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Unknown 9 is not the primary video video games IP to launch with a transmedia technique, nor will or not it’s the final. However it is maybe probably the most bold the trade has seen in some appreciable time.
The sequence is the brainchild of Montreal-based developer Reflector Leisure, which Bandai Namco acquired in October 2020. Whereas Reflector had already launched an Unknown 9 comedian, a dramatised podcast, and a novel earlier than it was bought, the story will actually kick off with the launch of action-adventure recreation Unknown 9: Awakening, which launches on consoles and PC this summer time.
However the recreation is only one a part of the story. Reflector Leisure CEO and Bandai Namco Europe’s chief content material officer Hervé Hoerdt says the transmedia releases are essential pillars for this new IP – to the purpose the place the studio even has small groups devoted to several types of media.
“What we’re attempting to realize right here, for the primary time ever I believe, is a full story world,” he tells GamesIndustry.biz. “It is a universe and a meta narrative that spans over one century. The output is throughout 9 completely different media, and it is multi-layered. You should buy the ebook and revel in it as a standalone, however you’ll uncover there are some hidden issues. There are some codes in varied media, after which we’ll reveal on an internet site the hyperlinks between these varied media, and other people will simply go loopy seeing the overarching story.”
Unknown 9 centres across the titular group of immortals, two secret societies competing to realize their data, and the Fold, a parallel dimension that grants sure people supernatural talents within the bodily world.
Throughout the sport, novels, comedian, and podcast, the story spans from the nineteenth Century as much as the current day, with easter eggs, recurring characters, and hidden messages linking them collectively (which have already got their very own fan-made wiki).
Awakening, the primary recreation, is set in 1908 and focuses on Haroona (performed by Anya Chalotra, greatest referred to as Yennifer from Netflix’s The Witcher sequence), a girl together with her personal Fold-based powers who is in search of revenge for the loss of life of her former mentor.
Whereas every Unknown 9 launch can function an entry level, Awakening is the central pillar. Reflector had initially deliberate to launch extra transmedia merchandise within the run-up to launch, elevating consciousness for an independently developed IP, however Bandai Namco opted to pause every thing till the sport was prepared.
In actual fact, Hoerdt tells us that not solely has Awakening been delayed throughout that point, it has additionally been rebooted; whereas growth started a very long time in the past, in his thoughts the work began once more in 2020. The affect of COVID plus a “expertise struggle in Montreal,” as he places it, have contributed to the lengthy await Unknown 9’s story to totally start.
“It took us a while, nevertheless it’s solely been three years for the reason that acquisition,” he observes. “I am not denying something that occurred earlier than, however we put some processes in place, we put in some technique, and I am tremendous completely satisfied and pleased with what we have completed. Extra importantly, I am even prouder of what we’ve in the present day as a result of in the present day we’ve a improbable studio.”
Storytelling throughout completely different media is not extraordinary in video video games; Murderer’s Creed, for instance, continued the meta narrative from Black Flag, Unity, and Syndicate in its comics. However Hoerdt argues that when an IP is already established in a single medium, equivalent to video games, extra tales are “nearer to licensing” than what he considers to be true transmedia. And this technique, he provides, is far more difficult.
“The quantity of content material we’ll give away is mind-blowing. Elden Ring is a whole lot of hours. Unknown 9 is 15 hours, however if you wish to undergo all of the transmedia content material, you are getting near 100 hours”
“It takes extra time to start out as a result of you might want to envisage the complete story cycle, the complete lore, all of the content material, and then you definately spend loads of time ensuring every thing is constant,” he says, noting that Reflector employs a full-time story architect to supervise consistency. “Each piece of transmedia is thrilling and may stand on its personal whereas getting people who find themselves discovering the opposite layers excited as they see the complete side [of the story].
“You additionally must put money into groups, expertise, and with scope on the skin as a result of there’s loads of data you possibly can’t have internally. And you might want to put money into advertising and marketing, on prime of the sport and every thing. So the problem is artistic, nevertheless it’s thrilling and it is bringing a extra in-depth gaming expertise. Since you’re not simply doing a recreation. You are exploring the lore inside out and what you place within the recreation is a part of it… I discover it extra wealthy, to be trustworthy, doing it this fashion. It is a problem, however not within the sense that it is troublesome.”
