, it doesn’t even matter if patches are eventually released to remedy the situation, because in the back of most fans’ minds is the question of whether or not more bugs are to come.

With work from Other Ocean Interactive behind the creation of Ultra Street Fighter IV for PS4, the game is not the first third-party port to have a sub-par launch. In fact, after its release, the PC version of Mortal Kombat X developed by High Voltage Software went through several weeks of patches and upgrades before actually turning into a stable, playable title.

The revelation comes as unwelcome news, mainly for those competing in upcoming Street Fighter IV fighting game tournaments such as Community Effort Orlando 2015 and Evo 2015, because both events have assured that the PlayStation 4 version is to be utilized. Bearing this in mind, such problems makes one ponder whether or not the title should have been ported for the PS4 at all.

It’s also notable that several years back, long-time producer of the series, Yoshinori Ono, vowed to stop at Super Street Fighter IV due to the mistakes Capcom has made in the past, like expanding the franchise with multiple variants of a single title. Plus, with Street Fighter V on the horizon as an exclusive for PlayStation 4, there’s also questions of whether Ultra Street Fighter IV for the current-generation console is simply overkill on Sony’s part.

Regardless, most of the blame lies with the developer and their lack of thoroughness in releasing the final product. And with Other Ocean Interactive also being the company behind the less-than-stellar War of the Worlds and the abysmal Sharknado video games, maybe it should have been expected that the initial release of Ultra Street Fighter IV for the PlayStation 4 would have a rocky start.

Ultra Street Fighter IV is available now for PS3, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, and PC.

Source: Maximilian, Alex Valle, and Damien “Damdai” Dailidenas(via Shoryuken)

Content Marketing: The 2016 version (webinar)

Content marketing is an undisputed must-have in every marketer’s toolbox — but how do you stand out and reap ROI when we live in a world saturated with content in every channel?

Image Credit: Shutterstock

Content marketing is an undisputed must-have in every marketer’s toolbox — but how do you stand out and reap ROI when we live in a world saturated with content in every channel?  Get the insights, tips and tricks you need to create a killer content marketing strategy that translates to real results.

As consumers’ taste for content marketing evolves in 2016, marketers need to do everything they can to stay up to speed, or risk falling behind. 51 percent of business ownersagree that content marketing is “very important” or “absolutely critical” to creating a cohesive customer journey. And yet we’re only seeing 73 percent of B2C marketersuse content marketing, with 37 percent saying their strategy is successful. What are those 37 percent are marketers doing right with content marketing?

One thing to consider is that the traditional methods of content marketing has changed. It’s no longer about blogging once a day, or creating a bright, shiny infographic for your product. Creating engaging and conversational content marketing now leans heavily in the favor of social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat. Managing multiple digital channels and deciding which one is worth the time has become a stressful situation for marketers. 60 percent of B2B marketersreport their top challenge for 2016 will be producing engaging content, while 57 percent said measuring content effectiveness, and another 57 percent said producing content consistently will be their biggest struggle.

85% of B2B marketeralso cited lead generation as their most important content marketing goal in 2016, with sales being their second priority.

As you may imagine, these growing concerns over the right way to implement content marketing is taking its toil on potential business growth. Would this post work better as a video, or an amusing photo? Will this post strengthen the reputation of my brand, or potentially cheapen it? Are these likes on my social media posts having any influence at all?

Content marketing is constantly changing and you need to re-evaluate your strategy to see what works and what doesn’t for today’s consumers. Register for this webinar and hear from our content marketing pros who are reaping huge results as well as VentureBeat’s Director of Marketing Technology.

Don’t miss out!

In this webinar, you’ll learn: How to design a content marketing program that complements your marketing initiatives The way to find your voice – and how to adhere to it across media and platforms Which internal professionals to target for particular platforms (and how to get them to agree to do it) The benefits of content marketing, such as lead generation, expanded social presence, cementing brand recognition, and building individual executives’ brands How to determine the ROI of content marketing, plus the tools and metrics to use.
Speakers: Ada Pia , Patch of Land Sonny Ganguly , CMO, Wedding Wire Stewart Rogers , Director of Marketing Technology, VentureBeat
Moderator: Wendy Schuchart, analyst, VentureBeat

6 ways marketing clouds will help you burn the competition (webinar)

With marketing covering more territory and tasks than ever, marketing clouds are becoming indispensable.

Image Credit: Shutterstock

With marketing covering more territory and tasks than ever, marketing clouds are becoming indispensable. But figuring out where to start and how to choose can make walking on hot coals a more attractive undertaking. Join us for this quick one-hour webinar and learn what platforms are considered the best — and how they’ll help you edge out the competition.

It may seem a wild idea to think you could accomplish all your online marketing assignments at once. While that may not be entirely possible, marketing clouds can get you pretty close.

