Atari's Jaguar marketing viewed as a failure...

[Clint Thompson]

It's been said over and over that Atari failed miserably at marketing the Jaguar... but I question as to how? Maybe I consider 'marketing' the Jaguar different than others. I realize the Jaguar wasn't at every single retail chain in America but does that really matter? Someone who knows which game system they want will do whatever it takes to get it, even if it requires you to drive a few extra miles and to a different store completely. (in my case, about 25 miles for the Jaguar CD) Isn't that with everything in life that we truly want though, from waiting an extra few days to going out of your way completely, I would think we all at some point in time have done that very thing.

 

Outside of the inital launch of the Jaguar being somewhat rather lowkey, where I had only ever caught a few commercials of Tempest 2000 running, a single Venture ad showing the unit in the video games section and several magazines talking about Atari's new God-like 64-bit machine, I'd always noticed some sort of advertising or blips of Jaguar's presecence in almost every gaming-related magazine from that time forward. Maybe for me, that helped fuel my curiosity and desire of the machine - not knowing very much about it from the beginning at all. I was in before all the negative criticism had really taken place so that could have made all the difference as well. Though even looking back now, there's no way I wouldn't have ended up with a Jaguar at some point during its production cycle, it's just what I wanted.

 

With all their goofy 'connect the dots' and 'can you spot the elephant' ads (which mind you, seem far funnier as an adult than as a kid looking over a serious gaming console) to a postcard in the mail every quarter showing the latest games or upcoming hardware (specifically the Jaguar CD), they appeared to keep up with it - remember the thumbs up ad? Then you had the slightly excessive but extensive JagWare catalog covering almost the entire clothing line and lifestyle necessities from pens to bags branded with the Jaguar logo itself -literally something for everyone. Ubisoft was cool enough to send out stickers of Rayman to anyone who requested them - though I admit it didn't quite convince me of really wanting the game at the time because it came off as cutesy or more kidsy of a game -though playing later would reveal just how much of a showcase title it turned out to be for the Jaguar. Then there was the USA Up-All-Night giveaway and even the terrible Cave infomercials, so it seems Atari made a valiant attempt... or at least in my eyes.

 

Toad Computers was massive, which was basically the retail front of Atari and Jaguar itself, which only fueled things for mail order goodness with all the catalogs they sent out that had you drooling over Atari's latest and upcoming offerings. If you were on the early launch bandwagon, you got to redeem your proof of purchase for a free controller and choice of Wolfenstein 3D or some other game (which escapes me at the time, wasn't it Raiden?) - I chose Wolfenstein 3D of course. Further backed by Atari Explorer Online which would give you constant updates and interviews with developers, upcoming hardware and games, etc., proved that Atari had other outlets aiding the push of their 64-bit machine... but even with all of that, I still read today how they failed at marketing when all in all, I've never in my life felt more connected to a company because of everything that had come across my path during its lifespan than I did with Atari. Maybe that's part of the reason the Jaguar has always held a special place in my life.. who knows.

 

I do know that no other company has sent me a letter signed by the president himself with a printout of upcoming games and other cool freebies when asking about game info. - maybe it was because at that time they were understaffed and small but to me it just really stood out.

[Willard]

I don't think marketing had a lot of material to work with. They pushed the fact that the hardware was powerful and that the price was a bargain considering. One problem was the good games were slow to come and there were hardly any games at all the first year on the market. Marketing did a good job with launch hype and padding the slow first year with a lot of previews in magazines but they were never really able to say "all these exciting games are available now!" Kids arent usually that patient And a lot of games people were waiting for never even came out.

 

I also think owning more than one console is now more common than it was in the past (in '94 I don't think collecting systems and games was even considered a hobby, you were just a packrat ) So the jaguar really had to convince you to move on from your SNES, Genesis, NES, Turbografx .etc. Maybe if the Jaguar started with the library it ended with it may have been a better contender, but with the Jaguar you never really had an abundance of exciting new games to choose from.

[Clint Thompson]

My sister got the SNES the same time I got the Jaguar for Xmas in 1993 so it wasn't moving on for us as much as it was living the best of both worlds - that and me lucking out on even getting the machine to begin with. Naturally, I was more compelled to play Mario Karts with her than she was to try playing Cybermorph or Skiing and Snowboarding with me. Actually, I don't think she ever really did play the Jaguar much. Flip Out was a hit with the girlfriend at the time and she even beat that game on multiple occasions. Ultra Vortek was definitely the most played game amongst friends. Entire evenings were dedicated to just going back and forth between the group of 3 or 4 friends...

