AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! Dev: Marketing Isn't Evil

[John Funk]

AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! Dev: Marketing Isn't Evil

​

The makers of indie hit AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! - A Reckless Disregard for Gravity think that gamers' disdain for marketing is unwarranted.

To many gamers (and indie developers), "marketing" might as well be a four-letter word. Marketing, as many see it, is evil; it's part of the corporate publisher machine that exists to squeeze the creativity out of developers and dollars out of gamers. Why spend so much on marketing, huh? It's all a bunch of lies anyway!

Speaking with Gamasutra [http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/6144/postmortem_dejobaan_games_aaaaa_.php], though, Dejobaan Games - an indie success story in its own right - said that marketing shouldn't be always viewed as something bad.

"Say 'marketing' to many people, and it's an evil, filthy thing that you use to force people to buy something they don't need," wrote Dejobaan's Ichiro Lambe, Dan Brainerd, and Leo Jaitley. "But to us, it starts with designing an experience that makes people so passionate about that they actually pick up the game and tell all their friends."

"Things like 'over 80 levels' or '15 music tracks' aren't as noteworthy as 'deploy obscene gesture for points' is," said the team, referencing Reckless Disregard's ability for players to flip off protesters as they skydive past them - and how it made for great word of mouth publicity.

In other words, marketing is fine, but it has to be part of the design going in - a creative idea should be marketed.

"Marketing is an integral part of game design, rather than a spare afterthought."

(Gamasutra [http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/30549/Dejobaan_Marketing_Isnt_Evil_Its_Your_Game.php])

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[TerribleAssassin]

He's right. The way you put your game across is advertising and a good marketing campaign.

 

[incal11]

"Marketing is an integral part of game design, rather than a spare afterthought."

Heck no! I don't want games to be built around marketing, marketting should be built around the game. Else they become bland repetitive products, like packs of cereals, even with the good ideas.

 

[Sir Prize]

I agree with this guy, the gaming industry in general need to understand that adversting campaign needs to catch attention and make people want to buy the game.

 

[Beryl77]

Marketing isn't evil. The companies need that to make money or else they go bankrupt. What I think is evil, is when they try to squeeze the last bit of money out of their customers, like a certain person who wants to sell cutscenes.

 

[Cynical skeptic]

I'm sorry, but marketing invariably makes all games look and sound identical. To the point most marketing blurbs may have well as been written by scripts.

But I do agree, Marking isn't evil. Without marking, there'd be no written language.

 

[Jared]

I like marketing. If its targetted correctly can be fantastic! Like Old Spice guy!

 

[Cynical skeptic]

I like marketing. If its targetted correctly can be fantastic! Like Old Spice guy!

But the old spice guy has nothing to do with the product. You can't transmit a smell over television, so marketing for fragrances must go to absurd lengths to stand out.

 

[dannymc18]

This marketing thing is a bit of a smokescreen for the game itself... Its title is one letter repeated, it is based pretty much solely around "A Reckless Disregard for Gravity", its levels consist of you falling at speed trying to avoid obstacles, it comes from an 'indie' developer, it mentions as its selling points the music and the number of levels, the levels (or what look achievements or similar) are short, quirky names... haven't we been here before [http://thelettervsixtim.es/]??

 

[yoyo13rom]

I bet 10$ that Extra Credits is going to make an episode about marketing sooner or later!

OT: I agree that marketing should be an integral part of game design, but marketing at the moment is kinda evil. The only good/successful marketer is an evil marketer, imo.

 

[Atmos Duality]

Marketing isn't inherently bad; but it is being increasingly used as a substitute for development time.
Time is money. Money is time.
Knowing this, if you spend more time trying to convince your customers that your mediocre product is somehow superior, rather than actually making your product better, it's easy to see why people are against it.

If your product is being founded primarily on hype; then there's a good chance it won't live up to those expectations. If that happens, the customer feels cheated, and in the case of the gaming industry there are fewer and fewer companies who are offering refunds.

Of course, the other extreme is bad too; little or no marketing presence means your potential customers might not even know you have a product they might want.

 

[John Funk]

This marketing thing is a bit of a smokescreen for the game itself... Its title is one letter repeated, it is based pretty much solely around "A Reckless Disregard for Gravity", its levels consist of you falling at speed trying to avoid obstacles, it comes from an 'indie' developer, it mentions as its selling points the music and the number of levels, the levels (or what look achievements or similar) are short, quirky names... haven't we been here before [http://thelettervsixtim.es/]??

Yes, but not in the order you expect

AAAAAetc was 2009, VVVVVV is 2010.

 

[SeanTheSheep]

I love the name, and if my computer can run it, I may look into it.

OT: I wasn't aware we thought marketing was evil, I thought it was marketing that sells the product as something it isn't that was evil.

 

[subject_87]

I love that game, and he's made a good point. They're 2 for 2!

 

[Delock]

I'm fine with marketing, so long as it doesn't affect the game too badly.

Allow me to explain, more likely than not, we've all seen movies where a scene was put in just to be in a trailer (I've also played a few games where this is true), and it's painfully obvious. This is what I don't want to happen.

However, exceptionally clever marketing is amazing, and is stuff that's remembered after ads/campaigns/etc. end. It's nice to see the somewhat live action ads on TV, and I feel obligated to mention Kevin Butler here (VP of Best Marketing Around... With A Stick) and Yahtzee's surprise box. However, more often than not, I really don't see much creative stuff in game marketing. Do something amazing with that money rather than making everything seem the same.

 

[KEM10]

Marketing isn't evil. The companies need that to make money or else they go bankrupt. What I think is evil, is when they try to squeeze the last bit of money out of their customers, like a certain person who wants to sell cutscenes.

Please, people seem to forget that Blizzard did that back in WCIII without a convenient scapegoat to blame it on. And I don't remember this same type of uproar then.

OT: Marketing does help, they just need to keep the cart after the horse.

 

[Rect Pola]

Yes, my beef with "evil" marketing is when they push the biggest games that everyone already knows about and had made a decision long ago if they were going to buy anyway.

 

[Beryl77]

Marketing isn't evil. The companies need that to make money or else they go bankrupt. What I think is evil, is when they try to squeeze the last bit of money out of their customers, like a certain person who wants to sell cutscenes.

Please, people seem to forget that Blizzard did that back in WCIII without a convenient scapegoat to blame it on. And I don't remember this same type of uproar then.

OT: Marketing does help, they just need to keep the cart after the horse.

If it would just be this then I wouldn't mind much but the problem is, that this isn't the first time he shows how greedy he is. Nearly every two weeks I read about some other idiotic idea from that guy.

 

[oktalist]

If more than half of your game's budget is spent on marketing, you're doing it wrong.