It's barely a secret that influencer marketing can get expensive. Creators have huge, malleable audiences, and boy do they know it.
Even if a developer can afford to market that way, finding the right influencers is a whole new task. It's complicated and time-consuming, with no real guarantee.
However, Epic Games has put together a system that'll benefit both creators and developers in due time. While larger studios have the resources to support influencer marketing, indies and smaller companies can't often foot the bill.
Epic recently introduced 'support-a-creator', an initiative that lets Fortnite players support their favourite Fortnite creators. Users can put a code into the game and allow a creator to receive a cut of everything they spend inside the title.
According to Galyonkin, this initiative alone has allowed some Fortnite creators to go full-time. The Epic Store hopes to give more influencers that step up.
While this method of supporting influencers was initially used in Fortnite, Epic plans to roll it out across its new store. Then eventually, it'll pass the gauntlet down to the developers and studios selling on it. That way, devs can be in control of compensating influencers.
Good purchasing decisions
Epic Games Store manager Sergey Galyonkin took to Twitter to discuss his stance on influencers. He says that influencers are the second most popular way of discovering new titles right now, second only to word of mouth.
"I believe influencers are one of the main game discovery engines in the industry right now," Galyonkin wrote.
"Right now a significant part of marketing budgets of big games is allocated to pay influencers. Those are one-off deals. I think having a way for influencers to be able to stream any game and make money without relying solely on big publishers would be awesome."
Developers and studios can give links to creators that drive traffic and sales. It is reported that a creator will receive a 5 per cent cut of a purchase. Eventually, studios will be able to modify that amount. It'll also be separate from the initial 12 per cent cut that Epic takes for every sale.
"Our goal is to empower smaller devs to have the same access to creators that only big publishers right now can afford. It’s not in any way mandatory, we’re just leveling the playing field, giving devs the tools," Galyonkin adds.
"It also levels the playing field for mid-sized and small creators. We found that ROI on small and mid-sized creators is actually better when running promotional campaigns, but there are so many of them, most devs can’t manage that. We’ll give them the tools."
I believe influencers are one of the main game discovery engines in the industry right now. Friends are the most important one, of course. In-store discovery while important is nowhere as important as those two.
— Sergey Galyonkin (@galyonkin) January 14, 2019
