Session: Cutting Through The Noise – How To Get Your Game Noticed In A Challenging Market. Markus...

[Music] so next up we've got Marcus Wilding from play sense who's going to be talking about cutting through the noise how to get your game noticed in a challenging Market welcome everybody um let me start with a simple question hypothetical question or rethorical question if you will why are you here maybe you're here because the title of my talk CR your I maybe you're here because the topic is close to hits close to home CU let's face it we're all navigating a very challenging noisy marketplace right now and the question on how to make our game stand out

is what keeps many of us awake at night I know it I it does to me and I've been in marketing and Communications for about 30 years now which means I've seen Trends come and go and I've got my fair share of ideas about what works and what doesn't but while preparing this presentation um I kept asking myself the same question so will this be worth their time um will any of my ideas feel fresh will my talk actually change the way you do your your work now here's the truth some of what I say tonight today will sound familiar and that's okay sometimes we need to hear our own thoughts echoed uh back to us to turn them into action sometimes what feels common sense is only obvious in hindsight or to people who already are practicing it so here's my challenge to you if something I say today feels obvious or familiar to you to you don't just not along ask yourself instead am I actually doing this

uh am I following through because at the end of the day ideas only matter if they actually translate into action my name is Marcus wiing I've been in the games industry since 1995 spent the first half of my career working for AAA Publishers Activision Rockstar Games 2K before moving into the Indie Market space um spending a couple of years at production house remote control Productions and then the last seven years I built and led the international marketing team for private Division and now I'm an independent consultant for developers Publishers and agencies and one of my clients is the creative agency play sense who I'm representing today uh there's a reason for that but we'll get to that in a little bit now we've all seen these brutal stats last year alone almost 19,000 games were released on Steam more than 990,000 on iOS 160,000 on Android the question isn't just um is

your game any good anymore but will anyone notice will anyone care will anyone see it so today I'd like to talk about how to cut through the noise with quality creativity strategic content and smart Partnerships even on a tight budget we've all seen it there's a noticeable shift in the marketing um landscape the old formulas big asset drops big ad spends predictable uh trailers no longer guarantee success especially during a time when budgets are limited and teams are facing resource constraints and there's always that looming risk of your game becoming lost in the crowd now the good news is then more often than not it's not about spending more it's about spending smarter and being more creative today I'm going to talk about these three topics that um I feel can help overcome these nasty odds we all work in marketing and let's be honest while we try to be creative especially when it comes to game trailers it can feel like we're all just hitting the same predict beats big music

flashy Cuts dramatic taglines um it it it works mostly uh but does does it really stick here's the good news sometimes you don't need to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to create something truly memorable you just need a little creativity for example let's talk about a game as dark as Gothic as Resident Evil using a puppet show to cut through the noise and grab everyone's attention in the leadup to the game's release captain dropped a series of lowbudget puppet themed videos featuring enemies like lady de mesco or Heisenberg not as towering ominous figures and enemies but as adorable slightly creepy or massively creepy puppets engaging in goofy Antics it was unexpected it was bizarre and it was pure marketing genius first uh so why why why did it work so first um emotional resonance and sharability fans love the playful contrast between the terrifying tone of the game and the

Absurd silliness of these puppets it was weird enough to spark curiosity and funny enough to get shared a ton on platforms like Twitter it was still called Twitter back then um and YouTube for a while the show was simply everywhere secondly creativity on a modest budget this wasn't some flashy hugely expensive trailer this was a quirky lowbudget production that stuck with people because of the idea not because of the production value and finally tapping into fandom by leaning into the characters fans already loved like lady demetrescu the campaign gave players a reason sorry a new and unexpected way to engage with the brand and created a sense of community the result was massive Buzz for Resident Evil the village fans were hyped media Outlets picked it up and Capcom got a ton of free coverage if you can find ways to surprise delight and connect with your audience emotionally you create something far more memorable than any gen generic ad so don't be afraid to

be bold or even a little bit creepy now let's talk about channels there there's no shortage of CH there's no shortage of channels these days and the knee-jerk reaction is to try to be on all of them okay maybe not on Spotify unless you have a kick-ass podcast but while it's smart to claim you handle everywhere even only to prevent people from nabbing it not every channel is the right fit for your game I know Captain Obvious but you'd be amazed about how many developers and Publishers still crank out the same asset across every single platform without stopping to think about where their real focus should be it's not about being everywhere it's about being in the right place now here's a game that I worked on it's truly special it's cbal Space Program Casp started as a passion project by squat which was a small Indie developer based in Mexico City and over time it became nothing short of a phenomenon so how did a little indie game

