[casual_games] Advergames - Where to Publish?

[Brian Robbins]

The vast majority of our projects end up on their own dedicated websites,
irrespective of the size of the client (though we do tend to work with
larger companies).

I think this is probably one of the best ways to prove how attractive and
successful a game is. If the game is a good enough game then it will receive
traffic, while poor content generally will not. By putting a game on a
portal you're guaranteed to drive traffic to it, but it becomes more
difficult to prove that traffic came because it was a good game, and not
because of a big media push. Alternatively when you launch something to a
brand new URL, people come because of the content, and not because of a
prominent link from a portal.

Of course, this comes at a huge risk for developers. Clients are going to be
extremely unhappy if their new advertainment campaign only gets a couple
thousand visits. If that happens you probably won't get another job for
them...

With only a few minor exceptions I'd also argue against putting the game on
an existing corporate site. Most sites aren't setup to handle games, or
promote them properly. As a result they end up getting crammed into an odd
location with no links or direction on how to actually get to the game from
the main page.

I don't want to sound too negative against the portals though. There are
definitely some games and brands that can take huge advantage of the
increased exposure that comes from the portals. The built-in traffic to
those sites is already pre-selected gamers, and it makes appealing to the
audience a bit different, and in some ways easier.

I guess in the end everything works :)

  Brian Robbins
  Director, Online Gaming
  <http://www.fuelgames.com/blog/>

> Discussion on where and how to publish Advergames: