What "iMPACT!" Will the Videogame Have on TNA?

[Uncle Sam]

This is not a thread for discussing the actual game; go to the videogame section if you want to do that.​

So, the TNA game's being released on September Ninth, I believe. I was just curious as to how this game will effect the company's standing. I seem to remember ECW having a couple of games that didn't seem to effect them to much. WWF and WCW only really started releasing games after they got so big that the companies had to sell the game, if you get me.

What I'm thinking is that this game is going to be selling the company. This means more exposure and, depending on how good the game is, a larger fanbase for TNA. To what extent am I right there? Then there's how the product may change to deal with this. With the frankly ridiculous videogame entrances and Kaz coming back as "Suicide" the only indicators of what's to come, I think I'd be well-advised to get out now.

 

[Tim]

I really don't think the videogame will affect Tna's ratings. Video games aren't that popular, and if the people did like the game they would play the game more, not start watching TNA. I reckon this videogame will just be a waste of money, as it won't help TNA get recognised. When have videogames affected a wrestling company's ratings?

 

[Uncle Sam]

Rarely. But as I said, there's really no other comparable situation to the one TNA's currently in. Videogames certainly aren't a more popular medium than television or books. However, TNA has a great chance of getting their name out in a much less populated medium like videogames, and are one of only two franchises in a certain genre. If you did like the game, you'd at least try and check its origins out, surely?

 

[Tim]

Yes, but how many people would buy it if they doid not know what it was about in the first place? The only people that would buy it and then check out its origins is people that already watched the WWE, but did not know about TNA. I don't really think that people would get turned onto wrestling by playing a videogame, and even if people did it would be a minority.

 

[Crimson Bonez]

I think this would actually help TNA in getting more viewers. Sure most of the buyers would be people who already watch the show, but thats most of the buyers. There will be curious people "Hey what's this? New Wreslting game.. [Turns to the back] Hmm, 6 sided ring... nice graphics, looks decent I'll try it out." I've done that too numerous games that I've bought. You have people that will recognize some good known wreslters on it (Angle, STing, Jarret, Cage, Booker, just to name a few). And others will buy it as an alternative to the WWE game franchise. If the games good, you'll hear people talking about it. Making more people want to get it. When playing the game, some will see how good it is (if it's good), play for a while, see the talent and want to check the show out. I'm not saying they'll get like 3 million more viewers instantly, but I think over time this game will help out TNA. They are doing pretty good advertizment with it on TNA during the wrestlers entrances to have the game entrance on it. I think that's a good idea. But for the game to be coming out in 2 weeks, they haven't really done any advertizement outside of iMPACT. If they do that outside of the the show, they'd sell more. And if the games sells sucessfully (sp), then they'd have more money to do more things. And that could mean more games in the future. Agin, helping out TNA. It may not be an immediate help, but in the long run I think it will. People don't even like TNA, not for their wreslters, but for what they do (too many gimmics and so on), but those people could buy the game as an alternative to the WWE games, and to play as some of their fav. wrestlers. I hear alot "TNA sucks, but AJ Styles and Kurt Angle are the best!" They could buy the game just to want to play as them, and although they might not know it, they're helping the company they say that sucks. But the game would indeed get TNA more exposure, get people to know about it, and may want to check it out to find out "Hey who's this big guy Hernandez jumping over the top rope, can he really do that?" But I do believe that it'd help TNA.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

I can't see how it'll have even the slightest effect. Ok so wrestling fans will buy it. But not all wrestling fans will. It'll mostly be sold to TNA fans. Of which there aren't many. I have no idea if casual fans are going to opt for it. Especially when a WWE game will be out several months later.

None fans certainly aren't going to buy it. Why buy a TNA game with probably two wrestlers you've heard of when you can have a WWE one with a couple more big names.

If people who aren't wrestling fans catch the beginning of iMPACT they're not going to say wow look how good that wrestling game look. They'll just think it's a normal wrestling game.

With the ammount of promotion you'd hope it's a success, but it's really only going to sell mass to people who watch iMPACT. The quality of the game won't come into play at all.

The only thing that might work is the fact that the game highlights Ultimate X. With it being in the game trailers people might be curious to see what it's like for real.

 

[MisterRob]

This is a silly topic. The video game will have absolutely no impact on the ratings of their television show. The only ones who will even know about the game will be wrestling fans, mostly TNA fans, and the only ones who are going to buy it are TNA fans. No one's going to play a wrestling game for any length of time or depth unless they're a wrestling fan, nor is anyone going to watch TNA Impact unless based off of a video game (especially not to any great degree that will effect the ratings in any way).

