How Deep Silver Successfully Partnered with Thousands of Influencers for Dead Island 2

The gaming industry has come to rely heavily on influencer marketing as a crucial strategy for reaching a global audience. However, managing these campaigns manually can be overwhelming, especially for large-scale publishers aiming to engage millions of potential players simultaneously. This is where a tech platform like Lurkit can significantly enhance the effectiveness of influencer marketing campaigns, a realization that Deep Silver had before the launch of Dead Island 2. Jorge Tavera, Global Influencer Strategy Manager at Deep Silver, part of the media company Plaion, discusses how studios and publishers can achieve immediate traction within the content creator community from day one. Tavera notes, "The influencer community's reception of Dead Island 2 has been phenomenal, with over six million YouTube views in the first two weeks, and the game debuted as the number one seller in Europe during its launch weekend." With a small team, Tavera has successfully onboarded thousands of creators without hassle, attributing much of the game's hype to the 1,200 creators activated through Deep Silver's creator program. Since its release in April, Dead Island 2 has sold over two million copies. According to Tavera, "We knew we wanted to onboard hundreds or thousands of creators quickly, both to our program and campaigns. The previous manual process involved creators filling out a form that would be manually evaluated by my team, a process that was time-consuming and inefficient." The automated onboarding process offered by Lurkit was key to Tavera's decision. "Automated onboarding was crucial for us. It allowed us to focus on the program and content, knowing that creators were legitimate and met our requirements. This flexibility is what Lurkit provided," Tavera explains. Deep Silver aimed to integrate game key campaigns into the creator program systematically. "Lurkit stands out with its campaign-based program and clear rewards structure," says Tavera. Unlike manual methods or working with agencies, Lurkit streamlines influencer marketing by offering a comprehensive platform for searching, filtering, and communicating with influencers, as well as analyzing performance metrics and negotiating contracts. This approach eliminates the need for manual work and reduces costs associated with agency fees. Tavera shares, "Our goal was 250,000 hours watched on Twitch through Lurkit in the first month, but we more than doubled that to 530,000 hours in the first two weeks. For YouTube, we aimed for 100,000 views but achieved 6.2 million in the first two weeks." The success extends beyond the campaigns, with many creators expressing interest in continuing to play the game, fostering good relations thanks to the creator program built on Lurkit. For more stories on how Lurkit has supported game publishers, and to learn more about Lurkit's offerings, click the provided links.