Alex Nichiporchik: Twitch is not a channel for promotion, but part of the ecosystem
In January of this year, the publisher tunyBuild released the Punch Club game, the main channel of promotion of which was the Twitch streaming service. The title brought the creators the first million in ten days. Yesterday, April 14, tunyBuild launched a stream on the same service to promote the SpeedRunners game, which is now in early access on Steam. We decided to find out the details of the campaign and along the way find out what pitfalls Twitch has as a channel for promoting games.
The image shows the art for the SpeedRunners game
SpeedRunners is a multiplayer platformer for 4 people.
The bottom line is as follows: four players try to get to the finish line as quickly as possible, simultaneously pushing rivals over the edges of the screen. The game supports online and offline multiplayer. In the second case, players can compete together against bots.
The advertising campaign that tunyBuild launched on Twitch is tied to bots. The publisher caught four computer characters competing with each other. Along the way, bets in points were accepted on bots. The winnings can then be cashed out with discount coupons in tunyBuild games.
We asked tinyBuild CEO Alex Nichiporchik questions about the campaign and promotion on Twitch.
Alex NichiporchikThe Lazy Bear Games team told us that Twitch has become one of the main ways to promote the Punch Club game.
And there are figures, how many views there were, some estimates, how many users this channel brought?
In this situation, there is no such thing as direct marketing channels. There is a snowball, a cumulative effect that begins with a shocking story (we won’t release it until Twitch passes the game), and everything else follows from this. People from the industry hear about it and talk about it. This is the strongest marketing that can be. Without Twitch as the initial marketing idea, however, it is unlikely that the game would have been so successful.
And the same question about SpeedRunners: what are the approximate expectations from the campaign in numbers?
The whole reason for Twitch Bets SpeedRunners is to show how betting works to streamers. This is a live demonstration of what can be and how to increase interaction with your audience.
SpeedRunners is currently in Steam Early Access. Has the campaign already begun to bear any fruit, are there any orders that you associate with the broadcast on Twitch?
Yes, a lot of streamers communicate with us, share useful tips and opinions.
Why did you decide to launch bots instead of live players?
So that the stream could go on for several days in a row and to show how a simple betting system can even revive the game of bots.
The question from Captain Obvious’s piggy bank: which genres do you think are suitable for promotion on Twitch, and which ones are not at all?
For a live audience, it is very important to have a game that is easy to experience with the audience. Games where you can build your own narrative — the same multiplayer sandboxes — are very suitable. But old-school platformers, for example, are less interesting.
Games that are interesting to watch as a sport will always be interesting, and if there is a game tied to skill, people will always watch good players.
In your opinion, how compatible are mobile frituplay and Twitch? Not Clash of Clans or Heartstone, everything is clear with them. And quite casual, like Candy Crush?
If Candy Crush had PVP multiplayer, it would be watched by millions of people. It is still completely unclear how mobile live streaming will work. 20 years ago, everyone thought that as soon as we had mobile TVs, we would watch TV on phones! Instead, we look at gifs of cats.
What, in your opinion, are the pitfalls of Twitch as a channel for promotion?
Interface. In YouTube videos, you can cut out awkward moments of settings or incomprehensible moments in the interface. You can’t do it in the live stream! Make the streamer’s life easy, try to make your own game and communicate with the audience at the same time. It is difficult.
Such a question: according to the cost, how does Twitch differ from other channels? Where is it more expensive to promote the game — on Twitch or on YouTube?
You guys will also ask how much we buy traffic on Twitter :) Irrelevant question. If we looked at such things (crutches of channels), we would now publish fritupley trash.
The question from the series “Who would win, Superman or Batman”: which is better for promoting a competitive game, YouTube or Twitch? Which channel has what features?
Marta won:) Now YouTube is already oversaturated. There are grids and organizations that deal with talent management. Big marketing budgets for AAA titles are being played there. Meanwhile, you can easily communicate with twitch streamers, and they are all ignored so far. For beginner teams, it’s better to focus on streamers. For large companies with marketing budgets, it is better to start with YouTubers and their grids.
The last question: how suitable is Twitch as a channel for promoting an indie game? Is it really possible for an indie developer without a bundle of dollars in his pocket to successfully launch a game through this channel?
There are a bunch of indie games that have taken off at the expense of Twitch. It cannot be considered as a “channel” — it is part of the ecosystem. If you think in the style of marketing, return of profits and figures — it all goes back to the topic of fritupley trash. Dozens of idiot companies are trying to sell us traffic, and then wonder why we don‘t do fritupley. And how we don‘t buy ads. People who think that way are completely out of the topic.
It is better to spend the money of the “marketing budget” on networking or DevGAMM or any event for developers. You approach some Rami Ismail and show him a toy. He likes her. Makes you an introduction to someone from Sony, and you have a Firewatch coming out in a year. This is exactly how it is done — through a network of contacts who trust each other, and who are “in the subject” — driving away trash with sticks.
Thanks for the answers!
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