An indie developer uploaded his game to torrent and raised sales by 400%. What is the danger of this method?
An unusual marketing move was made by the author of the indie shooter Danger Gazers. He posted his game on the torrent catalog himself, and title sales increased by 400%.
The game from ShotX Studio was released in early January and went unnoticed. Then the developer Shota Bobkhidze (Shota Bobkhidze), of which the studio consists, allowed players to download the title on The Pirate Bay for free. In the annotation to the distribution , he wrote: “I can only ask you to think about supporting and buying the game if you like it and want to see more indie projects in the future.”
Soon Bobokhidze boasted of multiplied sales. The game was more often added to the wishlist on Steam. The developer also began to receive donations from interested players — sometimes they are higher than the price tag of Danger Gazers itself.
Despite the fact that the players approved of an unconventional method of promoting the game through piracy (according to Polygon), Gamedaily expert.biz saw a number of problems in the situation. The expert was Nicholas Laborde, founder and executive producer of Raconteur Games.
First of all, he questioned the effect that piracy had on the sales of Danger Gazers. The Steam version of the game had only 10 user reviews before it appeared on the torrents. Although they are all positive, it’s still not much. Therefore, a 400% increase in sales does not mean that the growth in money or pieces is as impressive, Laborde notes.
“Reviews on Steam are usually left by 2-5% of game owners. With 10 reviews, this is up to 200 copies sold. If there was a 400% increase in sales, then the final result is up to 1000 copies,” Laborde calculated. For an indie developer, this result is not bad, it gives him a certain starting amount for the next project. But the developer’s statement that sales increased by 400% is more of a PR move than a serious achievement, Laborde is sure.
Another, more important problem is the promotion of piracy. As stated by the head of Raconteur Games, the desire to show the game to as many players as possible is absolutely normal, and not only for indies. Far from one developer considers piracy an effective marketing tool.
But for Laborde, this is not a long-term solution. As soon as an indie developer or an entire studio gets back on its feet, torrents cease to be a panacea. By posting a title on The Pirate Bay, ShotX violated rather than expanded marketing norms. Unwittingly, the studio has strengthened users’ confidence that art should be free. And this can harm her later, when she scales up and her games may eventually become worthless.
According to Laborde, the move with torrents is a one—time tool to attract attention, but nothing more. Impressive sales growth of 400% is an anomaly, not the norm. Therefore, the expert recommends choosing more traditional methods of increasing the target audience: advertising, communication with the community in social networks, etc.
In addition, a marketing plan needs to be built in advance, even at the development stage. “This is a much more valuable waste of time and resources to create a community than throwing a game (on a torrent) immediately after the release, which few people were interested in,” the game designer noted. — If you make a marketing plan from the very beginning, you won’t have to take so many risks. Marketing does not exist in a vacuum — it co-exists with the entire development process.”
However, the developer of Danger Gazers himself is sure that “every little thing helps” in promoting the title. “A lot of people can’t afford to buy, but their support can be different — whether it’s word of mouth, a story about the game in social networks, or even a simple letter with a grateful review,” Bobokhidze believes.
