5 Reasons Every Indie Game Dev Must Work With Streamers

Small devs often don’t have the bandwidth for traditional marketing. That’s why streamers are so important to their success…

Indie devs are superheroes. The amount of hard work and sacrifice that goes into any game is enormous, even when it’s built by big teams and AAA companies. When you’re talking about the smaller studios, though, with employee rosters in the single digits, or even composing of just a single creator, those pressures get bumped up to 11. That we continue to be inundated by countless great games, every year, is a testament to the love these developers have for their projects, and gaming in general.

Those circumstances, though, have consequences, and it often means rightfully prioritizing building the game over making sure people know about it. It’s the first thing to cut when you’re overwhelmed: marketing.

Working with the new breed of streamers, youtubers, and other gaming influencers can, in much the same way as traditional advertisements and trade-shows, seem like a burden overloaded developers simply don’t have time for. But that’s not true. With the right strategy, content creators can help you get your game into more players’ hands without pulling focus from development, without wasting valuable time or resources.

Here’s the top five reasons every indie dev should be working with streamers and content creators:

Their Audience Is Your Audience

Long gone are the days when marketing a video game was as ‘simple’ as getting past only a handful of gatekeepers. Early on (ie: When I was not the decrepit old man I am now), it was the big magazines: Gamepro, Nintendo Power, Game Informer. The latter is still around, but only because it evolved alongside the major gaming websites that replaced print as the main source of gaming news, and those sites still have their place. Outlets like IGN and Gamespot are still good places to go for news, reviews, and the like, but they’re no longer the only game in town.

Twitch, other streaming sites, and, to a lesser extent, YouTube, are increasingly where gamers spend their time, in enormous numbers, and they organically learn about games and products while they’re there, without being directly marketed to, without being made to feel like they’re having things pushed on them. In the old days, you’d have to get past the editorial staff at a magazine to be sure gamers knew about your product. Streams provide the same kind of platform without the cumbersome hoops through which to jump. Which is great, because once a streamer is talking about you…

They‘re Called ‘Influencers’ For a Reason

It’s more than that streamers and content creators simply have the attention of your potential customers. It’s that they have their trust. Consumers these days, in general, and gamers in particular, are increasingly wary of traditional advertisements and marketing. Everybody is far more informed about their purchasing decisions, and, when someone in the gaming community does something underhanded, misleading, or exploitative, you’ll be sure there will be a large contingent loudly making their displeasure known, scaring off other potential buyers.

That’s part of what’s driven so many gamers to creators in the first place: they feel they can get an honest look at a game, without the marketing talk, without the smoke screens. Sites like Twitch empower viewers to find creators they like, whose taste they find mirror their own, or whose opinions they respect. This is why so many gamers are deciding to buy a game not while they’re browsing on steam, but while watching it being played by a creator they admire.

Look no further than Fortnite for an obvious example. There’s no question that the game’s meteoric rise to the top of the charts has predominantly been fueled by it’s runaway success on Twitch and other streaming platforms. Every record breaking stream, every celebrity making a guest appearance with superstar creator Ninja, it all has combined to create this cultural moment wherein Fornite is on top. None of that happens without streaming, and it’s a resource there for everyone, not just big developers like Epic.

It’s a Perfect Fit

Fortunately for developers, creators want to play their games! Twitch and Mixer have both exploded over the last few years as monetization has become more readily available and the audience itself has continued to grow. As a viewer, it’s been a joy, but, for creators, it’s meant more streamers competing over a limited number of eyeballs, a larger pool of creators playing the same games, and more struggling for ways to stand out.

One of the best ways to build an audience, or to entertain the audience you already have, is to play something new, something that’s still being worked on, something that few other creators have gotten their hands on. For indie developers, that means there’s always a healthy appetite for your game in the world of gaming creators as you endeavor to promote and build hype. Early access and beta keys in the hands of the right creators can do wonders for your game’s marketing and eventual playerbase.

The Right Creators Manage Themselves

And finding the “right” creator is key, because while the space has its fair share of less-than-reputable streamers and content creators who wouldn’t be the right fit for your game, there are just as many, if not more, who can be relied upon to help promote your game with little, if any, hand holding.

Advertising campaigns, even simple ones through services like Google Adwords, take a lot of time and attention to get right. Same goes for social media campaigns. To effectively market on these platforms, you need snappy copywriting, quality design, an awareness and understanding of the data they spit out and the time to iterate on everything when there’s room to grow. Once you’ve found a creator you can count on, promoting your game is as simple as getting it into their hands. You can even take the pain out of keeping an eye on your creators, what they’re playing, how much they’re playing it and who’s watching, through GameWisp Connect. It’s all about getting to that point where you know a streamer or content creator is a good fit for your game. And…

Finding the Right Creators Can Be Simple

You don’t need to spend hours watching streams to get to know a creator and their community. Sure, there’s no better way to be sure, but you can turn that marathon into a brief jog by equipping yourself with the right tools, the right data, that cut through the mess like a jungle machete and help guide you towards reputable, capable content creators.

GameWisp Connect is just one such tool. Using data directly from Twitch, YouTube, Mixer, Twitter, and elsewhere, Connect helps you find new creators with whom to work, and shows you everything there is to know about them. There’s also customizable partner program applications, a full suite of communication tools, robust analytics, and tons of other features and tools still being built. It’s the first CRM and data tools built specifically for working with content creators, and it makes the whole process painless.

Oh, and did I mention you can try it for free? So ignore what I said earlier about being wary of traditional marketing and click the link! It’s cool, we’re one of the good ones. I swear.

Head on over to GameWisp Connect to find out more about the first discovery and management tools built specifically for working with gaming content creators, and be sure to follow us here and on Twitter for all the latest in influencer news and GameWisp updates.