Innovative promotions in the gaming industry

With every day seeing over 500 games being released for iOS devices alone, it’s clear that the modern gaming market is in danger of being saturated. And this is why games publishers now have to use some fairly innovative promotional strategies to ensure that their latest gaming release doesn’t sink into the ether.

Obviously the largest entertainment studios have the biggest budgets to unveil some massive promotional operations. The promotional activity around the Spider-Man: Homecoming movie is a case in point, as Sony and Marvel Studios have created a new arcade game based on Spider-Man for an exclusive release with an American restaurant chain.

Such impressive promotional strategies are probably out of bounds for smaller games publishers, but the rapidly expanding eSports realm is starting to provide plenty of alternative opportunities. Most gamers will be used to checking out the latest titles via the Twitch streaming service, and getting a release featured prominently at the site is now a big part of any promotional campaign.

This can be seen through some of Blizzard’s latest releases where titles like Overwatch have enjoyed an increased profile through promotional offers that see in-game items and character skins given away in a way that ensures that the game enjoys a surge in popularity.

Obviously these offers only work if the player is already a dedicated fan of the game, and it’s getting new players to try out an unknown gaming service that’s often the hardest task.

But rather than doing what Machine Zone studios have done by hiring big name Hollywood stars to use their star power to capture gamers’ attentions, the concept of the free trial period has become pivotal to the rise of ‘freemium’ games that now form such a big part of the mobile gaming realm.

In addition to this, casino gaming sites like InterCasino are using welcome bonuses as part of their promotional strategy, which when tied to the fact that no deposit needs to be made to enjoy a chance at winning some serious money, has helped it become one of the leaders in the lucrative casino gaming field.

And whilst all of these welcome bonuses, giveaways and exclusive content releases are all inviting, it’s nice to find that the old-fashioned sale still has plenty of appeal in the 21st century.

A big part of why Steam is one of the biggest games providers is the fact that its regular sales campaigns feature some cost-effective bundle deals that illustrates that it’s not just the welcome bonuses on casino sites that can save gamers some pennies.