Nowadays, it is common to see a large amount of user-generated content (UGC) of games on social platforms. The UGC content has a positive influence on promoting games, increasing and maintaining engaging interaction with players. Nintendo released a game called Super Mario Maker 2 in 2019, which has a level-creation system. This level-creation system provides a great opportunity for Nintendo to encourage its fans to produce diverse UGC content.
Nintendo UK initiated a simple sharing design event on social media to invite players to share their designs of levels by publishing a tweet on Twitter with specified hashtags. This event was based on UGC content, providing different opportunities and benefits for the brand itself, the creators of the UGC and consumers of this game.
Opportunities and Benefits for Nintendo
Undoubtedly, the UGC content helps Nintendo to get more online exposure and reach out to wider potential consumers. Through the spread of UGC content on the internet, Super Mario Maker 2 got loads of attention from people who love creativity and endless possibility. The sharing design event on Twitter was merely a starting point and the fans of Super Mario Maker 2 would spontaneously continue uploading and sharing their designs on every possible social media platform.
More importantly, Nintendo gathered fans’ ideas and utilised the UGC content as a marketing tool to promote its product without actually paying any advertising fees, which accords with Curran, Fenton and Freedman’s statement. They pointed out that the UGC content is freely used by companies who would have had to pay for similar content in previous years. Additionally, according to gaming industry news, Nintendo would use the UGC content as a part of the components of the Super Mario Maker 2 advertisements, stimulating consumers to create their own levels and play, which was a vital factor that drove this game to hugely succeed.
Opportunities and Benefits for UGC Content Creators
Most of the UGC content creators are fans of this game, and the biggest reason why they chose to post their content was simply that they would like to share their own contributions and creations of the game with other players in the game community. They wanted other players to like and enjoy playing their versions of the game, which would make them feel proud. Tapscott and Williams called this kind of people active ‘prosumers’, who are the consumers of a product as well as the producer of the recreation of this product. Another reason for this type of UGC content creators to participate in this sharing design event was they might have a chance to win the Super Mario merchandises, which was valuable and priceless for Super Mario fans.
Except for Super Mario Maker 2’s fans, there was also another type of UGC content creator trying to post their designs and get views and likes. Unlike those active ‘prosumers’ discussed above, this type of UGC content creator tried to follow the popular trend to get views and ultimately make money. As Garnham indicated, the audience (here refers to people who watched posts and videos relating to the game) is the chief commodity in the cultural industries because their statistics would be sold to advertisers.
No matter which type of UGC content creators they were, they all got opportunities and benefits from this UGC content event
Opportunities and Benefits for Consumers
Compared with the former two groups, normal consumers seemed to have fewer opportunities and benefits in this sharing design event. The UGC content extended the game hours for consumers, which made them feel like they got extra content to play. In addition, the UGC content gathered various ideas from all over the world, which provided more possibilities and fun for the game.
Conclusion
Although these three parties all obtained various opportunities and benefits, Nintendo could be seen as the biggest winner of this event. Thanks to the UGC content, the event can be seen as a cost-effective marketing tool.