We will have to redefine nostalgia
2024 has a tough act to follow for gaming fans given the release slate in 2023, though not all of the biggest hits were new titles. Some of the most well received games of 2023 were remakes or remasters of games originally released during the early aughts: Metroid Prime (2002), Resident Evil 4 (2005) and Dead Space (2008).
Creating games is an expensive, risk-laden business. Leveraging existing, popular IP is an established way to control some of this risk by catering to the immense and passionate fandoms within gaming. Remasters or remakes of older titles are typically a safe bet in this regard—what better way to make a hit game than to rerelease proven hits? Because remakes and remasters are both good business and fan-friendly, and we’ll see a number in 2024 from popular series ranging from Alone in the Dark to Max Payne and Metal Gear.
The success of long-running series and remakes demonstrates the staying power of compelling IP in gaming, which harbor increasingly large and devoted fandoms. Moreover, these more recent remakes are another example of the growing diversity of these fandoms, given that gamers range in age from those at the beginning of consoles in the ’80s or ’90s (younger Gen X and older millennials), and people now in their 20s and 30s (younger millennials and older Gen Z) whose formative years included the first wave of these remakes in the early aughts. As a result, nostalgic gaming has become an entertainment constant for an ever-wider age range of consumers.
Marketing opportunities will seek middle ground
Though marketers have begun to appreciate the breadth of the gaming fandom and depth of their affinity for the medium, how to activate therein has not always been clear.
We started 2023 with a proclamation that questioned the current state of marketing opportunities in gaming: Industry leader Tim Sweeney noted that he hates ads but loved integrated marketing in games. What Sweeney was really railing against was marketing that didn’t fit with the gaming world, as the reality is that both ads and integrated marketing are popular and effective means for brands to integrate with gaming when done with the needs and expectations of gamers in mind.
However, this statement is illustrative of the current landscape for marketing integrations in games—they tend to either be turnkey programmatic media buys or labor intensive in-game activations, with very little middle ground. As advertiser interest in gaming continues to rise, and privacy regulations complicate reliable revenue in the mobile sector, we’ll begin to see a convergence of these opportunities in 2024: more immersive media opportunities that have the look and feel of otherwise nonscalable integrated marketing opportunities, and above all else create a seamless experience for players.