Marketing games and what they eat
To understand what game marketing is and what it is eaten with, in this article we will talk about the following issues:
- What is it - game marketing;
- How to start;
- How has changed;
- Why today we have such a game marketing, which we have;
- What awaits us in the future: how marketing will change, how markets will change.
The material was prepared on the basis of the open lecture by Sergey Zykov on game marketing , which was held as part of our educational program, "Management of online gaming projects" in the VSBI. If interested, welcome under cat.
')
A question plaguing many inquiring minds. Each more or less honored marketer considers it his duty to come up with his own definition of what marketing is. The official designations of his - marketing - more than 500 pieces, informal - more than 2000.
But one of the best is the definition given by the “father” of theoretical marketing by Philip Kotler:
“Marketing is the art and science of choosing the right market, attracting, maintaining and increasing consumers by creating customers' confidence that they represent the highest value for the company”
In this definition, the whole essence of marketing in its classic sense. The art of creating a feeling in the consumer that it is really important. Understand exactly what the consumer is at the head of the marketing chain. And to be able to create in his mind the very, notorious value. Which, by the way, can nowhere but his consciousness exist.
But the world is changing. Changes with amazing speed. A different rhythm of life, different habits, universal globalization, increased decision-making speed in the conditions of almost unlimited choice of options - all this leads to the fact that the consumer is already “not the same as before” (in the background you can hear senile grunting). And our market, the gaming one, is subject to constant change more than many others! New trends, gaming hardware, which allows to realize what seemed unrealizable just a year ago, thousands of games entering the market every day - we rush forward so fast that sometimes we have time to reach somewhere before we understand why we ran. And the marketing of games has to constantly change - solutions that worked well a few years ago are now losing to their current counterparts. New marketing channels, unlimited analytics, traffic buying, opinion leaders who have come out of nowhere and the domination of social networks are what marketing is working with today. But it is possible that tomorrow this will not be enough again. After all, consumers continue to change.
The market is expanding day by day. Opportunities (and desires) of players have grown. Only 8-10 years ago, the choice of platform was decisive, the players were practically called upon to “make a choice” between this or that game. And now, according to heartless statistics, most of them play on two or three platforms. This is normal: Drive MMOPRG to a PC, play match-3 on the way to work, and feed pigs on your farm at the office instead of preparing a presentation for the client.
And what we have at the moment:
Competition on all platforms (as well as competition between platforms) has increased. There are more games and less attention from users. If earlier the player was ready to somehow put up with a not very convenient interface, understand the rules and overcome gaming difficulties - today, if the game has not “hooked” for 10-15 minutes, then it will not get a second chance.
And all this, willy-nilly, who should take into account and regulate? That's right, those same marketers that game designers hate and producers dislike.
And marketing is changing - how has changed along with the market all the time.
A brief excursion into history: some 8 years ago, both the market and marketing looked completely different than now.
Yes, at one time it was important not only to make the game and provide it with decent marketing - but also to deliver it physically in time to all stores. And the presence of Steam-activation in the regions of our country was generally considered extremely harmful for sales factor, because the universal internetization then just started.
And marketing at that time was completely different:
As a rule, the marketing cycle ended a month or two after the release of the game. And the main goal was to sell the treasured box with disks to the lucky player.
And so it was, and it was good. Until someone came up with the idea of ​​F2P.
The market started, and the familiar model of work began to crack and crumble before our eyes. Because F2P was based on a completely different model of making money! The game was given to the user for free - and then the main task was to “take out” money from him for in-game buns and bonuses. This radically changed the whole approach to marketing such games. In addition, a huge audience, who had not played before, decided to “try” - they don’t ask for money anyway! I tried, and she liked it. And with her, too, had to work.
And marketing has become different:
- Marketing began to count and analyze everything that happens
- The main channels have become digital. Traditional media began to yield on a number of indicators.
- Efficiency has been evaluated in what should: the number of earned money / attracted users
- The concept of “consumer” has become fractional - “player”, “donator”, “subscriber”, “social worker”, etc.