that about rocket science of all things take off and build a loyal fan base by focusing on where it mattered from early on development and even more so during early access the team zeroed in on Reddit why because the game's scientific physics based gameplay um and sandbox nature fit perfectly with reddit's culture of discussion and curiosity instead of shouting into the void on platforms that might not resonate the developers build a presence where Their audience already was platforms like Reddit and of course increasingly Discord allow for something game communities love un authentic unfiltered discussions and interactions between developers and players the KP team embraced us with countless amas on Reddit fostering transparency and authenticity and fans crave authenticity when your game has a unique theme or story to it and you want to tell you want they want to feel part of the journey Squad didn't just build a game they built a conversation around it one

that many players uh that made players feel valued and connected and part of the journey so know your audience and meet them where they are be transparent be authentic and Foster Real sense of community when you do you're not quite you're not just promoting your game you're building a loyal fan base that will Champion your game for years to come another example is Cult of the Lamb it's a game about running a cult uh but the developers turned to Tik Tok to spark their own following instead of taking the heavy-handed route they played with the game's Darkly humorous theme creating a quirky fun and hilariously weird video well a ton of videos the result was millions of views and a fan base that couldn't wait to convert so why did this work so well the art style first of all was made for Tik Tok uh Tik to thrives of course on eye-catching snackable content and the game's charmingly creepy art style was a perfect match every frame looked like it

was made to go viral whether it was the adorable cult leader or the Sinister sacrificial rituals number two it's a tone of voice it was absolutely on point the quirky Rd humor in the videos wasn't just funny it was perfectly aligned with the game's personality from dark jokes to absurd scenarios the content made viewers think this is exactly the kind of weirdness I want in my life and so what actually what really helped was that the developer and the publisher um devolver in this case UND understood Tik tok's culture Tik Tok isn't a place um for lectures or sales pitches it's where people scroll for a quick laugh the the developer leaned into that with short funny videos that entertained first and promoted second a great example was the videos they posted featuring a cult initiation of dancing uh of dances and over the-top rituals Clips like these wrecked a millions of views and the game uh turned the game into a viral sensation before it even launched I mean look at those numbers this is not just an outlier I

mean yes there's the one that does 4 million but um almost every video that they released was in the millions to stand out you have to understand the platform you're working on Tik Tok isn't about being polished isn't about being perfect it's about being fun relatable and most importantly sharable when your content fits both your general your game's personality and the platform's culture you're not just promoting you're creating a loyal fan base that will spread the word for you that that that just doesn't happen when you are heavy-handed when you have heavy-handed sales or informative videos nobody goes to Tik Tok for that and finally finding the right partner and this is one of those things that's true uh as much in business as it is in life Choose Wisely the right partner can make all the difference sure there are plenty of options out there but on on paper a lot of them might look similar they'll check the same boxes offer the same services and provide the same skill sets but here's the thing a great partner doesn't just fulfill your

needs they align with your values your way of thinking and the way you work why does that matter because when you and your partner are truly on the same page it's not just easier to collaborate it's transformative you're not constantly explaining yourself or trying to pull them along in your direction instead they're right there with you anticipating your needs challenging you in the right ways and amplifying your strengths so my advice is don't just pick the first option or the one that good on paper find the partner who gets your vision shares your passion and is ready to go the extra mile with you in the end that connection will deliver more value than any checklist that off Services ever could and this is why events like Pocket Gamer connects here is so great because you don't just go on a website and View Services you meet people in person you can understand if they're on the same page with you if they share your values it's incredibly helpful a great example of this is actually working with influencers and content creators we all know um that

successful Partnerships in this space can make or break your game and yet time and time again I see teams approach influencer marketing with a shotgun strategy either blasting out invites to everyone and everyone or simply go um for the biggest creators in this space with the biggest reach now those big games uh big names look uh tempting but obviously they're also the most expensive and in highest demand so even if you've got the budget to work with them um if you if you do they're fantastic for you but there's no guarantee that they even have the time or interest to work with you because everybody else is showering them with money anyway so especially when you don't have an influencer agency and and and have to handle Outreach yourself it's really important to doing your homework early and thoroughly when we worked on uh kble Space Program to we partnered closely with content creators who specialized in rocket science and space flight that meant we were getting high quality content that deeply resonated with an audience that was already invested in the subject matter

