Getting Started with Video Game Marketing

[Meyoo]

I am a Marketing student looking to enter the video game industry when I graduate, which will be next Spring.

While there is a good amount of information on the internet considering game design and development, info on video game marketing seems to be very hard to come by. Also, the professional internship and mentor groups that I have come by are not very concerned with video games yet, even though it is such a hot industry at the moment.

As you can see, I have found myself in a void. The video game developers do not seem all that concerned with the business side of their industry and accessible businessmen couldn't care less for the video game industry.

Would anyone have any sort of idea of where I could find a bridge for this gap? What sort of job I might have to look for to get my foot in the door in a marketing or PR department in the industry?

[yaustar]

What makes you think that there is a void? Developers don't normally deal with the marketing and PR side of the game, that is usually the publishers job and is done by professionals or 'businessmen'. Selling a game is no different to selling any other product.

As for jobs, I would suspect that there junior marketing and PR roles available (despite the fact I can't find any in open positions) or you can try as Community manager which is basically PR.

[jillduffy]

Marketing is often handled by the publishers, as Yaustar mentioned, so those are positions you might find by looking directly at publishers' web job boards. Many publishers use outside PR firms, though. Two big names are Khonke and Edelman (though didn't they each have separate scandals not long ago...?). I think you could look for jobs through them directly.

I am actually quite familiar with the PR people from the tools end of game development, and that's a true niche. Autodesk and Softimage have inside people. For smaller companies, Liason PR and Raz PR do a lot of representation.

Forgive me if I've too closely conflated PR and marketing. I know they're different jobs, but this is the info I had to share and I hope it's helpful anyway!

[mrberns]

I've actually been wondering about sort of the same thing. I'm a video production graduate that has been trying to find a niche in the gaming industry either in the marketing area, PR, or community manager type deal, but I'm not really sure what the jobs really mean because they each usually have a very similar description. My friend at Insomniac said that they have a group of three or four people that are kind of a community marketing PR all encompassing thing. So really I guess I'm asking what should I be looking for? And are there any entry level jobs that might lead in those directions I should look for since I don't have a lot of real world experience yet?

[yaustar]

All of those areas (Marketing, PR) should have entry level/junior roles.

[MacD]

I was wondering who makes the trailers/game videos released on the internet. (IGN, Gametrailers, 1UP ect..) Are most of them made inhouse? Is there a specific job for that or is it usually Joe Shmoe the cinematic artist who makes the trailers? I know some of the major tv commercials are made by trailer houses and ad agencies but wondering about internet releases because a lot of them don't seem to be that great.

[yaustar]

Vareis company to company. There are sometimes a dedicated video editor on site or it can be a member of the development team.

[ssuriben408]

Is there a video game marketer professional organization(s) like the one similar with IGDA? or maybe we can start one? It would be nice to network with video game marketers and learn from them.

[alohajohn]

I am a video game marketer I stumbled upon this forum to check things out I will set up my profile now

[jillduffy]

Aloha, alohajohn! Thanks for joining. What advice do you have for these people who are interested in marketing jobs in the video game industry? Should they hold an MBA?