When a user plays a game, their first experiences are visual and auditory. For this reason, the music a player hears at the beginning of a game helps cement their first impression of it. Today, let’s look at what makes this type of music unique and some examples of how they can be used as a modern marketing tool.
[What Makes Music in Games Unique]
Music in a game plays a central role in a game’s narrative as it allows users to immerse themselves in the game by giving the world depth and creating the right mood for each situation. For this reason, game scores require a close discussion between creator and composer before the start of a game’s development to ensure the music’s quality and that this is properly conveyed to the players.
One structural characteristic of music in a game is the necessity to have a ‘Loop,’ where the beginning and the end seamlessly flow into each other. This is because if the music has a clear intro and outro, the player may recognize the same score being repeated over and over again. Game scores should also not reflect the user’s changing state and in-game progress. And, any arrangement with a lot of variation or instruments causing the music to stand out may interfere with the gameplay. Game scores not only establish the game’s identity but should support the gameplay; making them requires its own particular know-how.
*Intro, Outro: Musical terms referring to the time before a piece of music begins and when it ends, respectively.
[Examples of Successful Marketing Using Music in Games]
Music in modern games have increasingly gained importance as they not only play an indispensable role in-game, as previously mentioned, but are also used in branding and marketing. There are many examples of game companies planning game soundtracks as a secondary marketing tool and for events, all of which successfully contributes to the game’s sales. Among these, let’s take a look at two key examples.
First, the cultural phenomenon of game soundtracks being performed live spotlights the increasingly usage of such actions in marketing. Users’ interest in game soundtracks is rising and, more often, music from videogames is being played by orchestras and increasingly becoming used as a marketing tool.
To cite some examples from Korea, in June, Nexon has held ‘Tales Weaver the Orchestra,’ which showcases the game’s music through an orchestral performance. Maple Story has been organizing such orchestra concerts every year since 2018. There is also Smilegate’s ‘Lost Ark Dear. Friends’ concert.This performance has made the news, thanks to the participation of the KBS Symphony Orchestra, a leader in Korean classical music, and conductor Doo Hyun An, who works in planning and recording concerts using movie soundtracks.
In China, Hoyoverse had a live orchestra play the soundtrack from Genshin Impact, which was shared live on Youtube and garnered the most views, almost reaching one million.
Game companies are very active in hosting these concerts due to their need to expand their games, for use as different types of content as well as for a variety of marketing strategies. Music is the most popular content, making the game more immersive and giving it emotional weight, lowering the barrier to entry. Even if nothing is known about a game, the beauty one feels in the music makes it a good tool to branch out into different types of content.
Secondly, there are soundtracks made in collaboration with popular singers. The Lost Ark, to use one example, made it to the news by hiring singer Sohyang to make a soundtrack to heighten the emotional moments in the game. Ed Sheeran’s collaboration with Pokemon Go showed many marketing elements, including a music video featuring various Pokemon. An Ed Sheeran event was even held in the game itself.
The popular game League of Legends is another example. Although there are other examples of game characters breaking into the K-Pop girl group market, the most recognizable of them all is when League of Legends made 4 popular characters, forming a girl group called K/DA. Their album release, ‘POP STAR,’ with the music video and the EP album for ALL OUT, were are very popular among the fans. As K/DA started making the news, League of Legend’s dev company RIOT launched the virtual boy group HEARTSTEEL. Thanks to the participation from EXO’s Baekhyun, singer Tobi Lou, Cal Scruby and Ozi, their debut single was so popular, it reached over 2 million views in just two weeks.
Virtual idol groups based on games, who enjoy world-wide fame, are creating a new market for content and a new fan culture, while advancing the original game brand. They are poised to occupy an important place in marketing.
Final Thoughts
Gaming content is becoming recognized as having cultural value. So much so that in 2021, it registered a higher volume in exports than K-Pop. As seen from the examples above, game soundtracks have contributed to this phenomenon. Latis Global always has their fingers to the pulse, taking note of this trend in game soundtracks, and putting enormous effort into marketing strategies. We strive to deliver game soundtracks that are optimized for the gaming culture, being effective in its utilization.