- We have learned new words: "monetization", CPI, LTV, and other reengagement, attribution ...
All this has become extremely popular, and when working with new platforms - browser, social games, and mobile games that have begun to gain weight. Especially with the latest! After all, by this moment:
- Technologies allowed to provide a fairly acceptable picture with the available system resources
- The cost of smartphones has become low enough so that many could afford them
- Unified platforms for games on mobile devices (Appstore, Google Play) appeared
And the market has evolved again.
The activation of mobile development brought us:
And for marketing, the era of Performance Marketing has finally arrived .
What is it? In a nutshell (well, a little more than two):
In essence, this is a set of channels and tools that cover all digital, providing the opportunity to make placements efficient in terms of indicators as close as possible to the business goals of customers.
It was at this moment in the marketing of games that the concept of “buying traffic” appeared. This allowed attracting a huge number of people to the games - but also lowered the quality bar for the games being developed. Otherwise, probably could not be.
Judge for yourself: A new market (mobile games), with a low entry price, a budget (at first) cost of a attracted player is enough - and the audience is not yet sated! The speed of development and the number of games began to prevail over quality. And the market really made it possible to earn even on extremely high-quality projects.
That is why today we have the following picture of the market:
But will this model continue to work just as effectively? Is not a fact. Already, for example, in the mobile market there is an extremely unpleasant situation for many developers: CPI is becoming more LTV. Simply put - attracting one new user is more expensive than the income from him for all the time that he plays. Traffic began to cost more (and is not going to stop in its rise in price), but to make people stay in their game longer and pay more actively it turns out worse and worse. This has not touched the recognized market leaders, but small and medium-sized developers are already beating the alarm. Looks like we are ripe for the next market change?
Here's what marketing of games of tomorrow will look like according to Sergey:
There is nothing particularly to be happy about: it will not become easier and easier to work in this market. Traffic will continue to rise in price (and why not, if demand is still there?), And the threshold for entering the market for “middling” will continue to grow. One way or another, those who refuse to die will be forced to focus on those aspects of their games that they openly skimp on today:
Product focus
• The future is in quality, interesting projects for people (your Captain is with you again, yes. But if you knew how many developers are ignoring this simple and seemingly well-known statement)
• Copy successful competitors will no longer work. The Clonic War must end. (We are all adults and we are well aware that individual solutions, original finds and well-proven schemes will be shamelessly used by everyone around you - it’s normal to reinvent the wheel if someone has already worked for you. But changing the graphics and the name will no longer be so beneficial. We remind you: our audience is fed up with similar projects).
• Games for people, not people for games. (Start already making games for your audience - and choose this very audience at the initial stage of development. Instead of making the game “for men 35+”, and then frantically looking for someone to suit her well with the help of test campaigns in MyTarget).
• Quality. Originality. Interest. All that can not be bought for traffic and remarketing. (Humble - in the race for traffic you won, unless of course you have several million dollars hidden in the sock).
And here marketing can (and should) actively participate in the work on the game. How? Yes, at least (at least):
• Help identify the game's audience
• Conduct research of the selected market
• At the development stage, start to form a community
• Work together with the development, helping to avoid "writing against wind"
Working with brands / creating your own brands
Business does not end with the game itself. Look at the sales of merchandise and licensed Rovio products. Check out the non-game store Wargaming. And if it seemed to you that this is “fun for large companies”, then look at the merchandise “Papers, Please” and FTL at the same time. These guys are well aware that you can earn on your project in different ways.
And let your marketing help you with this:
• Looking for new channels for brand development
• Forming a brand strategy and implementing its implementation
• Creating a brand image
Creating relationships with players
Remember that the audience is not only "paying", see the numbers of living people who like (or not yet) your game. See how RIOT Games implements its marketing - believe me, when they say that they work for the players, they really do it. And judging by the position of the League of Legends in the world, this is paying off. Finally google what Relationship marketing is :-)
Using new, effective marketing channels
• New times - new promotion channels
• Streamers / video bloggers are a new generation of media. Use it!
