3 ways to bring more creativity into mobile game marketing (that don't just mean hiring Hollywood talent)

gamesindustry.biz:

With the mobile game market’s outstanding growth over recent years, it’s sometimes easy to forget just how young of an industry it still is. However, following a post-Covid market decline – which in reality, was more of a market correction – and tightening privacy regulations, games industry operators and investors alike have been quick to doubt the industry’s growth potential with some even declaring that mobile game marketing is dead.

I can’t say that I share their skepticism: the mobile game market is barely in its teens and it would be unimaginative – and, frankly speaking, ambitionless – to presume that this is all that the industry has to offer. However, it’s also clear that legislative changes and player feedback both demand a new approach from game makers and marketers. Here are three ways the mobile games industry should adapt their approach to this new environment:

Game studios have historically been fixated on product development: making the best mobile games possible. "The best" has often correlated directly with what game developers personally liked – we probably don’t need to recap the full, problematic history with representation in games here – and only after a game has been finished has anyone thought about how and who to market the game to.

This auteur mindset may be the norm in indie films and music, but games seem to be the only consumer-facing industry of this size and scope that still systematically follows such a developer-focused approach. Virtually every other major consumer brand’s product development starts with clarifying their positioning and mapping their audience’s needs.

Take Netflix circa 2007 as an example – it would’ve been easy for them to continue with a product-first approach and develop