Slay the Spire developer Casey Yano reflected on the natural human behavior that is avoiding ads like the plague. "From a very young age, when I saw an advertisement I was like, 'why isn't AdBlock blocking this?'" said Yano.

I think this is the prevailing attitude among anyone young with any amount of technical know-how. Ads are incredibly fucking obnoxious.

Instead of marketing simply acquire the rights to an old IP your audience will feel nostalgia for and do steam early access for 3 years.

Everyone says marketing doesn't work, but they all still do it anyway, because it does work. Lest we forget most gaming media nowadays just regurgitate press releases from AAA publishers, and for all the piss and vinegar in their reviews, will not score them below some commonly accepted "ok" grade (or, heaven forfend for everyone's bottom line, refuse to review the game at all).

Yeah, shitty ads don't work, boo hoo. Meanwhile gamers will trip over their dicks to watch "The Game Awards", Nintendo Directs, Playstation State of Play, and Xbox Showcase. All of those 4 are essentially just ads for games, they're just game trailers, and they draw in the crowds. Did anyone tell them? Do they not know? Are they not aware these are just ads for games? Because clearly, if they knew this was just marketing they'd hit the X button and close the window.

when I'm forced to watch an ad by some dumb fucking streaming service I jusdt think "fuck you I will never buy your shit"

They had a ton of marketing on BG 3 over the years.

Normal web ads to be clicked are ignored as they are all bullshit. Ads that say “baldurs gate 3 is out, look it up” work.

Ehhhh you still need to like find ways to make people talk about your game.

For Baldur's Gate 3 that was a non-issue, but if you had a new franchise and no name recognition you absolutely would need marketing.

Larian will pretty much sell anything on name alone with the amount of good-will they've generated. They won't need marketing ever again, plenty of other studios will.

Finally

I wish this were true

But the fact of the matter is that are fickle mush-heads who go for shiny goo-gaws and familiar tones

They love being bamboozled

They love cranking out $70 for the newest slop, then jamming another $100 bucks in for cosmetics

If they didn't, the indie market would be seeing sales in the millions

Hell, even Helldivers 2, which is only $40, but way more fun than any of the last fifteen Call of Duty's, will never sell as many copies as whatever CoD comes out this year

It's just how the system is built

I really liked the panels from hell as a form of generating excitement.

"They don't want to be bamboozled, they just want to know what you're making and why you're making it and who it's for."

... so they want to be marketed to? i feel like he's equating marketing with buying a bunch of banner ads and letting it rip. the ad industry hasn't just been watching adblocker usage tick up with a frown, there's sponsored content (like this song for BG3 or this video for BG3) and activations and media synergy (like this comic for BG3) and more ways to get your attention.

Warframe creative director Rebecca Ford opined, "actual players don't want to be marketed to,"

I know she was formerly their community director so she probably knows more about this than i do, and maybe this is being taken out of context, but i just don't think that's correct. people want to be marketed to, they want to be shown stuff they might find interesting. people love watching trailers and eating up promotional slop when it's something they like.

Easy to say when your company already has a pedigree and is pushing a long-anticipated sequel to a popular series

I went to a retrospective of an old comedian the other day, and he talked about a book he released in 1984 with a little backstory as to why he and his friend wrote it. He then read a couple of segments of it which were hilarious. Then he put the book away and carried on.

My partner and I both thought we should buy the book after, so we looked it up. Turns out the 1984 copies are collectors items. So the only way to get his book was on his website, where a new edition of the book had been released, for new-book price.

It was then I realised he'd essentially done a covert advert. I didn't mind, because the excerpts he read had me rolling, but also I felt much more likely to buy it because he didn't say 'buy my new book, it's got X and y and X and it's for the very reasonable price of XX.99!!!'

I hate being advertised to, is my point, I guess. Especially when it's flashy bullshit. Just show me what is.

Ads don't work. But if you can shitpost about lil chipmunks making AK47s in your new game and it turns out to be true, you will sell millions of copies.

Yes if i make a great game i dont need to advertise it much but if i make a cheap shitty game and i have no confidence in it or its a product of some corporations shareholders, then yes i need to advertise the dog shit out of it

Incorrect. Advertising does work.

BG3 is a hot mess of a game that gets a pass solely because of the strength of the first act and peoples love of D&D.

Most of the disability mechanics do not work properly, the story is a mess, especially when doing multiplayer, and the world doesn't recognize when major changes are made half the time, and most of the characters are fine, but mostly good if you really want to fuck them. The first act is a tour de force though. It's a interesting, if janky game, when it is working properly, but Divinity 2 is a better executed concept, with far more difficult and skilled combat.

However D2 is not as heavily advertised as D&D and not as critically acclaimed (see awards as advertising) as BG3.

GIVE KARLACH A BETTER ENDING IDC ABOUT ALL THIS SHIT