[+SabertoothRetro]

IMHO the problem with Atari's marketing for the Jaguar was that the games didn't match up with the numbers and image they were promoting. If the earliest launch titles had the "next gen" quality of the later games, it may have worked. You can't tout 4 times the power and launch with Raiden, Dino Dudes and Trevor McFur. Other games like Checkered Flag and Club Drive were horribly implemented and didn't look or play nearly as good as Road Rash or Need for Speed on the 32 bit 3DO. The good games came (that's why we're all here) but if you are going to market by numbers, you have to back it up. Because they talked about the power of the system so much, Atari made the Jaguar an easy target for gaming mags when the half assed games were pushed out the door.

Edited December 18, 2014 by atariLBC

[Austin]

Some of the print ads were hilarious IMO, like the "Can you spot the elephant?" ad where it shows this huge elephant hiding behind a stick. That one in particular will always be a favorite of mine.

 

Marketing wise, I think it's safe to say the whole "64-bit" thing wasn't a wise idea though. Based on the software library it just left the system open to [deserved] bashing because it was misleading. The humorous print ads I mentioned above though were funny from an imagery perspective and they have stuck with me all these years later.

 

As far as the console not being in every store (or even many stores, heh), sure, some dedicated individuals may have wanted it enough to make road trips for it, but I don't think that's how the average/casual game purchaser works, especially when kids, parents and holidays are involved. Example: little Johnny wants a Jaguar, but it's only available in the next state over and so he gets a Sega Genesis instead because it's easy for Mom and Dad to buy, it's cheaper and it's what the store clerk recommends (Mom and Dad don't know any better).

 

I think availability was definitely an issue for the system and it may have done at least a little bit better had it been easier to get. For me locally, my parents bought gaming items for my brother and I from K-Mart and Best Buy primarily but the Jaguar wasn't available there for us. Funco Land was far away at the time (not like now where Gamestop is seemingly on every street corner). I actually wanted a Jaguar back when it was new but there was no way my parents were going to mail order it and if they couldn't find it in our general vicinity it just wasn't going to happen. I had received a SNES they purchased for me the same year the Jag was released so that didn't help the case either (at the time my parents were very strict on how many consoles we had in the house, like I'm sure many parents were at the time).

[Lost Dragon]

From a UK perspective:I put the question to Darryl Still (then Atari UK's marketing Manager) about what could of been done differently regarding marketing of the Jaguar in Europe, which i'll post up in a moment, but even with the very limited funds Atari had (in comparison with Sony etc) here in UK there were at least a lot of double page magazine adverts (AVP in particular, along with the 'Let The Games Begin' one and the 'Biggest Games This Christmas' advert'.

 

But pushing the whole '64 Bit aspect' in hindsight really was a rod of their own making and by god did the UK press turn around and pick up said stick and beat them with it.

 

 

The whole 'bittage' thing worked for Sega with the Mega Drive as games looked/sounded far better than what we could have expected from the 8 Bit consoles like the NES and MS, but with the Jaguar suffering so many ports from 16 Bit systems, plus creaky old games like Raiden, the press had a field day, as this simply was'nt what they expected from '64-Bit Gaming'.

[Lost Dragon]

'Q.from myself: If you could handle the Jaguar P.R campaign all over again, other than asking for more funds and better games, what would you do differently and how do you feel Atari USA handled the Jaguar situation from day 1?

 

Darryl Still:For me it was all about supply. I think we did very well building demand on limited funds and had a decent enough catalogue of games. The top titles, like Alien vs. Predator had a 1 to 1 console to cartridge attach rate and there was enough there to tide people over so we could focus on a building few more peachy triple A’s if we’d had the user base. The key was, we just did not get enough consoles built into boxes for the first Christmas. If we had done so, I think we’d have got better buy in from EA and the other major players with regards to doing Jag versions of their titles early the following year. We had almost been too successful on the PR front, but by the time we failed to supply initial demand, and people moved onto their second choice, we’d screwed the pooch!'

