The madness of Valve marketing: An explanation for non-gamers

primesuspect

The madness of Valve marketing: An explanation for non-gamers

Thrax

Thank you for this. I can't be assed to follow a rabbit hole that goes as deep as the ARG thread on the Steam forums.

primesuspect

Thanks. I had to find a balance between simplicity and thoroughness. I mean, I had to leave out quite a bit, obviously, but if people are interested, the thread on Steamforums is as thorough as it gets, and stays current.

Jingalls

Great writeup! It's unbelievable how amazing at marketing Valve is.

Cyclonite

I am entertained by your avatar pic, Jingalls.

Also, thanks for the writeup, Brian.

pseudonym

Excellent writeup! I missed out on all this while I was out of town so thanks for the synopsis.

For the background section, I'd perhaps say that Valve's support of the mod community was also a huge help with their growth and background. After all, that's where Counterstrike originally came from, they just bought it and put some polish on it. Not the point of the article obviously, I'm just being picky.

Kevin

I really enjoyed the depth of this write up Brian! I caught just the tail end of the campaign so it was interesting to hear about the whole initiative. I haven't seen very much of this type of marketing in other industry's I'm curious how it would translate.

Thrax

I have a feeling that this type of marketing would only work for a mass-market content like a TV show, game or album release. I don't see it working well for a physical product.

Butters

Its the Valve marketing life-cycle.

Game X basically markets itself -> a community builds around Game X -> Valve provides more fuel to over-sensationalize the community -> Valve markets Games WYZ to help push Game X.

Not too different from a supermarket selling $2.00 12 pack of Soda which located waayyy in the back. But while you are there, might as well get some Doritos, some Ice Cream, and a pack of gum on your way to the soda. Only difference is the mass scale of Valve, instead of the individual at a time.

Canti

Lady Gaga is serving tacos at the drive through?! brb, burritos

xino

"Half-Life 2 is a tremendously powerful narrative, at times even tear-jerking. "

sure it was.... *rolls eyes*

Are you even experienced in the sales and marketing field or you think you are from view point experience? But many of your words are nothing but opinions:/


Entire paragraphs consist of you talking about Valve's history, games, and potato sack marketing. Only the last few paragraph consist of you explaining marketing strategy.

I wouldn't say Valve's marketing was for their product, it was more of a promotion. How would an avid gamer find clues about ASCII code in the Portal 2 promo videos? Only pc nerds (pc gamers) would obviously find it.

And wtf does Taco bell promotion have to do with comparison of Valve's potato ASCII promo? The main difference is that it takes time to solve the Taco bell while you have to be a geek to solve the ASCII code.


As for the Moral of the story about what the user can learn from Valve.
1. How can story help with the marketing? creating drama doesn't help marketing the game man.

2. Let the customer do the talking...that is called viral marketing.

3. disagree


I just think you are getting Promotion and Marketing mixed up, they are different and not the same.

I guess you are not really a sales person or someone who works in the marketing field. You just observe what is going on and claim you know marketing:/

Thrax

Internet tough guy alert.

BuddyJ

I don't know about you but I find Valve's marketing and promotions to be absolutely DREADFUL. It's so passe. So cliche. And frankly it pales in comparison to the work Sierra did in the mid to late 90s. I don't suppose you know Sierra... They're pretty obscure.

Cliff_Forster

I think the most interesting point of the article is in how when Valve released Steam, PC gamers were almost 100% unified against it. Despite this, Valve stuck with it, listened to their customers, and on the strength of great core product they have built an empire, not simply by brute force, but by gaining acceptance from gamers, and just as importantly other developers as well.

PC gaming is a market that is different in the sense that the competition really seems to want everyone that is making product that pushes the hobby forward to do well. You hear developers mention their competitors products as influential, or something that they may be actively playing. The PC development community though competitive, is tight knit, really, this is what fuels Steam as a platform, its what makes it work, its the only way you can have a promotion of this scale with so many players.

Personally speaking, a potato hat, and a slightly early release of a game that I want do not motivate me as much as some other folks, but I will say this... Valve has done more to get PC gamers excited about the worlds finest gaming platform than any other developer. Valve has done it again.

Steam has given me so much as a gamer, its impossible for me to step backwards into the shallow depths of the same ole, same ole, console gaming.

Canti

xino wrote:

How would an avid gamer find clues about ASCII code in the Portal 2 promo videos? Only pc nerds (pc gamers) would obviously find it because everyone else needs things to be dumbed down and spoon fed to them.

fixt

xino wrote:

And wtf does Taco bell promotion have to do with comparison of Valve's potato ASCII promo?

Everything is better with tacos, duh.

UPSLynx

Xino, you are so wrong. Everything about this is marketing.

