The Tough Challenge of Marketing Indie Games

There is a good article on GamesBrief looking at the challenge of telling people about your indie game. As an indie developer, I can totally relate to the problems and issues it raises. Making the game is just part of the journey:

There are increasingly many developers launching games into the indie space. The rise of free-to-access marketplaces with limited gatekeeping – the iOS and Android app stores, the web and portals such as Kongregate and Facebook – mean that it’s never been easier to release a game. In fact, without this I probably wouldn’t have been able to operate as a one-man studio at all.

Unfortunately, this also means that if players come into the marketplace browsing for new games, they’re increasingly less likely to stumble across your work. You’re going to be less visible to the games press for the exact same reason: if you’re sending out promo codes and press releases to promote you’re game, you can be sure there’ll be plenty more developers doing the exact same.

It offers a few bits of good advice, but in general there is no magic bullet for marketing. It’s just hard work and you need to start as early as possible and not stop (as we have been doing!)