Gaming is no longer associated with teenagers in darkened bedrooms and nerds on a mission to find friends online. In fact, gaming has evolved to become an entertainment option for everyone, be it on a smartphone device or a console machine. As a result of this, there are an estimated 2.6 billion gamers on the planet, making it one of the most popular and enduring hobbies around today.
Due to the variety of innovations that are constantly occurring in the gaming sphere, though, gaming audiences are now more opinionated than ever before. A highly competitive area of entertainment, companies are therefore not only have to develop faultless titles but also create effective strategies for promoting their games, be it on television or magazines. Not every company necessarily gets it right, but many do, given the huge amount of money they tend to allocate to such an important part of their business.
After all, there is no point in developing a masterpiece if it’s not being pushed to the right communities. There’s a reason why options like Among Us recorded global success and people everywhere enjoy playing casino games, and it’s because the gaming opportunities on offer and the marketing campaigns behind them draw people in. There are certainly some tried and tested promotional strategies that gaming companies turn to, many of which continue to make gaming one of the most popular pastimes in today’s technology-obsessed environment.
An eye-catching trailer
Kicking things off with a somewhat obvious option, a strong trailer is a necessity for any ambitious gaming release. Much like a movie, a game trailer creates excitement around a product by showing snippets of what the game offers. It can then be shared on social media and among communities of gamers, while options like actual gameplay footage and various features within the title create an additional buzz. A professional video editor is of high importance, while some companies turn to celebrities to add even more appeal to a specific trailer. In the same way that retail outlets battle it out for the best television advertisements, game-makers are also looking at new and improved ways to promote their games in trailers. It really is a highly competitive category of entertainment.
Social media is always used
Given society’s reliance on social media, it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever to ignore it when you have a game to showcase. The ideal marketing tool, social media spend is going through the roof, with platforms like TikTok and YouTube being packed full of trailers, screenshots of new releases, information on features within the title, and loads more. Options like Twitch and Discord are also extremely popular with gaming audiences, with developers using the algorithm to push their content in front of the right people. They can target specific age groups and genders and even target gamers by their geographical location. From there, gameplay videos are shared and go viral, screenshots are posted on forums and other platforms like X, formerly known as Twitter, and discussion around a particular title is rife.
Traditional forms of advertising also work
While social media is more of a modern-day tool that game companies can turn to, there are still more traditional methods being executed. There is a big amount of spending going towards television and print advertising, while modern tactics like pay-per-click ads on Google and sponsored ads on social media networks are also effective. From bite-sized videos to bright adverts in newspapers that garner attention, larger-budget games, in particular, still use many forms of traditional media alongside other more modern-day options. As a result, companies can reach millions of people around the world.
