The New Video Game Marketing Playbook

Breakout titles:

• Baldur's Gate 3 - Black Myth: Wukong - Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 - Hades II - Helldivers 2

Baseline titles:

• Assassin's Creed Shadows - Doom: The Dark Ages - Final Fantasy VII Rebirth - Indiana Jones and the Great Circle - Star Wars Outlaws

Using this data, we can begin to illustrate three core principles that create the foundations for a new video game marketing playbook.

Principle 1: Marketing ends at launch → Marketing is decoupled from launch.

When analyzing the volume of online conversations, breakout titles outperformed the traditional “one and done” marketing investment at launch. They saw on average a 152% higher sustained volume post-launch compared to the baseline of AAA titles.

For example, Balatro grew and made most of its marketing investments post-launch. Such as an “unhinged” trailer that was inspired by a popular joke about the game. They waited until they had a critical mass of players and awareness before playing their hand.

Marketers should shift resources to capitalize on their post-release engagement and scale it. Furthermore, more fundamental shifts in how to go-to-market such as early access, or even the episodic releases of Dispatch, are worth serious examination by large AAA studios.

Principle 2: Marketing scales awareness → Marketing scales community (which scales awareness).

Huge analyzed YouTube videos about each game and used Google’s Vertex AI to categorize the videos into content that was created either by the game’s official channels or by their community. Breakthrough titles saw nearly x2 more total YouTube views on average than the baseline because of content created by their community.

Consider how Baldur’s Gate 3 found their most successful marketing moment after launch by bringing the voice acting cast to play D&D on creator Youtube channels. The videos generated more views and engagement than all of their pre-release trailers combined.

Marketers need to view creators as more than paid media distribution and instead rightly view them as the primary gatekeepers of the gaming community. This requires a more ongoing relationship. Beginning an organic creator strategy and outreach program should be a day one priority for every marketer. New models such as enlisting creators to advise during the development process and later evangelize the game are also worthy of consideration.

Principle 3: Marketing is one-directional → Marketing is participatory.

For many titles, there is often a marketing narrative as presented by the studio and another as voiced by the community. Successful marketers will accept that the voice of the community is infinitely more active, resourceful, and creative and find positive ways to direct their energy. Both Charlie xcx’s Brat and the movie Barbie saw the potential to be a wide canvas for participation.

This requires a more collaborative process. In the grim darkness of the Warhammer 40,000 fantasy franchise is a legion of creators dedicated to exploring its considerably expansive lore. As Warhammer 40,000: Darktide was nearing launch, Luetin09, a creator, was given exclusive access to the studio to reveal the universe of the new game in an hour-long video. The result? Nearly x4 more video views than their launch trailer.

Conclusion.

Above all else, adapting to the new playbook will require marketers to increase their depth of understanding of gaming communities. Traditional measurement tools can struggle to keep pace with the speed of gaming culture.

At Huge, this is why we’ve put our AI platform LIVE at the forefront of our work and leverage new AI-enabled capabilities to close the gap.

A new playbook for video game marketing is already being written by new breakout titles who understand the emerging gaming landscape. The greatest risk is posed to large legacy studios and publishers who have yet to embrace this new normal.