This is obviously marketing. I can tell from some of the words and from seeing quite a few marketing in my time.

Brian, thank you SO MUCH for the Taco Bell analogies.

I've been paying attention to this whole ARG thing passively for a long time, but I haven't really gotten involved. I love when companies do extravagant things like this in secret, but I've never been good at solving them. I let other play it out and I watch from the sidelines.

Plus, I'm buying Portal 2 retail, so speeding up the release doesn't actually help me. Get off my lawn.

cola

Yea...xino...no

Half of your comment was opinion, the other half was you criticizing something and someone you obviously know nothing about. Sorry, but you've earned the daily fail award.

primesuspect

UPSLynx wrote:

This is obviously marketing. I can tell from some of the words and from seeing quite a few marketing in my time.

I freaking love you guys

Tushon

lulz @ seeing quite a few marketing. The fail troll has failed

DogSoldier

I've only been vaguely aware of the potato sack ARG uh, thingy.. Once again, Brian explained it in terms even I could understand, and he left plenty of links to go even deeper, which I did. What became obvious very quickly was Valve's genius, their attention to detail and the cleverness with which they went about making these easter eggs, graphics, poems ect. I've known for some time that Valve was head and shoulders above the competition, this marketing campaign proves it.

xino adds NOTHING to the conversation - And considering the condescension and insulting attitude he displays toward the gaming community - that is to be expected. xino, if you want to comment in this forum, go right ahead.. It's a free country. Just make sure you know what and who you are talking about. Because you’ll get called on your BS. Everytime.. Just sayin’

RyanFodder

I love how you can tell who the trolls are by their grammar/ spelling/ etc.

Nice Article Brian!

Canti

If bad spelling and grammar are the signs of trolls then I may be the only person in my classes who isn't trolling the teachers.

CyrixInstead

Hmmm, I remember Thrax had a sig bemoaning Steam for a long time when it was first launched.

As for the Episode 3 references, I'm glad to finally see somebody, somewhere, make a mention of this game. I've been waiting for it's release for years! Hopefully you're right Brian.

~Cyrix

Thrax

I am nothing, if not a pragmatist. Steam sucked bad when it launched, and now it doesn't.

CB

I was once like Bobby, thinking I had to have everything in a physical box or it somehow 'didn't count' or something. I've since turned a complete 180.

I find physical media annoying. I no longer have a place in my life for boxes and discs, they're just clutter. I've even started feeling that way about books. The only books I still like to have physically are writing reference manuals.

UPSLynx

Thrax wrote:

I am nothing, if not a pragmatist. Steam sucked bad when it launched, and now it doesn't.

Lord, I cringe whenever I think about Steam's official launch in 2004. It was SO bad.

I know I've posted this somewhere else on the forums before, but it's worth another look. I was a hater back then, too:

>2003, signed as Bob Miller
I love the oldschool ATI logo in the system tray.

I don't feel like I have to have games physically or else they don't count, I just like adding to my binder that's chock full of games. I can take it to LAN parties no problem and have my entire library with me, people can browse it and actually see what I own, borrow, and such. Unfortunately, borrowing PC games doesn't really work out anymore, but whatever.

I'm not against buying games digitally, but I'll ONLY do it on Steam. I know there are a few other services out there, but I want all of my games centralized. I'm too paranoid to have this game with Steam, that game with Direct2Drive, that that other game with impulse, or whatever else those services are. I don't even know.

I know I trust Valve and Steam. I know I won't lose those games I bought, and I will always know where to find them.

Plus, with the Half-Life series specifically, I love it to death. I want to have the entire series on display.

ardichoke

Ugh... Direct2Drive... I bought a couple games from them when they were having some massive sale (read Assassin's Creed, NWN2 an it's expansions for 5 bucks each). It was such a PITA. No automatic download, no auto registration, you have to download the installer files, then install from them and log into the website to get your product key which you have to plug into the game itself. Don't get me started on updates. May as well just buy it on media at that point.

Steam is clearly king of the digital distribution roost, and for good reason.

Tushon

I agree and had the exact same situation with D2D.

Thrax

I have had no issues with any of the purchases I have made from Direct2Drive. I bought NWN2 and the first xpac (Mask of the Betrayer) from them, and the downloads/installation/registration were totally painless. They've been happily patched and running for years.

ardichoke

I didn't have any problems, per se, it was just a way bigger PITA than with Steam where everything is managed automagically.

Koreish

CB wrote:

II find physical media annoying. I no longer have a place in my life for boxes and discs, they're just clutter. I've even started feeling that way about books. The only books I still like to have physically are writing reference manuals.

I don't mind having games and music in a digital format. But nothing will ever replace the feeling of having a good book in your hands. I could never imagine reading a newspaper or a book from a screen. And I will probably feel that way until long after print media stops being published.