作者：Zoya Street

问题：

你在行业中最常见到的营销误区是什么？

许多人难以让自己的游戏在竞争激烈的市场中绽露头角，但他们仍然有点排斥关于市场营销的黑暗艺术。我认为找到了吸引合适的受众是一个关键技能，我也想开发者们让自己的游戏更为显眼的技巧。

Video-Marketing-Mistakes(from video-marketing-online)

回答：

Mark Sorrell（Hide & Seek开发总监）

我斗胆发言，“认为你可以自己搞营销”可能就是一个大错特错的想法。如果想做好营销，就必须掌握付费获取用户的方法。最好是将精力投放到你所擅长的事情上（如果你擅长的是留存率和盈利性那就再好不过了），将多数市场业务交给专业人士来搞定。

此外还要注意一些有组织的和社交营销内容，营销故事，但我知道各位对此都有自己的看法，所以就不在此赘述了。

一句话，腾出预算聘请一名营销能手。

Tadhg Kelly（Jawfish Games创意总监）

最普遍的错误也许就是制作了一款没有营销故事的游戏。

我们多数人大多时候所犯的错误就是认为自己是在开发一款充满激情的项目，以至于忽略了现实需求，因为我们是纯粹从商业角度来开发游戏，或者因为我们开发游戏时有诸多支持资源，所以就认为它可以通过强力获取用户而获得成功。

Andy Payne（Mastertronic总经理）

我个人认为，我们自己或者受人所托而做的一切东西都要有一定受众，最好一开始就有一群粉丝，否则我们就不会去制作那款游戏。

Eric Seufert（Gamefounders的导师）

我认为最大的错误在于不该将“市场营销”视为一项分离的业务，只是从“产品”团队那里接收完工的产品，并继续据此创造一个用户群体。如果一家工作室遵从MVP（最小可行性产品）原则，在敏捷环境中开发游戏，听从用户反馈并据此迭代，那么它所做的一切部分程度上都可以说是一种“市场营销”。

Oscar Clark（Applifier倡导者）

我们在此可能犯的错误真是太多了，所以我想说的是，最大的错误就是没有经常自问“那又怎么样?”

……我们在制作一款很棒的（XX题材/机制）游戏……那又怎么样？

……大家会喜欢游戏中的角色……那又怎么样？

……我的孩子很喜欢这款游戏……那又怎么样？

……它有很棒的8位复古风格……那又怎么样？

这个问题给我们一个挑战自我假设的机会。当然，我们如果失败了就要迅速站起来继续前行，但我们不应该浪费精力去犯同一个错误。我们如果腾些时间自问“那又怎么样”也许就可以避免许多问题，因为这迫使我们从用户角度去考虑自己想法的真正好处（最好是用真实数据来检验这些设想）。

制作一款你想做的游戏是一种爱好。制作一款商业游戏则要求你了解用户的需求。

这并不是什么新理念，甚至也不是游戏市场营销所独有的理念。

Patrick O’Luanaigh（nDreams首席执行官）

要用一句简短的话描述你的游戏为何与众不同，令其吸引玩家的注意。这相当于Seth Godin的“紫色奶牛”理念——确保你的游戏能够脱颖而出，并且让人们有足够理由去注意到它。

有太多游戏都没有抓住这个要领，要知道做不到这一点，你的营销就彻底废了。

Martin Darby（Remode首席文化官）

我同意这个看法，并认为它也符合Tadhg关于营销故事的理念。我认为现在看起来制作独立游戏确实更难了。大家能否想到一款平台游戏的营销关键词就是友谊（《Thomas Was Alone》）？大型发行商也不会想到有人会喜欢玩一款关于小男孩独自一人在森林走失的游戏（《Limbo》）。

所以我认为扩展这个理念的关键在于要更了解你的用户基础。要实现这一点很困难，因为我们在此领域还没有看到足够的调查研究。我并非市场调查人员，但所我所观察，市场上还存在一类不仅仅局限于“硬核”或“休闲”游戏的子玩家类型。

PC独立游戏群体就非常乐衷于挖掘新事物。这一群体与日式主机游戏玩家截然不同。在我看来，还有一些更为体验的手机游戏玩家接触游戏并不是因为自己为之着迷，而是因为手机游戏就是青少年文化的一部分，他们不得不接触。这些休闲游戏玩家与《Candy Crush Saga》/《FarmVille》中的“妈妈用户”完全不同。

