How the Gaming Industry is Changing the Landscape of Marketing and Advertisements

Dec. 18, 2020

According to the Wire, UK, there are 2.5 billion gamers around the world, from the 2019 stats. There is no doubt that this is a fast-growing industry. With access to the internet and smartphones, gamers have the best life. Times have changed, and the gaming industry never focused on a particular gender or age group. Even older women and retired men are into games.

This fast-paced growth of gamers poses a massive advantage to the marketing and advertising sectors. For example, the game Pokémon Go popularised the science behind augmented reality. What was once unheard and unknown got the attention of billions of people worldwide. The technology behind augmented reality (AV) got the attention of other manufacturing industries like furniture, mobile, and so on. Not to mention that if you want to expand your business online, Facebook advertising services can make the difference.

In this article, you’ll read about how the gaming industry has changed the marketing and advertising sectors.

• In-Game Advertising

Gaming industry gets additional revenue through in-game advertising. Sponsors have found creative ways to grab the attention of gamers/consumers to display their products. Gamers do not have any issues regarding this type of marketing, as long as it doesn’t affect their game. Most of the in-game advertising gets set in the game plots. For example, the beverage company ‘Gatorade’ has its ads inside a game called ‘The Neighbourhood’.

• Social Media Insights and Influencers

Social media is the contemporary marketplace for advertisements. Not just ads, the digital marketers get insights from gamers through pages, groups, websites like www.usafriendlypokersites.com/florida/, and comments. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram are the prominent social media that promote anything and everything, and the gaming industry trends are getting a lot of attention. Game marketers analyse customers’ feedbacks and identify retention issues regarding their specific game.

Social media influencers are marketers as they have a partnership with relevant game industry. The followers who look up to this specific person will get influenced to try out the new game. Social media influencers gain a lot from the industry they are partnering with, even millions of dollars, according to the audience they have. Game influencers in YouTube who provide tips and tricks have the best followers. The best part is, these are teenagers or young adults who spent their quality time gaming despite their parents resisting.

• Smartphones

Mobile phone gaming has become the favourite console for gamers. Statistics show that about 72% of gamers play on mobile. Marketers have utilised this trend by getting celebrities to play free video games. Celebrities like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Kate Upton appeared in-game commercials to promote free games. These games are titled “freemium”, which are free to download and play. Such game apps have hidden features like in-app purchase (IAP) for downloading better features. Other apps generate money through in-game advertising, product placements, and so on.

• Augmented Reality

Probably the most influencing trend brought by the gaming industry is augmented reality. The introduction of AV in games like Pokémon Go was a huge hit. People worldwide were seen running around to “collect” their Pokémon. The technology is an amalgamation of reality and graphics. Such innovations are captivating and hook the audience. The popularity of Pokemon Go led the other sectors’ marketers to incorporate the augmented reality in their products. For example, the famous furniture brand IKEA developed an AV tool to help present their customers on how an object or item will go with the furniture. Whether a specific flower pot will go with a dining table, or whether a tinted glass will match a living room, and so on.

• Video-Game Streaming

Live video-game streaming is a global trend. As there is easy and free access to the internet, gamers have started streaming their game on a platform called Twitch. Twitch has over 186 million viewers as of 2015. Hence, Twitch becomes another platform for marketing. YouTube is also a well-known video-game streaming platform, which also attracts a lot of digital marketers.

• In-Game Economics

Revenue generation through gaming is multifaced. The in-app purchase, which can enhance the gaming experience is one of the unknown revenue channels. These enhancements can help the player speed up their game levels, upgrade their avatar, buy health kits, for real-money, which is otherwise achievable through proper gaming. For example, in FIFA, players can pay to upgrade their avatar to real-life players. By accumulating coins by playing and levelling up through each stage, or one can buy the upgrade for real-money. The exciting part is, such in-app purchases for up-gradation will corrupt the game competitions. In a multi-player game, if some players get the up-gradation through real-money and others accumulate coins through real gaming, it puts the former group in a significant advantage.  It has become a source for controversy, and the game Star Wars Battlefront II has lost their rating due to this same issue. The future of the gaming industry predicted to be growing positively. Marketing and advertising trends have also grown alongside them.