Tetherdrone Swinging, Slinging, Racing; Fun!

Marketing Plan for:

TetherDrone Swinging, slinging, racing; fun!

TetherDrone

GaaP vs GaaS 2

Business Model 3

Target Audience 4 Genre Audience & Reach Research 4 Gamer Statistics 5 Player Demographics 5 Persona 6

Platforms / Stores 7

Geography 7

Budget 7

Marketing Channels 8 HatLight Games website 8 Facebook 8 Twitter 8 Youtube 8

Content Calendar 9

TetherDrone

GaaP vs GaaS

One of the first questions that got asked when starting on TetherDrone. Since the game will be published under a Pay What Youmodel it is one of the more important questions. Will HatLight Games wait until the full game is done before releasing it? The answer to this is no. As soon as there is a viable prototype, this will be released to the public, as to create a game which will grow as the majority of the audience sees fit. Releasing the game as a service will help development go in a way everybody wants to see it, and possibly add modes / (extra) services that we originally didn’t think of; or deemed unnecessary.

Another profit regarding the release of the game as a service as well as using the pay what you wantmodel is that users are able to buy in early if desired, while giving them the possibility to up their backing once the game gets toward the final release and increases in playability.

TetherDrone

Business Model

As quickly stated above under GaaP vs GaaS , TetherDrone will be released under the Pay What You Wantmodel. This means that users are able to pay HatLight Games whatever amount they feel the game is worth. This is an interesting take, since the revenue will be solely dependant on the givingness of the users. However, some research has shown that it can very well be successful (and even more successful than a fixed price release). Below some pros and cons regarding the model:

Pro: Fixedprice products always have had a certain barrier for consumers to enter. By lowering the possible price to zero, this barrier is removed and thus will give more people to try and experience the product. Similarly, this also removes the socalled upper barrier for customers who want to contribute more. This will result in an increased reach and hopefully will be impacted by encouraging generosity.

As an addition to the previous point. By removing the barrier to enter, piracy will be an unattractive idea, since the game can be downloaded legally, and certain to be without possible malware. The number of downloads might also increase because people are more likely to share a link to a “free” download with their friends. Which also could increase the number of buyers as part of a successful marketing campaign.

As a further matter with this pricing method, we give potential gamers the option to first download and play the game; and thus evaluate the quality before deciding how much they feel it’s worth.

By offering a product that will generate revenue depending on the player satisfaction; trust is needed. The Pay What You Want model does not lower expectations but it lowers buying resistance. Customers are willing to pay more if the incentive for it is there. This will also create enhanced customer loyalty, due to having a more invested feeling.

Cons: The lack of insights for the future. There is no possible way to project income, when there is no average you can use. Research has also shown that it is not a viable model for a big company. So, since this is HatLight Games first released game this doesn’t immediately apply to us. However, it is something that needs to be remembered, since future games might not be as profitable under this payment model.

One general piece of knowledge that shows importance is the relationship with the player. With this payment model, being open and active helps the further improvement of the game. It also generates a following, which expand your reach; also for future game releases. Under Marketing Channels and Content Calendar , our approach to create this bond with customers is explain. HatLight Games Marketing Plan © 2017 3

TetherDrone

Target Audience

Genre Audience & Reach Research

TetherDrone will be an action racing game with multiplayer components, with A ction Henk and TrackMania as its core competitors for comparison. So HatLight Games will most prominently aim for gamers that are interested in racing, fast paced action and / or time based games.

Since Steam will be our top priority platform, also utilizing their Early Access platform to gain brand recognition, a database search shows the following numbers regarding the given genres:1 The total Steam library has 16.137 games 9656 of these games are qualified having an Action tag 1504 have the Early Access tag 12028 have the Indie tag Only 879 games have the Racing tag

Taking a further look within the genres, the following peak sales can be found within Racing: The top 10 racing games sold have an average sale amount of 2.5 million Action Henk takes a spot in the top 100 around #95 with almost 100.000 copies sold Trackmania Nations Forever is #3 in the list with over 2 million copies sold

Within the Action tag the following can be found: The top 10 all have between 15 and 100 million players Half of which are Free to play Note: TetherDrone will have an Action tag due to its movement mechanic, but officially won’t qualify as a action game.

Looking at the Early Access tag the following info shows up: The top 10 starts at 3.5 million players Only the top 3 games are Free to Play Note: Most of the games in the top 10 Early Access have been there for a long time, even though it is meant to be in for a maximum of 1 year. This does mean the numbers are slightly off.

When looking at all the games in one list interesting things show up. Firstly, racing is the smallest genre on Steam when compared to all the others The #1 racing title still stands within the top 100 at #54; which coincidentally is an indie title

TetherDrone

When taking all this info into consideration, it already shows that Racing, being the smallest genre, still has quite an impact next to all the big AAA titles based on Action and Shooting. In a research from 2013, it also showed that Racing is still in the top 3 of most popular genres amongst men.2

Gamer Statistics3

Below a breakdown of gamers, their age, gender and preferences will be displayed to get an idea of our specific target audience, after which we can create a Persona . It will also help during our Marketing part, to pinpoint our advertising and get a higher return on investment as well as a higher chance of achieving our prospective customers.

