War, what is it good for?

What is in a name? Apparently a lot more than meets the eye. Companies these days tend to spend millions on creating a brand name and then sticking with it. If you dare to look at a well-established brand just a little bit skew you can be sure to lose your socks after heavy litigation. I once had a typo in an article and rather than saying “Put a cork in it” I said “Put a coke in it”…My ISP received a court order to remove it.

The choice of words that make it into a name plays a very big part in the success of the product involved. Imagine disposable nappies named Pooper Scoopers. Not only is it an accurate description, it is also very family friendly. Yet you rather get Pampers, to appeal to a mother’s softer, kinder nature. It hides the fact that babies are actually very messy creatures that give grown men the jeeblies. But I digress.

In the same fashion, naming a game is equally important, often even more important than the quality of the content of the game. You only have to look at gaming sequels and movie tie-ins to realise this point. Often sequels are not as good as the original because the publishers and developers are more focused on obtaining and keeping the license than focusing on developing a good game. Have you ever played a great movie game? You get games that come close, but they never receive any awards, never make it to Game of the Year shows and very seldom deserve to even be played. Yet they sell like hotcakes thanks to parents mostly. If your kid liked the movie, they must like the game, right? By the way, what exactly IS a hotcake? Is it hot as in temperature hot? Or is it hot as in double spicy curry from the Bluff hot? Either way, do they really sell that well?

Right, let’s move on. Over the years it has become apparent that in order to make a game successful, you need the right name. And one particular word in the game’s title will almost guarantee success, if not in critical acclaim, then at least in sales. It’s a simple word, three letters long, that speaks volumes of history over centuries gone by, and almost surely will continue to gather volumes in the future. What is this word? “WAR!”

“War. War never changes.” Fallout starts with these legendary words, and it could not be more true. It does not change in its definition or in its cruelty. Nor does it change in its expense, financially and in human life. Luckily for all of us this is by no means a study into the ethics of war itself, but the use of the word. If you need war ethics, turn to CNN. This is a study into WAR’s effect on game sales and quality. Below we will dissect but a few games for their effective use of the word WAR.

God of WAR III is what brought this realization to my restless sleep one night. God of WAR, the original, was a great success and followed a Spartan anti-hero named Kratos as he took on the god of WAR, Ares. Unlike Nintendo and Sega who named their games after their lead characters, Mario and Sonic, Sony saw it relevant to add WAR to their title, and it sold millions. Imagine if Nintendo named their game “Plumber WARs!” Or Sega named theirs “WAR of the Rings.” Sierra hopped on that one though. I don’t think even Google would have stood a chance against the goliath that Nintendo would have been if they took that brave step in their naming convention. And we all know what happened to Sega as a hardware manufacturer. The gaming world could have been very interesting if we ended up with the Sega MegaDreamcast…

Now also try to imagine the success, or lack thereof, if Sony decided to name their game Kratos. The game would have sold well, because it really was a good game. But it lacked the appeal to the biggest game playing market, the pubescent teen male, looking desperately to prove themselves. Now imagine the success of the sequel, Super Kratos World.

Microsoft, a relatively new player on the gaming scene, nearly made a horrific mistake in their first attempt at a blockbuster game. Halo, sounding a little too angelic for most, sold only a few copies and nearly cost the software giant a slice of the console pie. Did anyone actually buy this game? If Microsoft was not willing to fork out millions into the development of its next console and manufacture it at a loss, we never would have seen the great console that is the Xbox 360. The sales of Halo could simply not carry the development as planned. Rumours were spreading about Halo WARs, but this turned out to be a strategy game set in the Halo universe. It sold millions and made the Xbox 360 profitable.

Microsoft did not make the same mistake they made with the Halo games when they sought exclusivity in their next title. Gears of WAR was not only a half-decent game, it also had WAR in the title. It was a success even before anyone played the game. Next year will see the third game in the series, still named Gears of WAR, and it will sell like…stuff that sells very well.

Let’s not forget the granddaddy of them all, the game that still drives PC sales and lines Bobby Kotick’s pockets with gold: World of WARcraft. This game has broken so many records that Guinness had to create a new record for it: it now holds the record for breaking the most records. Millions and millions of players around the world get to wage war on each other. And now most teenage boys can do it playing a female character! A winning strategy, proven by the sheer number of subscribers. Would the game have been as successful if it was called “Elves and Ogres” or “Dudes in skirts”?

There are many more titles that have their success thanks to the word WAR in their titles:

- The Total WAR series of strategy games contain nothing but WAR…totally!
- WARhammer 40 000: Dawn of WAR. You get bonus points for having WAR in the title twice.
- Modern WARfare and Modern WARfare 2. They sold a few copies apparently.

Recently there has been a tendency to try the next big thing in your game title. It is sort of tied to the effects of WAR, and somehow zombies also tie into it. DEAD is the current in-thing. Dead Rising and Dead to Rights come to mind. Left 4 Dead plays not only on the craze out there, but if you play the game you realize it is a WAR on zombies. Had they named it WAR 4 Dead it would have been the ultimate game available for sale today. Modern Warfare 2 would have had nothing on this beast’s sales.

Now that the secret is out and I have enlightened most people to the trend of WAR games, the industry will need a change of pace, and a change of name. All thanks to my brilliant investigative reporting. And we are already seeing the effects out in the field. The first game to take advantage of the new IN word is the next Metal Gears Solid…Peace Walker. Yes, the gaming industry is doing a full 180 and is going all peaceful. Peace Walker will have some WAR elements in it, but remember that this is a transition phase. If you want to capitalize on this phase then get your hands on the perfect gaming license: “War and Peace.”