Who are the best TikTok gaming brands, and why are they winning? We’re here to talk about it.
TikTok has quickly risen to be one of the fastest-growing social media platforms, entertaining over 1 billion users. The growth doesn’t stop here, either – it’s anticipated that by 2027, the user base will grow to over 2.2 billion.
Equally, the gaming market is experiencing a rise in interest and popularity, seeing as video games have become a central source of entertainment for the masses. In fact, the industry expects a revenue growth of 9.83% annually between 2023 and 2027. More people than ever play video games, and even more people watch game content on social media platforms.
No time like now for TikTok gaming brands to jump atop the wagon and come up with some amazing marketing strategies to appeal to a wider audience. How? Grab a pen and be ready to take notes as we take you through some of the most successful gaming brands on TikTok.
How your brand can level up in the Gamerverse
We’re no stranger to delving deep into the gaming space. Check out our report exploring the trends and communities within the Gamerverse, and how brands can level up their influencer strategies in the gaming scene.
1. Xbox
Arguably one of the biggest and best-known giants of the industry, Xbox has gained a massive following of 6.4 million followers on TikTok, making it one of the most followed TikTok gaming brands. Their creative approach to content creation is fun, witty, and random in the best way – you never quite know what to expect. Whether the aim is to excite people about new products, new games, or Xbox events, their content is on the money every time.
New and changing trends are no challenge for their team, who expertly navigate the TikTok space. Not only do they understand what the platform users want to see on their feed, but they switch their content up so fast that their community doesn’t have time to grow bored of something.
What they did
As far as following trends go, people have been living for “A day in the life of an Xbox” content. It’s a humorous spin on the “A day in the life” trend that has been widely popularised by lifestyle influencers and is now often used in comedic skits. They use this format primarily for fun to increase community engagement, but they also successfully used it to join in on the hype surrounding the Barbie movie premiere. It’s fun, it gets people talking, and it’s a trend that can leverage other trends, stacking up the odds of virality in your favor.
Why it worked
With this format, Xbox leaned outside the expected content for promoting games and events. It was surprising and new, so it was easy to grab viewers’ attention with it while still showing off their product.
This humorous take was exactly what the X-Box community was looking for. It got people chiming in on the conversation with comments like “Is this what my Xbox does when I’m not home 😭” and “Hey are you on your Xbox?” nah he doin his daily Xbox routine”. People were often tagging other users and increasing the traffic and traction of the post. The best part, though? How Xbox reacts to these comments., The Xbox social team are a powerhouse when it comes to interaction with their community. Building a loyal community base is always important, but Xbox has some cut-throat competitors with incredibly loyal fanbases. The way they make sure they are a cut above is with their humorous community engagement. They even react to trolls in the best way possible. For example, when someone commented on this video stating, “ My dad works for Microsoft 🗿”. Xbox’s reply? “my dad is Microsoft.” Simply legendary quips.
2. HyperX
HyperX is a brand that specializes in the creation of various gaming accessories and hardware. They’re best known for their headsets with premium audio for the best gaming experience, but there’s so much more to this brand. It’s why they use TikTok to promote their products, and with their 1.7 million followers, they are sure to reach a wide audience.
Their page is designed to aesthetically showcase their tech; going from shiny and colorful keyboards, PC mice, and microphones to adorable keycaps, there’s truly something for everyone. The RGB lights on most of their gear make everything the more exciting to look at and play into their customers’ desire to build the prettiest and most pleasing set-ups.
After all, aesthetics are key on TikTok, and HyperX has the perfect product to show off on the platform.
What they did
HyperX is astoundingly good at collaborating with creators, big and small. They have a whole partner and affiliate program that content creators can join and work together with various E-Sports teams, such as Team Liquid. More notoriously, they have partnered with big streamers and gaming influencers like @valkyrae and @fuslie and are continuing to seek out new talents.
