Axel Fälth and Linn Stjernlöf of Mi5 Communications share over two decades of experience within PR and marketing in the tech and games industry, and have worked with clients including Raw Fury, Ubisoft, Sega, Low Drag Labs, IO Interactive, Bethesda, and Krufs Productions.
Last year, over 20,000 new titles were released on Steam, up from around 3,000 a decade earlier. One of the reasons behind this impressive increase is the growing number of new indie studios popping up around the world – this is a natural consequence of how the industry has changed since the COVID pandemic, and over the years, we have come to work more and more with indie studios.
These studios all share the same dream: to be the next big indie hit. But many games with great potential struggle to cut through the noise, as they compete against both AAA titles and other indies to gain the attention of investors and potential players.
Every now and again you see the next indie star rise: all of a sudden everyone is discussing, streaming, sharing, and playing the same new game. This is no coincidence. Most of the time, these teams have not only made a great game, but also done a lot of work to make themselves heard and seen.
Of course, there are lucky exceptions. Perhaps the right person – be that a streamer or an editor at a gaming site – got hold of the game at the right moment, and as a consequence the game snowballed towards commercial success. But in our experience, many of the most successful indie games have benefited from teams that put in the effort to market their game, rather than blindly launching it into the void and hoping for the best.
Let’s be real. It’s not only understandable, but rational that marketing and communications aren’t at the top of most developers’ priority list. Making games is expensive both in terms of money and time. At some point, most will need to start cutting things from their budget, and our observation is that quite often marketing and communications are among the first things that get the chop.
You don’t need to close the door to communication and marketing, even if money is tight. But if you’re shouldering the burden yourself, there are a few common mistakes and pitfalls to bear in mind. Below, we highlight a few traps that are easy to fall into, but just as easy to avoid.
Not knowing your target audience
Many studios know their game inside out, but struggle to answer who the game is actually for. Imagine who will buy, play, and enjoy your game. Where do those players spend their time? Who and what influences their purchasing decisions? Once you have answered those questions, you can streamline your communication efforts and make sure your time and budget are well spent. This helps you to reach only the people who are relevant when time and money are limited.
Overly technical communication
Developers often focus on features, systems, and technical aspects of the game. That’s only natural when development and creation are the main focus for the studio. It is not, however, these aspects that will engage possible consumers. Players connect with emotions, experiences, and outcomes. Studios need to take a step back from development and articulate the feelings the game will and should evoke in the players. Once that’s done, all of the marketing assets should elevate these feelings, whether it’s through catch-phrases, trailers, screenshots, or press release copy.
Analysis paralysis
Marketing can feel overwhelming, especially for smaller teams. There are so many channels, media outlets, communities, and ways of communication that the flood of options can lead to decision paralysis. If you are starting to feel this way, begin with two to three channels that feel easily manageable and make sense for you, your team, and your game. Once you have them properly planned and running regularly, you can add additional beats and channels. Consistency and achievable activities outperform ambitious plans that never materialise.
Putting all your eggs in one basket
In games marketing, there is no such thing as a silver bullet for each game launch. It can seem like an easy solution to go all in on a trending platform you’ve seen other studios succeed on. But with a sparse budget, you need to be creative and open to trying, failing, and trying again. A diversified approach that involves continuously testing to find out what works for each game in that particular time window is the safer road to success. Whether it is influencer marketing, PR, digital marketing, or getting your game visible at events, it is always hard to predict the outcome. Will your game find its players on social media like Meccha Chameleon, gain wishlists through a launch trailer like Minimo, or achieve a hyped launch through a positive preview on PC Gamer like Esoteric Ebb?
Treating PR as a launch activity
It is tempting to leave the communication and outreach until the launch or first demo. But communication has a role throughout a game’s lifecycle, from studio branding and investor relations to community building and product marketing. Visibility is built over time, not just at launch. Momentum is not built in a single beat. It is created by committed focus and effort, from the first idea to post-launch activities. The investment in time, analytics, and community building during development will be reaped at launch.
These five traps are easy to avoid when you know how to tackle them, and by doing so, you are already doing a lot more than most indie game developers. There is so much untapped talent in the indie game scene, so many great games just wait to be discovered. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to give your game the attention it deserves: it might be what is needed to reach its full potential.
