Video game retailer Codemasters Japan is rolling out NFC-enabled tags on game packages in Codemasters Japan retail outlets, Australia-based NFC tag marketing company Tapit has announced.
The tags are embedded in display boxes for Codemasters’ newly released racing games. Users will be able to tap the tags to view a trailer for the games on an average of four display boxes at each of 250 Codemasters’ retail locations across Japan.
The tags will be connected to Tapit’s analytics platform to measure how many customers tap the tags once the content goes live; Tapit has not released a specific date for that, however.
The tags comply with NFC standards, so users would have to carry a standard NFC phone, including certain models that Japanese mobile operators have included in their winter and spring device lineups. These hybrid phones support both NFC and domestic FeliCa applications.
There are to date few standard NFC services in Japan, so the Codemasters tags, when live, will offer one such service, albeit small.
At most video game stores, including Codemasters, the boxes on the shelves are for display only. When customers purchase a game, they receive the game in a new box, which would not be equipped with an NFC tag. However, “people who tap on the Codemasters games will have the link remaining on their phone that they take with them to show friends, share, etc.,” Tapit CEO Jamie Conyngham told NFC Times.
“Especially if they are tossing up between one title and another, being able to see more of the game while in the shop may be the little push required to buy the Codemasters product,” he said.
NFC payment has not been enabled at these retail stores, said Conyngham. “NFC marketing is usually ahead of NFC payments.”
Codemasters Japan is a subsidiary of UK-based Codemasters, which develops and publishes racing and driving video games, including Dirt, Grid, and the official Formula One game series.
Japanese operator last year began their migration to standard NFC phones, but the NFC handsets telcos have introduced also support proprietary FeliCa technology from Sony Corp. to be compatible with the massive infrastructure of FeliCa terminals in Japan.
The Japanese operators are issuing NFC SIMs that work in these hybrid NFC-FeliCa phones and plan to enable their subscribers to use the phones with NFC services when they roam to other countries. There also are expected to be more NFC service introduced in Japan, including NFC-enabled boarding passes by Japan Airlines, probably using customer frequent flyer numbers stored on the SIMs.
In its recent report on 2012 SIM shipments, the SIMalliance trade group reported that more than 75% of the 30 million NFC SIM cards its members shipped in 2012 went to Asia, and of those, nearly all were sold to operators in South Korea and Japan.
Recently, Tapit provided NFC technology for Swedish mobile operator Three’s smart poster campaign on a Stockholm subway car. The posters cover the walls and ceiling of a single Stockholm subway carriage, and passengers can tap to visit Three’s online store and purchase mobile plans, smartphones, and mobile accessories.
In January 2013, the company received $2.4 million in Series A funding, led by Sydney-based MPC Ventures, a subsidiary of Monash Private Capital.
At the time, Tapit said that it planned to use the funding for international expansion in the coming year, specifically to India, Israel, Mexico, and South Africa, where MPC Ventures already had operations. Tapit also mentioned Japan, Singapore, Sweden, the UK, the United Arab Emirates, the U.S., Vietnam, and possibly China as targets for expansion.