I Made a Really Cool Game, but Nobody Wants to Download It. Why?

Why great games fail when you ignore the most important rule in marketing

“I made a really cool game, but nobody wants to download it. Why?”

How many times have you heard these words? How many times have you said them yourself, perhaps pouring your heart out to a friend after checking your game’s sales on Steam?

And who do you blame in 99% of cases? Marketing.

Marketing is the single most common and universal excuse attributed to the lack of video game sales.

But what is marketing?

For some developers, “marketing” means sending a copy of their game to magazines for a review.
For others, it means distributing a certain number of game keys to “influencers” for coverage.
And still others rely on a publisher, “because they know how to do their job, and my game will sell a lot of copies.”

Marketing, defined this way, has a problem: it’s done at the end, when the game is finished or nearly complete.

But marketing is not communication.

Maybe this approach worked twenty or even ten years ago, but not today. We live in an era where the video game market is completely saturated.
Technology has made huge strides since Pong or Doom. Thanks to game engines such as Unity and Unreal, it’s now possible to develop a video game faster and more easily. The entry bar has lowered. As a result, more and more video games are released every year.

The goal of this newsletter is to show you how to do marketing correctly, the kind that actually sells your game.

Period.

It’s scientific and measurable. And, for god’s sake, it’s not a creative task!

Positioning: The First Fundamental Pillar

The concept of Positioning is not new.
It was introduced by Al Ries and Jack Trout way back in 1972.
Like any brilliant, counter-current idea, the video game industry hasn’t fully embraced it yet because it subverts the status quo.

It’s still not widely accepted, even though countless data-backed examples show that positioning is the fundamental principle behind every successful video game (a.k.a. a game that sells).

Positioning has changed the nature of advertising and marketing.
It’s such a simple concept that most people struggle to grasp how powerful it is.

Positioning is not just marketing. It’s the first step in developing a video game.

It works in every sector: politics, religion, business, and even warfare. It’s the concept that will save you if you can apply it to the development of your video game.

The most successful video game companies use positioning, consciously or unconsciously.

Nintendo practices positioning.
LucasArts practiced positioning.
The developers of PUBG and Fortnite practice positioning.
Cuphead developers applied positioning.
Minecraft developer applied positioning.

Positioning is part of the design phase of a video game, but it’s not directly tied to the game itself.
You position your video game in the player’s mind, a.k.a. in the mind of the person who might buy and play your game.

Unlike what traditional marketing agencies believe, positioning doesn’t mean putting your game on the market.
Positioning isn’t something you do to your game. You don’t position your game within a certain genre.
And it doesn’t mean creating yet another Candy Crush clone and figuring out how to position it on the App Store.

Positioning doesn’t mean changing your game’s name, price, or mechanics. Those are only surface-level changes meant to secure a dominant position in the player’s mind.

Positioning is what you do to differentiate your video game in the player’s mind.

There was a time when marketing focused on features and customer benefits, the “Unique Selling Proposition.”
But today it’s increasingly difficult to establish a USP.

To succeed in our over-communicated society, your video game company must create a position in the player’s mind, one that considers not only your strengths and weaknesses but also those of your competitors.

So here’s the definition of Positioning:

Positioning is an operation performed in the player’s mind, not on the product.
It takes place through actions that allow your video game to occupy a specific position in the player’s mind relative to competing games.

Today it’s not enough to invent or discover something new, it may not even be necessary.
You must be the first to get into the player’s mind.

Why Is This Concept So Fundamental Today?

Reason No. 1: Video Game Explosion
The number of games released on Steam alone is increasing every year, not even counting new stores that have appeared since.

Reason No. 2: Advertising Explosion
The explosion of video games has brought an equivalent explosion of advertising and promotional campaigns. Think about it. We now see video game ads everywhere: on TV, public transport, and social media. Not long ago, that was unthinkable.

And how does the average player cope with such an explosion of games and advertising? Not too well.
According to research on human cognition, there’s a phenomenon called sensory overload, our brains can only process a limited number of stimuli before they start to shut down.

Reason No. 3: Media Explosion
Another reason your game might go unnoticed is the explosion of communication media.
We have traditional channels like television, radio, and press. And we have YouTube and its influencers.
Then there’s Facebook, Twitter, Twitch, and Discord.
We have gaming magazines and conferences.
Almost anything today can act as a communication channel.

Every day, thousands of video game ads compete for a fraction of the player’s attention.

Their battlefield is the player’s mind.

We live in a society where communication has reached unprecedented levels, and paradoxically, communication is now more important than ever.
If no one knows about your game, it simply doesn’t exist, no matter how good it is.

It’s essential to say the right thing, to the right person, at the right time.
It’s essential to find a gap in the player’s mind, a space you can occupy.
Positioning is the system for finding that gap. It’s based on the principle that communication only works when it happens at the right time and under the right circumstances.

A Difficult Message for a Creative Industry

Now, I face a big problem:

How do I explain positioning in an industry famous for its creativity?

If you want to succeed in the video game industry, you must face reality, and the only reality that matters is what’s already in the player’s mind.

Creating something that doesn’t already exist in the mind is becoming harder, if not impossible.

A friend recently called me with an idea for a management game about combat sports like MMA. He was convinced nothing like it existed.
Unfortunately, there are already two: MMA Tycoon and MMA Manager.
He thought he had the idea of the century.

Unfortunately (for him — and hopefully not for you), the smart approach today isn’t to create something new, but to manipulate what’s already in the player’s mind, to reconnect the dots that already exist.

Why do you think big companies keep releasing the same brands with a twist? Super Mario, Final Fantasy, Pokémon, Halo…

The modern video game marketplace no longer responds to strategies that worked ten or twenty years ago.
There are too many games, too many companies, and too much marketing noise.

If you understand this, you’ve already increased your chances of success.

There’s very little space in people’s minds for new video games. In the long run, it’s a two-horse race. It often starts as three but ends as two.
In some categories, it’s even a one-horse race, there’s room for only one.
If you’re not in that space, you simply don’t exist.

In soccer simulations, the first in mind is FIFA. The second is PES. The third is…?
In console platformers, the first in mind is Mario. The second is Sonic. The third is…?

It’s not about money, many have tried.
Ubisoft tried with Rayman. Naughty Dog tried with Crash Bandicoot.

In 2018, Super Mario Odyssey for Switch cost $59, almost three times more than Sonic Mania.

Three times!

Why? Because if you have a son and you buy Sonic Mania instead of Mario, he’ll be furious. That’s why.

Or take Sbirulino’s Trap (hypothetical). Why would I buy it?
Because I don’t have enough money to buy Mario Odyssey.
But these games occupy tiny market margins, their penetration is almost negligible.

It’s not about money.

Even with money, you can’t simply attack a strong brand.

Take Rayman. Ubisoft tried to revive it with Rayman Legends.

Critics called it one of the best platformers ever, even better than Mario or Sonic for some.
Yet in 2018, Rayman Legends on Switch was sold $39, about half the price of Mario Odyssey.

But if it’s “better,” why is it cheaper?
Ubisoft has the money.

Because it’s not a question of money, it’s a question of market penetration.

Once a brand is established in the player’s mind, you’re either first, second, or invisible.

Know someone who keeps blaming “marketing” for their game’s failure? Share this with them before they start another project without positioning it first.

Want to learn how to make your game sell before you even start coding it? Subscribe to get the next article on positioning straight to your inbox.

To the success of your video game.