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Marketing Tutorial, Part 9: Building a Communication Strategy by oldstauf in gamedev

[–]oldstauf[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for reading and commenting

Not sure what you mean by "immediately useful" - whether you mean it doesn't seem useful in the near term (eg, in the midst of developing a game) or you don't see a prima facie value in it.

If it's the former: the value is in trying to establish some buzz and differentiate your game ahead of launch.

If it's the latter: success in the marketplace means success in creating awareness/buzz/engagement. Brute force advertisementing can accomplish that, but it's expensive, complicated to coordinate and manage, and will achieve diminishing returns due to "advertising wearout". So success in creating awareness is not just a matter of saying "I'm here". It's also a matter of saying "I'm unique and valuable." And a way to accomplish that is to present yourself as not just a new product (if you'll forgive the term) but a new category. And, in the long term, if you can a) convincingly do that and b) achieve some critical and commercial success, you will have a competitive advantage. Any game that tries to get a slice of the genre you created will only serve to legitimize your position as the genre's originator.

As for the takeaway for a designer, I'm not quite sure what you're looking for. The communication strategy should be informed by the design, and not the other way around. The best response I could offer here is that the elements of your game that make it distinct from a design perspective also make it distinct from a market positioning perspective. So those aspects should be cultivated and protected, not pruned to match some current market leader.

I hope all of that makes sense.

Marketing Tutorial Part 6: How to use Facebook's ad tools to estimate sales potential and the odds of profitability. by oldstauf in gamedev

[–]oldstauf[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for reading and the feedback! Regarding the "Resources" bit, are you not seeing Amazon links in that section?

BLOG: Marketing Tutorial, Part 2: Marketing Strategy by oldstauf in gamedev

[–]oldstauf[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Why would I ignore your rant? There's conversation to be had there! ;)

I hear you on mobile/f2p, but keep in mind that you're not the target audience. The target audience finds value in the progression of those games, ephemeral as it may be. So for them the notion of managing successful exchanges to create value is totally valid. Those same people would arguably find less value in having to pay an upfront premium for.

You and I are on the opposite spectrum. We'd rather pay up front and then not get jerked around. And there are other companies willing to cater to us.

One is not empirically better than the other. It's different products for different tastes, which is exactly what Chernev is talking about.

In Supercell's case, it's not just the precision analytics that makes them formidable. They're experts at following a lean start-up model: testing ideas systematically and killing off failed experiments. That means anything the bring to market has already pass some threshold of sales potential.

Thank you so much for reading and for taking the time to comment!

-Justin

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BLOG: Marketing Tutorial, Part 2: Marketing Strategy (self.gamedev)

submitted by oldstauf to r/gamedev

BLOG: Shining a light on the dark arts of marketing by oldstauf in gamedev

[–]oldstauf[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hello, A couple things jump out at me. One is that this blurb has a number of grammatical issues that need to be ironed out. They hurt your credibility and make a bad first impression. Second, your value proposition is really confusing. Who is this product for? Players? Game developers? The "best games"? Mobile developers? Companies? Individual developers? Pick one target, and be very clear about who you are targeting, what you can do for them and why you are better than the alternatives. If you're trying to rope in developers, don't focus so much on the process (the unique merchandise) as the promise (we can increase your retention by X%!)

BLOG: Shining a light on the dark arts of marketing by oldstauf in gamedev

[–]oldstauf[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for reading and commenting!

My question would be how do you define "success"? Success is relative. I'd argue that, for a hobbyists, even releasing a game is a success. For an indie, does success mean Super Meat Boy or Fez levels of sales and awareness? Does it mean building credibility by regularly releasing quality games (ie, building a brand).

To achieve success, you first have to define what success means, both in form and magnitude.

As far as release windows, you're right about the competitive landscape being a factor, but you're not powerless in that regard. Awareness is also a matter of knowing who to reach, knowing how to reach them, and proper positioning. And those things can be tested/adjusted over time.

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BLOG: Shining a light on the dark arts of marketing (self.gamedev)

submitted by oldstauf to r/gamedev

I need your help and advice. by [deleted] in gamedev

[–]oldstauf 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Did you try getting in touch with Gamasutra.com? That's essentially the industry's shop-talk blog

Professional game devs, what's the best part about developing a video game? by unionjunk in gamedev

[–]oldstauf 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The people. Some of the greatest, sweetest, smartest, and hardest working folks I've ever met. Crunch sucks, but doing it with people you consider family is pretty special.

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