Home
Yesterday I promoted an article that wasn't too kind to the video-game marketing machine. It seems almost too convenient that today I found an article about marketing done well.
Weird.
Take a look at the picture to the right and tell me what looks out of place. Can you see it? Out of the more than 120 games I own, none of them feature the web address for thier respective online communities right on the box. Well, none except Portal 2 that is. Valve's newest adventure isn't merely a triumph for fans of science; it also pushes the boundaries of how game companies market their products to consumers.
Back in early March of 2010: Valve pushed out two updates to the original Portal that changed the ending and launched a very successful alternate reality game. That ARG teased the community by hinting at a potential sequel and effectively extended the Portal universe into our own reality. With everyone’s gaze turned to Valve for answers, they announced Portal 2 would launch in Q4 of 2010 a few days later.
By E3 2010, Valve had delayed Portal 2 until sometime in 2011. A week before announcing the delay, many of the press outlets received a cryptic email hinting at a surprise announcement for E3. Between the email and the revelation that Portal 2 was coming to PS3 with Steamworks, it seemed like everyone had forgotten about the delay altogether. The timing between the email, the delay, and the surprise was impeccable. It deflected any potential backlash for the delay with simple misdirection.
The marketing campaign continued from there on a relatively normal path, with promotional videos, preview events, billboards, comics, etc. But that changed on April Fools' Day, or what may be forever known in the gaming community as "Potato Fool's Day." "Potato Fool's Day" would be the second ARG used to promote Portal 2 and would far exceed the scope of the first. Valve bundled 13 indie games together and Steam participants could play them to in order to help reboot GLaDOS more quickly and launch the game early on PC. The more indie games the community played, the more quickly the timer counted down.
All these fresh, unique ideas of approaching an audience are groundbreaking in their own way. From simply printing a web address to providing a full blown ARG, Portal 2 exceeds expectations in its attempts to expand it's universe and engage it's fans.
Also, it doesn't hurt that the game is incredibly entertaining.
