Marketing is NOT Why Most Indie Games Fail

Comments · 1.6K

• SI

  @SimonAlchemist · 2 years ago

  Most polite way of saying " You're game is just not good enough " I've seen

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• WU

  @wukerplank · 2 years ago

  "Most aspiring indie devs only have a very consumer level knowledge of their genre" – that one hit hard 😅

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• AC

  @acgumut · 2 years ago

  Sometimes lucky things happen that will gain traction for your game without any marketing. For example I have been developing a simulation game called Coffee Shop Simulator for almost 2 years and I only had about a little over 300 wishlists. Recently a game called Supermarket Simulator launched and it became very successfully due to low price and high streamer interest. The part that did benefit me in this situation was the fact that my game also featured in the "products similar to this" page of Supermarket Simulator. Since the launch of that game I gained over 1.2k wishlists within a week without doing anything extra.

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• CO

  @CoolExcite · 2 years ago

  I think farming sims are the best example of this. There are so many games in that genre where you can look at 5 seconds of a trailer (or often just 1 screenshot) and that's enough to conclude that it is exactly like every other farming game except with stiffer controls and a more generic  art style. I'm not saying every game needs to reinvent the wheel, but if you don't do anything unique from the other games, and you don't do anything better than the other games, then I have no reason to bother

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• GA

  @gameclips5734 · 2 years ago

  Couldn't agree more, it's a bit similar to how people on YouTube complain about their videos not going viral because the algorithm didn't bless them for some reason, rather than having the self awareness that maybe their video wasn't as interesting as they thought.

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• MR

  @mr_clean575 · 2 years ago

  I took an advertising class and one of the first things we learned is that the best form of advertising is having a good product.

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• RI

  @richardrothkugel8131 · 2 years ago

  A common story I think about when considering marketing is Slay the Spire. It launched with no marketing and only made 1000 sales in the first year, before it was picked up by a popular streamer / influencer. After that other streamers picked it up and it rocketed to one of the most popular roguelikes in the genre and launched the deckbuilding subgenre as a recognisable property. <br><br>Marketing does matter, but so does the quality of the game. I read endless post mortems about indie devs who complain about not becoming a hit on steam, only to review their game to discover the most boring, by-the-numbers, uninspired slop. It&apos;s like they lack complete self-awareness and understanding of what they are competing with and why their game is actually bad. <br><br>Great video with fantastic insights. You&apos;ve earned my sub and I look forward to your future videos.

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• TH

  @the_elder_gamer · 2 years ago (edited)

  An adjunct point, via the quote I&apos;ve probably posted more often than any other, nearly a decade old now, from a talk given by Tynan Sylvester, creator/lead dev of RimWorld: <br><br>&quot;The markets people know about are saturated, because people know about them. A big piece of advice I&apos;d give is: look at the market and try to figure out where the <i>under-served parts</i> are. [my emphasis] What kinds of games do players want but can&apos;t get? Entering an already-saturated genre is a recipe for death. I think I could make a decent military shooter FPS, but I&apos;d make like no money off it even if it was objectively fun, because that market is utterly saturated by big hyper-polished AAA releases. [note - this is from 2015/6] RimWorld was really deliberately targeted at a market that had a need that wasn&apos;t filled. I know there are other markets like that. <i>So the real first challenge might not be making the game at all.</i> [my emphasis] &nbsp;It&apos;s very carefully and deeply inspecting and understanding the market to see where the need is.&quot;

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• RE

  @RealCoachMustafa · 2 years ago

  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCzhyUsDHPE&amp;t=120">2:00</a> I&apos;ve seen people say games like Celeste and Hollow Knight are hidden gems or under appreciated.

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• ZA

  @ZabawneGierki-ot3ts · 2 years ago

  I think a good question to ask yourself is if you would buy your game yourself and at what price.

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• SW

  @Sweepy_Games · 2 years ago

  I mean, the things you&apos;re discussing are basically marketing. Making a product that&apos;s &quot;easy to sell&quot; is part of marketing, and market research falls under that umbrella too. BUT!!!! Im very thankfull for encouraging indies to do their marketing and market analysis. Us indies need voices like yours! Great insight! And while video is easy to watch, it&apos;s also super informative!

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• MO

  @mothdust1634 · 2 years ago

  Honestly, I feel like this advice is gold for industries outside of gaming as well. One that comes to mind is writers. The advice is always &quot;just write&quot; but without knowing the market you are writing into you will likely end up with a flop that goes nowhere.

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