Happy Re-Release Day!

It has never been as easy for a developer to release his game to an international audience then it is now. Customers from all over the world can buy games on Steam, itch.io, iTunes, Googleplay, Amazon, and many other platforms,… right? Unfortunately, this only works in theory.

In many cases, releasing a game will go unnoticed by the audience. Potential customers simply don’t know the game is out there. Instead of burying the game and moving on developing a new game, companies should deal with the game a little longer and consider re-releasing it.

Today, I will be discussing the idea of reanimating and relaunching indie games—giving them a second chance so to say.
Titles that have decent quality, but that have simply been overseen by customer’s due to the lack of visibility.

These problems can be caused through numerous reasons:

• The price point chosen or the business model
  
  
• Issues with the title’s name or the target audience
  
  
• No marketing or simply the wrong marketing approach
  
  
• Releasing the game on too few gaming platforms
  
  
• The community was too small or had too few Influencers, Curators, Youtubers, etc.
  
  
• Bad publishing partner
  
  
• Released the game on a smaller market or only in one country
  
  
• Bad launch day
  
  
• Too much competition or niche market
  
  

I truly believe that such titles do not necessarily have to remain dead. There are ways, even with only minor changes and little money involved, to make a difference for your game. But it is not just on the company, it depends on the other circumstances involved.

For instance, the market is in constant movement and, along with it, the different possibilities for your product. There are new platforms being launched, and some of them can even be considered industry game changers. Also, there may be a sudden shift of player interest in favour of your game.

So what can be done?!

Usually things like market research and community building, release and marketing strategy are done before the initial release or, best case scenario, before you even start the development of your game. However, this industry is changing so fast, sometimes your data and therefore your decisions are already outdated before you can even hit the market.

With your game being released you can actually work with Post Mortem data.

So, when planning a re-release, look at each of the following categories and think about what might be an option for your game.

Changing the business model:

One of the keys to your games success is definitely the price point and of course the business model you decided to work with.

Today, there are several options on how to market your game. On mobile we can see Premium, Paymium, and Freemium business models, but also the phrase “Game as a service” is more and more present. Especially on mobile, it is extremely difficult to work with a plain Premium business model.

PC Games can also work with models other than Premium. Blizzard recently changed StarCraft 2 to be a Free-to-Play title.

Keep in mind that changing the business model can’t be done back and forth. It is one of the options you have to influence the success of your game. I can highly recommend taking a look at the GDC Vault Session “How Gameevil transitioned from Premium to Freemium Service”.

The Name / Brand:

In order for a brand to become recognizable, it has to be successful first. So consider changing the name of your game and/or include subtitles but when you do please also consider translating the name of your game for other territories and countries.

Note:
Rebranding the game after it was initially released will cause customers and media to ask questions. Be honest to them and play by the book.

Many platforms (Steam only allows artwork to be translated) allow you to use translated names. It would be best if the new title transports the gameplay and genre in its name, i.e. “Fire & Rescue Simulation,” instead of a fantasy name.

Let me share a story with you:

When I started working for rondomedia/astragon back in 2007, we had already been looking into simulation games and had learned that the German games market (we only published in the German speaking territories by then) had a huge interest in simulation games. So, one of the first simulation titles the company released in 2005 was actually a re-release.

The title “Virtual Sailor” was first published by a different company in Germany but with little success. So, the developer decided to license the title to astragon and the game was then re-released on the German speaking retail market under the name “Schiff Simulator 2005 – Virtual Sailor.” Soon the developer adapted the game’s name to “Ship Simulator – Virtual Sailor”. A decision connected to the recent success of the game in Germany, and the growing interest in simulation titles in general.

The first thing I have learned working in the games industry is that when you don’t want to spent tons of marketing money to make your game/brand known, use a name that customers can easily understand.

Here are two other examples for using different game names in different countries:

• Europe: The Settler
• USA: Serf City: Life is Feudal
  (After the brand worked worldwide, the follow up Settler games also had the name The Settler in the U.S.)
  
  
• Europe: Anno 1404
• USA: Dawn of Discovery
  
  

“The branding, not the game, was the difference”
Quote: Nick Bentley

Source: https://nickbentleygames.wordpress.com/2014/05/26/branding-board-game-design-techniques/

Another small, but nevertheless interesting, article written by Lisa Dorward about changing a product’s name can be found here: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/change-product-name-marketing-strategy-41130.html

Localisation:

You should not only consider translating the name for other countries, but also offer more localisations to your game. It gives you additional visibility which can result in higher sales.

Depending on the word count of your game, the investment is not as high as you might think. And releasing your game on Steam in only the English language will lock out quite a few potential customers.

