Example Case Study

Class Case Study #1
Name: Call of Duty: Black Ops
Genre: First person shooter
Developers: Treyarch
Publishers: Activision
Release date: November 9th 2010
Playable on: Microsoft Windows, Nintendo DS
(developed by n-space), X-Box 360, Playstation 3,
smartphones (developed by Glu Mobile)
Sales: 24 hours = 5.6m+copies, 1 year later = 25m+
copies.
Revenue: $1 billion+

The Plot
• Call of Duty: Black Ops takes place during the 1960s in the Cold War.
It focuses on CIA clandestine black operations carried out behind
enemy lines. Missions take place in various locations around the
globe such as the Ural Mountains in central Russia,
Cuba, Kazakhstan, Hong Kong, Laos, Vietnam, and the Arctic circle.
The single-player campaign revolves around an
experimental chemical weapon codenamed "Nova-6".
• The main protagonist the player controls is SAD/SOG special
forces operative Alex Mason, occasionally CIA agent Jason Hudson,
and some other characters are playable to progress the story. Alex is
often joined by fellow operatives Frank Woods and Joseph Bowman,
while Jason teams up with Grigori Weaver, a Russian-born field
operative. Viktor Reznov, a key character from the Soviet campaign
in World at War, returns along with that game's Russian protagonist
Dimitri Petrenko also making an appearance. Black Ops also features
several historical figures, including John. F Kennedy.

The campaign
In early April 2010, an unmarked envelope was
sent to various gaming news publications as
well as high profile Call of Duty fans via mail. It
contained a USB flash drive with sound and text
files. These files were codes to be decrypted,
only to find a mysterious teaser site for an
unknown game. Other codes were updated
periodically.

• Black Ops was first officially unveiled when the
website for the game went live on April 30,
2010.

Then, two days later the teaser trailer was
released on Gametrailers TV, episode 310 .
Black Ops Teaser

• Similarly to Modern Warfare 2's marketing,
the first full-length trailer of Black Ops was
aired after the 3rd quarter on ESPN during
the NBA Eastern Conference Finals on May
18, 2010.

DuringE3 2010 (Entertainment Expo), studio
head Mark Lamia opened
the Microsoft conference on 14th June 2010 by
playing Black Ops on stage…

A remixed version of the ESPN trailer with
Eminem's "Won't Back Down" was released
on June 14,[76] prior to the E3 Activision
conference for which he also performed.
Eminem ft. Pink remix

A multiplayer teaser trailer was released on
August 9, 2010 revealing killstreaks, weapons,
and other in-game multiplayer features.
Multiplayer teaser
A full multiplayer reveal took place on September 1, 2010, and revealed
many multiplayer features from the game.[

On October 11, a single player trailer
aired on ESPN during the New York
Jets versus Minnesota
Vikings NFL Monday Night
Football game.
ESPN Single-player
The same trailer was aired the next day in the United Kingdom at half
time of the England versus Montenegro 2012 European Football
Championship qualifying game.

On October 29, the official launch trailer was
released online.
Official Black Ops Launch Trailer
The same trailer aired on October 31 during the New Orleans
Saints versus Pittsburgh Steelers NFL Sunday Night Football game. The
trailer features the song "Gimme Shelter" by The Rolling Stones

One week post-release, this US TV celebrity-
endorsed trailer aired…
November celebrity trailer

In 2011, Chrysler produced a limited-edition Call
of Duty Jeep as the Wrangler is featured in Black
Ops.

Since its launch in November 2010, Black Ops
has remained remarkably popular, slowly
releasing downloadable content to keep gamers
wanting more. This content is available on
different consoles at different times.
For example, the third map pack called
"Annihilation" was released for the Xbox 360 on
June 28, 2011, and on July 28, 2011 for the
PlayStation 3 and PC. It contains four new
multiplayer maps named "Hangar 18",
"Hazard", "Drive-In", "Silo", and a new zombie
map named "Shangri La", which takes place in a
legendary shrine lost in an exotic jungle.

Other texts and platforms Black Ops uses:
The use of these social networking sites falls
into three categories:
1) Official – created and commissioned by the
developers/publishers to market and
promote the game.
2) Unofficial – created by the gamers for the
gaming community.
3) Unofficial but official! - created by gamers
but officially backed by the
developers/publishers to promote the
game. Often, well-known gamers, who
already have a large fanbase, will be used.

