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The Analyst PrimerEverybody else into the pool...There are a few other classifications of Analysts that are too small to put them into their own class. The first are the Culture Analysts. These are the folks who usually give the games industry a terrible name in the mainstream press. They include people like TV analyst Robert Thompson, director of the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University, and Faith Popcorn, author of the Popcorn Report, who bills herself as America’s Foremost Trend Resource. (I have to admit, sometimes when you run across things like this, it seems like each specific Analyst title belongs to whoever claims it first and can defend it, like some sort of opinion-based game of king of the hill.) These analysts often create news by releasing some shocking statement to the press as one of the conclusions from their most recent study. The academics tend to spend lots of time working on a particular issue, and get their moment in the sun either when they publish or when their area of expertise is the hot topic of the day. The Culture Analysts are looking everywhere for ideas of what is hot, and are in some ways, insatiable consumers of new notions. Therefore, they are worth finding and making friends with. They probably won’t care about your particular title, but if you can feed them good ideas for a while that aren’t directly related to something in your interest, they are much more likely to be willing to listen when you try and pitch them on why what you are doing is representative of the next big trend. Another group that is anointed experts and quoted as analysts is that of the Book Author Analysts. An example is Steven Kent, author of the Ultimate History of Video Games or Johnny Wilson who co-authored a competitive book, High Score. Write a book on a particular subject, and you are golden as a quote source on that area. Authors like Kent and Wilson can get quoted on any area in video games because their books were so broad. If the story is about Microsoft or Nintendo, the authors of books on those companies will get hit first. Book authors are just folks, usually journalists or industry types that went for it. They don’t get pitched on new things nearly as much in that context, but are still part of the group the journalists are likely to ask what is hot at a show. Even if they don’t have a particular story or direct way they can help you, they are still worth spending time to get excited about your stuff. And finally, there are the Industry Luminaries. People like Trip Hawkins or Alex St. John. They’ve been in the industry successfully doing what they do for long enough that their opinion is now consider analysis. They give their opinion with great confidence, do the speaking circuit with a number of the journalists, and give great quote. It is worth trying to get them on your side, but it is very difficult. These guys have both seen and pitched it all. They will smell it coming from miles away and hand you your butt on a platter if you blow it. Almost time to get off the couch…All these classes of individuals share a common thread: they inhabit the speakers lounge at conferences and get asked “What’s hot?” by all the really interesting press. The best way to know how to deal with them is to remember where they come from. Financial Analysts are statistics and numbers people who need to go back to the office and show how much they understand the games business. Don’t give them tips, it gives them nightmares. Just help them “get it.” The Retail Analysts care a lot more what you are going to do to make the product sell than how cool it is. The Trend Analysts are reporters at their core, with a few statistics people thrown in. Don’t worry about the stats people, you can’t influence them anyway. The rest are basically reporters that get to state their opinion about how things are going to unfold. They want as much scoop as you can give them, but they have good BS detectors. The Game Industry Analysts are the ones who you can not only swear in front of, but will think you’re being a suit if you don’t. They are gameheads, or they wouldn’t be doing this and do care about how cool your game seems. They also get pitched constantly, and have good BS detectors. They also are dependant on you and companies like yours for the advertising that keeps them alive. Don’t rub their face in that, since they are struggling with the age old separation of editorial content and advertising, but it does mean that they want to see you do well and make a successful game. The more of those out there, the more ad dollars in the pot. The most important thing to remember about analysts is that their influence almost never comes as a direct result of a single conversation with them. They need to be nutured and tended so when the moment comes and they are asked what they think, it will be something good for you. And that’s what’s important in the final analysis.
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