I am from Korea, where gaming industry is most developed, popularized, and commercialized. For the young generations in Korea, League of Legends(LoL) is more than just a game. In fact, it is now established as a culture, dominating the entire online game market. League of Legends holds 67 million users, which is an outstanding number compared to Dota 2’s 7 million. (source from here) In Giancarlo’s article, he clearly explained the efficient marketing strategies of Riot Games, the publisher of LoL, yet there is one more that I would like to elaborate additionally.

One thing that Giancarlo did not mention was Riot Game’s constant effort to communicate with users. Many other online game companies identify the problem by themselves. They often go through internal discussion, conduct a closed test, and then make the amendment that might not reflect the customers’ needs. If the customers do not satisfy with the result, the game is not a pain reliever, but rather, it is a pain creator. On the other hand, the unique value that Riot Games proposed is the way they communicate with users before making adjustments. There are several online LoL communities with many active users’ involvement, thus the general managers of the company use them in order to interact with the players. The users, or consumers, can deliver their opinions directly, and the managers tend to apply some creative ideas into the game. This process not only satisfies the customers’ needs, but it also breaks the communication barrier between the management team and customers. Consequently, their marketing strategy is a “gain creator” that enabled an extraordinary success of League of Legends.

<Birthday Card from Riot GM>

Image From:

http://www.sk-gaming.com/content/54270-The_State_of_the_LoL_Community_How_Dirt_Nap_Paves_the_Way

http://thedroidreview.com/top-free-league-of-legends-android-apps-339

http://m.inven.co.kr/board/powerbbs.php?come_idx=3866&l=1752708