The new videogame marketing tactic: Pretending an old game is brand new

pcgamer.com:

When a new multiplayer shooter launches on Steam, one of two things usually happens: It either captures the attention of a dedicated playerbase, or fizzles out into a wasteland of empty servers. As brutal as it can be, this is how PC gaming's fickle digital marketplace works. You get one chance to launch a game and make your first impression. Or do you?

There's another maneuver that a few developers have tried lately, and it's working pretty well so far: Pretend your old game is new and try not to mention that it previously failed.

This do-over phenomenon played out this week with Hypercharge: Unboxed, a multiplayer FPS about warring action figures that you might've seen a clip of on Twitter.

dear Xbox fans,positive vibes. let's make this tweet go viral!we are five adults who are making our childhood dream game where you play as «action figures»✅RT and RT some more!If you'd like to become an action figure on the Xbox, sign up here: https://t.co/siom0AIxZO pic.twitter.com/v3IuIjsf5IJuly 3, 2022

The official Twitter account for Hypercharge has spent the last few weeks sharing daily clips of the game, usually with a short pitch like «we are five adults who are making our childhood dream game» or «imagine a game based on our childhood action figures.» They often ask for help making their tweets go viral or tag major influencers. Going just by the tweets, you'd be forgiven for not realizing that Hypercharge came out two years ago, and on two different platforms. Hypercharge released in 2020 on Steam and Switch, and it was available in early access for years before that. Despite generally positive reviews and appearing on Steam's top sellers list, it didn't hold an audience for long.

As far as Twitter is concerned, however,