With AKB48′s ability to be marketed with just about anything, and Yasushi Akimoto quick to exploit that fact, I’m always surprised when an obvious venue isn’t taken advantage of.
Akimoto is a reserved and calculated marketing genius (or at least this is my impression of him.. he could very well just be an incredibly lucky king of fools), therefore I’m sure he’s very careful in his investments. Having said that, I think he’s generated enough success to where he can take a few more chances. Or at the very least, expand his kingdom.
I know at this point you’re thinking, “what are you talking about? He already takes chances year round.. JKT48, Google+, *insert your fact of choice here*”, what could I possibly mean then? Well..
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| AKB48 STAGE UNLIMITED |
Why the hell hasn’t an AKB48 exclusive dance game come out yet? With over 500 songs and 6,029,319 dance routines, the potential is limitless. I see infinite amounts of hours to be enjoyed from a game of this nature. While the dating games were cool and all, they weren’t exactly what I prefer as a gamer. Not only were they pretty linear dating sims, but they were on the PSP. I’d prefer a setup that involved the PSP being an extra to a PS3 game release. For example, if they created a full fledged dating sim on the PS3 and you were allowed to transfer your current girlfriend to a PSP system for on the go.
It would almost be as if you were actually going on a date with her. Surely Wota would fall deeper down the spiral of degeneration. And I’d be right there with them, tooth brush packed, wide grin in place and a 48 pack of Trojans ready for a night of pretend with my PSP. –I’m so sorry I said that.
Compiling AKS’s work into a game series, that actually utilizes the artistic expression that draws us to AKB to begin with, would be exploiting the easiest and most obvious selling point of the franchise.
Not to mention, the potential sales opportunities! Packaging the game with the next single, or an exclusive single made solely for the game, maybe throwing in the trademark 3 photos. Then perhaps adding an exclusive dance pad and it would surely contend for some of the highest game sales that year. I don’t believe discussing whether or not an AKB item would sell, should even a talking point. We needn’t spend too much time contemplating marketing strategies, it sells itself.
