To better understand the process behind advertising video games to the market, I think it’s best to look back at the history of how all of this came to be.
According to Kate Willaert from “The Video Game History Foundation”, back when video games were a new thing for people, it was a challenge to market them because unsurprisingly it was something no one has ever heard of. Therefore, there was no established audience at the time or any kind of model they could use. The first people to market video games had to pretty much make it up as they went along with the concept of this whole thing, since no language was made to advertise this type of technology.
Since 1970s, video games were mainly played at any place that had an arcade machine, like bars, shopping malls, and many more. Considering that video games was a relatively new thing, flyers and ads on magazines were the main method to advertise these products, as they were less costly to make compared to commercials. The difference is that the audience for these ads were targeted towards the operators, as they were the ones who bought and ran these arcade machines for their places.
As time went on, more games were being produced and the market started to grow greatly due to the amount of people being exposed to it. Home consoles started to be made specifically so you can play video games in your own home, and because of this, commercials were being made. Soon commercials started becoming the norm in advertising them.
With the market growing and having a distinct audience this time around, the advertisements became more centered around the kids and teenagers, since they are the main demographic, even throughout these recent years according to Digital Trends.
Though admittedly you would still see ads marketed towards the adults sometimes…
Going forward, as technology started to develop quickly, commercials and other forms of advertisements shifted its way from television to the internet, due to the growing popularity of it.
Today it’s common to see game commercials and sponsorships on sites like Youtube, especially for me as that was how I mostly discover these games, since I don’t watch T.V anymore.
Example of a Sponsorship:
With the change in landscape from advertising games, do you find yourself discovering new/old games on the internet more often, the same way I do?
Comment done below!
Images used for this blog:
- https://twitter.com/GameHistoryOrg/status/974021794498625536
- https://flyers.arcade-museum.com/?page=thumbs&db=arcadedb&id=275
- https://flyers.arcade-museum.com/?page=thumbs&db=arcadedb&id=28
- https://flyers.arcade-museum.com/?page=thumbs&db=arcadedb&id=1766
- http://www.8-bitcentral.com/blog/2013/cyberLipAd.html
Images used for Home page and Contact Us page:
Key To Advertising Video Games 