6 Ways To Hype Your Game Ready for Launch
Whether you’re launching an online gaming, mobile game, or multi-platform experience, you need to make sure you generate plenty of hype to guarantee downloads and glowing reviews come launch day. The gaming industry is competitive, and even the games that offer something different risk being buried underneath every other game released that day.
It’s a common problem for passionate gamers. Even if they download your game, they may not have the time to play it, so you need to give them a reason to choose your game over everything else. This all starts with hyping your new game to make it irresistible.
Beta Testing
Beta testing gives you the chance to obtain early insight into how customers will perceive the game. Ideally, it would help if you carried out these tests several months before launch as it will give you the time to make changes following suggestions from the testers.
A beta test process is crucial for ensuring the game is perfect upon launch. While patches and updates are commonplace in the gaming world, people want a finished game if they are paying for it. Tests can highlight glitches and other issues that impact immersion and enjoyment, so it is beneficial to listen to them to generate hype for the game before it goes on general sale.
Generate Interest On Social Media
Social media has become the perfect platform to generate interest in any product. There are plenty of techniques you can employ, ranging from the bombastic to the mysterious and everything in between.
Effective marketing campaigns can trickle in information about the game that will catch the attention of passionate gamers. The closer you get to the launch, the more information you can reveal. Make the most of hashtags and even promotional emojis that will add further intrigue to your title.
Pre-Launch Offers
Pre-launch offers give sure fans the chance to access the total gamer early. This is a great way to get reviews out there as soon as possible, and hopefully, these reviews will talk up your game to increase the interest of other gamers.
This approach is ideal for generating FOMO for many players who would love to be a part of the experience before anyone else. Use your mailing list to enter players into a raffle and contact the winners to send them a copy of the game for them to play before anyone else.
Work With Scaling Companies
Working with companies that have experience in making games immersive and playable across a wide range of platforms will create interest by association, and many game developers have worked with services like web3 game publishing to build their games into something that would not have been possible otherwise.
Scaling companies can provide resources to introduce your game to a broader audience. It increases the hype around the game and have access to markets that would not have heard about the game otherwise. It is an effective method for smaller companies, but even large game developers can benefit from it depending on your game’s expectations and success.
Work With Influencers
The top gaming influencers have proven to make or break games. Like scaling companies, they can help your game reach a vast audience, especially when you consider how many followers or subscribers they have on YouTube or Twitch. This is something your modest marketing budget could never achieve, so it’s worth getting in touch with popular gaming influencers.
Of course, you shouldn’t expect to work with the most prominent in the industry, especially for indie titles and small development firms. Still, it’s worth putting feelers out there to get an idea of who is interested, and you never know, a recognizable name could find your game compelling enough to market.
Put Together a Press Release
A well-written press release will make your studio look professional and provide an easy-to-share document to hype your new game. If you have never written promotional material before, this guide to writing a great press release can help you hit all the right notes and ensure you cover the essentials.
You can then share this press release with gaming publications, both local or independent and national. The more you put out, the more chance you have of reaching a wider audience who will find interest in your game.
Hype Game Ready For Launch: Take Off
Your game launch can often determine the success of your title, so you must make sure you get it right the first time. Proper marketing and official communications through press releases will help it go a long way, but you should also make sure your game is ready for launch. Otherwise, the title could be dead before it gets the chance to take a breath in the wild west of gaming.