 

[Blade]

The game is aimed at TNA fans, not gamers. The proof is there, they're advertising way more on Impact than they are during actual commercial breaks.
This marketing means that there won't be any new viewers cause people who don't watch TNA won't know about this game unless they are in fact serious "hardcore" gamers.

With the WWE games, when a new one is released there is usually a tiny, tiny increase in the ratings, but it never lasts. And WWE games are very mainstream in the gaming world so the TNA ratings won't go up at all.

If anything, their ratings will go down due to viewers playing the game rather than watching the tv show

 

[klunderbunker]

I think at this point, the game does make some sense. It's hard to compare it to the ECW games because the companies are in different places. TNA is much stronger financially than ECW was. It's a much more professional looking company and therefore this makes more sense. TNA does need a wider fan base however and this might help them get it. I'll be at least renting it and I'm sure some of us will buy it. If its not insanely priced, maybe some moderate fans that have heard the name will give it a try and get into the product. I don't think its a waste as it should sell moderately well at least, but I'm not expecting a huge reaction.

 

[TripleHHH28]

you guys do know as well on all video game sites it is advertised like IGN.com, and so on. If you look at their upcoming releases the TNA game is on all of the sites. As far as impacting other people, it should not just target TNA fans but the hardcore gamers as well based on that. It's kind of hard to tell whats going to happen but at least they are trying to hit more areas of interest instead of just TV. Video games are a big spot for them to go into...they would also sell more if they would get a hell of a lot more merchandise...and sell their belts as replicas, however they haven't done this yet so not a lot of money has come in.

 

[shalliin]

Okay first, more people play video games at any given time then are watching tv or reading books. There have been more copies of the various smackdown games sold and played since the original Playstation release then anyother series save Final Fantasy. That's over a similar number of games (2 ps one games, then know your role, shut your mouth, here comes the pain, and the sd vs raws 2005-current) That's a total of 9 games exclusive to PS, PS2, and PS3. There there are the various released for the Xbox, gamecube, and other systems. It's likely more people have spent at least 2 hours playing a video game this last week then have watched all the combined wrestling programs.
As for the way the video game will affect TNA itself, I hope it has a positive effect. The chance to play as the characters in TNA is something I for one have long waited for. If it was done correctly, it will have a positive impact and might change casual watchers into dedicated viewers. Yes it's true it isn't likely if you don't already know them that you will find it of interest, but that isn't always going to be the case. I know a lot of people who are casual watchers of WWE, who are addicted to the games. I have owned a copy of every smackdown game that has come out, and have tried every wrestling game on every system that has come out since the original superstar game on the NES way back in the mid 80's. A lot of the best games are the ones out of japan.
SO if the game runs similar in play and control ability then it should have apositive impact, but if it is not done correctly, you could find yourself board with the characters and tuning out of the programming. that's why I'm not as avid a watcher of WWE anymore. They recycle too much of the story lines and bring in too many outdated wrestlers for me to bother with any more.

 

[shalliin]

Think about this, during the Monday night wars and the battles between WWE and WCW, one of the leading factors and most underrated selling points for WWE was that they were producing solid quality video games that fans could play and enjoy with ease, while WCW games were clunky and unwieldy in terms of gameplay and story lines. While WCW might have had more viewers, WWE stayed alive with the various gaming franchises. I also don't think that it's a coincidence that as the WWE has put time away from those fights with WCW, that the overall quality of the games has gone down. Yes the graphics have in a lot of ways improved, and there have been advances in the match types and internet play, there has a been a severe drop in personalization levels and abilities. Hopefully the IMPACT game can do well enough to become a series that will reverse the overall trend in wrestling gaming and start making improvements in the game as more are put out.

 

[My$terio_Fan]

The game will not be able to sell millions and I doubt anyone thinks it will. The game will mostly only be boughten by TNA fans who know about. If anything it might give TNA a little bit of promotion with having the games in stores and in magazines, but nothing "noticeable". Also videogames are huge sellers but this game won't.

 

[tupac4eva2]

video games are extremely popular, announced at E3 that video game industry has taken over the music and movie industrys in terms of sales, but the tna game i dont see it gaining many extra viewers , i really see the people who will buy this game will already be tna fans...

 

[midusone]

I really don't think the videogame will affect Tna's ratings. Video games aren't that popular, and if the people did like the game they would play the game more, not start watching TNA. I reckon this videogame will just be a waste of money, as it won't help TNA get recognised. When have videogames affected a wrestling company's ratings?

Video games aren't that popular? It's a multi-BILLION dollar industry that challenges even Hollywood. To say that a games success will have no effect on ratings of the show is just foolish. BTW if you look around at game sites, this one's starting to pick up some momentum.