Check out what indiedb has to say about the -> “best languages”

Also, here is a nice post-mortem of the game “Gremlins Inc” with the topic “Which locas paid off”

The Key Artwork:

Depending on the platform you are dealing with, there is only limited room for the key artwork to be displayed while the customers are browsing through the platform store. Therefore, this makes it even more important that all of the key artwork is understood as quickly as possible, so that your game gets a chance to be seen.

A good way to start is to check out the most successful competitor titles and how they set up their key artwork and store page. Consider how they grab the customer’s attention and what typical genre elements they use in their artwork.

For mobile I strongly recommend to check out AppAnnie´s service and their helpful little “How To:”

There is no “perfect” or “final” way a product is presented, as this is something that constantly evolves—either through changes on the platform itself, by customer preferences, game changers such as new technologies, or hype generated through events or new blockbuster movies.

Did you know that, back in 2007, there was huge hype about a newborn polar bear baby called “Knut” in Germany? The media covered the topic, and the zoo even had a waiting list for people to see the bear.

We saw an opportunity to re-release one of our older kid’s games about a puppy. The game mechanics did not need any big adjustments, and we only had to change the main game assets to fit the environment of a polar bear, choose a different name, and change the key artwork.

We were able to sell quite a few units in various retail stores back then even though we did not use the name “Knut” on our product (Due to legal reasons).

Pick an additional platform and market:

Depending on whether your game is a mobile or PC title, there are different gaming client based platforms and digital distribution platforms you have the option to work with.

Not to mention that you have the option to bring your game to console—which has never been as easy as it is today. There are teams who are willing to share their experiences with porting games on their blogs. Other development teams specialised on porting games and offer this as a service.

Some platforms offer a wide range of games and others are more focused on a specific genre. Each platform has its own user base and along with that different gaming interests. There are also platforms such as Origin or uPlay—which are not officially open to third party titles. They come with their own gaming client, but so does Steam and GoG.

Platforms such as viveport.com or Amazon Underground even offer a subscription model to their customers.

Trying to list all the different platforms would be impossible, so here’s a few you might want to check out:

• Itch.io https://itch.io/docs/creators/faq
  
  
• GoG https://www.gog.com/indie
  
  
• SimMarket http://secure.simmarket.com/default-en.html
  
  
• Microsoft https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/uwp/publish/opening-a-developer-account
  
  
• Tencent “WeGame” https://developer.wegame.com/developer/faq_en.html
  
  
• Facebook https://developers.facebook.com/docs/games/
  
  

You might also want to check out Christian Bonilla’s article covering that topic.:
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/tired-steam-best-alternative-gaming-clients/

It’s just a matter of time before other companies like Netflix or Amazon make an aggressive move into the gaming market and challenge Steam.

The Asian market is already on the move (see tencent’s WeGame). Last but not least, there is the possibility of finding a retail partner—yes, some countries still doing it.

Even though the digital market is growing more and more, retail is still happening and definitely a topic for certain markets.

In Germany for instance, electronic stores such as Saturn, Media Markt, GameStop, and many others still have a dedicated shelf space available for PC titles. The company I am working for has experienced sales representatives travelling to the individual stores and the key retailer partners.

Approach the community:

Make sure you know where your community is and include them, ideally during the development process of your game. You should also look for active groups and see if they are interested supporting your game.

A very positive example I like to share is about the people at WC News—a talented and active group of Wing Commander and Sci Fi Fans.

Friends of mine released their game “Starway Fleet” on Steam in July 2017. As they had only limited budget, I helped them with the German and French localisation, but I also managed to drop the news about the game in the “WC News Forum”. So far, the post has nearly 500 views, we collected lots of valuable feedback for the developers, and some of the viewers actually bought the game on Steam.

Of course things such as Youtubers, Streamers and Steam Curators are also important to the visibility of your title, but if you have a community on your side it is more likely to get more coverage on Youtube and other media platforms.

Bundle your game and team up:

Consider teaming up with other indie developers and approach platform holders with a game bundle. Just make sure the genre fits and your partners have the same goal as you. For instance, did you know that Steam offers multi partner bundles?

Cozy Couch CoOP Bundle: http://store.steampowered.com/bundle/2679/Cozy_Couch_CoOp_Bundle/

Indie Game The Movie Bundle: http://store.steampowered.com/bundle/2459/Indie_Game_The_Movie_Bundle/

Note: It looks like that the Awesome Indie Bundle is no longer for sale, but you can still see it on “SteamDB.”

Also, if you have access to steamworks, consider joining the steam dev forum and look around for multi platform bundles.

Thanks for reading, and feel free to drop me a note in case of questions.

Julian