How to prepare a succesful game launch? [Game Industry Conference 2016]
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It is said that there is only one chance to make a good first impression. As for games, launch day is one of the strongest marketing points in the lifetime of the title. So how should you prepare yourself, your title and your team for the premiere? What should you do to increase your chances on the market and minimize the risk of a failure? Learn how to prepare effective strategies to build your audience, gain publicity and nail your next product launch. And yes, there will be real-life examples.
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How to prepare a succesful game launch? [Game Industry Conference 2016]
- 1. GIC 2 0 1 6 3,2,1… Liftoff! How to prepare a succesful game launch? Natalia Dołżycka Marketing Specialist, Artifex Mundi
- 2. 2 Natalia Dołżycka Online Marketing Specialist Who I am? 8 years online marketer / ePR specialist 3 years in gaming industry NOW Marketing Specialist / Artifex Mundi NOW helping indies understand marketing Gamedev.Guide
- 3. 3 Bladebound - Brutal Hack’n’Slash RPG
- 5. 5 ” By failing to prepare, You are preparing to fail. - Benjamin Franklin
- 6. 6 These are the facts… 7 NEW GAMES ON STEAM/DAILY 500 NEW GAMES ON IOS/DAILY 99% OF THEM WILL NEVER BE PROMOTED
- 7. 7 Planning your launch in advance: Saves your time just before shiping the product Increases your chances to sell the game better and make $$$ Allows you to test & tune all your marketing activities
- 8. Launching Can be super hard …Unless you prepare!
- 9. 9 Steps to succesful launch Prepare foundations Seed the market (Soft)Launch Keep launching
- 11. Every product Have a good marketing foundation
- 12. 12 Your background is… Marketing game idea Game idea Audience Presentation Audience research Game presentation
- 13. 13 Brainstorm your game idea Who is this game for? What does it do? Why is it special? Who is your ideal customer? Can you describe it as simple as possible? But, like, REALLY special
- 14. 14 Audience research is to know… WHAT GAMES DO THEY PLAY WHAT DO THEY LIKE ARE THEY MOSTLY MALE OR FEMALE HOW OLD ARE THEY
- 15. 15 Marketing Persona About Me Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting. Indra Khan Progammer I like Free to play games The Witcher Pop music Comic books 98% 80% 85% 70% Java 75%
- 16. 16 How to gather all this information?
- 17. Playtests!
- 18. 18 Conferences (like GIC) Local meetings Game Jams Random people ;) Forums Social media Etc. ASK ABOUT FEEDBACK BEFORE LAUNCH - A LOT!
- 19. 19 But not every question is the right one!
- 20. 20 DO YOU LIKE MY GAME? WELL, YEAH…
- 21. 21
- 22. 22 Learn how to ask good questions DESCRIBE THE GAME IN YOUR OWN WORDS ASK MORE THAN ONE QUESTION (4-5 SHOULD BE ENOUGH) WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE GAME? WHAT IS THE MOST DIFFICULT PART OF THE GAME? WHAT DID YOU ENJOY THE MOST?
- 23. 23 Good game idea and audience research should give you enough knowledge to prepare your own elevator pitch
- 24. 24 How to prepare good marketing message? For target who are segment, brand provides the category with distinction because of proof Bladebound is mobile hack and slash RPG for midcore gamers, that offers dynamic gameplay through touch-based combat.
- 25. 25
- 26. Seed the market
- 27. 27 Launch is not a 24-hour event! Seed the market long before the launch
- 28. 28 When?
- 29. 29 Start at least 12 months before launch PR is all about relationships: with press, audience, influencers. It takes time to discover them all and get to know them right.
- 30. 30 Prepare all you can BEFORE the launch Press release Graphic assets Social & www Launch plan 01 02 03 04 Who is this game for? What does it do? Why is it special?
- 31. 31 How to prepare assets that work? There are some sentsitive topics that make yournalists ‚tick’ Famous studio Contest winner New genre The Witcher :) VR Relevant to current events Unique studio / founder story
- 32. 32 Distributing your game - Press Hit List Who wrote about my genre? TOP10s, best of’s Who wrote about my competition?
- 33. 33 And start building! Follow them on Twitter / Linkedin Read & give feedback to their articles Discuss about shared hobbies Share & promote what they do TRY TO STAY ON THEIR RADAR
- 34. 34 The launch plan Timing of all your activities Which assets do you need? Where do you plan to advertise or take action? What is your budget? 0102 0304 Schedule Assets Placements Revision 05 Launch What can go wrong and how to fix it?
- 36. 36 Press relations / press release - start early Project launch Assets ready - first contact Graphics, landing page, blog, social media Pre-release Beta invitation, first info about the game Launch There’s something for the start already, you’re not a blank page! Maintain contact with journalists via social media: Twitter or LinkedIN
- 37. (Pre) Launch
- 38. 38 Testing your game on few markets or for a limited time to gather data Is called soft launch
- 39. 39 Why you should do a soft launch? It’s widely used by mobile games to test KPI’s, scalability of the game and their ‚success potential’ Success Test ideas Feedback Test $$$
- 40. 40 Where to do a soft launch? Usual approach: Better approach:
- 41. 41 $How people behave in your game? Are they paying in the game? Do they have problem with particular part of the game? Is your promo working? What to measure during soft launch? During soft launch you should test and measure everything!
- 42. 42 How long should your soft launch last? 2-3 months max Stop for 1-2 months …and then again
- 43. Keep Launching!
- 45. 45 You’ve finally launched But it’s not over yet!
- 46. 46 Your launch is happening 24-7-365 …until you get satisfying results
- 47. 47 You always want to Create buzz Drive people to your game Create new plans & improve the game Success
- 48. 48 Just like them ;)
- 50. 50 GAMEDEV.GUIDE for those who don’t have time 100% free, no strings attached, no SPAM
- 51. QUESTIONS?
- 52. That’s all, folks! Natalia Dołżycka PR & Marketing for Indies @ndolzycka natalia@dolzycka.com ndolzycka@artifexmundi.com http://gamedev.guide