Streamer @uminokaiju is a current partner who has been filming many videos featuring HyperX products that the company provided her with. As she states, she’s been upgrading her set-up, so there is no better time to show fresh and new tech. More importantly, they collaborated on an ad that features her, which in turn allowed for a “reacting to me being in an ad” type of video.
Why it worked
Influencer marketing is a gold mine; there is no question about it. But with gaming content on the rise and a plethora of gaming creators out there, brands will truly benefit from recruiting creators from the right niches and communities. Not every gaming creator is the same, and HyperX knows this.
The gaming space consists of a massive amount of diverse communities with different tastes and directions of content. Collaborating with a wide variety of creators would allow your brand to spread wider and further, with the potential of reaching outside the gaming community as well. Uminokaiju, for one, isn’t just a gaming creator, either – she is a dancer, too, so there is at least one additional audience that views her content. Working with creators who step outside the box in different niches has the potential to double your reach. If a dance influencer also plays games, fans who watch her dances might be interested in picking up a headset. Play the influencer game right, and you’ll get dramatically better results.
3. EA Sports FC
As a franchise focused on developing video games about football, EA Sports FC speaks to a broad audience of gamers and non-gamers alike. With 3.9 million followers on TikTok, their page shows their audience exactly what they’re all about – football. As such, new people stumbling across their page can be sucked into their brand right away.
Their content showcases their games, most recently the FC 24, which has just come out. They do so by playing clips of gameplay, oftentimes transforming it into something funny and following trends.
What they did
With the launch of their new game, they have taken on to promote it by including the real-life football professional portrayed in the game. They do short videos making them guess their ratings in the game, as well as videos welcoming the individual players into the game.
Why it worked
By including popular and well-loved real-life football personalities, EA Sports FC reaches not only football enthusiasts but each player’s fans as well. If they see their favorites portrayed, it’s only natural that they would click on the page to check out if there’s any more content that includes them. This means an opportunity for them to consume their other content as well, and may be further intrigued to see who else gets featured.
Every well-known person with a fanbase is, to a degree, an influencer. They’re different from social media influencers, but they influence their audience just the same. Football stars are mega-influencers reaching massive audiences.
The lesson here? Extending your reach beyond gaming crowds can work wonders. Games often have other themes within them that might not be just for gamers. If it’s sports, think about your sports fans; if it’s fantasy, think about your fantasy fans. All of these people have the potential to buy the game even if they aren’t gamers. Take Hogwarts Legacy, for example. That game alone drove hardware spending up to 29% for PS5s. Acknowledging fan bases outside of gaming can work to your advantage and could mean a huge boost in your brand community and revenue.
4. Larian Studios
As another game developer, Larian Studios’ social media presence has firmly established their newest game, Baldur’s Gate 3 in people’s minds. The hashtag alone of #baldursgate3 has 2 billion overall views. Of course, it’s not just the studio producing the content, even though they’re incredibly active in teasing their fanbase with insights and little snippets. A ton of creators have jumped onto the platform to share their thoughts, favorite moments, and stitched content using popular sounds and trends. In fact, sounds and dialogue from the game itself are trending and being used in other content, just like @jacqueszewhipper did in his video.
Besides their fun and light content inviting people to join in and experience the game for itself, the team is also doing its do-diligence in creating rapport with their audience. They are very active in their comment section and joke around with their viewers, establishing a relationship with them.
What they did
Larian Studios’ great marketing move consisted of having the voice actors who worked on the game talk about it. People get excited to see the voices behind their favorite game characters and love to put a face to the voice.
The cast has taken it upon themselves to record meme content about their characters and the game overall, also going live to play the game for themselves. Amelia Tyler, the voice of the narrator for the game, has made many laugh by uploading outtakes that have not made it into the game.
Due to the rise of popularity of the tabletop game Dungeons & Dragons, which Baldur’s Gate 3 is based on, Larian Studios has also facilitated for their cast to play a campaign as the characters they portray.
