Video As Marketing Tool

Video used to mean "TV commercials" in the early days of video games. The only way to distribute video was broadcasting. Once VCRs became commnplace, video became an occasional way to show game play or to make a pitch for a game... sometimes even part of the game components. As consoles and computers got more powerful, video became part of the game introduction, usually as computer graphics. As the internet became ubiquitous, video could be found for downloading... but only from companies that could afford the hosting and bandwidth costs of such huge files. Youtube has changed all that. Now it's possible to create videos and distribute them online without worrying about bandwidth or hosting fees.

The cost of creating videos has also dropped, as hi-def cameras and sophisticated editing software now cost mere hundreds of dollars. CGI has become high quality with a low cost to produce. There should no longer be a barrier to creating good quality video as long as you're willing to spend the time and a certain amount of money.

Then the question becomes: What do you do with the video? Game play videos have become popular, as they are a useful way to show the game experience. (This is true not only for videogames, but for board games, card games, roleplaying games, mobile games.... a short video can convey the experience, especially a multiplayer experience, more quickly and easily than a demo.) Testimonials from actual users, if brief, can be effective. An outright hard sell is probably not going to get you a lot of page views... if you want many people to see the video, try humor or create a stunning visual.

In short, put the same sort of creativity into creating your video that you do to creating your game. And think about video as a makreting tool; it's available for nearly any size publisher now.