我发现好多跟我一般年纪（25-35）的朋友并不认为自己是“游戏玩家”，但却喜欢玩《使命召唤》或《光晕》等主机游戏，他们可以算是喜欢通俗易懂、主流而无技术障碍游戏的男性休闲玩家。这种特殊倾向和亚文化群体特点多不可胜数。但我所认识的多数游戏行业人士认为自己是铁杆玩家，对奇幻世界了如指掌，最新发布的游戏如数家珍。我认为这里的一大误区在于，如果你不去有意识地瞄准用户，或者试图像Facebook游戏一样将创意商品化，那么就很可能认为所有玩游戏的人都一样。

我认为除此之外，还有一些新人开发者经常犯错，导致其难以营销游戏的基本情况。我并非好为人师，只想在此分享我自己曾犯过的一些错误，以使大家少走弯路：

*没有妥当描述主要操作或游戏世界的糟糕游戏名称

*没有竞争力的次级图像

*游戏并没有激发人们的购买欲

*未能恰当地评估竞争形势：这款游戏如何从其他同类游戏中脱颖而出？为何人们应该在乎这款游戏？

*游戏并没有真正渗透核心情感元素，例如智慧、兴奋、恐惧、幽闭恐惧症、愉快、强大等情感

一般来说，营销要早于你开始制作游戏！不幸的是，我发现许多开发者并没有这种意识，只是寄希望于无拘束的自我表达和收益回报。我还发现行业中的一个问题就是，许多游戏的营销只是一种博弈——将游戏投入到平台上，争取最多用户，寄希望于玩家群体的亚文化发挥作用。这会抑制营销创新，也会让玩家、开发者和营销人员之间产生相互理解的鸿沟。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

[Gamesbriefers] Biggest marketing mistakes

By Zoya Street

This is a Gamesbriefers post, where we ask industry luminaries to share their wisdom. Read other Gamesbriefers posts here.

Question:

What is the most common marketing mistake you see in the industry?

A lot of people struggle to get their games noticed in this crowded market, but they can still be a bit squeamish about actually engaging with the dark art of marketing. I think that finding and attracting the right audience is an essential skill, and I want to hear from you what lessons developers need to learn about making their work more visible.
Answers:
Mark SorrellMark Sorrell Development Director at Hide & Seek

I’m going to be brave and open the batting by suggest that ‘thinking you can do it yourself’ is probably a big one. To qualify that, paid acquisition is a science and one that takes money, but is well understood. It’s generally best to concentrate on what you’re good at (hopefully retention and monetisation) and save most marketing functions for professionals who can do it in their sleep.

There is a the whole other side, the organic and social marketing stuff, the marketing story, but I know full well that several Gamesbriefers have strong opinions on that, so I’ll leave them to it.

In summation, set aside budget and hire an expert.

tadhg kellyTadhg Kelly Creative Director at Jawfish Games

The most common mistake? Making a game that has no marketing story.

It’s a mistake that most of us make most of the time because we’re developing a passion project that we forget to validate in the real world, because we’re developing a game purely from the perspective of a business case, or because we’re developing a game with so many resources behind us that we think it’ll be a success through brute force acquisition.

andy payneAndy Payne MD at Mastertronic

I can only talk from a personal perspective, but everything we commission/develop ourselves has to have an audience or better still a community of fans in mind from the very start. Without that we just don’t make that game.

eric seufertEric Seufert Mentor at Gamefounders

I think the biggest mistake would be thinking about “marketing” as a segregated business unit that merely receives a finished product from the “product” team and proceeds to try to build an audience for it. If a studio is following MVP principles, developing in an agile environment, listening to users, iterating, etc., everything it is doing is partially “marketing”.

Oscar ClarkOscar Clark Evangelist for Applifier

There are too many mistakes we can make so I’m going to cheat by saying the biggest mistake is about not asking “So What?” enough times.

…We are making a great [insert genre/mechanic] game… So what?

…People are going to love the character… so what?

…My kids love it… so what?

…Its got a great 8 bit retro feel… so what?

