Master Chief, Mario and the Mouse
Microsoft's long-awaited Halo 3 comes out next week. One of the fascinating parts of this story is how a single video game can enhance the brand of a company like Microsoft, whose reputation as a consumer entertainment company was weak at the best. Halo made the XBox. And this is not a fluke. Sonic the Hedgehog made Sony gaming. Super Mario brothers made NIntendo.
It's interesting to note that these brands are all still thriving, even though the original games are in the past. The iconic brands of a video game have taken on a life of their own in the digital age. Donkey Kong, Mario and Luigi and even Master Chief will probably be around in some form for decades, maybe even longer. Microsoft is already making plans to merchandise the Halo brand, long after the game is done.
Brands are big business. In the Digital Age, nothing else has as much long-term financial worth as a recognizable brand. Just as the Mouse has made far more money for Disney outside of the original silent films (in 1928), so will these video game brands be the gift that keeps on giving, into the unforeseeable future, on computers that haven't even been thought of yet, invented by scientists who are not even born.
Posted on September 20, 2007
