The Evolving Role of Marketing & Publishing in the Videogames Industry

Following the recent BAFTA / GameIndustry.biz event on "Digital Distribution" where key games industry figures discussed how they're making money from web-based advergames, PC and console download services, and the iTunes application store - revolutionising the old model where publishers paid developers to make games, and customers paid publishers to buy them in the shops. But can these new revenue streams generate the large incomes needed to create the rich experiences that gamers expect - and are many of them swapping dependence on one kind of publisher for another?

An interesting article on "The End (or rather the evolving role of Marketing and...) of Publishing" from Gamesindustry. biz:

"Marketing, meanwhile, is not disappearing but is most certainly changing. The extraordinary and exponential rise in interpersonal communication which has been facilitated by parallel developments in areas such as social networking and mobile phones has been a broadside to traditional marketing - one which, frankly, very few marketers have come to grips with. Positive word of mouth buzz, spreading through mediums ranging from SMS messages to Facebook to Twitter, is driving sales more effectively than any above the line campaign ever could. Countless blogs and podcasts with a few hundred readers each are collectively reaching audiences wider than any magazine or major website."

Read the full article here which is a great roundup of the changing face of the industry and the opportunity for highly marketing-aware, bold indie games studios like our own division, DU Games.