It was commissioned in 2004 by UK publisher Eidos, the then owners of the Core Design studio and had an original street date of Q1 2006. However, Sci purchased Eidos in 2005 and it was decided that Sci/Eidos would focus on outside studios for future projects and the studio was put on sale.
Rebellion purchased Core in 2006, and as part of agreement, Freerunning and all its material rights became Rebellion property. The development team has spent the last year polishing and fine tuning the game in line with consumer expectation of 2nd generation PSP titles.
Rebellion awarded the project to Reef Entertainment and together with Play Connection and Character Communications, launched the game across Europe in March 2007.
During the period between Nov 06 & Mar 07, Reef Entertainment and Play Connection finalised sales and distribution agreements with major publishers within the 6 main European markets.
To facilitate timings and maintain the brand saliency, Character developed a range of press and POS concepts - ‘Mind the Gap’. The campaign reinforced the latent awareness of what the sport of Free Running was and its extreme sport credentials. The campaign was used as a basis for each markets communications (depending on budget).
The media used emphasized the environment the sport was situated in hence Outdoor and Ambient.
In addition, Press packs, including screens and videos was supplied and all European communications was managed centrally.
Character worked with the City of Rotterdam in the Netherlands within their ‘City of Architecture’ project on what we believe to be the world’s largest gameplay projection. As the game is an inner-urban sport, the brand fit was perfect.
To initially introduce the game, PSP pods were set up at the Ahoy stadium where the latest urban sports were presented to the youths of Rotterdam. From there, the local Free Running teams and the public played the game to win a ‘mystery prize.’
The prize was to play the game against the Nedlloyd building at the heart of Rotterdam.
The City of Rotterdam was gifted with over 2 hours of gameplay on a 50ft+ screen, visible for 5 miles.
The European launch was received with positive results.
For the UK, the game went to No. 5 in the National PS2 chart and currently resides at No. 7 (W/c 21st May). The PSP charted at No. 9 in the PSP chart. At independent retailers, it charted at No. 3 for PS2.
The positioning, target demographic and creative all ensured sell-through across Europe and positive word-of-mouth.
To conclude, the launch success of Free Running was depend on a number of issues:
Awareness of the sport itself.
Close support for European partners in regards to PR and product information.
The marketing direction was dictated by the timing of communications and their focus thereof.
Marketing budgets at that time did not allow mainstream communications of the game (TV/Outdoor) so the initial generation of awareness was left to mainstream media such as the Casino Royale and District 13 movies. These popular films helped to highlight the sport and showed how exciting it was.
The first burst of communications coincided with the release of Casino Royale and was picked up within all game reviews and coverage. Support to each market was paramount and all parties enjoyed day-to-day consultation and advice leading up to their launch dates.
In all, Free Running has delivered an innovative and fulfilling product to a market NOW fully aware of how exciting the sport of Parkour/Free Running is.