This question is about giving ourselves a fighting chance by challenging our assumptions. Of course we should fail fast and fail forward, but we also shouldn’t be wasting our efforts by failing the same way twice. A lot of problems can be avoided by taking time to ask the right questions and “So What?” forces us to consider what the real benefit of our ideas is from the perspective of our audience (and ideally testing these assumptions with real data).

Making the game you want to make is a hobby. Making a game as a business requires acknowledgement of your audience’s needs.

This isn’t a new idea. This isn’t even a idea specific to game its the very definition of good marketing; the “identification and satisfaction of consumer needs.”

PatrickO’Luanaigh2Patrick O’Luanaigh CEO at nDreams

I’m a big believer in ‘the hook’ (I think EA used to call it the ‘razor X’.) A one line description of your game which explain why it’s unique and will grab attention from the plethora of games out there. It’s similar to Seth Godin’s fantastic “Purple Cow” concept – making sure your game will stand out and has a reason why people will notice it.

Too many games don’t have that hook. Without it, your marketing is utterly crippled.

Martin DarbyMartin Darby CCO of Remode

I would agree with that, and think it broadly conforms to Tadgh’s concept of a marketing story. I do think it can seem harder to nail down making indie games though. I mean would anyone have guessed the market uptake of a platformer about friendship (Thomas Was Alone)? Or as someone from a big publisher once said to me “We wouldn’t have guessed anyone would want to be a boy lost in a forest” (Limbo).

So I guess a way to extend the concept would be to know your customer base more. Which can be hard, as I honestly don’t think we see nearly enough decent research in this area. I am not a market researcher but based on observation I think there are types of gamer sub-groups that go beyond just “hardcore” or “casual”.

The PC indie crowd for example is highly motivated in finding new quirky stuff. This is a totally different crowd to the japanophile console gamers who like more wacky, irreverent content that embraces goofy fun anything more serious. For example it also seems to me that there are some more casual mobile gamers who engage with gaming because it is part of youth culture rather than because they are deeply invested in games as an art form. Yet this is a different casual audience from the candy crush/Farmville “soccer mum” phenomenon.

Something I always find interesting is that I have many friends around my age (25-35) who aren’t self-considered “gamers” but have consoles with COD or Halo and just like to play that: So they are male casual gamers but want a product that is very accessible and mainstream & aren’t bothered about the technology barrier. This list of predominant attitudes and sub-cultures goes on and on. However the majority of people in the games industry I know I would consider us highly invested gamers to whom deep knowledge of fantasy universes, nerdy pop-culture in-jokes, and the latest game releases are like badges of self-expression: i.e. from a fairly narrow slice on the whole spectrum. I guess one of the mistakes is assuming all people playing games are like that if you are not consciously trying to target that, or worse, trying to commoditise creativity like the Facebook game boom.

Aside from that though I think there are really basic things that a lot of new developers get wrong that make it inherently harder to market a game. I don’t profess to be an expert at this, but as well as making a few mistakes of my own I have spoken to a lot of people who’ve failed (i.e. the ones you DON’T generally hear about)………..and you begin to spot some patterns, so in the interest of being asked to give an opinion here, this is a non-exhaustive (and admittedly somewhat anecdotal) list of things I think make it much harder to market a game……

Bad game name that doesn’t describe the principle action or world well

Sub-optimal graphics that realistically don’t compete

The game not really being a ‘fantasy for sale’ that people care about

Not properly assessing the competition: How is this game different from others that provide this fantasy? Why will people care? …”the hook” as Patrick says

The game not really oozing the core emotion that it will make you *feel*, for example….. clever, excited, scared, claustrophobic, joyful, powerful

Basically, marketing starts before you even make the game! Sadly though I know a lot of developers who I don’t think consider things in this way and expect unbridled self-expression as well as a financial return (because after all, Notch did it right? So that could be me!). Also problematic is the fact that I often feel like we live in a world where a lot of games marketing feels more like a numbers game: shove it out there on the platform with the most users and hope the relevant sub-cultures stick. This makes creatives even more cynical about marketing and so the gaps of understanding start to appear between people who enjoy playing games, people who enjoy making games and people who enjoy selling games. （source：gamesbrief）