Archive for the ‘Marketing’ Category

Why economic gloom could be good for business in virtual worlds

May 4, 2012

In my GDC talk, I explained how the fictional economies of Final Fantasy in the 1990s games got young people spending money on gaming when their finances were low, by reflecting the loss of stability of the real world economy while eliminating the possibility of poverty. After the talk, Nicholas asked whether the success of Final Fantasy games during Japan’s lost decade parallels the success of the freemium model during our current recession. In this post I’m going to suggest one reason why fictional economies are so compelling in a recession – real-world financial gloom makes virtual wealth feel like an epic win.

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Posted in: Marketing, Opinion

Tagged with: epic win, Fictional economics, freemium, recession, virtual currency, virtual economies

1 Comment
Indie Exposure: this time it’s personal

March 27, 2012

One particular USP available to all of us indie developers, is something few AAA studios have quite the same access to…

It is ourselves.

Our ability as indie developers to be individuals, with distinctive personalities and motivations is incredibly valuable.

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Posted in: Guest Post, Marketing

Tagged with: how to market a game, indie games, indie gaming, self-promotion

1 Comment
Making the most of your USP

March 6, 2012

It can be very easy to see marketing and game development as separate disciplines – that creating an awesome game and drawing in new players are separate tasks requiring separate sets of skills. The reality is that designing your game to be marketable is a key part of development. It’s up to you as a designer to identify, develop and promote your unique selling point.

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Posted in: Guest Post, Marketing

Tagged with: designing games, how to make a good game, how to make a successful game, how to publish a game, how to self-publish, marketing, selling point

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Using social networks to build a tribe

February 23, 2012

The golden rule for social marketers is “Go where your customers are.” It’s no longer cost effective to drag them to you – you need to go to them.

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Posted in: Marketing

Tagged with: facebook, social marketing, social media, twitter

2 Comments
Meeting the challenge: building a community of players

February 15, 2012

How will you face the challenge? We don’t have a magic formula for growing large, loyal communities of fans (yet – do subscribe to the newsletter just in case we happen upon it some day) but we do have some valuable advice to set you on your way.

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Posted in: Marketing

Tagged with: brand, brand identity, games business, indie, marketing, metrics, permission marketing

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Will the nature of the AppStore Kill Zynga’s cloning strategy

February 14, 2012

Is Zynga about to learn that its aggressive, plagiarising tactics, honed on Facebook, won’t transfer to a platform where fans can give their feedback?

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Posted in: Marketing, Opinion

Tagged with: cloning, dream heights, nimblebit, tiny tower, tribes, zynga

5 Comments
Indie Exposure – Why’s it so hard?

February 14, 2012

Last Friday I was at the incredible Bit of Alright, David Hayward’s smorgasbord of indie delights, giving a talk about Indie Exposure. Self-publishing the Greedy Bankers games has taught me a lot of lessons, not least just how much time, energy and creative thinking I’ve needed to devote to PR and marketing. The problem I’ve had, particularly with the original iPhone release, is that while it’s had a very positive response from those who have played it, getting into the hands of players has been a massive challenge.

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Posted in: Guest Post, Marketing

Tagged with: games business, how to market a game, how to publisher, how to self-publish, indie games

8 Comments