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How big brands are catching gamers' attention

Video gaming girl

Video gaming girl

The video game industry is here to make a statement. Brands are finding new ways of their share of the ever-growing video game market.

DOVER, DE, UNITED STATES, January 26, 2023 /EINPresswire.com/ -- It’s not news anymore that the video game industry is here to make a statement. With the market size estimates of over 220 billion USD in 2022 and forecasts showing continued growth, it’s becoming clear that gamers are ready to take over. And this isn’t going unnoticed by the biggest worldwide brands who are finding new ways of catching this audience’s attention and grabbing their share of the ever-growing video game market.

Brand awareness through esports sponsorships

Esports organizations earn a lot of money from sponsorship activations. Just like any other celebrity or influencer, an esports pro has the power to sell a product almost by simply using it and placing it in front of their fans. And while some of the sponsorships are expected as they come from endemic brands, others may differ from what is expected. A great example is Louis Vuitton’s big partnership with Riot Games for the League of Legends World Championship. Many thought this collaboration didn’t make sense, but Riot and Louis Vuitton have proved them wrong, and more high-fashion brands are now looking to do the same.

That’s not to say every time an outsider brand tries to dip into the space, it’s a successful venture. The video game audience can be unforgiving and loud, so brands need to understand how to connect with it. Some of the partnerships, like TSM’s venture with FTX, ended as financial disasters. Just being a brand in the space doesn’t cut it for gamers; the engagement needs to be meaningful and consider their general opinions, especially the lack of tolerance towards inequality and lack of sensibility.

In-game integrations

As big as it is, esports is still a smaller part of the video gaming pie. And this is where sponsorships in esports truly become a new opportunity for brands, one that differs from traditional sports. While it’s easy to use big sports teams to market to their fans, it may not be as easy to reach every kid who loves playing the sport but doesn’t follow the competition. This isn’t the case in gaming, and more and more brands are looking to grab this opportunity.

Fortnite players have experienced live in-game concerts, including Ariana Grande’s Fortnite concert, Travis Scott, Marshmello, and more. During these events, players don’t just experience a connection with the performer; they also get rewarded (and can purchase more) branded items that they’ll happily showcase in the game, giving even more brand recognition and awareness. On a more simple note, other brands like MasterCard are simply placing their logos on visible spaces of maps these gamers play on.

Amazon’s Twitch and Prime Gaming services as a perfect example

Amazon was quick to realize where this industry is heading and is a prime example of creating a product perfect for gamers, even though coming from an entirely different world. Twitch is Amazon’s streaming service strongly preferred by gamers and esports fans. The platform was built on players streaming their gameplay and esports tournament hosts running their broadcasts mainly through Twitch. Everything on the platform is built with gamers in mind, from how it looks to the emoji design in the community chats.

To further gamify Twitch and make Amazon Prime more appealing to gamers, Prime Gaming was introduced. Prime Gaming rewards users with unique in-game items through Twitch and Prime drops. So if gamers want these unique items - and gamers do love good in-game content - they’ll buy into Amazon’s Prime service and possibly also spend hours watching Twitch streams of their favorite games to unlock more of it. A large number of AAA developers is part of this program; for example, players can claim Escape from Tarkov drops and Valorant drops, as well as monthly Prime Gaming rewards for League of Legends.

Gamers may seem like a complex audience, but there’s a space for every brand in the video game industry. They just need to ensure they learn how to do things right and find an engaging way to showcase it.

WIN.gg
Final Boss Entertainment US LLC
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