In 2014, a video game called Eve Online came out and instantly became one of the most popular games in the world. It was built on the well-known Unity game engine, and it featured 3D avatars and animated environments. It was a big step forward for gaming, but it wasn’t the first step. Back in 2003, the original creators of Eve Online started a company called “Null Corp” to market and ship their game.

The result was remarkable. In just a few years, Null Corp turned into a marketing powerhouse that was responsible for some of the biggest games releases in history. They effectively marketed the game by utilizing a combination of traditional and digital marketing methods. That marketing approach is worth studying, so in this blog post, we will dive into how they accomplished this feat.

EVE Online’s Journey To The Top

EVE Online is quite the accomplishment, and it’s not hard to see why. Not only does it feature some of the most beautiful graphics in a game, but its gameplay is also exceptionally good. When you’re playing EVE Online, it feels a little bit like you’re playing a massive co-op game. The graphics are so crisp that it feels like you’re looking at a photograph rather than a video game, and the gameplay is so fluid that it feels like you’re controlling a real-life game. It really is an amazing experience.

One of the things that made Eve Online so special is that it was always expanding. The developers behind the game never considered it complete, and as a result, it always received both free and premium content updates. In 2018 alone, a major update called “Legacy of the Void” was released, and it added a whole new dimension to the game. What was once an isometric shooting gallery has now become a full 3D environment where you can fly around in any direction, viewing the game from all sorts of angles. It certainly hasn’t lost its charm.

The Importance of Storytelling

One of the most effective methods that Null Corp used to promote EVE Online was storytelling. The game’s creators started a blog, Medium, and they started publishing stories about the game. These stories helped establish a connection with the audience, and it’s quite an interesting tactic. When a game developer or publisher does this for their own project, it’s usually called “Letting the player experience drive the narrative”.

In EVE Online, the players actually become a part of the story. The game’s second major update, “Dark Matter”, added an NPC crew member, an AI that guides new players through the game’s systems. The crew member, Revenant, has his own backstory, which the players help to uncover. When Revenant is presented to the audience, he doesn’t feel like a cardboard cut-out. He feels like a real, live person with a past, emotions, and goals. The audience can identify with Revenant because he is just like them. The developers behind the game effectively used storytelling to make the player feel like they are an important part of the game’s universe. This, in turn, encourages the player to keep playing the game and engage with the narrative.

Marketing To The Masses

EVE Online may be an example of a game that is so good that it effectively marketed itself. However, it’s not the only game that has done this. There are many other successful examples of marketing through gameplay and design alone.

Take Forza Motorsport 7, for example. This game features stunning visuals that blur the lines between gameplay and aesthetics. When you’re playing Forza Motorsport 7, you’d never guess that it’s a marketing exercise. It completely hides the fact that it’s been designed to attract fans of the Forza series, which is widely available for Xbox consoles. The driving in Forza Motorsport 7 is so smooth and realistic that it feels like you’re playing a video game rather than a racing game. When you’re playing Forza 7, it feels like you’re in a completely different universe. The game’s creators didn’t need to advertise the game because it effectively marketed itself.

It’s not just about hiding the truth, either. Some games, like Overwatch, choose to embrace their marketing and use it to their advantage. The game’s designers implemented a unique mechanic that allows players to discover content throughout the game. The more you play, the more you’ll find pieces of media to promote. In some ways, it’s a bit like a puzzle, and like a puzzle, it forces you to think outside of the box. The more you play, the more you’ll be presented with new puzzle pieces that you can use to promote the game.

Traditional And Digital Marketing

One of the most interesting things about the rise of marketing technology is that we’re seeing traditional and digital marketing methods mix together to form effective campaigns. It’s no longer simply a case of having a billboard in the town and running a radio campaign. Today, marketers are using software to target consumers on social media and digital billboards, run targeted ads on Google, and track the success of their campaigns in real-time. This is because marketing in the 21st century is no longer about selling a product and hoping the consumer buys it. Now, it’s about engaging with the audience where they are, whether that’s on social media or in a game.

Traditional marketing, which includes everything from radio ads to TV commercials, has always had a place in the marketing mix. However, it was never the only strategy. Even before the rise of digital marketing, marketers were using everything from SEO techniques to get their content in front of the right audience, and they were using guerrilla marketing tactics to get their point across.

It’s easy to see why marketers are turning to new strategies. Just look at the traditional advertising landscape. While TV commercials still exist, they’re not nearly as effective as they were back in the 1960s, when only 40% of U.S. adults had a TV in their home. Thanks to the rise of digital marketing, ad blocking software, and privacy concerns, traditional TV commercials are effectively becoming a thing of the past.

This is because when most people see an ad, they’re already turned off the advertiser’s product or service. They want nothing to do with the brand, and they try to avoid being influenced by advertisers. However, direct-to-consumer marketing, marketing in games, and online banner advertising are still very effective at persuading consumers to purchase a product or try a service. In today’s digital world, consumers have greater access to information but also have greater expectations of privacy and security. As a result, they’re more wary of advertisers and other third-parties observing their behavior.

Why Are Games and Digital Media Important To Market?

When we think about marketing, many of us immediately think about billboards, TV commercials, and magazine spreads. While these methods have been effective at capturing people’s attention, they’ve always been relatively transient. You see a billboard for a second, then you drive past it or ignore it while on your way to something else. The same goes for TV commercials. You may see one now and then, but you’ll never watch an entire TV show, review, or album without skipping over or quickly skimming the commercials.

With the rise of video games, mobile apps, and the Internet, it’s now possible to reach more people than ever before. This, in turn, allows marketers to keep up with the demand for relevant content and drive continual engagement through a variety of platforms, from mobile phones to PCs, tablets, and even the Internet.

Games and digital media are important to market because they give you a longer-lasting presence than most other marketing tactics. This is because games often stay in the news and continue to be played decades later. Once you have a base of users, it’s easier to keep marketing to them with more traditional methods while also relying on newer, more effective ones.

EVE Marketing: A Study In Effective Combinations

As we’ve established, not all games need to be successful to be able to market successfully. Take Forza Motorsport 7, for example. While it did extremely well for itself, it wasn’t necessarily the result of great marketing. Instead, it was due to the fact that a) the timing was right (the racing game genre was experiencing a bit of a revival at the time), b) the development team was incredibly talented, and c) the game itself was relatively unique. As a result, it scored highly on multiple metrics, and it did fairly well in the market as well.