Certainly, with more than 2,000 products available in the martech ecosystem, marketers should be using more than a Google spreadsheet to keep track of their online duties. This is where marketing clouds come in. They bring all the functionality you need into one place, in one system of record, with one unified profile of your customers, and one unified, simple user interface to control it all.

To state it more simply: Marketing clouds perform all the heavy lifting of online marketing for you. From smart emails and SMS messaging; social targeting; integrated call center and customer relationship management (CRM) support; data-supported marketing; smart apps, and more, marketing clouds perform the heavy-lifting all in one place.

But despite the benefits of marketing clouds, the complexity associated with them has resulted in slow penetration. Not to mention a choice that can be overwhelming (remember those 2,000+ solutions we mentioned?).

Because of the dizzying confusion surrounding marketing clouds, VB Insight completed a 120-page reportabout everything you need to know about marketing clouds in an easy-to-read presentation.  Based on our report, Adobe, Oracle, Marketo, and Salesforce are leading the marketing cloud charge, but newcomers like AgilOne, Sailthru, and Hubspot are making headway. Surprisingly, IBM has underachieved due to lack of vision and poor integration. Overall, two-thirds of the executives we interviewed for this report showed cloud-solutions to be a worthwhile investment.

While the report has enormous detail, you can cut to the chase by tuning into our upcoming webinar. VentureBeat Director of Marketing Technology Stewart Rogers will break it down for you so you have the most important takeaways including understanding which marketing cloud is best for your specific needs and the advantages of using cloud-based tools to meet the needs of the ever-demanding online market.

After this webinar, you’ll know: What makes up a marketing cloud and why it may be right for your organization The five different types of marketing cloud VentureBeat’s best marketing cloud software bets for SMBs, enterprises, and startups The ROI marketers can expect from their implementation How to improve adoption by encouraging user adoption
Panelists:

Stewart Rogers , Director of Marketing Technology, VentureBeat

Michael Healey, CEO, Yeoman Technologies

Rachel Silva, Asst VP of Marketing, Pep Boys

Wendy Schuchart , Moderator, VentureBeat

This webinar is sponsored by IBM Marketing Cloud.

The Game Rant Guide: May 2015

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Like Dragon Age: Inquisition , The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is an open world RPG that promises hundreds of hours’ worth of content.

is an open world RPG that promises hundreds of hours’ worth of content. Unlike Dragon Age Inquisition , The Witcher 3 has the courtesy to arrive when there’s not much else going on. Thank goodness.

While we’re all going Witching this month, let’s not forget some of May’s other big titles. There hasn’t been much news about, but if it’s anything like Wolfenstein: The New Order , Nazi-killing fans are in for a swell time. After many delays, the gorgeous -lookingfinally zooms onto consoles and PCs, and the Wii U’s quirky squid-based shooterarrives just a few weeks ahead of E3.

In the if-you-missed-it-the-first-time camp, PlayStation 4 owners can get their hands onnear the end of the month, and thefinally makes its way to a current-generation console.DLC isn’t nearly as good as its main campaign, but if you haven’t played it yet, the new Game of the Year edition is the one to pick up. Shadow of Mordor comes highly recommended; after all, we voted it our top game of 2014for a reason.

May 2015 Game List

(Note: Based off North American release dates; all information is subject to change)

Remnants of Isolation PC: May 1 Space Hulk Wii U: May 2 Ether One PS4: May 5 Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor Game of the Year Edition PC: May 5 PS4: May 5 Xbox One: May 5 Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2 Record Breaker 3DS: May 5 Wolfenstein: The Old Blood PC: May 5 PS4: May 5 Xbox One: May 5 High Strangeness PC: May 6 Wii U: May 6 Vertiginous Golf Linux: May 6 Mac: May 6 PC: May 6 Not a Hero Linux: May 7 Mac: May 7 PC: May 7 Project Cars PC: May 7 PS4: May 12 Xbox One: May 12 Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster PS4: May 12 Invisible, Inc. Linux: May 12 Mac: May 12 PC: May 12 Toren PC: May 12 Lifeless Planet Xbox One: May 13 3D Thunder Blade 3DS: May 14 Axiom Verge PC: May 14 Galactic Civilizations III PC: May 14 Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth2: Sisters Generation PC: May 19 Hyperdimension Neptunia U: Action Unleashed Vita: May 19 Ride PC: May 19 PS3: May 19 PS4: May 19 Xbox 360: May 19 Xbox One: May 19 The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt PC: May 19 PS4: May 19 Xbox One: May 19 Carmageddon: Reincarnation Linux: May 21 Mac: May 21 PC: May 21 Swords & Soldiers II Wii U: May 21 Technobabylon PC: May 21 NASCAR ’15 PC: May 22 PS3: May 22 Xbox One: May 22 Puzzle & Dragons Z + Super Mario Bros. Edition 3DS: May 22 Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai DX 3DS: May 26 Magicka 2 PC: May 26 PS4: May 26 Ultra Street Fighter 4 PS4: May 26 Legend of Kay HD PC: May 29 PS4: May 29 Wii U: May 29 Splatoon Wii U: May 29

CD Projekt Red says that Geralt’s final adventure will take about 200 hours to complete. That leaves you 640 other hours to sleep, eat, work, and obsess over E3 footage beforearrives next month. Better get hunting.