• If PewDiePie makes games, then why can't game developers make good streams ?! But only good ones :-)
• Remember the lessons of Tom Sawyer - he was able to turn his punishment into an interesting entertainment for others, and he was still quite rich in it!
Here it is, the marketing of tomorrow:
• Focused on the quality of the product
• Developing and making brands
• creating a relationship between the game and the players
• Analyzes market, game, traffic. Analyzing everything and still a little bit on top!
• Using the right channels for marketing communications
• Participating in the development, and not only in the promotion of the product
• Working globally, not closing in the local market
• Able to evaluate the marketing effectiveness of each channel
• Caring for both ROI and brand awareness
What do you think? On what principles will the marketing of the games of the future be based, write in the comments, we will be happy to discuss.
By the way, everyone who wants to listen to the lectures of Sergey Zykov live, we invite you on February 11, 2017 for a lecture day on the gaming industry at VSHBI , where Sergey and other industry experts will share their experience in creating games throughout the day. Sergey in particular will reveal the theme of the relationship between game marketing and game design. The event will be free, entrance only by registration .
- What is it - game marketing;
- How to start;
- How has changed;
- Why today we have such a game marketing, which we have;
- What awaits us in the future: how marketing will change, how markets will change.
The material was prepared on the basis of the open lecture by Sergey Zykov on game marketing , which was held as part of our educational program, "Management of online gaming projects" in the VSBI. If interested, welcome under cat.
')
What is marketing?
A question plaguing many inquiring minds. Each more or less honored marketer considers it his duty to come up with his own definition of what marketing is. The official designations of his - marketing - more than 500 pieces, informal - more than 2000.
But one of the best is the definition given by the “father” of theoretical marketing by Philip Kotler:
“Marketing is the art and science of choosing the right market, attracting, maintaining and increasing consumers by creating customers' confidence that they represent the highest value for the company”
In this definition, the whole essence of marketing in its classic sense. The art of creating a feeling in the consumer that it is really important. Understand exactly what the consumer is at the head of the marketing chain. And to be able to create in his mind the very, notorious value. Which, by the way, can nowhere but his consciousness exist.
But the world is changing. Changes with amazing speed. A different rhythm of life, different habits, universal globalization, increased decision-making speed in the conditions of almost unlimited choice of options - all this leads to the fact that the consumer is already “not the same as before” (in the background you can hear senile grunting). And our market, the gaming one, is subject to constant change more than many others! New trends, gaming hardware, which allows to realize what seemed unrealizable just a year ago, thousands of games entering the market every day - we rush forward so fast that sometimes we have time to reach somewhere before we understand why we ran. And the marketing of games has to constantly change - solutions that worked well a few years ago are now losing to their current counterparts. New marketing channels, unlimited analytics, traffic buying, opinion leaders who have come out of nowhere and the domination of social networks are what marketing is working with today. But it is possible that tomorrow this will not be enough again. After all, consumers continue to change.
The market is expanding day by day. Opportunities (and desires) of players have grown. Only 8-10 years ago, the choice of platform was decisive, the players were practically called upon to “make a choice” between this or that game. And now, according to heartless statistics, most of them play on two or three platforms. This is normal: Drive MMOPRG to a PC, play match-3 on the way to work, and feed pigs on your farm at the office instead of preparing a presentation for the client.
And what we have at the moment:
- Huge audience, unevenly divided between platforms
- Different values ​​important to players depending on the platform.
- Fierce competition (especially in Mobile / PC segments)
- High development cost (Console)
- Limited time / money player
- High satiety
Competition on all platforms (as well as competition between platforms) has increased. There are more games and less attention from users. If earlier the player was ready to somehow put up with a not very convenient interface, understand the rules and overcome gaming difficulties - today, if the game has not “hooked” for 10-15 minutes, then it will not get a second chance.
And all this, willy-nilly, who should take into account and regulate? That's right, those same marketers that game designers hate and producers dislike.
And marketing is changing - how has changed along with the market all the time.