There is at all times a threat to transmedia endeavours: the price of entry. Whereas followers could need to know each side of the overarching story, they could not have the disposable earnings to purchase a online game, three books, a number of graphic novels, and so on. Nonetheless, Hoerdt stays assured that the entry payment will stay low; Awakening is “not going to be a €80 recreation” and a lot of the transmedia content material is free.
“Individuals will discover their method via the universe by way of the sport, and the ebook is [the only other thing] you might want to pay for. To allow them to get into the lore, the narrative, the plot, and the podcast relying on their urge for food and so on.”
He provides: “The quantity of content material we’ll give away is simply mind-blowing. Elden Ring is a whole lot of hours. Unknown 9 is like 15 hours, which is good, however if you wish to undergo all of the transmedia content material, you are in all probability getting near these 80 to 100 hours.”
Hoerdt factors to the actual fact Bandai Namco acquired Reflector as a sign of how invested the writer is in delivering the complete Unknown 9 story, together with all of the transmedia components: “Shopping for an organization is not only a one-off, it is not nearly their first recreation. It is about our plan for the subsequent ten years with 5 video games.”
He provides that the video games won’t solely function the central pillar of the story, but in addition assist to fund the transmedia efforts: “[We’re] anticipating the sport to be the cash maker and canopy a part of these different prices. However it’s not an goal in itself.
“Our purpose is to interact with 3.5 million gamers – we’re not speaking payers, we’re speaking gamers, the individuals who we need to interact on this universe and this IP, after which hopefully this can be profitable sufficient for us to have a second story cycle and a 3rd. That is the long-term imaginative and prescient.”
“Shopping for an organization is not only a one-off, it is not nearly their first recreation. It is about our plan for the subsequent ten years with 5 video games”
With 5 video games deliberate over ten years, it is protected to imagine Reflector has the subsequent decade mapped out for Unknown 9. Hoerdt tells us that every recreation could have a growth cycle of roughly 4 years, which additionally permits for some flexibility based mostly on the response to Awakening and the transmedia components. And there are questions the staff can be frequently asking as they think about learn how to transfer ahead.
“Is [a story] going to usher in extra individuals? Will there be conversion in direction of the sport? Are these individuals extra engaged? Are they turning into ambassadors? What we’ll do is six weeks after launch, we’ll have focus teams and so on, and we’ll get that suggestions on what they need to see.
“We’re not speaking concerning the second iteration, however we have already got pillars and a narrative. We’ll be progressing slowly relying on the suggestions from shoppers – that is tremendous vital.”
For all of the grand ambitions of 5 video games in ten years, mixed with transmedia merchandise telling an overarching story that spans a century, Hoerdt emphasises that Unknown 9: Awakening is Reflector’s debut recreation and the corporate is decided to “underpromise and overdeliver.”
Lastly, it is price taking a step again and how Unknown 9 matches into Bandai Namco’s wider technique. Whereas the writer has established itself within the preventing style with properties like Tekken, motion RPG with Elden Ring, Japanese RPG with the Tales Of sequence, and horror with The Darkish Photos Anthology, Hoerdt believes Unknown 9 is the discharge that can lastly assist the corporate stand out within the extremely aggressive and ever nebulous ‘motion journey’ house.
“We analyse all of the market segments and work out the place we do and do not need to compete, and the most important phase the place we need to compete is action-adventure,” he explains. “There are others we do not need to compete in – we do not need to do first-person shooters or sports activities, as an example, due to the boundaries to entry.
“Unknown 9 and the acquisition of Reflector is to handle this largest market phase. We all know it should take time, and we all know it is a very divided phase – both you’ve got a big recreation that is a {hardware} vendor or in a longtime franchise, or you’ve got video games which might be maybe area of interest, and also you do first try to you alter, you hearken to participant suggestions, and then you definately make your second one higher, and so on.
“Having an motion journey [game] is not solely tackling the most important market phase with the perfect potential gross sales, it is also a really cool software to transmit our model picture and consciousness. And this is what we’re additionally doing after we take into consideration transmedia and cellular.”