Marketing tips to have a successful Early Access phase

gamesindustry.biz:

When I began working on my first Early Access title, I was very sceptical about the whole model. As a marketer, I feel that Early Access games are a bit harder to promote as opposed to full releases. The press doesn’t show much interest in Early Access games and the consumers behind Early Access titles have a different mentality too.

Usually, consumers aren’t that thrilled over EA titles – although that’s changing – and those that do take the bite have high expectations of close ownership of the product and the development process itself. And if you make a few bad moves along the way, your game is on the back burner. Not to mention how hard it is to gain review coverage in the press once you hit 1.0. So an Early Access title is a different beast.

Now after working on a few EA titles (Dinkum, Inkulinati, Medieval Dynasty, and a few more), I feel like Early Access is a fantastic model that can help build a strong community and a great final game. Sure, it’s not for every game type, and some of the drawbacks are still there. But it is a viable option if the game is right.

The one thing that’s certain is that if you don’t plan your communication right, it can lead to doom even before your game comes out. Without a proper communication plan, you might be plagued with negative reviews, you might create an impression that you’re a cash grab, and you might make people think that your game is dead – even if it isn’t.

Today I want to share with you a few marketing and communications tips that might help you have a successful Early Access, and a community that you will love spending time with – and vice versa. Most of these tips are applicable in the "released in Early Access but before the 1.0 launch" phase. Prior to that,