A brief excursion into history: some 8 years ago, both the market and marketing looked completely different than now.
- Developers have focused on product quality.
- Actively invested in the development of gaming franchises
- No F2P, just hardcore!
- The game went on 1-2 platforms
- Also strongly depended on the physical presence of the goods on the market.
Yes, at one time it was important not only to make the game and provide it with decent marketing - but also to deliver it physically in time to all stores. And the presence of Steam-activation in the regions of our country was generally considered extremely harmful for sales factor, because the universal internetization then just started.
And marketing at that time was completely different:
- Long marketing cycle (from the moment of the announcement of the game to the release often took more than three years)
- Traditional promotion channels (mainly specialized resources, including print media)
- The high role of PR (well, how else to keep the audience in suspense for three years?)
- The importance of clearance points of sale of the game
- The huge role of franchises and brand awareness
As a rule, the marketing cycle ended a month or two after the release of the game. And the main goal was to sell the treasured box with disks to the lucky player.
And so it was, and it was good. Until someone came up with the idea of ​​F2P.
The market started, and the familiar model of work began to crack and crumble before our eyes. Because F2P was based on a completely different model of making money! The game was given to the user for free - and then the main task was to “take out” money from him for in-game buns and bonuses. This radically changed the whole approach to marketing such games. In addition, a huge audience, who had not played before, decided to “try” - they don’t ask for money anyway! I tried, and she liked it. And with her, too, had to work.
And marketing has become different:
- Marketing began to count and analyze everything that happens
- The main channels have become digital. Traditional media began to yield on a number of indicators.
- Efficiency has been evaluated in what should: the number of earned money / attracted users
- The concept of “consumer” has become fractional - “player”, “donator”, “subscriber”, “social worker”, etc.
- We have learned new words: "monetization", CPI, LTV, and other reengagement, attribution ...
All this has become extremely popular, and when working with new platforms - browser, social games, and mobile games that have begun to gain weight. Especially with the latest! After all, by this moment:
- Technologies allowed to provide a fairly acceptable picture with the available system resources
- The cost of smartphones has become low enough so that many could afford them
- Unified platforms for games on mobile devices (Appstore, Google Play) appeared
And the market has evolved again.
The activation of mobile development brought us:
- A huge new audience of people who have not played before at all (“snake” and “sapper” are not considered)
- The sharp increase in the number of developers for mobile platforms
- New game mechanics
And for marketing, the era of Performance Marketing has finally arrived .
What is it? In a nutshell (well, a little more than two):
- The result-oriented marketing is increased sales.
- Distinctive feature: the ability at all stages of work to see a specific quantitative indicator, which will reflect the result of the work of each individual marketing direction.
- Based on clearly and unambiguously measured parameters.
- Constantly analyzes the traffic received.
- Key metrics: ROI, ROMI, CPA, CPI, CR, TR, LTV and other scary words
In essence, this is a set of channels and tools that cover all digital, providing the opportunity to make placements efficient in terms of indicators as close as possible to the business goals of customers.
It was at this moment in the marketing of games that the concept of “buying traffic” appeared. This allowed attracting a huge number of people to the games - but also lowered the quality bar for the games being developed. Otherwise, probably could not be.
Judge for yourself: A new market (mobile games), with a low entry price, a budget (at first) cost of a attracted player is enough - and the audience is not yet sated! The speed of development and the number of games began to prevail over quality. And the market really made it possible to earn even on extremely high-quality projects.
That is why today we have the following picture of the market:
- The focus shifted towards the audience, not the product.
- New channels of promotion appeared: social networks, bloggers / YouTube, “viral” distribution, etc.
