Michael Does, Larian's publishing director, believes video game marketing is a thing of the past. ”
Douse sat down with PC Gamer and other developers as part of a broader conversation about the industry at GDC, where Warframe creative director Rebecca Ford said that “real players don't want to be promoted.” When asked, Mr. Douse began a lengthy response: agreement.
“Marketing is dead,” he said. “Marketing is died. It really is – I can back this shit up, dude – no more channels. it doesn't work. Previously, you worked in marketing, communications, and PR. Marketing was essentially retail theory. You're trying to place your product in the right place on store shelves, and you're partnering with a retailer. Those pipelines are gone. Now we can use the internet. No one is looking at ads anymore…all the channels we normally used to market are not really viable anymore. Therefore, their functionality is also diminished by the fact that players simply want to be talked to. They don't want to be fooled, they just want to know what you're making, why you're making it, and who it's for. ”
Slay the Spire developer Casey Yano reflected on the natural human behavior of avoiding advertising like the plague. “Ever since I was little, when I saw an ad, I would think, 'Why doesn't AdBlock block this?'” Yano says.
“Millennials have always hated it, but now we have the tools to get around it,” said Does. “The best place to promote your game is the store itself. Anything else has no value. We learned that with his BG3. It took time.”
Baldur's Gate 3 was released with little promotion from Larian and became one of the biggest games of 2023, which could “support” Douse's claim that video game marketing isn't as important as it once was. That's right. , Rogue Prince of Persia developer Evil Empire is taking a page from Larian's book, with marketing manager Matt Horton recently saying, “Thanks to early access, Baldur's Gate 3… Even things have gotten much better.”
After 700 hours of playing Baldur's Gate 3, GR's Heather Wald is playing Dragon's Dogma 2 with Astarion by her side.
