Bethesda: Skyrim is "Our Crown Jewel"

Bethesda has two biggies coming out in the form of Rage and Skyrim - and the company's VP of PR and marketing Pete Hines know which one has priority.

Talking about Skyrim, Pete points out that, "It’s our crown jewel, our big brand, I think it is the biggest of the games we have this year. And not just for us but for anybody. In the industry this will be one of the major releases of the year on any platform and across any genre."

So, what's with all the early hype for Rage?

"I think for certain big games – particularly one that’s a shooter which is competing against other major titles – that it is incumbent upon us to get the word out early as opposed to waiting to closer to launch. More traditional movie marketing, which focuses around going heavy at launch, isn’t something that works for every game.

"There are times where it is important to start messaging earlier to get some buzz. With it being a new IP in the space that it is in, and it being our first game with [studio] id, our strategy was we will do some things earlier, we will do things later, we will do some things that are a bit out of the norm, and see if we can build momentum early."

Read more from Pete Hines at MCV.