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A “one size fits all” approach never works in marketing–a phrase that holds true even in the world of game marketing. This is because the creation processes, target audience, resources, and the end product of indie games differ vastly from those of AAA games. So, it makes sense that they would be marketed differently.
But what, exactly, are these differences? Let’s find out!
1. Budget
Nintendo. Rockstar Games. Ubisoft. Epic Games. What do these big game development studios have in common? A large financial budget for all aspects of the development process, including marketing. This gives them the opportunity to go all out with their promotions. A report released by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) revealed that top publishers are spending a whopping 50 million Euros on marketing campaigns alone, with the numbers going up to 310 million USD for marketing an entire franchise of games.
In direct contrast to this, indie game developers are usually individuals without huge financial resources. Their marketing budget comes out of their own pockets, and are typically in the range of a couple thousand dollars.
2. Marketing Approach
AAA games are created to appeal to the market at large; to be enjoyed by everyone, regardless of age or gender. This is reflected in their marketing methods, which include traditional strategies such as TV and billboard advertisements, huge promotional events, and high-profile launch parties. In short: their marketing approach is to get as many eyeballs on their game as possible.
Indie game marketing, on the other hand, needs a data-driven approach, mostly due to budget constraints. This means identifying a target audience and directing all marketing methods towards them.
Let’s say you’re creating a simple puzzle game that requires some brain power, but not a lot. You’ve identified your target demographic to be university students or office goers who could just complete a few levels of your game during their commute. Now, a data-driven approach (i.e. running a social media ad campaign targeted towards these two groups in particular) would give you better results than simply running ads everywhere and hoping for the best.
3. Community-Building
Triple-A games typically have one major goal: to appeal to the entire gaming community, and then some. So, their marketing doesn’t really have a community-first approach. It’s just mass market appeal all around. Moreover, since AAA game studios are pretty big names, it’s safe to assume that they do already have a community of loyal customers.
Indie game developers, however, are relatively unknown–especially if it’s their first time releasing a game to the public. This requires them to have a community-first approach, where they leverage the use of social media like X, Discord, Reddit, and other gaming forums to create a community of potential players pre-launch. Everything game-related goes in such communities, including sharing updates, getting feedback from beta testers, or just general gaming chit-chat.
The goal with such a community-driven approach to marketing is to gather a list of like-minded gamers who can support the game pre- and post-launch. As a bonus, you also have a set of loyal players for any future games you might create. This approach also increases word-of-mouth recommendations for your game.
4. Endorsements and Collaborations
A large budget combined with the blanket marketing approach of AAA games gives them the freedom to get their games endorsed by celebrities. This strategy ensures that they reach as wide an audience as possible.
Since indie games have a smaller target demographic, their marketing approach consists of collaborating with indie-exclusive influencers and YouTube or Twitch streamers. Since these two platforms are one of the main ways in which people discover new indie games, this approach increases the visibility of the game by putting it in front of an audience that’s interested in the type of games you make.
5. Marketing Tools
AAA game developers have a wide range of marketing tools available at their disposal–all of which require a ton of money. In addition to traditional marketing strategies such as TV ads, these big studios have the dough to sponsor esports teams and podcasts to capture the attention of people, host their own gaming tournaments or gaming-adjacent live meet-ups, and even commission comic books set in their game’s world.
But the marketing tools available to indie game developers are quite different and take more effort. Some tools that they make use of include taking part in Steam festivals such as the Steam Next Fest to get more players, growing a following on social media platforms, live streaming games, and resharing user-generated content (UGC). But, if leveraged properly, these tools can prove to be incredibly effective for indie games!
Worried about marketing your indie game on a budget? We, at Campaign Cooperative, have got your covered! [Contact us now. We’ll take care of the marketing.]