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Mobile Game Launches
Two examples of notable mobile game launches in Canada and the U.S. are the AFK Arena mobile game launch and the PUBG Mobile launch.
AFK Arena
- Lithe Games and Cloutboost partnered together to launch the AFK Arena mobile game in Canada and the U.S.
- The goal of the launch was to get the game onto "the Top-50 free game charts."
- AFK Arena was a "mobile RPG card game from Lilith Games, where players can build up a personalized team and level up with the unique AFK Awards auto farming system."
- This launch was notable because it made extensive use of YouTube and entertainment video game influencers who would highlight the ease and convenience of playing the mobile game away from a computer.
- Since "AFK" stands for "away from keyboard," part of the influencers' job was to emphasize the point that this game was meant for mobile devices.
- In addition to creating YouTube videos, the influencers used Twitter and Instagram to share their favorite features of the game with their followers.
- Additionally, the developer also ran a giveaway that offered "in-game items in order to boost conversion rates and drive mobile game downloads." Winners would receive personalized gift codes that could be redeemed during game play.
- Cloutboost developed 60-90-second video ads that were integrated with the influencers' YouTube videos.
- The campaign reached 18 million people overall, the YouTube videos received 4.79 million views, and the engagement rate was a solid 3.8%.
PUBG Mobile
- Tencent Games and Viral Nation teamed up to launch PUBG Mobile in Canada and the U.S.
- The main goals of this launch were " to drive brand awareness and game installs for PUBG Mobile, with a target goal to generate 35 million social media interactions."
- This launch was notable because it not only used popular video game influencers to promote PUBG, but it also created in-house content, including a two-hour cooking show called the "Winner Winner Chicken Dinner Cooking Show" that was "livestreamed on PUBG Mobile’s YouTube and Twitch accounts." The cooking show featured Mia Khalifa and celebrity chef Danny Smiles.
- The reason the cooking show is notable is because when players win a game in PUBG, the message "Winner Winner Chicken Dinner" appears on the screen. The cooking show therefore represented a creative tie-in to the game's launch.
- Other components of this campaign included using influencers like Pewdiepie, Mr. Beast, and UnboxTherapy to create gameplay videos, using Instagram cosplayers and female gamers to promote PUBG on Instagram, and creating viral memes that were distributed through social publishers.
- The results of the campaign exceeded goals by 122%, generating 78.8 million total social media impressions.
- The influencer videos achieved 16.7 million views and 169,000 clicks to install.
- The Instagram cosplay and female gamer promotions achieved 10.7 million views and 87,100 clicks to install.
- The viral memes and in-house content mass distribution component achieved 42.5 million views and 111,000 clicks to install.
- The cooking show and second mass distribution component achieved 10.5 million views and 80,000 clicks to install.
Research Strategy
Although we attempted to find two case studies of notable mobile game launches in Canada alone, we were unsuccessful. However, we found two examples of creative mobile game launches in both Canada and the U.S. Due to the lack of available information on successful mobile launches in Canada alone, we elected to provide two examples of mobile game launches that targeted both Canada and the U.S.