Why it worked
Getting the voice actors on board to promote the game has truly served to cement the game’s position as one of the hottest games of this year. The content is fun, creative, and leaves the audience wishing for more – which leads them to purchase and download the game.
As opposed to other entertainment sources like films, the gaming community technically doesn’t get to see the voice actors. It’s the characters that matter. But just like with any other actors who play their part well, they gain an audience that is interested in seeing more of them. Their work, future projects, and just them as a person.
Seeing the cast genuinely enjoy the game they worked on and get lost in the world themselves serves to establish authenticity. Some of their content is live, like their playthroughs, and thus, their reactions to what’s happening are perceived as genuine. Additionally, the audience gets to see sneak peeks of what the game is and the myriad of ways it can be enjoyed, and are more likely to determine whether they would like to play it themselves.
Larian Studios facilitating a D&D session for the cast is also potentially reaching a completely different community. People who play tabletop RPGs (role-play games) don’t necessarily play video games, and vice versa. But if they see their community represented in a different space, it could pique their interest and lead to them exploring the game and the brand. Think about the right kind of collabs for your game and make sure you are using them to your advantage. The key to the best kind of content here? Making it feel authentic in every way.
A look at gaming influencers on TikTok
Gaming influencers so far have mostly kept to platforms that catered to their needs as creators and allowed them to grow their fanbase, such as YouTube, Twitch, and Facebook. However, more and more of them realize the potential of spreading their wings and promoting their content on TikTok. Making it big in the gaming space isn’t easy, and whoever doesn’t go with the flow is left to sink.
TikTok gives these creators a space where they can go beyond their usual content and try out new things while still maintaining their position in the gaming community. They have more ways of showcasing their personality while attracting people that never heard of them before, even if they are big in their own niche. After all, it’s mostly their personality that keeps viewers coming back for more. Being a gaming influencer is all about growing your community, and TikTok has amazing opportunities to be discovered.
Game on
Now that we’ve shown you the ins and outs of how to play harder than your competition let’s recap the most important points.
- Engage with your community
Simply putting content out often isn’t enough. With how oversaturated the market is, having a bond with your audience can be the only thing determining the success of your brand on social media platforms. Your community will take note of it if your team is active and engages with them, be it by responding to comments or reacting to them with videos.
- Think outside the box
Don’t allow your content to become stagnant and boring. Putting out content that is similar to what all your competitors create isn’t the way to stand out in the crowd. Instead, think of new and creative ways to showcase your products. Think about what would make the audience pause, what would make them replay the video and ultimately go to your page.
- Reach out to other communities
Knowing your core audience is key, but your goal should be to continuously grow it. There is untapped potential in communities that don’t typically seek out your niche, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t ways to get them interested. While competing to woo the usual crowd of gamers and enthusiasts, don’t forget that there is a whole sea of people out there that your competitors don’t market towards. Find them through the right influencer collabs and new and exciting creative.
- Make trends work for you
You may think that some trends are not applicable to what you sell. But trends were never meant to be followed to a T – the fun thing about them is that it’s all about interpretation. That’s why they stay relevant. No one wants to see a ton of people do the same thing, and sometimes making fun of it in a tasteful way is better than the actual trend. Get creative and think about how they can translate to your products.
- Have influencers play for your team
We cannot stress this enough. Influencers have masses watching them and listening to them. Nowadays, every community has its popular creators. Fashion, literature, entertainment, you name it. With the gaming space gaining more and more traction, there’s no doubt that gaming influencers will become bigger and gain numbers. The best way to reach their fanbase is to work together with them.
Start building your community
TikTok isn’t just a space for you to show off your products and projects. Nowadays, it’s really all about building a community, activating the right influencer collaborations, and creating authentic relationships with all of your potential audiences. There is no one-size-fits-all strategy. Find what works, experiment, test, and have fun with it.
Need help with your gaming marketing? Find out how we brought in over 1 million players for Deep Silver ahead of its relaunch of Saints Row.
