How VOID Interactive amassed millions of hours watched for their FPS game

VOID Interactive's first game Ready or Not was a chart-topper, garnering 1.5 million views on Twitch during the first 24 hours after launch. It wasn't a fluke. The small remote team at VOID Interactive had many factors working against them but a successful creator launch campaign propelled their game to become one of the most watched games in the world 2023.

VOID Interactive's marketing head, Behrad Sabet, sat down with Lurkit to talk about Ready Or Not's stellar launch and the company's direction in the future.

Ready Or Not’s launch exceeded expectations

VOID’s team was already users of Lurkits platform but now they also turned to the expertise of Lurkit’s customer success team to build an influencer marketing campaign on a AAA-level. Lurkit’s team leaned on the brief from VOID’s marketing team and presented a plan to engage the most recognized content creators within FPS to really hit it home to the gaming audience in that genre.

Lurkit's team worked with their native technology to scout for creators that would fit the customers’ brief and deem to deliver on the objectives set out. 250 creators accepted the terms and embargo including streamers such as auronplay, shroud, tarik, summit1g, Papaplatte, Cohhcarnage, ironmouse and many more.

And on December 13th, they all started playing Ready or Not at the same time. And the audience loved what they saw.

With Lurkit as their external marketing partner and a steady finger on the pulse of their target player base, Ready Or Not's launch exceeded expectations. The game debuted on Twitch rank 3, peaking at 55,174 concurrent players on Steam in December 2023.

"With Twitch, it’s always intriguing because it comes down to the daily viewership that you have on the platform. So, it was a massive success for us to see that we had been able to hit rank 3 on launch day.”

During the first 24 hours the creators managed to, collectively, amass 1.5 million hours watched and the long tail of viewership kept building across the Christmas holiday as well totalling 5 million hours watched when they summarized 2023.

Leveraged Lurkit’s Creator Program to build a creator community

Behrad explains that influencer marketing is the most impactful way to reach a larger audience in a short time. He explained how he has always trusted in the power of influencer marketing since he himself has been forged in the Twitch community. To execute his plan of an all-out launch, Behrad looked at content creators, and that’s where Lurkit comes in.

"Being able to have Lurkit now is to have the best of both worlds. You have this self-serving system where you set up your campaigns, recruit your own talent and have a retention-based creator program. But you also have dedicated support at your fingertips to manage large and global campaigns. From outreach to negotiation, you know all of that stuff"

Lurkit’s creator program allows marketers to manage vast amounts of creators with little effort because of the platform technology it has built. In a short time, the VOID Interactive marketing team had a long list of able creators looking to partner with them. From nano to macro streamers, the pool of potential candidates overflowed with talent.

"There was this one funny anecdote that I always tell people. I think we had 7500 applications from creators, and three days before the release, I blocked the whole evening and brought the backlog down to 4000. And then I went to sleep and returned to my PC, and we were already back to 6500".

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The Goal

With only a small team, VOID still aimed for AAA-level visibility. After being in early access for almost two years, Ready Or Not had already reached a niche audience that lived and breathed FPS. However, the developer aimed to dominate Twitch and Steam charts and form a solid footing in the shooter genre with its first title, Ready Or Not.

"Our main goal was making this burst, but if you go for the burst, then I want to make sure that for these 24 hours, we have a AAA level of visibility. Therefore, you need to get in the top 5 categories of Twitch”

The Challenge

While VOID Interactive firmly believed that working with the creators was the best way to go about this strategy, they had their qualms. Connecting with the right creators who would be willing to work within the budget, considering the tight timeline, was the biggest challenge for VOID. Compared to an elaborate strategy spread out through the calendar, the 3-month burst marketing called for a bigger budget to convince quality creators.

"You need to take into account that you won’t be able to work budget efficiently on time constraints. When you need something done in a shorter time, you have to pay more. But I’m impressed that Lurkit was able to navigate that challenge.”

The Solution

Rather than burdening the marketing team, which was composed of just three individuals at the time, VOID Interactive sought a one-stop-shop. The budgeting and time problems were both effectively addressed by leveraging Lurkit's platform, thereby streamlining operations for the marketing team and ensuring a successful creator program launch.

In a short time, VOID had applications from skilled streamers interested in trying out their game. At one point, the small marketing team at VOID had one too many applications.

At the same time, VOID leveraged Lurkit’s customer success team to save considerable time by streamlining the process of contacting large creators individually, vetting them, negotiating, and setting up tasks.

Ready or Not launch trailer as it was shown during The Games Awards

The Result

Combined with Lurkit's platform, AAA-campaign management and VOID's efforts in plating the best product in a short time, the reception of Ready or Not has been more than excellent in the gaming community. They also were able to overachieve on the budget by letting Lurkit’s team scout and negotiate with the largest creators and their representatives.

The Numbers

Lurkit’s creator program, 250 creators in the FPS genre
Reached number 3 on Twitch
1.5 million hours watched first 24 hours
5 million hours watched the first 2 weeks
227.000 peak viewers
55.000+ concurrent players on Steam
#208 on the most watched games 2023 with only 2 weeks live (of 170.000 games)

How VOID Interactive amassed millions of hours watched for their FPS game ‘Ready or Not’

Success by design - how to win day one

Ready Or Not’s launch exceeded expectations

Leveraged Lurkit’s Creator Program to build a creator community

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Synergy