Game cinematic are essentially short films whose production value is generally far beyond the capabilities of what computers and consoles are able to display in real-time, and therefore do not actually represent what the game will look like when a player buys the game and is playing it on their PC or console. They are a dramatized, idealized version of what an in-game scenario might look like.
Modern consoles can produce incredibly impressive graphics, displaying 30-60 images per second, but that will never compare to a computer farm that takes hours to render each individual frame. odd with all kinds of realistic light, refraction, physics, textures, etc. Comparing a movie trailer to a game trailer is like a digital equivalent of comparing the years the feature film was made to the recording of a live performance in theaters.
Let’s find out what the real role of Game cinematic is!
Game cinematic is Game Announcement
The main reason often cited for the existence of cinematic trailers is that the big-budget AAA games announced so far before their release are simply not functional enough to record the footage. The run of cutting-edge video game graphics on consoles and more powerful PC graphics cards than ever before means that an AAA game can die as soon as it arrives if it doesn’t make a great first impression, especially when compared to games of its kind.
Therefore, game publishers turn to other production companies to produce stunning cinematic game trailers to unveil at major shows like E3. Collaborating with the developers, they produce trailers that are rooted in the game’s artistic vision and without the burden of real-time rendering or working game mechanics.
You may be wondering: “Why not just wait until the game is over enough to show off to the public in all its glory?”
One reason big-budget AAA games can start marketing so early is simply that the games are so big. There is much more in the game to market like plot, game system, mission type, play style, voice actors, advanced technology, separate game modes, multiplayer, etc. Most small indie games will have to start looping content once they’ve released two or three trailers, but a lot of big AAA games can sustain six or more feature films and so on.
This means more enticing marketing beats for a big-budget game, and to get the most out of the beats they want to make sure there are plenty of eyeballs to watch as they hit. Today, publishers pay little attention to the timing of industry events like E3 because they may just host their own live stream, but still have a finite number of major events each year to showcase games whether it’s publisher events, console rollouts, etc…
All of this to say, AAA games start marketing early if they have a huge number of plans through their marketing timeline, a long development cycle, and also don’t have any major events to show.
Game cinematic Shows Production Value
The flashy cinematic gameplay trailer looks expensive, and that’s the point. Expensive cinematic trailers that look like a Hollywood movie convey production value; it says that there is a lot of money behind this game and therefore it is worth your time.
It’s similar to how marketing consultant Chris Zukowski recommends indie game developers hire a good illustrator to create the art for their game, especially if the alternative is showing the game’s pixel art or screenshots from the game with the title icon overplayed. When you have a choice of dozens or hundreds of games, the one that seems to have the most money and talent behind it will stand out from the rest.
Of course, there are a lot of great games with low fidelity graphics and low budgets, but in the AAA space where players have spent hundreds of dollars just for the console, they want the game to be impressive as they could get for proof of money spent. We think increasing the perceived value of game production is an important part of marketing, even if that perception is somewhat unconscious to consumers.
Also, with AAA budgets, we don’t think gamers are the only people publishers and developers sell games to. There are huge business deals being done for AAA games whether it’s simply the big brick-and-mortar retailers like Walmart and Best Buy, or some kind of cross-promotional deal where the game is introduced to certain foods or drinks.
The CG trailer seems to be exactly what it takes to impress non-gamer executives during business meetings. Another thing to consider is that major game events want the biggest and flashiest trailers so they have a good show. It’s also easy for the people who make those shows to be lured in by flashy CG trailers that have great production value.
How to Make a Cinematic Trailer: 5 Amazing Tips for Cutting Your Own Trailer
Conclusion
While Game cinematic doesn’t showcase the game scenes that gamers want to see, they do increase a game’s cache, be viewed by a lot of people, and build an idea of what it’s like high production value for brands of developers and/or publishers. And if spending millions of dollars on a CG trailer makes people think, “This game, the developer or the publisher makes high-quality products,” that’s probably a pretty good deal for them.
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Animost – Vietnam 3D Animation Studio
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