Digital Distribution: Dealing with discoverability

February 13th, 2013, 00:22 Posted By: wraggster

Variety is the spice of life, but there’s precious little to be had at games retail at the moment.
A cursory glance at the charts in any given week will show the usual franchises scuffling over positions in the Top 10: FIFA, Call of Duty, Just Dance, Need For Speed – brands that have dominated sales for a decade.
But look at the Steam charts. Or XBLA and PSN. Or iOS and Android. Each Top 10 is riddled with rarities: a medieval combat game for PC, truck simulators, auto-run platformers, episodic outings like The Walking Dead, stunt racers, puzzle games, indie sensation Minecraft and all manner of Angry Birds variants.
The digital stores shift a far more diverse catalogue than their bricks-and-mortar counterparts, but why is that important?
“Variety in gaming experiences is fundamental to growth in the industry, both in terms of appealing to many millions of consumers and the creativity that it allows developers,” says Xbox UK marketing director Harvey Eagle.
And if the games industry needs anything right now, it’s growth.
The rise and relevance of digital is not news to any MCV reader. The more pressing question these days is how you ensure that consumers find, and most importantly purchase, these downloadable delights.
With retail games, it’s comparatively simple: bung the bulk of your advertising spend into TV and print ads in an attempt to reach as much of a targeted audience as possible.
Older or smaller titles with less marketing support depend on customers who browse the shelves.

But with digital games, such ads might be too expensive and browsing through thousands of games listings is more likely to bore than win over consumers.

“Games can’t be pigeonholed any more by a dozen or so genres and require more defining attributes."

Shiny Loot co-founder Chris Palmarozzi

The trick is promoting your downloadable wares in as many targeted ways a possible, says Eagle.

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