In Larian they say that with Baldur’s Gate 3 they have learned that marketing is dead, but… Are they right?

People who work in marketing will tell you: ads are becoming less effective, paid campaigns on social media only reach a few people, and the ads before YouTube videos are more annoying than anything else. And if this is noticeable in a dishwasher, imagine how it is in products specifically designed for young people like video games. More specifically, ‘Baldur’s Gate 3‘.

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From Larian they are very clear in stating that “marketing is dead. Seriously. I have data to talk about it, man, there are no channels anymore. They don’t work”. All of that needs to be taken with a grain of salt, but it has its part of truth. Beyond the press copies of video games and some occasional events (nothing like what was done years ago, for example), the core of sales will be in the players themselves.

Live streams on Twitch, memes on Twitter, gameplays on YouTube… With all of this, ads are not effective at all. Well, except for the ones in the physical store, they point out. “Gamers don’t want to be sold anything”, they emphasize. And yes, once again, it’s true. But it’s easy to say from the perspective of ‘Baldur’s Gate 3’.

It’s not that easy when you have a small indie game or a title that doesn’t belong to a franchise (or that, like ‘Baldur’s Gate 3’, can afford to be in Early Access for three years), to let everything flow. There are thousands of excellent games that have sunk into the sewer of ostracism precisely due to lack of publicity, which, even if it’s just a little, catches the attention of an influencer who can try it out in front of an audience that, in turn, wants a little more.

The other side of the coin is more complicated, and it has to do with our perception of the world. We have all experienced that, when we see a massive advertising campaign for a video game in the press, we inevitably think: “Okay, why did you spend so much money on this? Wouldn’t it be better to invest it in making your game better?”. Larian has learned that not advertising works for them, but it’s not a magic recipe, especially for games that could otherwise sink. Video game alchemy doesn’t exist and the little lessons aren’t that useful. Otherwise, everyone would use them, right?

Baldur's Gate 3 DOWNLOAD