Game Crazy Using Lively to Get Sale Message Out

Game Crazy announced on Monday that it had opened a space in Google's recently launched Lively. The retailer is celebrating a recent price drop for the Xbox 360 with a giveaway, but interested customers need to visit the "Game Crazy Gaming Lounge" to find out what stores are participating.

I'll be interested to see if this is a case of Second Life Marketing Hype 2.0. That's not to say Lively can't be a great place for brands, but I imagine that Google's big name and the ongoing buzz around virtual worlds will bring another wave of brands and businesses launching in the virtual world for the sake of issuing a press release. I don't know if that's Game Crazy's motivation--the company declined to comment--but the press release is subtitled "Video Game Retailer Creates Google Lively Room to Announce Giveaway Locations" and boasts that the retailer is "one of the first company's [sic] to leverage the virtual life in Lively."

I don't want to come off as too cynical, because I am optimistic and excited about Lively. Also, the addition of using Lively to distribute information like  where to find freebies in your town should create more of a drive to go ahead and download the plug-in for the virtual world than the ability to "redeem rental coupons and chat with other gamers."

Critics, though, might argue that that information (and those services) could be better served through a 2D website accessible by all than the, in Game Crazy's words, "popular, new virtual world developed by Google " that had been open less than a week when the campaign started. 

It's also worth noting that Game Crazy created the room on their own, using only Google's freely available assets instead of working with a whitelisted developer to create a completely customized space, as National Geographic's LA Hardhats did with Millions of Us. The upside of that, means that even if the space is purely experimental, the only costs involved were for the in-house employees' time and the effort of writing a press release.

Even if the only upside is a bit of publicity, small reach, and learnings in a new environment--all fairly appealing--that's pretty solid ROI.

When asked about its motivations, plans for Lively, and further information, Game Crazy declined to comment.

"We see a natural correlation between gamers and virtual world aficionados leading us to believe the popularity of Lively will provide a new way to communicate and increase engagement with savvy video game consumers,"  Wes Sand, senior vice president at Game Crazy, said in a statement. "In just a short time, Google Lively has become one of the most sophisticated online destinations and we anticipate that our lounge will become a virtual gathering place for video game enthusiasts."

The Lounge has seen 68 visitors since launch, placing it in the top 60 most popular rooms..

[full announcement]

Comments

[BB]

I have to agree with you that pushing users into a 3D web may not happen for a long time as everything is much easier and more accessible in 2D interface.

But maybe Google can push Lively to be more successful than it's older cousin Orkut is with social networks.

Currently it seems Google has a bit of an edge over other 3D chats as it can be embedded in websites. I don't think it will be long until we see other 3D chats/worlds giving access to embedding to promote use of their clients.

[Simon Newstead]

BB, I agree - 2D is mainstream, but also the ability to embed 3D chatrooms within sites, forums and personal blogs is cool. It will definitely help them grow, fast.

Kind of surprised how easy it was. It only takes a couple minutes to setup a personalised room and put it on your own site to let you chat with friends and visitors.

It's an edge over SecondLife, IMVU and other download clients out there now.