sure some of the creators actually like Scott Manley built their channels on Kos space program but we also worked with folks like everyday astronaut which is a channel who barely covers video games um or smaller um influencers like uh Reed Captain who focuses on a handful of um scientifically grounded titles now readed Captain subscriber count was under 3,000k um under 300,000 when we worked with him which is not exactly fantastic by YouTube standards but some of his videos reached 500,000 video uh viewers one of them more than a million and that's because it was a Target partnership that really worked out when you work with the right creators their um uh Their audience isn't just big it's the Right audience because as we all know videos go viral when people engage with them and videos by these creators regularly sparked hundreds of comments and discussions and uh so when it comes to influences I'd highly recommend not chasing the biggest numbers and instead focusing on finding

creators whose content aligns with your games of strength and who can connect with your audience and that brings us to play sense yes I know this is a sponsor talk um but don't worry this isn't going to be one of those hard cells for some shiny new product that promises to solve all of your problems but that said I genuinely believe that at placin we've come up with a model that addresses a pressing issue that many companies in our industry face and uh and those um especially those who don't have massive budgets to throw around so if you're facing challenges and are wondering if there's a smarter way to approach them plac might be worth a closer look thank you um if you're not familiar with placent um we're creative and Production Studio uh but what makes us different is um where we come from then and plac was born out of publishing back in May 2022 seven key directors from wargaming's uh internal creative team executed a friendly buyout of the the business unit and launched play sense as an

independent agency and here's why that matters as former um Publishers the playsense team doesn't just understand marketing they understand you they were in your shoes they know how Publishers and developers um what they need because they've dealt with the same challenges they've worked with the same constraints and navigated similar internal processes this isn't just a creative agency it's a partner who speaks your language and gets what makes your business tick now placement offer a comprehensive list of services in the fields of brand and strategy creative and production and promotion and support but today I want to focus on creative and production specifically trailers which is where the new model comes into play now this is uh one of the titles that we originally had in mind for this talk let me explain we all know highquality Traders are a crucial way to grab people's attention but often well always uh professionally done trailers are prohibit prohibitively expensive here's our idea we piloting a new model where instead of full upfront

payments we share the risk and reward with our clients the idea is that Indies and smaller Publishers can have high impact high production value trailers without crippling their budgets this is about enabling everyone to compete on a bigger stage than before in The crucial 54 eyballs so here's how it works developers or Publishers only pay a certain percentage of the production cost up front the actual percentage will be defined on a sliding scale but the idea is that you pay half or less than the actual cost and then the remaining cost is recouped by play sense after the game ships through a ref share model so as an example let's say the cost of a trailer is 50k instead of paying the full amount ahead you pay 40% 20K and once the game is released the revenue share kicks in and we recoup the remaining 30k we use a sliding scale on a Case by case basis but the percentage is likely going to be in the 8 to 10% range needless to say the revenue share is kept once the money is recouped so not only is this a way to defers some of

the cost to for a trailer to when the revenue comes in it also strengthens the client agency relation as placement almost becomes an investor into the success of your game so to recap marketing success isn't about spending the most money it's about being the smartest and most Innovative in the room by being creative by picking the right channels and by choosing the right Partners which in our case and as a bonus can help you being creative we believe that the old ways of creating Traders huge upfront costs inaccessible to most Indies and smaller Publishers it doesn't have to be the only way by rethinking how we collaborate and share the risk we can make high impact Marketing Concept accessible to almost everyone thank you very much for your attention any question thank you yeah we got time for a couple of questions if um anyone yeah wants to ask anything [Music]

one uh hi do you have any tips when it comes to approaching any Publishers as a in the game Studio huh not exactly the topic of this talk but um thought because you were talking about the right part and Publishers you're right I mean um it it obviously it very much depends on your game this is again going back to finding the right partner um one thing I learned because I sat on the other side of the table having worked for Publishers for a long time is um you'd be surprised how many developers don't do their homework and don't understand who they're talking to I know that everybody's talking to many many Publishers but please do your homework and know what their main games are where their focuses lie um what they sometimes you can even find out what they look for in a developer and have the answers ready that's always always good advice because you're being as a being inundated with developer pictures

and you want to you want to hear that the developer you're talking to knows who you are and what you want