Egosoft

Case study.

Customer:
Egosoft
Channels:
HeyBox
Bilibili
Services:
- Content creation and localisation - Distribution on Bilibili & Heybox - Influencer and PR outreach - Community management

Goals

  • Increase brand awareness in the market
  • Introduce X4 series to the wider audience
  • Start to consistently engage with the Chinese community

Challenges

  • X4 series has a high entry level
  • Players were mostly hardcore fans
  • No previous communication towards the Chinese playerbase

How we did it?

  • Content creation and localisation

You cannot enter Chinese social media without content in Chinese. Besides creating posts, we also took care of localizing announcements and existing videos - for example, the official trailer for the game.

The results speak for themselves - in only 72 hours after launch, the trailer reached 17k views without any paid promotion. We managed to organically gain 497 followers, 390 likes, 54 shares and 174 comments - with many expressing excitement for future content. It was the first video published on Egosoft’s Bilibili channel, aimed at an entirely new audience - with no prior contact before that.

Watch the full trailer here!

  • Distribution on Bilibili & Heybox

Registration of the official accounts on Chinese social media is an important step in a long term strategy for the market. The process itself wasn’t as smooth as we hoped - getting the official certification took longer than expected. Fortunately, we managed to go through it, allowing us to distribute our content. Starting from scratch, in the last 4 months we gained 2101 followers on Bilibili.

  • Influencer outreach

We created an influencer database and conducted outreach with a goal of establishing relationships with Chinese content creators. The most prominent result of this cooperation was 1 hour long video published by 机械天团 - channel with 89k fans. It was definitely one of our records on Bilibili - right now, it has 51 thousand views, and it has reached 1979 likes and 307 comments. 机械天团 (Mechanical Sky Team) spent hundreds of hours playing the series and created a tutorial for new players, allowing them to enter and explore the secrets of X4 universe.

The popularity of the video was a good indication of the value they had for other players. As the series can present serious challenges for newcomers, 机械天团 guide helped them to make first steps in its vast world. Looking at the comments, the video achieved this purpose. Many people praised the creators and the game (“this is so much fun!”) and thanked them for their content.

  • PR Outreach to Chinese news outlets & bloggers 

As a part of our agreement, we also took care of establishing contact with Chinese news outlets. We also distributed game keys during the Taipei Game Show in February, working on relationships with influencers and media. 

  • Community management on Chinese social media

As there was no previous engagement with Chinese players, showing them that the developer cares about them and is there to stay was key. In order to achieve that, we were sure to address their comments, and feature content that attracted new players (key giveaways) and catered to the existing ones (ask me anything post). 

The most prominent piece we were responsible for was the interview created specifically for the Chinese gamers. It’s definitely something we are the most proud of. One of our team members, Aleksander Ptak, gathered the community's questions and during a 30-minute long video asked them to Egosoft’s founder, Bernd Lehahn.

Bernd explained in detail his motivations behind creating and developing the X-series universe. The main idea was to grant players the opportunity to be what they want and freedom in leading their journey in the virtual universe, making the games more accessible to a wider audience. The players from China had a unique opportunity to learn that it was Hong Kong and its neon-lit cityscape was a big inspiration to the studio.

You can watch the full interview on Egosoft’s Bilibili channel.

Effects

+10 000
player’s growth on Heybox from September 2022 to April 2023
17 thousand
people watched our first video on Bilibili in just 72 hours after launch (and without any paid promotion)
51 thousand
number of views on the 1-hour long influencer video that resulted from our outreach
51 thousand
number of views on the 1-hour long influencer video that resulted from our outreach

Building a long-lasting connection with the community is definitely key if you are looking to enter the Chinese gaming market. The reaction to the fourth expansion was a great indication of that.

In words of Bernd Lehahn

Egosoft

That’s what we all wish for in the future:

“It’s great that you guys are now finding our game more and that it is getting more successful in China. I love the country, I love the culture, and it would be really nice to see more of you joining us and becoming more active. Maybe we can soon see each other in the online version, that would be really exciting.”

founder of Egosoft

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