Digital media company WRIT Media Group continues to gain wide-spread brand recognition for their wholly-owned retro-gaming subsidiary, Retro Infinity Inc., which is focused on taking popular old school pre-Windows titles from the Amiga and publishing them to the latest console, smartphone, tablet, PC and set-top streaming devices like Roku. Retro Infinity is also rolling out an App Store and Steam-like point-of-purchase architecture via www.RetroInfinity.com and www.AmigaGamesInc.com that will help bring their titles directly to consumers. The latest brand awareness coup for the company, executed through their DEVCAP Partners arrangement, places the Retro Infinity brand and WRIT Media on the cars of Rick Ware Racing in NASCAR’s stock car circuit, the Nationwide Series.
The Sunday, November 9th race at the Phoenix International Speedway, the DAV 200 – Honoring America’s Veterans, saw the debut of NASCAR K&N Pro Series East driver, 24-year old Mackena Bell, in the No. 23 Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet. Bell, the only NASCAR Drive for Diversity female graduate to compete at a NASCAR national series level, finished 29th from an initial 39 starting position, bringing solid recognition to the Retro Infinity brand just in time for this week’s debut of Retro Infinity’s proprietary streaming solution, the Retro Infinity Player.
While the numbers still aren’t official, the DAV 200 routinely gets 4M plus viewers each year on ESPN and had just under 4.3M in 2013, and is also broadcast on the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM Satellite Radio. WRIT and the Retro Infinity brand will also be featured on RWR Racing’s car at the upcoming Ford Ecoboost 300 this Sunday, during the Homestead-Miami Speedway’s championship weekend, an event which had over 5M viewers last year on ESPN and routinely pulls a 3 or higher Nielsen ratings share.
Needless to say, this kind of exposure is huge as Retro Infinity launches their new software product, the Retro Infinity Player, with a strong social media-supported crowd funding campaign helping to drive the effort. Retro gamers can get a closer look at the platform during the debut this week, as a web-link with supporting information goes live. The company is anticipating some serious traction as they tap further into the burgeoning retro gaming market, capitalizing on the storied success of the “Amiga,” “Atari” and “MS-DOS” brands, with a truly modern solution that brings beloved classic games to the console, mobile and set-top environments.
The Amiga brand holds a near and dear place in the hearts of many older gamers who fondly remember the titles from their youth and the Retro Infinity Player will bring these same, still captivating titles to a whole new audience of younger gamers that are increasingly receptive to indie games – in addition to those craving a nostalgic gaming experience. Indie gaming’s success is due in large part to thematic styling and gameplay dynamics which are based on classic games like those from the Amiga era, where a focus on tight, core gameplay mechanics formed the backbone of the content.
NASCAR is the top spectator sport in the country with a huge fan base of fiercely loyal consumers, many of whom will willingly spend more on a particular driver/team sponsor’s products to help support and fund their operation. Female fans even report they are highly receptive to buying non-racing items like detergent, simply because the NASCAR logo is featured on the packaging. With the mobile gaming space set to outpace consoles in terms of revenue as early as 2015, according to the latest report from top gaming industry market research firm Newzoo, combined with additional research showing that women now make up 48% of the market, WRIT has a shrewd strategy on their hands here that hits home with one of the most loyal fan bases in existence today. A marketing deal like this is of inestimable value to WRIT, as it sandwiches the household-name NASCAR with the Retro Infinity brand, landing publicity across the gamut on national television and through social media.
CEO of WRIT, Eric Mitchell, was keen to point out the broad exposure the brand has access to through these televised NASCAR events and hinted to investors that the company would be pursuing additional social media campaigns moving forward, in order to garner yet more attention for the Retro Infinity brand’s mobile gaming products and fully exploit the NASCAR tie-in. This latest push by WRIT follows fast on the heels of last month’s featuring of Retro Infinity as the Primary Brand on both Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series cars at the at Charlotte Motor Speedway NASCAR event. Veteran driver Carlos Contreras’ noteworthy 99th NASCAR race brought substantial attention to the brand, as he was the first Mexican driver to achieve this milestone accomplishment and the exploits of young gun driver Timmy Hill, also helped draw considerable attention to the Retro Infinity brand.
WRIT is making all the right moves to get the word out as their Retro Infinity Player platform gets ready to go live and consumers will get a good look at the initial titles they are publishing this week with the platform’s debut. Engaging games delivered to console, mobile and set-top markets for a very low price is a winning strategy, especially as gaming goes more and more mainstream, in a world where Apple sells up to 27M iPhones and 14M iPads per quarter.
For more information on WRIT Media Group, visit: www.writmediagroup.com or www.retroinfinity.com
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