Another three reasons brands must engage video games audiences this year
Jess Pulo, senior account director at Five by Five Global, explores three things that are going to force brands to revisit video games as an engagement opportunity, even if they’ve been burned before.
Marketing teams must be bored of hearing how four out of five Aussies play video games and other statistics that make you feel like you’re missing an opportunity. There are plenty of brands who’ve stuck a toe in the water only to recoil in scolding failure. Whether lessons were learned is debatable – we certainly see brands repeat the same mistakes with face palming regularity. But this year, three things are going to force brands to revisit gaming, even if they’ve been burned before.
In April, gaming could well have its Barbie moment and dominate youth culture at a level that will surprise many. A Minecraft Movie promises to be faithfully based on the game in a way that will not only excite its 200M players, but attract new players young and old into the game. Jack Black, Jason Momoa, Emma Myers and co will deepen mainstream appeal of an IP which already has positive parental equity based on its use in schools, creativity and lack of violence. It has more in common with game IPs like Super Mario Bros that have successfully transitioned to film than titles like Borderlands which were less successful.
Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures
Over more than 15 years, Minecraft has come to dominate almost every metric for video game play. There’s trillions of hours of streamed video on YouTube alone before the movie even stimulates amplification. With so much written about ‘attention’ in marketing, brands will have buckley’s unless they’re part of the Minecraft community. This IP already compares to Marvel and Star Wars and the good news is that it’s way more accessible for brands of any size.
Later this year, a second culture-dominant event will train eye-balls away from the surfaces you’re advertising on. If you’re planning autumn campaigns, good luck getting attention when the whole world will be talking about Grand Theft Auto VI (GTA6). It’s the latest game in an infamous franchise rumoured to have cost $1B – $2B to develop. It’s the most anticipated game release in history given GTA5 came out over 10 years ago. The trailer came out in December 2023 and a second trailer has been highly anticipated since the publisher confirmed the game would be released in the latter part of this year.
Unlike Minecraft, the GTA franchise is rated 18+ and for good reason. It fits into just about every adult content category you can think of – gruesome violence, profane and highly sexual content makes it irresistible for teens – like anything else prohibited. Brand safety issues aside, the audience for Grand Theft Auto games is widely distributed by age and includes 33% female. Expect social feeds to be smashed by GTA6 memes and smaller brands with less to lose leaning into the hype and being part of the zeitgeist.
The third factor is a category accelerant that should see even more people enjoy playing video games and for longer. Cloud Gaming has been around a while but hasn’t been able to reach sustainable growth until recently. Economic conditions, 5G advancements and AI graphical upscaling algorithms give it a great shot of success this year. Cloud gaming streams video games directly across the internet, eliminating the need for downloads and saving storage space. Services like Xbox Cloud Gaming and Nvidia’s GeForce Now offer a wide range of games, including free-to-play titles like Fortnite. It means you no longer need to install updates locally or invest in an upgraded PC because regular laptops like Chromebook and MacBook Air can deliver equivalent experiences seamlessly. In a more social post-Covid world, people’s gaming habits from home can find a natural balance with a high fidelity roaming experience away from the couch.
Whichever way you look at it, video games continue to impact culture in ways that brands can leverage if they’re prepared to commit to long term engagement strategies. Three factors will make 2025 a key time to invest.
Jess Pulo is a senior account director at Five by Five Global.
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Interesting points Jess. Gaming is mainstream, yet marketers still treat it as a niche. My experience is that marketers can’t look past their view of who a game player is and how to take a broader creative view in how to engage the market with this aspect of their life.