In the past, being a fan of video games was often determined by a simple question: what exactly did one play? Judging by recent statements from Sega CEO Shuji Utsumi, these days are gradually becoming a thing of the past, and the industry is beginning to look at the concept of “fan” in a completely different way.
In an interview Utsumi spoke about the unexpected dynamics of sales of merch for the Yakuza series. According to him, from 60 to 70% of buyers of souvenirs for this series are women, and many of them have never launched any of the games.
The Yakuza series shows exceptional results in merchandising, with 60-70% of buyers being women. They became fans of the world of Yakuza, its story and characters, by watching our YouTube channel and broadcasts of popular YouTubers. And among them there are many people who have never actually played the game.
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This statement looks curious against the backdrop of the long-standing stereotype that video games are a male territory, and the female audience has nothing to do with gaming. In fact, the industry has been demonstrating the opposite for a long time, and the rise in popularity of streams and walkthrough videos has only expanded the circle of people who are immersed in gaming universes without a controller in their hands.
Utsumi went further and stated that Sega counts even those who do not play the company’s titles as fans and “gamers” if they are interested in the universe through other formats. Transmedia helps increase entry points and touchpoints for people who might be interested in intellectual property, he said.
Even people who have never played games are considered fans and “gamers.” The power of transmedia is that it increases entry points and touch points for people interested in IP. In some cases, their engagement is even higher than that of fans who actually play the games.
The word “transmedia” essentially describes merchandising, films, comics and other related content. Video games remain Sega’s foundation, but the company is actively leveraging that foundation to build additional sales and advertising opportunities around it.
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Utsumi gave an illustrative example directly in an interview, explaining the logic of modern merchandising using a specific detail from the game about Ichiban Kasuga.
For example, if there are foreign users who are interested in the scene where a character eats gyudon in Yakuza, then even gyudon can become merch. I think this is the essence of modern merchandising.
It turns out that now the list of possible merch officially includes dishes from Japanese cuisine. It remains to be seen whether Sega decides to release branded bread in the Ichiban style – especially since in the series itself, such food has more than once become part of the plot and visual gags.
