I missed PAX South. And I’m missing PAX East this year, due to its timing with GDC. Total bummer for me – these events are a great way to meet all the devs using UE4, but also get a feel for the industry as a whole. Peering through my lens of Twitter and Facebook – I can tell you this: if you are a game developer, today’s successful game marketing is ALL about building a community. Get the game into the hands of your customer early. Take their feedback. Hold events. Give fans sneak peeks, give talks at PAX – get them involved early on and they will market your game for you.
The best example of this is Gearbox Software. Randy and crew have mastered the PAX panel. It doesn’t hurt that Randy is an amazing magician, but everyone at Gearbox embraces these events – and gives a heartfelt performance. They gave early looks into Borderlands: The Hansome Edition (NEXT GEN support!, UE3) and Battleborn (UE3). The panels are an entertainment event all to themselves, and end with an Oprah-like event – that highlights another point: be generous with your fans. Just LOOK at this attendance:
Photo from the twitter feed of Andrew Goldfarb, Gearbox Software
Our friends at Tripwire Entertainment held a panel on their upcoming UE3 game, Killing Floor 2.You can find out more on Killing Floor 2 here.
Think you are too indie for this? You aren’t! Shieldbreak’s booth for Bierzerkers (UE4):
Generating massive numbers of impressions on their game, and got the press, youtubers, and reviewers excited about the game!
Motiga held tournaments and a party for Gigantic (UE3), that generated a great preview:
Check out their twitter feed from PAX to see more: @gogigantic
And finally – here’s a great preview video on Yager’s Dreadnought... a personal favorite. Getting people to play your game on the show floor at PAX controls the experience (vs, say, early access on Steam) – and can turn them into rabid fans (like I am with Dreadnought!!!).
I am sure I missed a ton of Unreal Engine games at PAX South. Looking forward to seeing everyone at GDC – 4 weeks and counting.