Watch This if You Haven't Started Marketing Your Game
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- Опубліковано 10 тра 2024
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Feeling the struggle of getting your indie game noticed in the sea of Steam releases? We feel you.
In this video, we're diving deep into the trenches of game marketing, sharing raw insights and strategies that can make or break your game's success.
I've done the research and did two years of marketing in college so you don't have to!
The number of games on Steam is skyrocketing, competition is fierce, and standing out is tougher than ever.
We'll take a look at 8 tried-and-true methods to get your game noticed.
From unleashing viral potential and crafting killer hooks to cozying up with influencers and dipping your toes into paid ads, we've got you covered and want to help you boost your game's visibility.
Forget the fluff - this is real talk from devs who've are in the trenches right there with you. So grab a coffee, cozy up, and let's unravel the mysteries of game marketing together.
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Something else not mentioned here ... follow and learn from influential people. As devs, we know to look at game design and art tutorials, but few of us follow marketing and business channels or tutorials specifically unless they crop up as a topic like this one. People like Scott Adams, VidIQ, Alex Hormozi, Seth Godin, Chris Voss, Jordan Belfort, etc. can teach about presentation, sales, marketing, virality, running a business, making money, and other things that are important to our game's success that have nothing to do with making the game itself.
I think some nuance is worth adding to the number of game being released. Most people buy inside of genres and your favorite genre is only releasing a fraction of those 14k (Some genres are more saturated than others). It boils down to maybe a dozen or so games releasing a month that appeal to you in larger genres. That isnt really an overwhelming amount of games for players to dig through to find something they like and 70% of them van be dismissed within moments of seeing them.
I think the narrative of it being 'near impossible' to be see in the game space is a little overblown, but it can be difficult.
95%+ of games that fail are due to your quality, not their marketing. It is a VERY rare case that a truly good game goes unseen for long.
true! Also in my opinion 99% of the released games have nothing or unnoticeably little of new/fresh quality to them.
Thank you for sharing this!
True, too many devs focus on the marketing. If your game is truly good it will spread through word of mouth like a wild fire. The truth is that the vast majority of games are mediocre at best.
I'm doing all these! Kickstarter will launch soon, come look!
The more I learn about the current state of game releases and marketing (something I know less of than coding, which I am already bad at), the more I don't think I will make it in game dev.
I don't want to think that way, but it seems like that is gonna happen at the rate I'm going :\
40 games released on steam each day, but that number includes free demos, dlc for other games, and zero-effort asset-flips. Looking at the new releases section today I see a game called "Clone War", it's free but also looks like an asset flip or a 48 hour game jam game. These games are (hopefully) not what you'd consider to be your competition
Last week, GDC released a talk named "Identifying Indie". It is fascianting.
There are slides about where people see indie games and what they do before they buy. The answer is: UA-cam and they watch gameplay.
People noticed that you can buy assets that look like the The Division or Demon Souls Remake for a few bucks, so they want to see the real game.
Last Next fest, i ( FPS enthusiast) downloaded like 20 FPS demos and just ONE was wishlist-worthy, while around 15 were "why do you even release in that state?".
The more games launch, the more players will search for some filter like following a youtuber that does your favorite genre. There's one guy that plays all Soulslikes, and there's Zlim who plays all the boomer shooters and those kind of channels.
Thanks for contributing ur experiences for indiegames devs...good job...
Good vid, some people just get lucky sometimes no matter how good your marketing is.
Great video. All the information needed is shared. Thank you. :)
I personally think the last option (make your own brand) is really the way to go. In the long run that's the one which makes the difference, and I guess as the competition gets tougher, it will become the number 1 method of marketing in a saturated market.
Better to start right now before it's too late ;)
Anyone repeating that "OMG 40 games per day" number has no idea what kind of garbage releases daily. Just look what kind of games release each day and what the standards actually are
Dude, never stop uploading vids! you are absolutely amazing! (could you do a vid about grid 2d building system, like that of clash of clans or age of empires) Thanks!
Something to mention about 6:48 : There's very little data suggesting steam promotes you more if you have a lot of wishlists. Sure, there are some lists showing most wishlisted games, but ultimately this only applies to the actual big dogs. What matters most is sales. The more sales, the more Steam will promote your game.
Great video!
The word you're looking for when you say "viralability" is "virality"
Misconception many make:
FALSE: ChatGPT = AI videogames
Truth: Free education from CHATGPT = More people can learn game development = More competition
Exactly!
Thank you
I worked on a game for a year am almost done released a trailer and it got like 150 views but my game is a blast to play so im not giving up yet lol
what about finding a publisher?
Very useful content. Thanks! Also, was this title/thumbnail a hint at Silksong's development?
❤❤
Gotta disagree on a couple of points:
1. Attending game dev conferences/festivals is typically quite expensive, and the thousands you spend on a booth, travel, hardware, tables, banners, etc... is not worth the
Have you ever released a game? The truth of this none of these methods work for most people because they make awful games. Your best way to make money on steam is to make a game that's better than most other games. It is guaranteed to succeed. Nobody wants another 2d roguelike, or a platformer, or a boomer shooter, or pretty much "any clone of X game, that's worse than X game".
Make a good product first and then worry about selling it.
This is correct advice but worded poorly. Absolutely you need to make a quality product first and many indie devs have the misconception that their game failed because of marketing. When in reality it's that they didn't make a good game. That being said, it's absolutely no guarantee that if you make something good it will be seen. There's too much noise for quality alone to make you successful. Even the Steam algorithm works off of page visits and attention. Definitely do not wait until you're done to start marketing. Unfortunate but that's the reality. It's necessary and it's necessary early in the process. But you're right in that it only actually works if you make a good game.
@@fray989 Do you really believe there is a trove of great games on Steam that just got missed because they weren't picked up by the algorithm or marketed properly? Most users dig pretty deep into their genre of released games, not just scan over the first 3 games the algorithm presents to them.
I think bad marketing can slow a good game's launch, but basically never hold it down forever. If it's good, it gets found.
The exception being MMOs which really require a solid core audience from the start. But that's not an indie dev problem.
@@theebulll Yeah... Every good game eventually blows up. If the "steam algorithm" hides it, its just not a good game.
I know a VR RTS that is way better the other games in its category, yet nobody knows about it because it wasn't marketed successfully.
(It's called Void Link)
@@assemblyrtsdev vr rts just doesn’t sound good though.
second
First
I think creating a you tube channel to grow your own audience is a not that great of an idea. If you want sympathy votes for your game, then you tube is the way to go. you want a real shot, you try to get sponsors. you tube is temporary, (especially with it's current trajectory) its a platform for entertainment but more so, searching new information (education). tiktok is a better approach for low budget self growth advertising. it's quick an easy, unlike you tube.
I know you said you are biased with you tube growth, but I'm willing to take it a step further and say you are blinded by this BECAUSE you are a youtuber. you want this to be true more than anything. fact is, it's not. your following is very small. you are better off promoting educational unity tutorials and leaning into patron and/or creating custom unity crash courses for people to learn. promoting your own games is a terrible idea alongside your multi-purposed channel.
this is free advise from someone far far away from someone you don't know. but hopefully you'll look at this as constructive criticism instead of some bs hate (or whatever hate you think this is, it's not). good luck from a fellow indie dev (who is NOT promoting their own games in your comment section) think about it.