Video Game Advertising from announcement to Release using the AIDAS Model

Abstract

The aim of this study is to understand how video games are advertised from announcement to release using the AIDAS model. With the focus on four developers who used different tactics in the video game marketplace to gain more awareness of their new product. The four developers are Respawn Entertainment, CD Projekt Red, FromSoftware and Iron Gate. Due to video games being a digital product of experience developers heavily rely on content marketing such as videos to generate interest which in turn also generates electronic word of mouth. The method used for this research is a qualitative content analysis with a focus on secondary data analysis which focuses on the digital content developers created to generate more interest and desire for their game. Surprisingly, heavily marketing a video game isn’t necessarily needed to achieve high number of sales, yes, it’s needed to create attention but in the case for a video game less is more. Video games are an experience product, it ultimately depends on the quality of the game for the players to be satisfied with the purchase. Essentially, developers should generate desire by providing fluid gameplay with minimal bugs and quality in-game mechanics that feel good for the player.