Best Practice
Gaming content in the 'new normal'
Producing gaming content in the ‘new normal’
COVID-19 is changing just about everything these days — from where we work, how we work, how we get our groceries, how we connect with friends, where we find entertainment, and much, much more.
Events across the globe have been postponed or canceled outright. Amongst a myriad of other things, this has also led many to wonder how they will operate under these new conditions and how they’ll continue to engage with their fans. This new era we find ourselves in requires a different way of approaching how we think about and produce content.
Below you’ll find some creative examples from across the gaming and esports space that we hope help inspire you during this time.
Virtual trivia
The Overwatch League started a trivia series that highlighted some of its players and teams. Trivia is not only a great way to share part of your brand's history and fun facts, it's also an interactive way for audiences to get involved. You can run really far with this idea and extend it to just about anything, so don’t feel confined.
Past highlights
Recycle past highlights to look back on some amazing plays from earlier this year or in years prior. This is a great way to relive memorable moments from previous years that people may have forgotten about, and to share history with newer fans.
Brackets
ESPN Esports kicked off a 64-person bracket to determine who the biggest pros, streamers, and personalities within esports are. Running a bracket like this not only stirs up conversations, but also leads to high engagement.
Talk shows/new formats
Astralis, Gen.G, and leagues like BLAST have created new talk shows featuring players. Creating a new show in the midst of a pandemic is ambitious, but offers a creative way to continue serving content to your fans. Consider streaming to Twitter and/or utilizing the LiveCut functionality for real-time highlights.
Remote Q&A sessions
Ahead of the closed beta release of VALORANT, Team Liquid gathered some of its best FPS players and had them answer questions about the game. Remote Q&As can be done via the Twitter VIT app, and all the talent needs to do is record a video and send it to whoever is running the Q&A from the team’s side (e.g., the social media manager).
Message to fans
Shortly after qualifying for the FNCS Final, Team Vitality had one of its players send a video response that could be posted on the organization’s account. Requesting that your players record a message to fans right after a match helps make a genuine and heartfelt response.
Caption this
Vancouver Titans used old player photos to prompt followers to provide what’s being said in the photo. This is a great way to infuse life into old photos that you may or may not have posted before, and caption contents are an easy way for your audience to interact with not only with you, but also fellow fans.
Don’t be afraid to try new things in this current environment. Everyone is in this together and is completely aware that the broadcast studio setup may need to be swapped for the at-home setup for the time being. This is a good time to pilot ideas that may have been sitting on the backlog and engage with your community on a closer level.
GLHF.
To see all of the latest steps Twitter is taking in response to COVID-19, visit covid19.twitter.com