Social Media success stories in game marketing

The following are some of the most successful cases of independent games that have increased their following and sales thanks to social media.

1. SOCIAL MEDIA
ON GAMING
SUCCESS STORIES

2. CULT OF THE
LAMB
POST LAUNCH
ESPORT PRESENTATION
Have a story 1.
How does the deam want to be portrayeda.
Development backstoryb.
What is unique about gamec.
Quick way to convey messaged.
Content with emotion2.
Memes with silly situationsa.
Surprise content (cute characters doing violent things ie)b.
Support fans3.
Anticipate trends4.
Post parody trailer before an important trailera.
Parody movie postersb.
Get on active trendsc.
Asset eficiency5.
Repurpose contenta.
Content repositoryb.

3. CULT OF THE LAMB
ESPORT PRESENTATION
TWITCH INTEGRATIONS1.
One of the main ways the game
stood out
a.
TWITCH DROPS2.
Get rewarded for watching videos
about the game
a.

4. INFINITUM: THE
BACKROOMS STORY
ESPORT PRESENTATION
Viral videos all have a “formula.” To find that formula,
watch a bunch of other videos from creators that have
similar games that have blown up and try to mimic that
structure.
01
The formula for the 1.2M viewed video is: music that is
reverbed and slowed down, and adding a caption that
invites interaction such as “tag your friend” or “Games
are getting too real
02
Horror games are easy to sell
03
EARLY ACCESS
NOT RELEASED

5. TINY GLADE
EARLY ACCESS
NOT RELEASED
ESPORT PRESENTATION
Let the team show off1.
UGC by the same developersa.
No productionb.
Main selling point of game because the team knows itc.
First viral post May 2022d.
All devs have same ctae.
Take advantage of viral videos2.
Announcement trailer went viral (august 2023) and was
curated by gaming bible when user sent link to website
a.
Take advantage of content3.
There is a pet sheep mechanic that was curated by
@CANYOUPETTHEDOG twitter profile
a.

6. TINY GLADE
ESPORT PRESENTATION

7. DWARVES: GLORY,
DEATH AND LOOT
LAUNCHED
ESPORT PRESENTATION
APRIL 2022: Before even starting development, they posted some sprites/concept art to
reddit (~April 2022 and got 500+ upvotes)
MAY 2022: Installed Unity (Seriously, they hadn’t started development)
AUGUST 2022: Posted prototype/tech alpha to itch.io
AUGUST- OCTOBER 2022: Kept posting to relevant reddit channels to find people to try the
game (r/Unity2D r/PlayMyGame r/Webgames r/freegames just to name a few)
NOVEMBER 6, 2022: Steam Page Launch
NOVEMBER 18, 2022: SplatterCat played the tech alpha out of nowhere (he said he found
the game from the developer’s Teddit posts but didn’t specify which one though) -> +2.5k
WL
DECEMBER 2022: Put the tech alpha from itch.io and posted it as a demo on Steam
DECEMBER 16, 2022: Got discovered by some Chinese streamer on bilibili, video received
over 500k views -> short burst in demo traffic, not too many WLs though since the game
was only available in English. Kept the demo up.
FEBRUARY 2023: Steam Next Fest – went in with 5k WL, gained another 800, which is decent
but the developer feels they could have done better. Kept the demo up.
MARCH 2023: G.Round Playtest – Lot’s of good feedback and over 250 reviews -> got
covered by a Spanish youtuber which netted an additional 500 WL or so. Translated game
into Spanish. Kept the demo up.
APRIL 2023: Chinese Publisher Deal, exclusive to Chinese regions – Got contacted by ~15
publishers at this point. Translated game into Chinese
AUGUST 10, 2023: Appeared on popular upcoming 7-days before launch with 22,000
wishlists.

8. HYPERCHARGE
LAUNCHED
ESPORT PRESENTATION
Twitter trends1.
Used trends related to his gamea.
Got ready for coverage and started contacting media2.
Contacted gaming bible and was covered by kotakua.
Had all material readyb.
Steam page optimized for secondary traffic3.
After xbox launch, people started searching for the game
and resulted in another success strategy
a.

9. HYPERCHARGE
ESPORT PRESENTATION

10. ESPORT PRESENTATION
Let team members take part of social media actions
Integrate one message
Use a watermark for al profile photos
Take advantage of gaming tools like twitch , gif generators, etc
Follow and monitor trends
Follow a plan but be open to changes
18 month plan that can change
TAKEAWAYS