????Michael Pachter, a gaming analyst with Wedbush, points out that Angry Birds didn't invent the idea of marketing a game character: "Traditionally you see it most when they make a movie out of a game, like Resident Evil," he says. But that was a console game, and it's difficult not to think of Angry Birds -- still the most popular iPhone app ever -- as the originator when it comes to app-specific games and recognizable in-game characters. (Movie studios have also had a long, lucrative relationship with characters that could be turned into licensing cash machines.)
????Indeed, Leigh Alexander, Editor-at-large of game-developer web site Gamasutra, points directly to Angry Birds as the leader of a new trend. "I do think they [ZeptoLab] saw what Angry Birds was doing and thought, 'How can we leverage this brand across different media?' And I expect most games will now be designed with a view toward making an iconic character that can be made into a figure. That Cut the Rope character was developed very carefully and in a calculated way, with the intention of marketing it in the long term."
????By splashing Om Nom onto clothing, toys, merchandise, and many other things that are not games, the company may risk overexposure. Pachter doesn't believe Cut the Rope runs that risk yet, but says, "Angry Birds does. They're in pistachio ads, they had a Rio version with a movie—they're every place. These guys aren't." Alexander, meanwhile, says that the people who could conceivably be annoyed by seeing the character everywhere likely just won't care. "The people who play games seriously aren't going to be affected by mainstream merchandise," she says, "while the kind of people who get obsessed with such apps, they'll go for it. Mainstream audiences love garbage. Think of all the people who went as an Angry Bird for Halloween."
????Asked about whether Angry Birds has been a model for the process they've begun, Lyalin is cagey. "Yes and no," he says. "This stuff, it's not just like all mobile games do the same. Each one is different. And people tell us all the time, 'Oh, hey, why don't you just do what Angry Birds did,' but why would we do the exact same products as those guys did? We have a different brand." Indeed, they have a different brand and a different game. But it sure looks like many of the partnerships they're making are similar. And that might prove very wise.
