How important are marketing and reviews to video game sales?

Ever play a really great game and wonder why everyone you ask has never heard of it? Ever to your dismay have you found out one of your favorite games was a commercial failure? Well so have I and this discovery has brought me to the realization that quality of content does not equal sales. In fact I now believe that getting a game positive exposure is just as important of how good the game actually is.

So when you think about what first gets you interested in buying a game you can see how big marketing is in determining how a successful a game is. From previews, trailers, website ads, interviews, and commercials the marketing of games is very much about selling the concept of the game to consumers. Games with little to no marketing are already risking becoming a commercial failure because when hardcore gamers that check gaming websites daily don't know about it more casual gamers will definitely not know about it. To me it's so obvious that I can't believe companies would release games without lots of marketing especially when your target audience is rather small. Though marketing can get expensive when advertising on websites and paying for commercials youtube is a free tool that can be used for marketing that I think is under appreciated by companies. So yes marketing is good for sales and I think most of us knew that however, there is a unfortunate flip-side to marketing.

There is of course marketing that actually has been badly handled leading to actually lowering the interest of consumers. Bad marketing usually can be linked to the advertisement not being able to convey the concept of the game effectively. In fact I think any game can be made to look good or bad based on how it is conveyed to someone. For example when The Legend of Zelda Wind Waker was first shown at E3 2002 there was an outcry from Zelda fans that did not like how cartoony and childish it looked but, this backlash could have been avoided if the trailer showed more of a badass side that is present in Wind Waker. I'm sure all of us are aware of the abomination that was the Super Mario Sunshine commercial that was trying to do the "so bad its funny" thing but, mishandled it and later had a different commercial. There is also deceptive marketing that is not bad for the developer but, more for the consumer that buys games they believe to be as good as the advertisements look.

Though reviews should be able to combat bad marketing and deceptive marketing because they are opinions from people that have actually played the game. Well not quite. Since reviews are opinions from individuals just like us they cannot be taken as fact or definitive proof that you will enjoy or dislike a game. The problem with this is with games that don't have great marketing that are met with not even bad reviews but, lukewarm reviews which often gets them overlooked. Even video games that receive 8s that are not advertised heavily can often be overshadowed by more popular games that receive the same scores. Video games that are unpopular also often don't get front page reviews which means even if the game gets a favorable review it can end up buried. Good reviews today are displayed on game boxes to attract potential customers further showing how important reviews are for video game sales.

So how important do you think marketing and reviews are for video game sales.

I think not only games but to buy anything, marketing plays a big role in selling the product. Seeing website ads, trailers, social community’s feedback and reviews portals like http://www.extcity.com/ , creates a big buzz in the promotion. Games with little or no marketing cannot get success even they got nice graphics and concept. You need to do marketing and target audience to create awareness about your product.

If there were no reviews and marketing, I doubt I'd even know about the existence of many of my favorite games. In 2005, I saw a trailer at E3 (marketing) about Mass Effect. I was hooked from the teaser alone. It is now my favorite trilogy of all time. I downloaded the demo for XCOM: Enemy Unknown thinking I wouldn't like it (marketing). After playing it I could barely sleep until morning, bought the game and played for 16 hours straight. I actually thought Dark Souls looked awful. It looked like an old school videogame that needed to get with the times. Not to mention, boring as hell. Then I saw that it was the spiritual successor to Demon's Souls, which I remembered scoring very high on GameSpot and they even named it their Game of the Year (review). Then I checked out some reviews on Dark Souls and from what the reviewers explained, it sounded like it was my type of game. Routinely comparing it to the challenge of Ninja Gaiden, a game which I also know about through reviews; both now up there in my favorite games of all time. The trailer for Mirror's Edge hit right when I was into parkour... you know what? I'm pretty sure I wouldn't know about any of the best games I've ever played if it wasn't for reviews and marketing.

So yeah, it's extremely important.

Wii U has had great reviews for it's games and has been marketed quite a bit in Murica.

But it still doesn't sell.

Marketing and reviews help out big time. it's how I know what's worth buying and what's not worth buying. I used to go by the cover of games when I was a kid, and that's the worst way to go. Reviews I think are the big factor that drives sales myself.

Marketing is huge. It's everything. Commercials are the only way "Joe Gamer" at Gamestop is going to know about something. Reviews can help with people as deep in as us. For example, all of Gone Homes sales can arguably be attributed to a positive critical response. But that game was far away from a Blockbuster. In the grand scheme, critical reception doesn't matter. Just look at how successful Transformers is. When I worked at GameStop, you'd be surprised how many people came in looking for Army of Two.

Doesn't marketing imply reviews?

You have to remember that just because it seems like there are a lot of gamers on the internet, it's not a majority. I'm the only person out of my group of friends that frequents vidoegame sites and forums, and I have dozens of friends that play video games. While I use some reviews to gauge a games quality, the best games I've ever played were ones that scored in the middle-upper range, like the 60's thru 80's. My friends will sometimes check reviews, but their buying decision seems based mainly on hype through advertising.

Marketing can suck a dick. It's importance is overstated and over-budgeted.

No, I don't think so, unless the review is trash. The day that a review is considered marketing is the day that reviews mean nothing. Reviews require complete honesty. But they definitely provide awareness...

Wait....now that I think about it....metacritic.....rottentomatoes....E3 awards.....

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

It was a joke.

That I read, processed, and made a further joke on top of. High five?

Reviews aren't marketing - but they can act in place of it in many instances. Marketing's first job is to make the public aware of a product, and then convince them to buy. Reviews do the first thing, but only do the second if the reviewer enjoyed it.

Review codes are part of a marketing strategy, however. Releasing early press access is a sign that a publisher has trust in the product it is selling - that they think reviewers will enjoy it enough to be favorable. Compared to most other outlets covering consumer products, especially very expensive things like cars - video games make this very easy and cheap to do.

That being said, the standard written review is losing a lot of screen time to video content. Sites like Metacritic have distilled written reviews down to an average score, meaning that people don't actually read them or more importantly, visit the site that published the review.