Re:Activision-Blizzard layoffs after reporting record results
by taurath on Tuesday February 12, 2019 @11:57PM
(#19150540)
Publishing can be free or near free depending on the platform - there’s no need to be on store shelves anymore. For a AAA game though you need to either have a real hit of a game, or a giant marketing budget to convince people their friends will play it. Else, you need have a reputation - making good games is hard.
[ Parent
| on HN ]
Re:Activision-Blizzard layoffs after reporting record results
by PakG1 on Wednesday February 13, 2019 @02:24AM
(#19151121)
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the majority of the publishing expenses these days probably do come from marketing.
Re:Activision-Blizzard layoffs after reporting record results
by taurath on Wednesday February 13, 2019 @03:12AM
(#19151353)
Not at all weong - just saying there are ways around it. Respawn just launched Apex Legends with a (my estimate) $100k marketing budget to pay popular streamers to play it.
Re:Activision-Blizzard layoffs after reporting record results
by spdionis on Wednesday February 13, 2019 @01:31PM
(#19155382)
That probably works only for FPS/Battle Royale games though. I mean, it's crazy that if the 2 or 3 biggest streamers play a game it instantly gets to the top of the twicth browse list. They all play only that kind of game though.
Re:Activision-Blizzard layoffs after reporting record results
by taurath on Wednesday February 13, 2019 @01:55PM
(#19155621)
MOBAs were the top of twitch before. I don't mean to imply its easy by any means to become popular based entirely around twitch - but I do think its very possible to go entirely word of mouth if the games is good and fresh. Publishers have a lot of trouble marketing newer game types - they like to stick to what people know. Demon Souls/Dark Souls is a good example, though From Software does have a long history - just not huge hits in the US.