[Bill Loguidice]

I agree with a lot of what has been said here. While the marketing was hardly spectacular, I don't think it particularly hurt the Jaguar's cause. What hurt was the software, both volume (including consistent/regular delivery of new titles) and quality. Without those two factors in place, it's hard to sell many units. I also agree that for all its talk of power, there was little ever shown that clearly demonstrated said power from a casual glance. When you're competing with late generation, high budget 16-bit titles, those deficiencies simply wouldn't cut it at that time.

[JAGUAR]

I think Atari burned too many bridges in the industry from the crash in the early 80s until the Jaguars time in the early to mid 90s. Most gaming magazines in 1993-1995 did not encourage readers to buy a jaguar. they were busy hyping the mainstream companies and systems, mainly snes and genesis, cus that's where the installed base was and the money etc. jaguar was ahead of its time as far as technology. and it was even priced low. but the industry did not trust Atari because many in the industry had bad memories of Atari as far as sales and support. Same thing with Sega. over extended themselves, burned bridges and even though dreamcast rocked just like jaguar rocked, the industry black balled them. pissed off the wrong high ups in gaming industry. so when you read the magazines, all you hear about is "jaguar is ok, but just wait for playstation and Saturn!" or "dreamcast is ok, but just wait for ps2, xbox and gamecube!" greed killed the jag and dreamcast. greed of the game makers only looking to make games on systems they could make the most money on...

 

the other thing is, jaguar cd was released way too late. should have been out a year earlier in sept '94. and it should have been priced 100 and not 150.

[Isgoed]

Back in those days I read the UK CVG magazine, despite living in Holland.

 

In my hometown it was one of the best videogame magazines to buy.

There was lots of news, previews and advertising for the Atari Jaguar, as for the Lynx.

 

I've only seen a Jaguar console and games being sold in a big toyshop once, with Wolfenstein 3D running.

The shop owner told me that he was fed up with Atari constantly changing the saleprices of their products.

 

Few years later a big toyshop chain (Intertoys) bought Atari's supply stock after their exit of the videogame market.

It was then that Jaguar consoles and games appeared "in public" since Intertoys had/has many shops spread across the country.

Edited December 18, 2014 by Isgoed

[Agent X]

In particular, the first year that the Jaguar was on the market was just plain abysmal. There were only 10 games released in 12 months (that's a rate of less than one game per month). Games were delayed for multiple months. Despite the lengthy delays, several of the early Jaguar games were still very disappointing (e.g. Club Drive, Checkered Flag, Kasumi Ninja) or came off as slightly tweaked 16-bit leftovers. The software situation improved after a while, but first impressions are often lasting. The damage to the system's reputation was already done, and was irreparable in many gamers' eyes.

Even to the end, Atari continued to bang the "64-bit" drum, which was a mistake in my opinion. Techinically, there's nothing "misleading" about advertising the system as "64-bit", but the casual consumer didn't understand what this meant. They didn't view the majority of Jaguar games as being noticeable improvements over what was available on other 16-bit systems (Genesis and SNES) or early 32-bit systems (3DO and the 32X add-on). The release of Saturn and PlayStation gave us "lowly" 32-bit systems which were actually more powerful than the 64-bit Jaguar.

As soon as Saturn and PlayStation arrived, Atari should have immediately stopped force-feeding "64-bit" into every aspect of their marketing and advertising. Instead, they should have simply promoted the Jaguar as "a great system with great games". Compared to CD-based 32-bit systems, the Jaguar was an affordable and relatively durable cartridge-based system with no moving parts. It's kid-friendly, and easy to hook up and use. It was finally starting to get a few really great games. They should have brought the games to the forefront.

At a time when Saturn and PlayStation were new and unproven, with tiny game libraries, Atari should have simply let the games speak for themselves. Instead, they chose largely to call attention to "64-bit", causing everyone to focus on hardware tech specs--a battle that Atari could no longer win. This contributed heavily to the system's downfall.

[Bill Loguidice]

At a time when Saturn and PlayStation were new and unproven, with tiny game libraries, Atari should have simply let the games speak for themselves. Instead, they chose largely to call attention to "64-bit", causing everyone to focus on hardware tech specs--a battle that Atari could no longer win. This contributed heavily to the system's downfall.

