D1

D1- Justified Release Date

The release date for my game will be the 17^th December, 2017. With the release being later on in the year, I am provided with adequate time to work on the production and ensure it is at its best before being exposed to the public. I decided to make my release date near to Christmas as I expect that people may be interested in purchasing the game as a Christmas present, which will increase the sales rate by being distributed at such a time in the year. It is also noted how no other games are scheduled to be released at around the same time as my game, meaning it is less likely for the focus to be taken away from it and so it is easier for my game to become more popular than others at this time.
As my release date is not until December, I will ensure that the time I have before this date will be spent on clearing up any legal or ethical issues which may arise after release. For instance, the time I spend may be on contingency and to rid of any problems I may have at this late time in the production process.  The marketing Team involved will also be provided with enough time to build up the hype for my game, meaning that they will gain many potential buyers attention and get them interested in the game in the lead up to the release date. This is similar to the hype created for GTA 5, which was heavily rumoured before the release date was even mentioned, meaning the hype was developed to fever pitch and as a result become one of the bestselling games of all time. I will use this idea when working with my video game and hope that a similar success is reached.

The budget for my game is $60,000. This is quite a high budget as it is understandable that feature such as the graphics in my game need to be of a high standard in order for my game to be rated positively by users.
It is clear how there has recently been a large increase in real-life simulation games when looking at games from the previous 5 years. Such examples consist of The Sims and Virtual Families. A clear marketing technique which I may use to publicise my game is through the use of 'you tubers'. These are people who rate several games online regularly and so if they were to review my game positively, the popularity would immediately rise.