Summary

An essential guide for marketers and execs wishing to integrate their brands with modern games and esports

In Get in the Game: How to Level Up Your Business with Gaming, Esports, and Emerging Technologies, decorated gaming and social media research and marketing executive Jonathan Stringfield delivers a roadmap to understanding and navigating marketing and business integrations into the gaming ecosystem: who plays games (and why), how modern games are created and oriented around the world of esports, and where brands can get involved with modern games.

This book explains the breadth and depth of the gaming audience, describing the rapidly changing demographics of modern games and the various motivations gamers have for playing games. It also unpacks the history of gaming and how it has impacted the creative processes and output from the industry. Finally, it offers a practical guide for brands wishing to integrate themselves into new gaming environments, with an emphasis on maximizing success for marketers, developers, content creators, and fans.

Get in the Game provides:

A thorough introduction to why marketers and executives must pay closer attention to gaming, as well as existing roadblocks to understanding the gaming industry
Comprehensive explorations of the psychology and motivations of gaming, and implications towards messaging and brand safety.
Practical discussions of gaming as a competitive platform or streaming viewing experience.
In-depth examinations of gaming ad placements, deep marketing integrations between companies and games, and future directions for the industry and how it relates to the emergence of the metaverse.

Perfect for marketing strategists, brand managers, and Chief Marketing Officers, Get in the Game will also earn a place in the libraries of executives seeking to connect with the misunderstood yet largest segment in consumer entertainment.

Author Biography

JONATHAN STRINGFIELD, PHD, is a research and marketing executive specializing in technology and gaming, having spent nearly twenty years at companies such as Facebook (Meta), Twitter, and Activision Blizzard. He is a regularly published contributor and speaker in technology on topics ranging from ad-tech to marketing science and consumer psychology. Jonathan holds a PhD in Sociology where his work concentrated on how users of new technology think about topics such as personal identity and privacy and is a lifelong gaming fan.

Part I: Playing the Game: Understanding Video Games as Media

Chapter 1 Introduction: The Gaming Moment

Chapter 2 Tricks Your TV Can Do: The Rise, Fall, and Rise Again of Gaming

Chapter 3 Why Do We Game? Gamer Motivations and Psychology

Chapter 4 Underworld: Violence, Addiction, Toxicity, Representation, and Brand Safety

Chapter 5 Getting in the Game (without Changing It): Gaming Integration Opportunities for Businesses

Part II: Watching the Game: Esports, Streaming, and Games as a Viewing Experience

Chapter 6 Multiplayer: An Introduction to Esports

Chapter 7 Good Luck Having Fun: The Rise of Esports

Chapter 8 Work to Play and Play to Work: Game Streaming and Streamers

Chapter 9 Unbalanced: Opportunities in Game Viewing for Businesses

Part III: Storytelling in Virtual Worlds: Future Directions and Conclusions

Chapter 10 Life in the Screen: Metaverse and Future Directions

Chapter 11 Conclusion: Point of No Return

Notes

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Index

Supplemental Materials

What is included with this book?

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The Used, Rental and eBook copies of this book are not guaranteed to include any supplemental materials. Typically, only the book itself is included. This is true even if the title states it includes any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.