AAA Games Vs. Indie Games (1 Viewer)

[Nomad]

Well, there is no denying that most of us are playing AAA games. One of the reasons why we don't play much indie games (at least for me) is because we never get to know about these games. Unlike big game studios that can spend millions on development, production, and marketing, indie game developers or small producers do not have money for marketing. What do you think indie developers or small studies should do in order to market their games to have a chance to stand alongside big producers?

 

[Aught-O-Matic]

I am a professional marketer, so I'll take a stab here.

Indie games tend to live on word of mouth and organic social media presence, but there's a surprising amount you can do with a small marketing budget. Paid social media and other similar platforms can help you raise awareness of your game even with just $1,000 to spend for a month. If I was running a Meta (that's Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger) effort, I would set up a "traffic" campaign to send users to a simple website you set up to market the game. The ads (those are the sponsored posts you see) would contain a trailer for the game so users could get their first look without having to click into the ad, with the ad link leading to a dedicated (but simple) website for the game. The website would further educate users on the game and link them to locations they could purchase (or prior to release pre-order) the game. As for targeting, I would utilize an interest audience targeting gamers, especially on the platforms your game is launching on. On top of all this, maintaining an organic social media presence is pivotal. Keep that organic presence clean, don't interact with other users too much, and certainly avoid posting about anything controversial.

There's definitely other platforms to utilize as well when you have a microscopic marketing budget, but I think Meta is the simplest to use on your own and has a huge userbase, especially through Messenger and Instagram. For Meta, I left out a lot of more nuanced details that are hard to explain without working in the platform, but I can definitely say that Meta Ads Manager is a great tool for small businesses/brands/projects.

 

[Scorpion]

I think Indie developers should focus on social media and community building since it's mostly free.. like TikTok, Twitter, and Reddit can create huge buzz if the content goes viral. They should also reach out to smaller streamers and YouTubers who are more accessible than big names.