When it comes to the current environment of online video games the reality is that there are so many multiplayer games on the market that it can be quite difficult to see any new title make a place for itself. It is important to understand though that this does not mean that it is impossible for new titles to potentially make their way to the top of the leaderboard for most players online. So let’s look at some titles that managed to break into the industry and see how they effectively marketed themselves and how you could potentially market your multiplayer game to make it one of the popular titles that people are flocking to.
One of the best recent examples of a massively multiplayer game that managed to carve a parcel of land for itself online is Overwatch. This example is of course one of the massive companies that has a lot of advertising power as well as an established name to push a new game but it is important to look at different companies in different situations. One of the biggest things that promoted Overwatch the most was not only its cartoonish style but the abundance of diverse characters that many people could not only feel drawn to but also feel more attached to. This is why allowing your players to identify themselves with your game is a great way to allow them to promote your game for you. The amount of fan content made for this game is free advertising.
Of course not every game has the opportunity to be the brainchild of a massive company like Activision Blizzard King This is why another great example is to look at small gains like Lethal Company. Small games like these are not only propped up by their small marketing department but of course, they are propped up by players themselves. For many years companies kind of forgot how much power word of mouth has. Word of mouth has become extremely important because nowadays word of mouth is not only between players but it is also between content creators and content creation is at the core of current marketing, especially for massive video games whether they be single-player or multiplayer. AAA companies like Ubisoft as well as Activision understand this. So it’s no wonder that smaller companies are following in their footsteps and doing the same thing.
For example, many companies are using content creators not only organically by letting them find their game and play but also by paying them for promotion. This is why when you see large Ubisoft releases you might see that a lot of streamers are doing paid let’s plays where they are being played to pay the game in front of a massive audience to encourage this audience to play it themselves. This of course is a great way to not only encourage collaboration between content creators and game companies but also to give a more favorable light to game companies as they collaborate with beloved game streamers that have a popular name or a respected fan base across the community of video games. This allows gamers to feel like they are more understood by companies and also feel like they have closer proximity to the making of these games which at the end of the day helps them to develop is certain loyalty towards a company or a franchise.
One other great way of course to market your game is to have a lot of people talk about it. As they say, bad publicity is still publicity. We are of course not talking about bad publicity that makes your game look bad but of course, that publicity then can be talked about negatively. For example, if a video game announces a massive ban wave it is not necessarily positive news in general but it will show people who don’t play the game that there is actual moderation going on and that could be interesting to some of them. This is why when we see enforcement for example against powerful cheats for escape from Tarkov many people not only find out about the game but also might look into it further than if they had only seen the game somewhere without really knowing what was happening with it. This is why headlines are always a good thing because it puts the name of your game in people’s faces. And at the end of the day this is what you want you want eyeballs on your products as well as clicks on your game since this is what drives traffic.