 

 

While the Saturn launch in the US was bungled with just a few buggy titles, the PS1 launch by contrast was masterfully executed with a large, generally high quality launch line-up. There was no window once the PS1 launched.

 

As was stated/implied earlier in this thread, myself and others believe that the Jaguar had to execute early on in its first year to have made any difference. The hardware never sold and never really gained any momentum thanks to how badly that first year was botched in terms of getting enough software out, on top of the fact that much of the software that did was comparatively underwhelming.

[Lost Dragon]

Hell, if Atari had 3X the marketing budget they had, 2X the stocks avaiable for launch, long term i honestly do not see anything really changing in terms of the Jaguar's fortunes.You'd of had to have had the hardware bugs ironed out, so many developers convinced that this time, Atari really had learnt lessons from the A8/ST/Lynx era's and it would be in their best interests to develop exclusive games, designed with Jaguar hardware's strengths in mind, rather than just port your MD/Amiga code to the Jaguar and be done with it.

Plus Atari would of had to have had a real sense of focus and not knee-jerk respond to what 3DO/Saturn and PS1 were doing and try and get polygon-heavy Jaguar games out there with lots of texture-mapping, fancy lighting effects etc.

People like myself bought Jaguar on day 1 because we believed in games like Tempest 2000, AVP, Freelancer, things which were only on Jaguar and we'd played nothing like on MD or SNES.

[Lost Dragon]

Hell, for all the hype that Gamesmaster preview of Freelancer on Jaguar CD created within me, to this bloody day, i've no idea just how well it actually ran, if those were even 'real shots' in terms of in-game footage, they might have been mocked up for P.R reasons for all i know.I've never seen even a rolling demo of it, or heard anyone say they played an early version of it, yet developers say it was fair way into completition when it was switched to PS1.It might have played like an utter dog for all i know, ditto bloody Space Junk which was rolled out of Gamesmaster TV when they did a brief look at Atari's Falcon.

 

It was Atari's inability to deliver exclusive, killer-app titles in anything like the numbers the Jaguar needed that killed it's chances stone dead, not lack of units at launch or limited funds for TV advertising.It simply lacked THE GAMES people wanted to play.

[Agent X]

 

While the Saturn launch in the US was bungled with just a few buggy titles, the PS1 launch by contrast was masterfully executed with a large, generally high quality launch line-up. There was no window once the PS1 launched.

 

As was stated/implied earlier in this thread, myself and others believe that the Jaguar had to execute early on in its first year to have made any difference. The hardware never sold and never really gained any momentum thanks to how badly that first year was botched in terms of getting enough software out, on top of the fact that much of the software that did was comparatively underwhelming.

 

I agree with all of this. In fact, I made a similar point about the Jaguar's first year lineup. A lot of that could also be attributed to buggy hardware, poor development tools, and difficulty in attracting good third-party developers. That's why we cannot just blame marketing for all of the system's problems.

 

Also, you're right that PlayStation had an impressive launch. The US launch of the systems had 10 games on day one--the same number of games that took Atari a full year to amass. I think Atari did have a small window of opportunity a little before the US launch (knowing what was coming), but they squandered their opportunities and insisted on making their marketing thrust "64-bit vs. 32-bit" instead. Again, the problems are far deeper than marketing alone, but (considering the topic of this post) their misguided marketing message did them no favors.

[Bill Loguidice]

 

I agree with all of this. In fact, I made a similar point about the Jaguar's first year lineup. A lot of that could also be attributed to buggy hardware, poor development tools, and difficulty in attracting good third-party developers. That's why we cannot just blame marketing for all of the system's problems.

 

Also, you're right that PlayStation had an impressive launch. The US launch of the systems had 10 games on day one--the same number of games that took Atari a full year to amass. I think Atari did have a small window of opportunity a little before the US launch (knowing what was coming), but they squandered their opportunities and insisted on making their marketing thrust "64-bit vs. 32-bit" instead. Again, the problems are far deeper than marketing alone, but (considering the topic of this post) their misguided marketing message did them no favors.

 

You're absolutely right though about the 64-bit thing. They did keep pushing that idea even when it was clear that didn't make one iota of difference in comparison to the competition. It's like, are you going to believe what I SAY or what you SEE? Most people believed what they saw. The 64-bit angle should have been abandoned once the next generation of systems started to hit.