Dean Karr created, deployed and directed 58 actors transformed into zombies who represent the
new characters featured in “Black Ops 2 – Call of Duty”, staged at the San Antonio Convention
Center for GameShop; the world’s largest retailer of videos games.
Public appearances

Press Releases
Most Anticipated Title of 2010 Prepares for PC Launch
Oct 22, 2010- Valve and Activision Publishing, Inc today announced the upcoming holiday blockbuster, Call of Duty®: Black
Ops (PC), is now available for pre-purchase via Steam, a leading platform for PC and Mac games with over 30 million
accounts around the world.
Those who pre-purchase Call of Duty: Black Ops on Steam will be able to start playing immediately upon release on
November 9, 2010, when Activision expects the title will be available worldwide. Developed by Treyarch, Call of Duty: Black
Ops utilizes the Steamworks suite of tools. The title is rated "M" (Mature - Blood, Drug, Reference, Intense Violence and
Language) by the ESRB.
In addition to leveraging Steamworks' Auto-Updating, Achievements, and more, Call of Duty: Black Ops will support
Steamworks Cloud technology. The PC version of the product will be powered with Steamworks for both the digital and
tangible versions of the game and, as with all Steamworks titles, offline play will also be supported.
"We are delighted to be delivering the year's most anticipated title with Black Ops to PC gamers around the world," said
Jason Holtman, director of business development at Valve. "We've collaborated with the development team to leverage the
Steamworks suite of services to deliver the highest level of service to Call of Duty: Black Ops PC customers."
"Steam has been a great partner throughout development of Black Ops," said Mark Lamia, president of Treyarch. "We're
working closely together to take full advantage of Steamworks to ensure we deliver the most polished and secure PC
experience that our community deserves."
Call of Duty: Black Ops is slated for worldwide release the week of November 9 at retailers and via Steam. For additional
Call of Duty updates, visit www.callofduty.com/blackops and also via Twitter @JD_2020.

Merchandise

And good, old-fashioned print
media!

Following its success, COD: Black Ops 2 was
released in November 2012. The same media
platforms were used in the promotion and
marketing campaign, although the official
launch trailer was directed by Guy Ritchie and
had a very different feel…
Surprise!
Marketing materials for games often create negative gender stereotypes.
Do you agree? How does this trailer differ?

What do you think?
What are your views on the COD: Black Ops
campaign?
• Does it maximise in reaching the target audience?
• Describe the demographic and psychographic profiles of the audience.
• Are there gender stereotypes at work in the campaign? Do the genders of the central characters
have an impact on whether you would buy the game?
• Describe the ‘brand’ identity
• Consider the institutions behind the game. Does their size have an impact on the scale of
marketing and promotion for the game? Explain.
• How is the institution regulated? What do they need to consider in order to follow the regulators
rules/laws?
• Many people may not play the game but will be exposed to the marketing and promotion
campaign. Is there a need to consider the possibility that a campaign like this promotes or
glamourizes a negative set of behaviours?

Your own case study
You now need to work on your own case
study, applying the same level of
understanding of a marketing and
promotion campaign as you’ve seen with
COD: Black Ops. You need to be prepared to
discuss it at length in the exam, applying the
Key Concepts to your work.
You are strongly advised to choose a video
game which is not of the same genre as
COD: Black Ops so you can show a range of
knowledge and understanding in the exam.

Use these questions to help
your case study
• Does it the campaign maximise in reaching the target audience?
• Describe the demographic and psychographic profiles of the audience.
• Are there gender stereotypes at work in the campaign? Do the genders of the central
characters have an impact on whether you would buy the game?
• Describe the ‘brand’ identity
• Consider the institutions behind the game. Does their size have an impact on the scale of
marketing and promotion for the game? Explain.
• How is the institution regulated? What do they need to consider in order to follow the
regulators rules/laws?
• Many people may not play the game but will be exposed to the marketing and promotion
campaign. Is there a need to consider the possibility that a campaign like this promotes or
glamourizes a negative set of behaviours?