Video Game Marketing Examples: Activating Video Game Players with Real-Time and Interactive Campaigns

Successful Video Game Marketing and Player Activation Campaigns

The video game market is increasingly competitive with many free-to-play and live service games struggling to capture a share of a market that is dominated by Apex, Roblox, Fortnite, and League of Legends. This is especially true for the mobile game market where significant investments in marketing and advertising are required to achieve market share. Scopely reportedly spent US$500 million on user acquisition for Monopoly Go, more than the development of the game (it did pay off for them, earning US$2 billion).

Traditional marketing and user acquisition strategies are no longer enough to stand out so to capture and retain players’ attention, it’s crucial to extend the game experience and reach players and fans beyond the game itself.

It requires game publishers to use engagement tools on platforms like Discord and Twitch and campaign websites to activate communities, engage influencers, and reward player participation. By integrating real-time game and player data, these campaigns can increase daily active users, session length, retention rates and lower (re)acquisition cost.

How to develop successful video game marketing and real-time and interactive player activation campaigns

This blog post does not cover traditional sales and marketing campaigns that combine advertising, sponsorships and paid user acquisition. Instead we’ll take a look at real-time and interactive campaigns that combine community platforms, player actions and game integrations to drive player activation, boost brand loyalty, and increase revenue.

This blog will explore four successful video game marketing and player activation campaign opportunities for video game developers and publishers:

1. Fan engagement campaigns to (re)engage users and keep them active in your game.
2. Engage your games Discord community with Chat Bots & Discord integrations.
3. Reach the Twitch community and influencers with Twitch Extension campaigns.
4. Create gamification and loyalty campaigns that gamify player participation.

1. Real-Time Player Engagement Campaigns

Keeping players engaged with your video game requires more than just releasing new content, seasons and chapters. It involves activating players beyond the game on different media channels and owned campaign websites. Real-time engagement campaigns can help highlight new storylines, introduce game content, and promote special events that otherwise only reach active players.

The opportunity

Real-time player engagement campaigns allow existing and new players to register and participate by completing tasks, both in-game or on different platforms, and receive rewards.

By integrating with game APIs, these campaigns can show real-time results based on the player’s actions and track specific types of gameplay like playing with friends. When users complete the campaign, they can be rewarded in-game with virtual items.

The analytics and data collected from the campaign can be used to optimize player incentives, rewards and future strategies to bring back players to your game and platform.

Example campaign: Fortnite School of Llama

Real-time player engagement campaigns effectively engage existing players, reactivate lapsed players, and attract new users. A great example is the Fortnite School of Llama campaign, introducing The Witcher in Fortnite and encouraging players to complete in-game tasks for unique rewards. Successful campaigns drive traffic to your game but also create a sense of community, which is vital for player retention.

2. Discord Chat Bots Campaigns

Discord is the go-to communication platform providing chat and voice tools for gamer communities. It enhances the multiplayer experience by facilitating real-time connections between players. Beyond that, it’s a powerful tool for community engagement, offering possibilities like chat bots, custom image sharing, Discord Quests, live streaming, voice chat and more. The Discord account and platform API make it possible to expand Discord campaigns to other platforms.

The opportunity

A custom Discord chat bot lets users engage with the campaign through chat, deliver real-time stats, gamify server interactions, and share personalized images. Linking Discord and game accounts allows users to receive tailored results and real-time rewards based on their game actions and data. Setting up specific tasks within Discord, for example engaging with friends on voice chat, enhances participation and broadens the campaign’s reach.

We have years of experience developing Discord solutions to improve user engagement, streamline chat interactions, and run activation campaigns directly on Discord. With personalized notifications, real-time data display, and bespoke features tailored to your needs, we create Discord campaigns that activates player in-game.

Example campaign: Discord Find the Force campaign

The Discord Find the Force campaign is a great example of a video game marketing campaign that is using Discord. It celebrated May the 4th with a Fortnite Quest in Discord, where players could earn exclusive in-game rewards by live streaming Fortnite on Discord and completing tasks in a Discord server with the Find the Force Discord bot.

3. Twitch Extensions Campaigns

Twitch has become a crucial platform for video game publishers, offering direct access to a worldwide audience of millions of engaged gamers. The platform provides interactive engagement solutions like Twitch Chat, Twitch Drops, and Twitch Extensions that can be used for custom campaigns.

Twitch Extensions add a layer of interactivity on top of the video player, allowing viewers to engage directly with interactive content. Overlays can deliver real-time information and interactive features to create a more immersive connection between the broadcast and the audience.

The opportunity

Custom Twitch Extensions campaigns can gamify the viewing experience with trivia, predictions, and interactive elements that allow viewers to influence the broadcast’s outcome, show their knowledge, and compete with the community. It allows brands to build positive associations through sponsored features, create dedicated segments during the broadcast, and generate direct leads from the live stream. Publishers can also develop game- or campaign-specific extensions for Twitch streamers to promote games, events, or esports competitions, engaging viewers across multiple channels.

Example campaign: Fall Guys Twitch Extension

The Fall Guys free-to-play marketing campaign included a campaign-specific Fall Guys Twitch Extension “Collect ’Em All” that allowed viewers to collect characters that appeared on the live stream across Twitch channels. By collecting Fall Guys characters, viewers can compete on leaderboards and earn rewards. The extension can be installed and used by any streamer on Twitch, enabling their viewers to earn the reward.

Streamers could take over other channels, displaying Fall Guys characters and the names of participating viewers. This not only boosted the reach of streamer but also drove cross-channel engagement, expanding the campaign’s reach.

4. Gamification & Loyalty Campaigns

Gamifying the participation in real-time and interactive campaigns motivates players to participate and stay engaged. Key features include points, rewards, leaderboards, interactive tools like polls and trivia, and achievements. The campaign platform tracks engagement, provides daily tasks, tracks loyalty, and provides participation badges.

Gamification and loyalty campaigns activate players outside of the video game, reaching existing, new and lapsed players. They are an effective way to increase player numbers and game session length.

The opportunity

Gamification and loyalty campaigns engage players across mobile apps, websites, social media, and the game. Introducing these short-term events creates urgency and excitement to complete individual tasks and community goals, encouraging players to team up with friends for multiplayer games.

Our PlayTwo platform tracks individual tasks for millions of users, using engagement data, game data, third-party APIs, and user actions, and manages rewards based on task completion. Results from trivia, polls, votes, and other interactions are calculated in real-time to award points, badges, and rank players on leaderboards.

Example campaign: Fortnite Refer a Friend

A great example of a gamification and loyalty campaign is Fortnite Refer a Friend that boosted player retention and acquisition by incentivizing existing players to invite friends through a web-based platform. The campaign featured real-time tracking of friend connections and task progress, offering instant in-game rewards for completing challenges.

Conclusion

This post explored the importance of innovative marketing and player activation campaigns in the competitive gaming industry, highlighting strategies like real-time engagement, Discord bots, Twitch Extensions, and gamification. These approaches extend the game experience beyond traditional gameplay, driving player retention, acquisition, and community involvement.

Make sure to contact us if you’re ready to explore these opportunities to elevate your video game marketing and create player engagement campaigns.