The irresistible lure of hidden value
Perhaps the most interesting thing about the first multiplayer trailer for Modern Warfare 2 is this screen:
Every other clip in the trailer is actual gameplay footage. This sticks out as the only one that shows the game’s menu screen. Beyond its role as establishing shot, what is it doing there?
The answer for me lies in the large bank of icons on the left. There are fifteen of them, but only one is revealed. What does this say? “If you think this one is cool, wait till you see the other fourteen!”
I guess you could say I’m on a quest to understand the “missing five million” - why Call of Duty games are selling so many more copies than other top tier action games. This seems like a good candidate for reason number two.
This one screen successfully signals what I’d hamfistedly describe as an immense amount of hidden value. J J Abrams would call it the power of the mystery box.
Like the GTA games (which also achieve that extra five million), the message is “Come with us and you can drink from our chalice of fun until you’re full, until you’re sick. We’ll keep surprising you and entertaining you long after you’re done.”
Against the backdrop of identikit action games where you’ve seen all they have to offer by the time you’ve finished a level or two, it’s a powerful message.
