Advertising and Marketing in the Game Industry

Advertising and marketing are some lesser talked about topics in game design, but I find them important.  They may fall outside the domain of software developers and game designers, but at least a solid theory of what they are and why they're important should be a requisite for any successful game developer.  These topics not only encompass game development, but also other forms of entertainment, such as movie production and book authoring.

Advertising

Advertising is necessary because it lets people know about your game.  It is a complement to virality, and you need both.  With virality, all the advertising in the world will do little good, as virality can work both ways - it can advocate your game or it can alienate your game.  Players who love the game will tell their friends.  Players who don't will also tell their friends that they don't, which will discourage others from buying it, despite seeing it being advertised.

With a high virality, meaning players greatly advocate to their friends that they enjoy the game and that it's worth their time and cost to buy, the game advertises itself locally as popularity spreads.  Without advertisement, that virality will remain localized and will not spread as much globally.  With advertisement in addition to great virality, many "initial contact points" occur, and from within each, the game is spread virally.  This is optimal.

Marketing

Marketing is also just as important.  If you have both advertisement and virality, the popularity does little good if buyers can't find a location to purchase the game.  The internet today is an excellent resource for marketing today, and there are still in-person options available for shops like Gamestop, Walmart, Best Buy and others.  With in-person shops, research must be done to determine how many copies should be provided to the shop, and the rate of purchase for restock.  An audience must also be researched.  The game may sell better in Pennsylvania than it does in Nevada, for example.  If that were the case, Gamestops in Pennsylvania should get more copies of the game to sell.

Marketing via the internet is another topic.  Online retailers like Amazon are already quite popular.  Other retailers need to be advertised so that potential buyers are aware of where to go.  And hence, to market properly sometimes you need to advertise your marketing strategy.

Summary

Both advertisement and marketing is necessary for successful game development.  This also includes virality of the game product, which arises as a result of good game design.  Advertising lets players know about your game, and marketing lets players know how to find it.  Successful marketing thereby also needs to be advertised along with your game.