So You Want To Be A Salesperson...

So you want to be an Salesperson/Advertiser...

Even if you have the best game in the entire world, without good marketing, it's possible that no one in the world will see it. Word of mouth only takes you so far!

After all, would you want to play a game when a marketing team has assured you that "this game stinks?"

Your job is to create a presentation that will sell Microsoft on the idea of your game. You need the following parts. Start with...

Basic Information About Your Game!

• • Your development team's name (and possibly a catchy slogan?) with each of the members of the team and their jobs.

  • Information about your game--title, genre, etc. This section is a detailed description of the product you will be selling.  You should not assume that the reader is familiar with your product, so be sure to explain and describe it carefully. Begin to sell your idea here by generating some excitement about your product. Be factual, but be enthusiastic.

  • How much do you think your game will cost? Why does it have the rating (E/E10/T/M) that it has?

  • The cover art, as designed by your artist. (If you don't have an artist in your group, you don't have to put cover art on the presentation!)

Now that the basic things about your game are out of the way...

Expand Your Ideas!

This will include both of the following:

1. Position your product in its marketplace: Who are our principal competitors? What are their products? Why is your product superior to the competition's, and how is yours different? What advantage do you have over them?

2. What is the market like which you will be entering? Is the video game market growing, remaining stagnant, or shrinking? Find statistics to support your cause.

And it will include at least two out of the three of the following:

1. What do you want from Microsoft? How much does it cost to make a game? How do you plan to spend the money? What are your justifications for asking for what you're asking for?

2. How will you advertise? To whom? Who plays video games?

3. What risks might you encounter? How will you overcome them?

That's the minimum. However, you don't have to feel limited to just answering these questions. You can make up your own and begin to answer them, too, if you feel they're critical or helpful. Without a doubt, this will be the BIGGEST part of your presentation. Check out your rubric for more information. Finally, you have to include...

APA Citations!

You'll need a minimum of three citations in APA format from websites that have given you information that you used in the presentation. If you used more than three websites to get your information, you should be citing more than three websites! Please use Scribbr to create these citations.

Do all this, but keep it interesting! Use pictures, animations, and other such tools to keep your viewers invested. You may use Google Slides, Windows MovieMaker, Prezi, or anything else to accomplish your mission. And please remember: if I can simply read your presentation and get the same information from it, it is not interesting. Please allow your speech to grow from the ideas in your presentation. Consider using simple, short words and phrases in your actual presentation and expanding on these phrases through your speech. You can use notecards! Please do!

Check out my example right here to understand a little more about how to set this up.

Additionally, you are responsible for the "Instructions" and "Notes and Credits" boxes to the side of the game when it is loaded by a user. Just type then up on a Google Docs file and send them over to your programmer; your programmer will include them in the final game (be sure to tell them you've sent the directions!).

Some of you might say: "Hey, wait a sec. There are tutorials for the artist and programmer. Why don't I have a tutorial?" First off, why would you want to watch another tutorial?! Secondly, both the artist and the programmer are learning new things. Salespeople are learning nothing new. They are simply using the skills learned earlier in the year dealing with creating presentations and doing internet research to give information about an idea. Use my presentation example (and the rubric) below to guide your understanding of this project, and get creative with it!

HELPFUL LINKS:

Essential Facts about the Computer Gaming Industry - Some great information here from 2024. Lots of easy-to-understand numbers and statistics.

Industry Facts - More information from the Entertainment Software Association. (Use the links on the left side!)

Ratings Guide - The Entertainment Software Rating Board's justification for how they rate their games (E/E10/T/M/AO).

GamesIndustry International - More in-depth information than you can handle! You could read this page for ages.

University of Dayton Elevator Pitch Competition - Winners from a battle to determine who has the greatest pitch. Watch some of the finalists and be inspired!

Statista - More video game market information than you can shake a stick at!

Citation Machine - This is an option to allow you to create the APA citations that must accompany your presentation. Simply click "webpage" at the top of the menu, fill in all the information you can find (some of it you will not be able to find!), and copy and paste the resulting citation! You could also use the EasyBib program that we used with the 7th grade Certificate of Recognition, however. 

Google and YouTube - Though these seem like no-brainers, a lot of people overlook all of the elements at their disposal. Google can be your best friend when searching for a specific statistic. Give it a try. In addition, searching YouTube for pitches can give you some idea of what works well! (Click the links for examples!)