The message is the medium
To give a game the best possible start, developers and publishers must consider how to put their best foot forward long before its actual release. Communication has never been more crucial: at the concept stage, creators can no longer simply consider how to explain their game to players via tutorials and such like; the messaging surrounding it is equally important, if not more so. It says much that a lot of self-styled ‘indie’ games – and we continue to think carefully about how we use that term – now have publishers attached. Even if they’re not blessed with the resources of an EA or a Ubisoft, there are more people involved in telling you what a game is than ever before. (We recognise our own role in that process, of course.)