Is Games Marketing Dead? [Opinion]

Back in April, Larian Studios’ Publishing Director Michael Douse made a statement that said game marketing is dead. Really? We share our thoughts and advice on how to market your indie game in this ever-changing industry. Listen in!

Is It Truly Dead?

This is quite a tricky question because gamers have always been smart; they’re tech-savvy and generally well-educated, which makes people who play games a strong demographic. From our perspective, we see gamers as people who understand marketing in the traditional sense – banner ads on webpages, YouTube pre-rolls, sponsored posts etc. Gamers easily identify ads and recently, have grown increasingly frustrated with the constant barrage of advertisements. This frustration often leads to a decline in the effectiveness of the ads themselves, which affects legitimate games advertising.

Despite the number of complaints about ads (my own included), many game developer studios report that they still use social media to spread awareness about their games. According to GDC’s 2023 and 2024 State of The Industry Reports, game developers are still investing their time and money into Twitter/X, Facebook, and LinkedIn. From the 2023 report, 30% of respondents reported a small investment into those platforms, 29% made a moderate investment, and 13% reported a large investment. In 2024, social media and word of mouth remain the leading tools for game marketing, with 86% of developers using them. You can read our summary of this year’s report here.

59% of [game developers] reported a small/moderate investment [into social media]

So what does this mean for developers looking to market their games? It doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s dead, we just need to try to adapt so that our games still find their audiences. From what we’ve understand, traditional marketing might not be the best way to spread awareness about your game now, since overtly recognisable advertising quickly raises the defenses of attuned gamers. It can still be used in moderation and for specific channels but there’s another way to help your game reach its audience.

Peer-to-peer Marketing

This type of marketing might sound new, but some game developers have already used the word-of-mouth strategy which proves highly effective in promoting their games, according to the GDC report in 2023. Peer-to-peer (P2P) marketing includes regularly posting and being involved directly with the audience. For example, sharing your game development journey as a developer on Reddit. By doing so, you can form the connection you don’t normally have if you use paid ads with your audience. The difference is in avoiding broadcasting - speaking without recognising community feedback; and instead socializing - asking questions, looking for feedback, providing updates and then regularly following back on older posts without immediately jumping to the next. 

Gamers love to know about the product and its developer. Transparency is something that’s highly valuable and isn’t always easy to provide because sometimes there’s no clear boundaries of what you should and shouldn’t share. It’s recommended that your team set the boundaries on the things you want to share with your potential players, and share them periodically on your social media to improve your brand presence. This counts as game marketing, because you’re sharing your experiences in creating your game and forming the connection through those types of posts. Even when you don’t write an elaborate copy, just by saying something like “Hey, I did this when making x feature on my game” or “I got stuck trying to make x, so I had to find ways to make it work” would suffice! Sharing the challenges, mistakes, and hardships you’ve faced as a developer also humanizes your team, creates empathy, and forms the basis of a relationship with your players. 

In P2P marketing, you can also utilize influencers to spread brand awareness. Saving the money you may otherwise dedicate to traditional ad-spend, a suitable content creator may leap at the chance to be paid to publicize your game. Take a look at our short influencer marketing guide if you’re new to influencer marketing!

How Acorn Adapts to The Change

As an agency focused on social media and community management, one of the most rapidly changing areas of marketing, we’re no strangers to looking a step ahead. In the past, our approach was typically centered around these disciplines and recently we’ve began to expand more toward influencer marketing and game consultancy strategies, such as those we’ve employed with clients such as Whispers in the West, Galactic Glitch, and recently, GoobnBalloonsDX. 

With computer-savvy gamers, events held online since COVID have also been a huge boost and provided a rapidly expanding arena for attention. We’re using digital events as a way to approach our audiences, interact with players of similar games and collaborate with peers via competitions and activations to boost our footprint. 

In conclusion, traditional marketing isn’t dead; it's just changing inline with the ever evolving video games industry. To stay relevant, we must embrace these changes and adapt our marketing approaches. With the industry's shift toward indie games, paid ads may not be as effective unless you have a substantial budget. It's recommended to start promoting your game using peer-to-peer marketing instead, and try to approach your audience with transparency during your game development journey.


We understand that it can be challenging to maintain your social presence while simultaneously making your game if you’re a small team or a solo developer. If you’d like to pick our brains about potential strategies, feel free to give us a call. There’s no obligation to work with us and we’re here to help you find an effective way to find and promote your game!

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