- New methods for calculating / evaluating performance: LTV, ROI, PI - F2P forced to change the whole approach to evaluating the effectiveness of certain solutions
- “Buying traffic” has become the most effective way to promote products - traditional marketing has “lost ground”
- New time frame - promo products start shortly before the release, the cycle of marketing activity has become much shorter
- The abundance of clones and games of the same type - the development goes on the principle of "copy what earns"
But will this model continue to work just as effectively? Is not a fact. Already, for example, in the mobile market there is an extremely unpleasant situation for many developers: CPI is becoming more LTV. Simply put - attracting one new user is more expensive than the income from him for all the time that he plays. Traffic began to cost more (and is not going to stop in its rise in price), but to make people stay in their game longer and pay more actively it turns out worse and worse. This has not touched the recognized market leaders, but small and medium-sized developers are already beating the alarm. Looks like we are ripe for the next market change?
Here's what marketing of games of tomorrow will look like according to Sergey:
There is nothing particularly to be happy about: it will not become easier and easier to work in this market. Traffic will continue to rise in price (and why not, if demand is still there?), And the threshold for entering the market for “middling” will continue to grow. One way or another, those who refuse to die will be forced to focus on those aspects of their games that they openly skimp on today:
Product focus
• The future is in quality, interesting projects for people (your Captain is with you again, yes. But if you knew how many developers are ignoring this simple and seemingly well-known statement)
• Copy successful competitors will no longer work. The Clonic War must end. (We are all adults and we are well aware that individual solutions, original finds and well-proven schemes will be shamelessly used by everyone around you - it’s normal to reinvent the wheel if someone has already worked for you. But changing the graphics and the name will no longer be so beneficial. We remind you: our audience is fed up with similar projects).
• Games for people, not people for games. (Start already making games for your audience - and choose this very audience at the initial stage of development. Instead of making the game “for men 35+”, and then frantically looking for someone to suit her well with the help of test campaigns in MyTarget).
• Quality. Originality. Interest. All that can not be bought for traffic and remarketing. (Humble - in the race for traffic you won, unless of course you have several million dollars hidden in the sock).
And here marketing can (and should) actively participate in the work on the game. How? Yes, at least (at least):
• Help identify the game's audience
• Conduct research of the selected market
• At the development stage, start to form a community
• Work together with the development, helping to avoid "writing against wind"
Working with brands / creating your own brands
Business does not end with the game itself. Look at the sales of merchandise and licensed Rovio products. Check out the non-game store Wargaming. And if it seemed to you that this is “fun for large companies”, then look at the merchandise “Papers, Please” and FTL at the same time. These guys are well aware that you can earn on your project in different ways.
And let your marketing help you with this:
• Looking for new channels for brand development
• Forming a brand strategy and implementing its implementation
• Creating a brand image
Creating relationships with players
Remember that the audience is not only "paying", see the numbers of living people who like (or not yet) your game. See how RIOT Games implements its marketing - believe me, when they say that they work for the players, they really do it. And judging by the position of the League of Legends in the world, this is paying off. Finally google what Relationship marketing is :-)
Using new, effective marketing channels
• New times - new promotion channels
• Streamers / video bloggers are a new generation of media. Use it!
• If PewDiePie makes games, then why can't game developers make good streams ?! But only good ones :-)
• Remember the lessons of Tom Sawyer - he was able to turn his punishment into an interesting entertainment for others, and he was still quite rich in it!
Here it is, the marketing of tomorrow:
• Focused on the quality of the product
• Developing and making brands
• creating a relationship between the game and the players
• Analyzes market, game, traffic. Analyzing everything and still a little bit on top!
• Using the right channels for marketing communications
• Participating in the development, and not only in the promotion of the product
• Working globally, not closing in the local market
• Able to evaluate the marketing effectiveness of each channel
• Caring for both ROI and brand awareness
Video lecture: part 1
Video lecture: part 2
Video lecture: part 3
What do you think? On what principles will the marketing of the games of the future be based, write in the comments, we will be happy to discuss.
By the way, everyone who wants to listen to the lectures of Sergey Zykov live, we invite you on February 11, 2017 for a lecture day on the gaming industry at VSHBI , where Sergey and other industry experts will share their experience in creating games throughout the day. Sergey in particular will reveal the theme of the relationship between game marketing and game design. The event will be free, entrance only by registration .
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/317398/
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