For years, almost decades, the video game industries interactions with their loyal customers went a little like this;
Sony Entertainment: Me and my massive studio budget will release a new game each year for the same monopolized 60$ price-tag with slightly improved graphics and features from the last game to suggest progression, but not too much so as to inflate production budget and effort.
Gamers: OK.
Computer and console game developers rested complacently within this lazy model, reaping massive revenues with little effort. Marketing for these games were as simple as placing a good review in a reputable gaming magazine, and maybe release a few print or tv commercials in tow.
But with the advent of the “freemium” payment model, independent and small scale game studios are finding themselves with more and more attention from the gaming public. By offering their games for free and allowing users the option to make serialized payments for additional features, game concepts that may have been deemed risky and not profitable by major game manufacturers can still reach a sizable markets looking for unusual, outside-the-box games.
For companies without a large budget for marketing, relying on youtube-personalities to broadcast or review the games is becoming the norm. Though the reach of these videos may appear smaller than the TV advertisements on primetime, the responsiveness of the viewers is much better. Once again, technology and trends are influencing companies and their business decisions. Those who fail to adapt, fall behind.