I was thinking about the whole issue concerning which games deserve to be advertised which ones ultimately don't. For those that do 'deserve' it, the games include those with high overall ratings, already moderate-to-large budgets, ones in popular genres, and those with simple-to-explain premises. Those that don't ‘deserve’ to be advertised include games in unpopular genres, uninteresting art styles, those from poor** publishers**, and ones that are just too weird in a premise to even try.

Now, I'm just throwing a theory out here, but what if I said EVERY game could be advertised? What if those niche games didn’t excel because their marketing forces were just narrow-minded?

First reply I would get would probably be, "Yea, right. How you gonna get Grandma to buy Gears of War 2?"

Well, besides threatening to hide her medication, I would probably focus on one aspect of the game's storyline in an ad/commercial and blow it up a little (call it a lie of omission?). For example, In GeOW2, Dom is looking for his wife/GF whatever. People who enjoy sappy stuff like that may at least attain interest in the game without knowing much of the premise.

In terms of premise, how would you explain a niche game to someone and expect them to like it?

“Yea, you’re this guy who does drugs and believes bigger than everyone else in the world and all he does is run back and forth in search of some tail. He rides extinct dinosaurs and jumps on brown bean-lookin-things and dodges lava. Get this, he can even fly. All he has to do is put a hat o---“

*Slap*

“Dude that game sounds so lame, why in the world would I play that?”

“Well, my mom said those drugs were adorable. If you don’t like Super Mario Bros. maybe I should give you my Atari and E.T. game…”

“Sweet! A game based on a movie has got to be good!”

-1986 gamers discussion

Obviously with an unimpressive explanation like that, not many would many would be interested in what is actually a great title. But the problem with most games is not that they are too weird, but they are just not portrayed or represented in the correct manner. One title that stands out in my opinion is Trauma Center: Second Opinion (no pun intended). The idea of being a doctor of sorts and using defibrillators, scalpels, and fighting diseases is very interesting. However, the word obviously did not get very far in terms of how to build buzz amongst consumers (still sold decently though). In what I consider a missed opportunity, ads (and the game’s difficulty) kept people away from being quasi-doctors and becoming thriving amateur cooks (Cooking Mama) instead.

I wish I could refine this idea a bit more, but I just posted what came into my head. It’s a bit jumbled, but there is a thesis in there somewhere lol.

There must be several games you can consider that were just presented ineffectively; you can play marketing major and state a better way to have gone about things.

For a super short summary, there are no niche games, only niche marketers.

Sorry no way

I agree with a lot of what you said, but I still find it hard to believe that unless a game is heavily marketed and pushed onto the consumer, then it would sell well. The niche label can be insignificant if the game is good, games like Demon's Souls and Valkyria Chronicles are incredibly niche titles that had no marketing, yet through word of mouth both have gone on to sell above 700,000 copies.

I honestly think that the more 'niche' Wii game's are the only one's that need advertising only because the majority of the console audience isn't visiting forums, reading reviews and talking about games on-line.

what the hell is niche

Well, I do think that many games are made or marketed into a niche when they should be designed for a broader audience, but some games really are just niche. Most people simply aren't into turn-based strategy, as one example.

Keep thinking crazy ideas, though. Crazy ideas are the core of human ingenuity, even if most of them don't quite pan out.