Top 5 Arcade Game Reboots

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It’s a sad truth that a large portion of today’s gaming audience never got to experience the phenomenon of the stand-up arcade machine.

It’s a sad truth that a large portion of today’s gaming audience never got to experience the phenomenon of the stand-up arcade machine. And in the age of mobile titles and free-to-play experiences, the very concept of paying money for a fleeting attempt at beating a game in its entirety in a single sitting seems foolish.

But even if those uninitiated never played the titles that debuted in arcades around the world, there’s a good chance the era’s biggest hits are still household names.

That’s thanks to developers who tore those classic arcade titles from the past, and re-imagined them for a new generation. Strider is the most recent example, but nowhere near the most influential – yet.

Here is our list of the Top 5 Arcade Game Reboots .

VB Mobile Summit wants to bring transparency to $100B mobile ad market

He said media publishing and agency giants are behind the times, and vulnerable to disruption if they don’t change their ad pricing habits fast.

Above: Gabe Leydon, CEO of Machine Zone.

Image Credit: Michael O'Donnell/VentureBeat

Gabe Leydon, CEO of one of the largest gaming companies and now one of the largest mobile advertisers, Machine Zone, ruffled some feathers in the media world last week.

Machine Zone spends hundreds of millions of dollars a year to market its mobile games. Leydon, pictured above, said he is frustrated because many publishers he wants to work with set their ad prices without any regard to how advertising actually performs. What’s more, there are no tools to help big buyers like Machine Zone measure how ads perform in many of the areas in which the company is active, he said. Until such a tool arrives, the market is likely to stay highly inefficient.

VB Mobile Summit: How to acquire fast, and engage long

We’re seeking to help bring more transparency to the industry by furthering this conversation at our upcoming Mobile Summit. As such, we’re delighted to have Peter Hamilton, CEO of Tune, as a speaker at the Summit, to help clear up some of the confusion. Tune is a so-called “attribution” company, and competes with other companies, including Kochava, Appsflyer, and Adjust, that have also emerged to create transparency and accountability in the market.

The event takes place in Sausalito on April 4-5. The event designed to be an intimate experience where executives exchange strategies around some of the hottest trends around mobile traction. Senior leaders can register here.

Tune’s Hamilton is quick to concede that there’s a “mobile-shaped hole” in the measurement technology used by most marketers, and that Tune still has a ways to go in plugging it.

Machine Zone does not use Tune, but it does use Kochava. Machine Zone’s Leydon said he is using 300 “channels” for the company’s advertising campaigns. The world has become so complex, with so many networks and exchanges, many with their own reporting and measuring standards, that it’s impossible to have real transparency to make efficient decisions.

Tune’s Hamilton has become one of the more knowledgeable about an industry that has taken the world by storm in a very short period of time. In 2012, mobile game companies discovered massive success by boosting downloads of their apps via so-called mobile app install ads. Facebook mobile ad success was driven by this, because it became one the primary hosts of these ads. A year later, ecommerce companies woke up to the same opportunity. Tune has since raised $36 million in venture capital over the past three years, as it has signed up more developers and marketers interested in knowing which ads are working, and how well.

The app install market has ballooned to more than $5 billion this year. It’s just one of the fastest growing types of ads in a global mobile ad market that should reach about $100 billion this year, according to eMarketer.

More recently, other companies have realized success with different monetization schemes. Music-streaming apps, such as Spotify and Deezer, are driving revenue by offering subscriptions. Many companies, including those, use a mix of subscriptions and advertising — for example, fitness app Runtastic.

Above: Tune CEO Peter Hamilton is at center

Image Credit: Tune

Tune found its original success in the app-install area by offering a single SDK that lets developers and other app marketers track their campaigns and tells them which advertising partners were responsible for sending app installs or other actions. This was important in a complex world where marketers often work with multiple partners, which in turn have their own partner supply chains.

But Hamilton said Tune is taking action this year to complete the rest of the puzzle, stepping beyond just app installs by creating more transparency through measurement techniques agreed upon by both ad suppliers and buyers. He expects to be able to say more about those plans this summer.

Disclosure: Tune is a sponsor of the Mobile Summit.

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