Player Demographics 63% of the households are home to at least one person who plays video games regularly (3 hours or more per week). There are an average of 1.7 gamers in each gameplaying household. 65% of households own a device used to play video games. 48% of households own a dedicated game console.

The average gamer age is 25 years old, with the below division based on age groups: 27% are under 18 years of age 29% are between 18 and 35 18% are between 36 and 49 26% are 50+

Basing this on gender the following becomes clear: 59% is male 41% is female

Top devices gamers most frequently use are: 56% on PC 53% on dedicated game consoles ( PlayStation 4 / Xbox One ) 17% on dedicated handheld systems ( PlayStation Vita / Nintendo 3DS )

Of all gamers the top 3 played genres are: 1. Puzzle / Board game / Card game / Game shows 2. Action games 3. Strategy games

TetherDrone

If broken down to gender the following shows: Amongst females: 1. Puzzle / Quiz / Word g ames 2. Matching games 3. Mahjong style games

Amongst men: 1. Action games 2. Strategy games 3. Racing games

Playing multiplayer games is divided in the following 2 categories: 6.5 hours per week playing with others online 4.6 hours per week playing with others inperson

When checking with who gamers most frequently play in multiplayer form: 40% with friends 21% with family members 17% with parents 15% with spouse / partner

Persona

With the gained knowledge of the target audience, a Persona can be created that profiles the ‘typical gamer’ most likely to buy TetherDrone.

Background: Likes: Name: Patrick Playing games Age: 26 Online against friends Gender: Male Wants to set best times Education: HBO Hanging out with friends Occupation : Post graduate Plays games for a minimum of 15 hours a week Family: In a relationship

TetherDrone

Platforms / Stores

TetherDrone will be made using Unreal Engine 4, which gives us the ability to port the game to any console if desired. For our initial release HatLight Games will be aiming for PC, with full releases on the PlayStation 4 and the Nintendo Switch later down the road. In the future, and dependant on success, the game can also be released on the Xbox One.

Unknown how the Pay What You Wantmodel can be incorporated on specific stores, the game will be hosted on HatLight Games’ own website, behind a PWYWpaywall. If Steam, the PlayStation Store, Nintendo eShop, and possible Xbox Marketplace support this payment model, possible cooperation can be set up for extra exposure.

Geography

TetherDrone will be released worldwide at the same time. Since the intention is to get exposure as fast as possible, a bigger audience can provide such a thing. A possible hiccup can be created with the webhosting. HatLight Games needs to make sure that the servers are able to accommodate a possible big influx of visitors on the website.

Budget

HatLight Games will not reserve any budget for marketing in the beginning. Due to a lot of free marketing platforms, time spent will be the biggest cost. At a later stage, once the games has some initial revenue, a budget might get created to support sponsored ads on Facebook.

TetherDrone

Marketing Channels

Several social media platforms will be used to market TetherDrone throughout development and release.

HatLight Games website

One of the first public things HatLight Games will launch, is their personal website. On this website, users will be able to get in touch with the developers, read behind the scene blogs as well as see the latest trailers and screenshots. It will function as the main hub that is run from a first person perspective.

Facebook

Facebook will be the main 3rd party website where content will be posted. Due to the way posts work, gamers can easily communicate with HatLight Games, ask questions and remain up to date. Links to the HatLight Games website will be linked, as well as trailers and screenshots; to provide them with a diverse amount of interesting content; but guide them to our website at the same time.

Twitter

Twitter shall be used for quick information. If a new blog or a screenshot is released, a quick tweet can show this or forward them to the content on the website. Teasers to upcoming content, the release as well as behind the scenes material are also valid to be shared through this medium.

Youtube

Youtube is the platform for videos. So quite obviously new trailers will be uploaded to the HatLight Games Youtube channel. These links will afterwards be shared on the HatLight Games website as well as Facebook and Twitter. Alongside that, HatLight Games will also reach out to popular Youtube streamers to get them to play the game on their channel.

All these accounts can be followed, making it easy for interested gamers to stay up to date with the progress of both the company and TetherDrone.

TetherDrone

Content Calendar

The below content calendar is an example of how the marketing would be done once the game is available to the players (from early access onwards), and a decent communication between HatLight Games and customers is going.

Content:

1st & 3rd Monday of the month biweekly blog post regarding development / behind the scenes information. Show off some progress, and reveal that HatLight Games is run by humans. Original blog post on HatLight Games website, shared on both Twitter and Facebook.

Trailer every last Friday of the month Since TetherDrone will be available to the audience quite early on, a monthly trailer to show the progress in under 1 or 2 minutes can show potential new customers what we have been up to. Original trailer uploaded on Youtube.

TetherDrone

Every 2nd & 4th Tuesday of the month A video will show a compilation of clips send in by players showing off their amazing track times or horrible mishaps. These can also include snippets of (famous) Youtubers playing the game. O riginal post on Youtube, small clips will be shared on throughout the week shared on Facebook & Twitter. D isclaimer: only if content allows us to!

Every 1st & 3rd Friday of the month Casual post asking a question to / teasing the community by form of a gif. Original post made on Facebook.

Every 2nd & 4th Wednesday of the month Sharing a new screenshot (either of the game or community based) of the game / behind the scenes. Original post made on Twitter.