How to market a computer game

ONE OF THE BEST talks so far at Austin GDC was called " Production vs Marketing, Marketing PWNS every time", by Leo Olebe of Bioware. It started out with the top 20 reasons "why marketing sucks" and "why marketing is useless", then went on to talk about what marketing is.

Without commentary, here is Leo's Why marketing sucks top 20 list.

22. We can’t count

21. Why is this list only 20 items long?

20. We have never met a PPT we couldn’t make longer (sex it up)

19. WE THINK THAT IF YOU CAPITALIZE SOMETHING IT IS MORE IMPORTANT.

18. We have never played the games that we are trying to sell to people

17. We’ve never actually played a video game

16. When our mouth’s move, we’re lying

15. The only difference between marketing and a box of crap is the box

14. We’ve never met a boondoggle (PR) we didn’t like

13. We think a week is enough notice to get a new build

12. You mean you can’t just add a new feature by promising it to a journalist?

11. No matter how much schwag we hoard (and don’t give to the team) – it’s never enough

10. We can make a video for anything (or get someone else to do it)

9. If we want a bigger budget we just say we are going to sell more units

8. If customers buy games because they are good, why do we need marketing again?

7. How can you tell a marketing person? Their eyes and hair are brown because they are so full of s**t

6. All of the glory, none of the responsibility:

"Yes – WE’RE game of the year, and sold 5 millions units"

"No – PD’s game sucked, we only sold 50K units, fire the devs."

5. We have never, ever paid for our own lunch.

4. Market research says that your game would sell more if you added a soundtrack by <insert skater band here>.

3. Can you add Microtransactions to that?

2. We just signed a day-and-date deal to release the game in Asia – and your ship date hasn’t moved.

1. Any ad placement is a good ad placement (so we can get more $$ for the schwag/boondoggle fund)

Following that stirring beginning, it was off to a chat about what marketing does, and why. This was kicked off by what marketing is not, and that was headlined by "selling people stuff they don't want (or don't know they want)". It was followed up by "Lying to customers", "Making up features", "Spinning the truth" and "Wasteful spending". If those common perceptions are not true, what the heck do they do?

In simple terms, there are three answers to that, understanding the product, understanding the customer, and introducing them to each other. Startlingly, this makes a lot of sense. To me, it also assumes the product is not crap, but most companies would just assume that.

If the widget is a solid one, marketing uses such esoteric tools as branding, targeting, advertising, promotions and competitive analysis to reach those goals. There are many other knobs for them to turn as well, none of which should be a shock to anyone who has read this far.

If marketing gets involved early enough, they can influence the design, ideally for the better, and help the devs figure out where to focus their efforts. Along the game gestation process, marketing influence will hopefully answer questions and (gasp) even suggest features. In a good world, this makes for a product people want, and marketing has an easy job. In a more realistic environment, you end up with Brittney Spears, the new Indiana Jones movie, and FPS Clone #7.

The customer is also not a single demographic, they are usually a bunch of different groups, all of which may require a different approach. There are a lot of tools to reach them as well, and the impressions you make may or may not be favorable. In any case, there is kind of a feedback loop in effect for customer attitudes.

Once a customer is aware of your product, they make a purchase decision. That and other things lead to an impression of the product, in other words you use it once you buy it. Customers often will express said opinion, in print, on the web, or to friends. This makes more people aware of the product, and the loop continues. If it is positive, you are in good shape, negative, and you have problems.

In the end, it is the job of marketing to keep the customer in mind. If a company is customer focused, it will generally do better than one that is not. Hello Kitty Harley Davidson Softtails probably won't sell that many units.

To do this, Leo suggests that you ask yourself three questions every day. Did I think about the customer? What can I do tomorrow to help the project succeed? How can I do better tomorrow than I did today? All common sense things, and all will generally make a product better. It almost makes marketing seem like it is useful and doesn't suck. µ