Broken Promises Marketing. Relations, Communication Strategies, and Ethics of Video Game Journalists and Developers
The Case of Cyberpunk 2077
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12804646 |
|---|---|
| Authors | P Siuda (0000-0002-1644-5915, Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz, corresponding author), Dariusz Reguła (0009-0008-1399-6210, Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz), Jakub Majewski (0000-0002-3183-8119, Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz), Anna Kwapiszewska (0009-0003-1482-1539, Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 19 |
| Issue | 5 |
| Pages | 650-669 |
| Publication date | 2023-05-09 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Games and Culture (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1555-4120 • E-ISSN: 1555-4139 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/15554120231173479 |
| OpenAlex | W4376113653 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 19 |
Cyberpunk 2077 's negative reception stood in striking contrast to the pre-release hype around the video game built by the producer's marketing campaign and the gaming press. This study examines a selection of gaming websites, to consider their pre-release Cyberpunk 2077 coverage and the discrepancies between these early reports and the released game. Using inductive conventional content analysis, framed as thematic analysis, 148 press articles were investigated divided into nine subcategories, and three categories. These articles told an almost exclusively positive narrative, promising great performance and features. The uncritical reception of publisher information by journalists allows the authors to propose the notion of “broken promises marketing”. The article contextualizes this term in the gaming ecosystem, arguing that over-optimistic marketing is amplified through features of the online press ecology. Finally, the results are considered from a business ethics perspective, with a set of communications recommendations for both journalists and game publishers
Advertising · Art · Business · Game design · Game Developer · Game studies · Literature · Marketing communication · Media studies · Multimedia · Narrative · Narratology · Perspective (graphical · Political science · Public relations · Qualitative research · Set (abstract data type · Social science · Sociology · Thematic analysis · Video game · Visual arts · Computer Science · Digital Games and Media · Digital Marketing and Social Media · Gender, Feminism, and Media
| Citations per year | 0.5 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2024 - 2024 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |