More Thoughts On Game Marketing

1. Context

Tim Cain acknowledges that his earlier video on game marketing (linked in the original) was more of a vent than constructive feedback. This follow-up corrects that by providing six actionable suggestions drawn from his experience working with both excellent and terrible marketing people.

He notes that the worst marketing stress he ever experienced led other team members to ask if the marketer should be fired — something that never happened with any other discipline in his career.

2. The Six Suggestions

2.1. 1. Play the Game

The most important suggestion. The worst marketing Tim ever experienced came from people who didn't have time to play the game. If you genuinely can't play it — you're not good at games, or it's a 40-hour RPG — then at minimum:

• Walk down to QA and watch someone play
• Ask for video recordings of playthroughs
• Watch different areas, different character builds, different paths

You must understand how the game is played before you can suggest how to market it.

2.2. 2. Talk to the Team

Don't just talk to the director. Talk to artists, designers, programmers, and — most importantly — QA testers. QA plays the game every single day and is trained to give structured feedback. They know what's memorable, what players love, and what they don't. This gives marketers insight into what to highlight in ads and what to work around.

2.3. 3. Make Ads People Actually Want to Watch

The best game trailers are ones people seek out, watch repeatedly, and share with friends. If you're buying forced ad placements on YouTube or Hulu — where viewers are trying to watch something else — you've probably already failed. Tim says he personally checks his phone or walks away during forced ads. You can't force engagement; you have to earn it.

2.4. 4. Make Ads Easy to Find

Put trailers on YouTube. Put them on the game's website. Make sure the product page actually links to them. Tim recounts repeatedly going to a company's website to find a game's trailer and being unable to locate it.

He also reminisces about a now-defunct website that was essentially an "IMDb for commercials" — you could browse ads by product, manufacturer, advertising agency, or even the actors in them. He wishes something like that still existed for game trailers.

2.5. 5. Don't Wait Until the Last Minute

Start marketing work as soon as the game reaches vertical slice — a complete, representative level that looks and plays like the final product. At that point you can see the characters, themes, art style, and color scheme firsthand.

Do not wait until the week before you need assets to request them from the dev team. Request materials early and in advance. The vertical slice gives you everything you need to begin planning your campaign.

2.6. 6. Ask Questions — But Know Your Job

Attend team meetings, strike team sessions, and design reviews. Ask questions of the development team throughout production — don't wait.

But there's a crucial line: do not ask the dev team to do your job. Specifically:

• Don't ask "What's the demographic?" — That's your job. Look at the game and figure it out.
• Do ask "What's the game's hook?" — But you'd better already know what hooks other games in the genre have.
• If told the game has 20 endings, you should already know that's unusual and which other games have comparable features.

You're a game marketer. Know the landscape.

3. References

• Tim Cain. YouTube video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FcbexcoW4E