3 Trending Games Brands Should Be Capitalizing On In 2024

Key insights

8 slides

New Opportunity

Gaming is a critical vertical for brand engagement.

Advertisers must stay ahead of emerging trends to capture viral opportunities. This requires leveraging data to identify key titles for brand integration.

Key Insight. Gaming has established itself as a critical vertical for brand engagement.

Modding Power

Modding platforms provide a direct channel for brands to reach engaged player communities.

Platforms like Thunderstore, which hosts content for Lethal Company, have seen millions of mod pack downloads. This offers a direct channel for brand reach.

Think of it like a popular app store, but for game modifications, where brands can place their products.

5 million

Mod packs downloaded on platforms like Thunderstore.

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Summary

Gaming has established itself as a critical vertical for brand engagement, necessitating that advertisers stay ahead of emerging trends to capture viral opportunities. By leveraging data from 45 million monthly active users of game extensions, the analysis identifies three specific titles—Lethal Company, The Finals, and the upcoming Grand Theft Auto 6—as primary vehicles for brand integration in 2024. The core thesis posits that brands can achieve significant, authentic reach by aligning with these titles through mod collaborations, in-game app extensions, and strategic influencer partnerships.

Lethal Company, a horror-survival title, achieved 240,000 daily players and a 97.32% positive rating on Steam, driven by viral social media content. Brands are encouraged to collaborate with mod creators to integrate branded assets directly into the gameplay experience or utilize third-party platforms like Thunderstore to serve compliant advertisements. Similarly, The Finals, a competitive shooter with 922,000 daily players, offers opportunities for in-play advertising through desktop applications like Outplayed, which allow brands to reach users during active gaming sessions, bypassing the ad-blocking common on social platforms.

For the highly anticipated release of Grand Theft Auto 6, the strategy shifts toward long-term brand association. Given the massive viral reach of the game's initial trailer, which garnered over 165 million views, brands are advised to build credibility through creative content, fashion collaborations, and influencer-led campaigns well ahead of the official launch. By moving beyond traditional pre-roll ads and focusing on native, in-game, or community-driven integrations, brands can effectively navigate the gaming ecosystem to drive meaningful engagement.