How Do Successful Indie Games Market Themselves?

If you’re feeling overwhelmed with your game and you’re not sure what to do next, or if you’re finding all your marketing endeavours have failed, flopped, or gone straight in the trash, you probably have asked yourself that one question: How did THEY do it???

For every thousand unsuccessful/moderately successful indie games that slip through the cracks, there’s the one big one that absolutely blows up. Behind every breakout game like Stardew Valley, Among Us, Firewatch, and Untitled Goose Game lies a well-executed marketing strategy that sets them completely apart from less successful counterparts. 

That’s not to say these games aren’t outstanding titles who don’t deserve their hype - we are HUGE Untitled Goose Game fans here at Corvian. However, there are games out there that rival the enjoyment, but haven’t gotten nearly enough hype. And that all comes down to marketing. So read on for the ways that these studios harnessed the power of marketing, and made sensations of themselves. 

They Understood The Market.

Games created by small teams or individuals, offer unique experiences driven by innovation and creativity. It sets them apart from AAA studios that, while groundbreaking, don’t have that same vibe. However, standing out in the indie game market can be challenging due to its diversity. Every game is “like” another, and creating a game that’s completely unique holds the risk of you discovering there’s a reason why no one had ever done something like that in the first place. Finding the perfect balance between relating to another game and holding your own uniqueness can be tricky, but it’s a great starting point for being able to both understand your target audience, and set a baseline for your mechanics and story. 

Once They Understood The Market, They Set Themselves Apart.

What actually sets these successful indie games apart? Let's take a closer look:

Stardew Valley: Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve heard of Stardew Valley, developed by Concerned Ape. While only a single person studio, they were able to launch with a bang. They identified their market in cozy gamers, took inspiration from the BIGGEST cozy games at the time, then figured out how to make themselves different. For example, they took Animal Crossing’s simple farming sim mechanics, and created more complex ways to use it, thus attracting a higher farming sim audience. 

Among Us: Originally released in 2018, Among Us exploded in popularity in 2020, thanks to its addictive multiplayer concept of deception and teamwork. InnerSloth recognized a gap in the mobile market for a limited multiplayer game and kept it classic, using bright colors, simple sound effects, and space-themed maps. During the ramp-up to the pandemic in 2020, they started collaborating with popular streamers and content creators, effectively marketing it as the game to play with friends when in quarantine. 

Firewatch: Campo Santo's Firewatch took us off guard with its immersive narrative set in the Wyoming wilderness. The game's intriguing story and stunning visuals were showcased through compelling trailers and promotional materials. Instead of relying on environmental and social timing/narratives, such as Stardew Valley and Among Us, they focused on creating as much of a cinematic experience as possible, rivaling some AAA studio trailers. Visual quality of this level combined with a rich narrative drew people in, as they were curious as to what kind of indie studio could create a trailer of that magnitude. They focused on visuals and narrative, instead of in-depth mechanics or multiplayer features.

Untitled Goose Game: Developed by House House, this quirky stealth game turned heads with its unconventional premise—you play as a mischievous goose causing havoc in a peaceful village. They didn’t have cinematics like Firewatch, mechanics like Stardew Valley or multiplayer reliance like Among Us. House House used the element of absurdity to market themselves. Try telling someone “I made a stealth game where you play as a goose trying to create chaos” with a straight face. You can’t! When we first read about this game and saw the elevator pitch/description, at no point did we know what word was coming next in the sentence. The game turned heads, because they weren’t using industry buzzwords or confining themselves to a popular genre. They just wanted to make a game where you can be a goose. And we respect them so hard for that. 

They Successfully Chose Their Pre-Launch Strategy

Stardew Valley: ConcernedApe used Kickstarter to fund the game's development, which made it easy for people to see progress, comment on mechanics they’d like to see, and enabled the studio to see people’s feedback early on. This created an incredibly polished game at launch that had existing buzz and popularity.

Among Us: InnerSloth released beta versions to influencers, streamers, and content creators, creating anticipation and attributing big names to the game, the same way an advert for a watch will use a popular celebrity.

Untitled Goose Game: House House continued on their journey of hilarity by releasing trailers that showcased the game's unique charm, and gave people an insight into what it actually means to wreck havoc as a goose. People flocked to the trailers to see just how much chaos a goose can create (spoiler alert: it’s a LOT).

They Kept Their Momentum Going In Post-Launch

We probably shouldn’t have to tell you this, but a good indie game doesn’t just launch and walk away. They stay connected in the community and take feedback, provide updates, and remain engaged. 

Among Us: The developer actively engaged with the community on social media platforms, retweeting memes, reacting to videos of the game being played, popping into twitch streams, and just generally integrating with the players. In return, players kept posting with the hope that InnerSloth would notice them and comment. It created a cycle of continuous fresh content that ensured people kept playing their game. 

Stardew Valley: Concerned Ape took a slightly different approach, by posting updates and little patches that added small things here and there. Instead of encouraging the player to create new content, they took it upon themselves to create new content in-game. That, combined with the massive 1.6 update that just came out, ensures that even players who have moved away from the game keep coming back to check out the new content. 

They Built A Sustainable Audience

Beyond the initial buzz, sustaining player interest is key to long-term success. Cultivating a loyal community through regular updates, engaging content, and responsive community management can turn a successful launch into a lasting phenomenon. This is all to say that there’s no one way to market your game. It’s important to define your plan before you put anything in motion so you have a roadmap to success! And if you’re not sure what your plan is, what your roadmap is, or even what kind of audience you want to target, send us a message. We are here to help you market your game to the best audience, the best people, so you can make your best game possible.

There is no “one size fits all” strategy when it comes to marketing in general, and when it comes to games that can get even trickier. If we are to boil it down to one, big major tip, it would be this: Define your audience and brand early, then focus on appealing to them. Be confident in your game’s voice and vibe, and don’t change for nobody ;)

You got this.