Once upon a time, marketing was considered to be a taboo topic. It was also ignored by indie game developers too. In this day and age, a lot of developers understand how important it is and they also invest a lot of effort in making sure that they are doing everything they can to come out on top.
What is the Problem?
If there’s one year that the gaming world is going to remember, it’s 2008. Few innovative developers experienced what it’s like to be critically acclaimed and games like World of Goo and even Braid helped us to remember what the world of gaming development is truly about. This includes passion, creativity and above all else, breaking down the boundaries. The problem was that even though great games were being put out, they just weren’t making any money. Game development became so accessible that everyone started to create them, and this meant that gaining any amount of recognition was almost impossible.
Marketing Games
It’s vital that you dispel the notion that marketing can only start when the game is released. Games draw a lot of their sales in the first few weeks of the release. If your channels are not recognising your game or if they are not interested in it then this could indicate that you will lose out on sales. If you want to avoid working hard at the 11th hour, then you need to have something which illustrates the mechanics of the game. This could include showing a quality screenshot that you have created through Photoshop or even having a small demo that displays a certain nuance of your game. Either way, if you want your game to come out on top then you need to try and get your name out there right from the get-go. If you want some help with your game then choose an award winning link building agency such as Ocere when promoting your site or content.
What Every Dev Team Should Be Doing
Great, so you have decided to go ahead and launch your campaign way before your game’s release date. What now? It’s time to start with the essentials. You need a website. Your website will act as a home base for all of the games that you have, and the games that you are yet to work on. Your home page should ideally have an extended overview, some captivating screenshots and even a media page that houses your videos or even your images. You can set one up quickly by using some of the website templates that are out there right now.
Publicise Yourself
You can create all of the dev blogs, websites or even trailers you want, but if nobody knows who you are then this certainly isn’t going to matter. The toughest part of marketing a game is making everyone know that it exists. When you have done this, the rest is easy. If you want to get your name out there then you need to try and sign up on social media. You also need to do what you can to try and get people to share your content as much as possible. The more you can do this, the better.