Seemingly, the game bundle allowed players to unlock Portal 2 ahead of its planned April 19 release date – but this unfortunately turned out to be a bad April Fools’ Day joke. A second, more elaborate ARG titled Potato Sack was released the following year, on April 1. Portal 2 publishers Valve initially teased a Portal sequel using an alternate reality game (ARG) that launched on March 1, 2010, four days before the real deal’s official announcement. The article covers record-breaking modern marketing campaigns as well as landmark pre-social media and pre-YouTube offensives that still managed to engage audiences and sell millions of copies.
Lastly, we tried to limit each franchise to a single article entry, although the outstanding success of multiple games in certain series meant including more than one was unavoidable in a few cases. We also factored innovative, outside-the-box thinking into the equation. These included each marketing campaign’s broad capacity to generate hype, anticipation and media attention, as well as more measurable end results – for example, the number of views trailers have received and, of course, sales figures. In terms of measuring success, we took into consideration multiple criteria.
However, in the absence of many other comprehensive lists on the subject, we had to do other independent research as well. We also considered resources like the Game Marketing Summit Awards.
Here we examine 30 of the most successful and innovative video game marketing campaigns in history, taking in everything from ‘90s magazine ads and TV spots to viral social media promotions, website takeovers and much more besides.įirst we looked at similar video game marketing list articles such as Answers’ 5 Craziest Video Game Viral Marketing Campaigns and Venture Beat’s 10 Greatest Gaming Ad Campaigns of the Last Decade. There are even times when the right campaign may help throw a low-budget hit into the limelight, with smash success Angry Birds a case in point. With such high stakes, the effectiveness of video game marketing can make or break a new release. Rockstar Games’ 2013 actioner Grand Theft Auto V had a total development and marketing outlay of around $290 million, which made it the most big-ticket gaming title ever produced. What’s more, companies spend millions of dollars not just making games, but also marketing them. In 2012 hugely popular first-person shooter romp Call of Duty: Black Ops II brought in $1 billion in only 15 days, which was quicker than 2009 Hollywood mega-hit Avatar.