For players and developers alike, the gaming industry is competitive to its core. With more games than time to play them, we’re exploring why PR & Marketing is the next puzzle piece in the indie games phenomenon.
During the you-know-what in 2019, gaming became the social destination, and a welcome distraction from the state of the world. As a result, the industry saw a boom – consumers in the U.S. spent $1.597 billion on games, hardware, and accessories. Everyone either really wanted to owe Tom Nook bells, or was trying to be a convincing impostor. Five years on, we’re all trying to peak in PEAK. Some things never change.
AAA game studios found navigating the shift to remote working difficult, leading to delays. Indie developers, however, were less impacted and became the driving force behind a surge in releases. The games released on Steam grew from 8,076 released in 2019 to 11,261 released in 2021.
Predictably, this caused a shift in the expectations and behaviours of players.
Changing player expectations
With asking “Why do I have to wait so long?” players are increasingly turning away from their AAA favourites. In theory, the increasing demand for additional games is fantastic, particularly for shareholders. Both game creators and players, who don’t want to sacrifice game quality, find it to be less so.
As a result of that, trends are emerging for the industry. Either:
- Games are being rushed out unfinished and end up disappointing until fixed (Cyberpunk, we’re looking at you…)
- The delays for games to be ready on release day are disheartening. We might be referring to Grand Theft Auto 6.
- Game releases rely on building on an existing franchise but offer little gameplay variation (Call of Duty have been a culprit of this, so much so that the response to Black Ops 7 had them re-thinking their launch strategy)
This culminates in players being hungry for new games and new adventures. Whilst the long-standing AAA franchises are appealing, they’re increasingly struggling to retain players.
Black Ops 6, for example, broke launch records for Activision, attracting 33.7 million players in October 2024; only 5 months later, the franchise dropped to 20.6 million players, for various gameplay and technical reasons.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was perhaps the biggest indie this year, capturing everyone’s hearts. With all the talk around it, you might not expect that Expedition 33 was Sandfall Interactive’s first game, or that it was created with a budget of less than $10m. Despite this, it went on to become the most nominated game in The Game Awards’ history with 12 nominations, taking home the most award wins in TGA’s history with 9, including the esteemed ‘Game of The Year’ award. What a release.
AAAs say: bigger and bolder
To help to re-capture the wandering eyes, controllers and wallets of players, the gaming industry is getting bolder. Competition is fiercer than ever, and players are creating unfamiliar territory – PR support for successful stunts has been key to this.
Back to Black Ops 6, Peter Stormare returned as ‘The Replacer’, and storm-ared in (sorry) to take the place of Sky Sports’s regular anchors, who were away playing the game. Not bold enough? Well, Diablo IV built a gaming PC with human blood for Season 2.
It’s formulaic that the bigger companies are doing more to get attention – they have the money! Except, are we to leave the indie games that carried us through the pandemic behind?
AAA dreams: why PR is crucial
With indie studios come indie budgets, meaning developers are less likely to see the recognition they deserve for their projects, and players are missing out on their next GOTY.
With a soaring interest in gaming from the general public, using PR to attract investors is an avenue to grow the indie market as a whole. We’ve supported companies of all sizes on their journey from a concept to market leader, and the consistently effective method has been using storytelling effectively. There are already stories to tell with games; shaping them to highlight the fresh ideas, dedicated community, and the stand-out aspects that make a game brilliant is the easy bit!
If the time demands something new, it means that it’s an investment that needs to be made. Indie games are just that, and investors are waiting for the next big hit.
In short, we’re seeing a shift in the gaming industry. It isn’t regressing to its roots of year-long gaps between AAA games with little variety. Instead, we’re seeing players demand new ideas and creativity, and the under-the-radar indie gaming studios are delivering just that. Alongside this, we’re seeing the slow dissolution of the barrier between players and developers to create a sense of community. In this shifting landscape, PR is integral to ensuring that the fresh, engaging content that players want has the opportunity to break through the noise of the gaming titans.
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