THE RENAISSANCE MAN THE PRICE OF AWARENESS By Stefano Petrulio O
ne of the biggest challenges facing game developers today isn’t making a great game; it’s making sure people
know it exists. We live in an industry obsessed with quality, innovation and craftsmanship, yet discoverability remains the single biggest obstacle for most game launches. Every week hundreds of games compete for attention across Steam, console storefronts, social media and creator platforms. Standing out has never been harder. Which inevitably leads to the question every developer asks at some point: How much should I spend on marketing? The frustrating answer is the same one nobody likes to hear: it depends. Every game is different. Every audience is
different. Every launch strategy is different. There is no universal formula. However, there are some principles that apply to almost every project. Let’s start with an uncomfortable truth; there will always be somebody cheaper. Whether you’re hiring a PR agency, marketing consultant, influencer specialist or freelancer, somebody will offer to do it for less. That’s simply the reality of the market.
But saving money and creating value are not the same thing. Too often I see developers spending years and millions creating a game, only to cut corners on the very thing that helps players discover it. Saving a few thousand pounds on communications support can easily cost far more in missed opportunities, weaker positioning and reduced visibility. Another common misconception is that marketing isn’t necessary if the game is good enough. Technically, that’s true. You can launch without marketing. You can also launch with a PR person who “knows everyone”. As someone who has spent years building
than people think, and it’s genuinely painful to watch good games struggle simply because nobody budgeted for visibility. And visibility matters more than ever.
relationships with journalists, creators and platform holders, I know how valuable those connections can be. Relationships open doors. They create opportunities. They help secure coverage that might otherwise be impossible to achieve. But relationships alone are not a strategy.
An earned-media-only campaign is rarely enough in today’s market. Even the strongest PR programme benefits from investment in assets, trailers, events, showcases, community initiatives, creator activity and wider marketing support.
The days of simply sending out a press release and hoping for the best are long gone. So how much should developers budget? As a general rule, I encourage studios to allocate around 10% of development costs towards marketing and communications. Not because it’s a magic number, but because it forces teams to think about awareness early rather than treating it as a last-minute problem.
Some games will need less. Some will need considerably more. A small niche title may succeed with five per cent. A larger project with global ambitions may require twenty per cent or beyond. The important thing is not the exact percentage. The important thing is planning for it. Far too often I receive a call a few weeks
before launch from a developer looking for a full-scale campaign after spending years focusing exclusively on development. It happens more
The old saying that “good games sell themselves” has become one of the most dangerous myths in the industry. Good games help. Great games help even more. But discoverable games sell. That’s the reality of a market where Steam Next Fest alone can feature thousands of demos competing for attention, and where players have more choice than at any point in gaming history. Quality gets players talking. Awareness gets
them through the door in the first place. The same logic applies when choosing partners. For most indie and AA games, you don’t need five different agencies across five territories. What you need is a partner capable of delivering meaningful coverage across key regions and understanding how games are marketed internationally. A strong agency with reach across Europe, North America and LATAM will often deliver more value than multiple fragmented partners. Depending on the project, an additional specialist agency covering China and wider Asia may also make sense.
Beyond that, complexity often becomes the enemy of efficiency. Ultimately, awareness isn’t a luxury. It’s part of the product.
Developers account for art, audio, localisation, QA and certification because they understand those costs are necessary to launch successfully. Marketing deserves the same consideration. The price of awareness isn’t simply money.
It’s preparation. It’s planning. It’s understanding that in 2026, building a great game is only half the battle.
Making sure people know about it is the other half.
July/August 2026 MCV/DEVELOP | 49
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