Corporate sponsorship/ item-branded revenue

edited January 2023 in General

Hey there,

With the recent sunset of the humble Quantum Capsule, it crossed my mind if the team at Niantic have or, are considering any future sponsorship propositions?

I imagine if a proposal was brought forward to fund a small team of 2-4 ( initially) employees to pilot a so called business development team, perhaps we could see a greater stream of branded items, in order to fund additional resources and functionality.

Think big too!

eg. Tesla Powercubes, FedEX drones, Lockwood Keylockers, Sony Link Amps ( link buds ) etc

cheers 🍻

Comments

  • The reason why there's not been any new ones in five years is they aren't worth it, and the items tend to destablize the game.

  • mortuusmortuus ✭✭✭✭✭

    I asume its hard getting any sponsors for this game today.... so many players quit over years

  • MirthmakerMirthmaker ✭✭✭✭

    Time for a promotion to do something that gives Ingress the notoriety as LoL or something in that ballpark?

  • It could be a great opportunity to get more players on board.

    Eg. Elon Musk has a large following, literally millions of people are always interested in what he’s doing next, if the hypercube was rebranded to the Tesla Cube, it could be a handy marketing initiative financially and to grow our player base.

  • VenomousToadVenomousToad ✭✭✭✭✭

    Every year that goes by there are fewer and fewer players. I don't think anyone would want to sponsor anything with them. There's not much roi to work with. It's why they have other games they are releasing. Ingress ain't gonna make the money.

  • GrogyanGrogyan ✭✭✭✭✭

    When Ingress was the big kid on the block, it made excellent reasons for advertising other companies.


    I'd like to see it happen again because it game Ingress more exposure to new prospective players

  • joecainjoecain ✭✭✭✭✭
  • gazzas89gazzas89 ✭✭✭✭✭

    From a niantic standpoint, they would love it, from any business standpoint, why would they? This isn't a growing game, it's a game that's stagnated and is now in decline through lack of player retention, aging player base and inability to entice new players in (amd that's taking out the cheating and horror stories, as they are in pokemon go as well, but don't effect sponsorship as much due to the franchise).

  • Otrera35Otrera35 ✭✭✭✭

    Wishful thinking! Why would a business promote a game that encourages aggressive behaviors like stalking? This game is simply a liability risk. I don't believe that new and prospective players would want to be subjected to aggressive behaviors from both new and old bad actors in this game for the sake of "competition."

  • Ingress needs to show growth first before any company would consider it worthwhile advertising with.

    And most of the sponsorships were hard to justify. No one opened a bank account because of MUFGs, or hooked up their internet because of Ultra Links. ITO maybe, because of the drink and portal vending machines, and back in the Jamba Juice days maybe, but it's a hard thing to justify value for a company.

  • mortuusmortuus ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited January 2023

    what they need do is advertise the game, but they arent, question is why ? social media is free to use yet they arent using that and maybe they could look at twitch where many gamers are... but again seems nothing happens... lack of q1 events ofc the game isnt gonna grow itself.

  • MoogModularMoogModular ✭✭✭✭✭

    Initially, they suspended any corporate sponsorships around 2018 because of focus on Prime. 5 years later...I still think the approach was pretty good. It seemed to really feel like it was incorporated into the gameplay and not some "after the fact" thought. I would enjoy any future sponsorships in the same approach.

    I think the biggest issue is if Niantic is wanting to continue with this method. It doesn't seem like it.

  • MirthmakerMirthmaker ✭✭✭✭
    edited January 2023

    In your example, four years ago maybe. That window has closed. But yes someone who doesn't **** "toxic belongings" with social media influence, absolutely. K-pop hero?

  • GrogyanGrogyan ✭✭✭✭✭

    Yes Niantic needs to advertise Ingress more.


    Citation required about no one opened an account with MUFG.

  • TheKingEngineTheKingEngine ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited January 2023

    I wonder...

    Now that Ingress team did not even want to make money by making and selling the obviously welcomed Lunar New Year Medal series...

    why as players bothering thinking about how Niantic could gain more revenue from Ingress Prime game? They are not interested.

  • Great feed back all round… I appreciate the comments and critique.

    At the end of the day it comes down to economics and the right attitude/ frame of mind. Analytically speaking, there’s no wrong responses. It’s all about everyone’s attitude to grow the game.

    Just to bring things back on point, if we do nothing, then that’s going to be it.

    Many of us are all experts about pointing out what’s wrong and the challenges we face from both an agent journey and from a Niantic journey.

    If we start looking at potential solutions, that’s when the positive spark starts to fire and people, as well as organisations start to open their minds.

    Dear Niantic, get a business development team happening, and get it going this year.

  • tp235tp235 ✭✭✭✭

    I am not saying that all of them are, but I know people who opened dollar accounts with MUFG America or changed their cell phone contracts to Softbank in order to receive amenities.

    Also, as for Ito En, the company probably sees a certain value in it, as it has increased awareness of its disaster preparedness vending machines.

    SoftBank also has a cooperative relationship with Niantic in terms of technology development.

    Therefore, that is indeed your narrow insight.

  • MoogModularMoogModular ✭✭✭✭✭

    I mean the sponsorships did make me aware of the companies. AXA does insurance, SoftBank does banking (what a surprise!) in Japan, MUFG as well but it's crazy to think they are a subsidiary of Mitsubishi, Lawson as something like 7-Eleven in Japan, ITO EN with green tea.

  • FYI Softbank is a communications company that has no financial trading aspects. MUFG was the bank with Union Bank as it's subsidiary.


  • Haha I’ve been to Japan many times, I was always going to 7 eleven or, buying a Docomo SIM card, plus drinking oishi green tea or some other promo beverage that’s not loaded with sugar.

    Since I started playing ingress, I thought ‘ Hey… Lawson! I might try one of their Katsu sandwiches and pair it with an ito-en beverage!

    At the Airport, I’ll buy a SoftBank travel sim too!

    The point is that we have a player base, it’s much easier to pitch to major corporations with 500k players compared to pitching an idea, with the intention to generate 500k players, what ever the numbers may be.

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