AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! Dev: Marketing Isn't Evil

[Dejobaan]

*** A CLARIFICATION (from the guy who wrote the article) ***

I think "marketing" is actually different from what people generally consider it to be. Most will define it as the PR work companies do after a game ships. I think that it's also the part where designers think about creating a game that gamers (the "market") want to play.

TO US, GOOD MARKETING IS:

= Being able to articulate in the design phase why people (the "market") will enjoy the game we're making. This seems like it's obvious, but we've made the mistake of not actually sitting down and considering this.

= Showing off the best pieces of the game off to folks who might want to play it. Again, I've screwed this one up even recently. The demo for Aaaaa! was sucky -- the tutorial level is really boring, and turned people off. Epically bad marketing. I'm kicking myself.

= Designing something that's in some way fresh. We don't want to build an Xbox game identical to Halo Reach. It already exists, so why would people play it? (Bad marketing, here, is when designers say "GTA IV made money -- if we make a PS3 game just like it, people will play ours too, right?") Besides, Bungie spends more money on their company lunches than we spend on an entire game, so they'd crush us in production values. Better to at least try to innovate.

= Polishing a game so that it looks appealing to the market. I am thrilled that folks are beginning to appreciate small games with modest production values. But I think there's a certain threshold for visuals and production values we have to hit to make you not puke when you see our game. Here, too, we consider our market (i.e., people with presumably good (or at least discerning) taste).

TO US, BAD MARKETING IS:

= Creating huge, pretty games with no substance.

= Misleading people by making a crappy, shallow game appear interesting and deep.

= Only starting to think about the target 'market' after the game launches.

SO:

I really agree with the people in this thread who have said/suggested that marketing can be used for good or evil. Like a knife. Or raw red meat. But more importantly, to me, good game design is the very first (and most important) part of marketing. A great game designer is, in part, a great marketeer because s/he helps develop a game people actually want to play.

Cheers,
Ichiro Lambe, 2nd Asst. Janitor
Dejobaan Games, LLC

 

[microwaviblerabbit]

I would say that connection between the people doing marketing, and those working on the game is integral. Too often it seems that games are marketed in the same way, cut-scenes with 'epic' music and a slogan. No game-play, no uniqueness, just an 'EPIC SCENE' showing how 'great' this game is. The result is that is most cases the ads leave the viewer with little relevant information and no interest.

This seems to be getting worse, as game marketing focuses on first week sales like movies, and away from long term growth. Games getting shorter and 'more cinematic' seems to be part of this trend towards 'box office' games that will last a week, until the next big one.

Additionally, the disappearance of demos seems to follow this trend as well. I know that there are many games I never would have bought without demos, and a few I didn't buy because of them. I fear that game marketing has become separated from games themselves, instead following films for guidance.

That being said, I must say that Dejobaan takes the cake for personal marketing victories. I bought AAAAAAAAH while in development as part of a preorder support thing, at a special reduced price. When the game came out, it was also at that same 'special' price. I then received an email from Dejobaan explaining the situation and was given a choice of another of their games free.

 

[mjc0961]

It depends on the kind of marketing... You want good press, not bad press. For example, when you go "our company is shutting down JUST KIDDING LOL", that's bad press and I really don't feel like giving such people money.

 

[Electrogecko]

While I don't necessarily agree that flipping people off in a game is something creative or worth considering buying a game over, I totally agree that most people need to take a chill pill over marketing video games. We all are exposed to games for the first time at some point, and unless you have a friend who owns it or have seen it in a demo booth, that first time will be through marketing. Even the articles we read here on this website are a form of marketing.
Oh and that's the funniest name I've ever seen. Be sure to remember 1-4-2-3-3-2-4-1-5 when alternating between caps and lower case.

 

[SenseOfTumour]

While the GOG thing backfired, from what I heard they were going offline anyways, and figured as they were going to be unavailable, why not get some publicity for the relaunch, and it seems to have worked. I imagine they've gained more new customers than have lost old ones, and I just know that most of the customers who've bitched about it will be straight back when a game they want shows up at a good price!

As for marketing in general, sure it's needed, but there's good and bad.

Bad is the Dante's Inferno stuff, just being 'controversial in a desperate, transparent way.

Good is openly showing the qualities of the game to a wider audience, hopefully with the kind of smart 'spin' that makes it at least interesting enough to tell others about, if not enough to make it go 'viral'.

I think a lot of gamers are savvy enough to not swallow what is put out as advertising as pure fact any more tho.