How to Get a Trailer Into E3 & Online Shows

How the heck does a game get its trailer into a big showcase for events like: E3, Gamescom, Nintendo Directs, State of Play, ID@Xbox, Wholesome Games, The Game Awards, etc.? These showcases are the best way to get a lot of eyeballs on your game. It is so so rare for trailers to get posted and immediately go viral. Only games in the AAA game space more typically get hundreds of thousands or millions of views on a trailer (though even some of those can top out at the tens of thousands).

From my perspective as a trailer maker, I get a call from either a developer or publisher saying either they have an opportunity to be in a show or they want to have a trailer ready just in case their push to get into a show is successful. The trailer usually has to be around 60 or 90 seconds long, but whatever it is there's typically very little leeway. Another example is Spelunky 2 had an opportunity to be in a PlayStation State of Play show, which led to me making this trailer.

Sometimes the opportunity feels like it might throw a wrench into the pacing of my trailer campaign plans, but when you get an opportunity to be in a big show, YOU TAKE IT. As for workflow, they'll often ask for a time locked version weeks ahead of time so they can time out the show, but final capture can be done closer to the delivery date.

I don't actually know how trailers get into these shows so I reached out for some expert advice from my friends at popagenda. I've worked with them on games such as Jett: The Far Shore and Nobody Saves the World. These answers are from co-founder Nick Verge. I've very lightly edited some answers for clarity.

I was VERY lucky in that one of my first indie game trailer jobs was this trailer for Firewatch which was the only indie at the E3 Sony Press Conference. They gave us 60 seconds, but we pushed it to about 64 :P

Who is popagenda and what do you do?

We introduce ourselves now as a publishing team for hire. We work with self-publishing devs (and a couple publishers) and offer all kinds of services from biz dev, marketing strategy, PR, release management and a little bit of trailer editing now for the games we’re already involved with. 

How does an indie game developer get their trailer into a big showcase like E3, Gamescom, Nintendo Direct, Wholesome games, etc.?

They all work a little bit differently so I’ll break it down. But what’s true for all of them, is that you need to pitch your game: you want to hype up the show team on including your kick-ass trailer as part of their broadcast. Even better if it comes with an announcement about a release date, a new feature, etc.

For first parties, it’s really about having constant communication with account managers or various reps. These get planned months and months in advance so it’s really about letting your contact know of your plans a long time ahead and then jumping on the right opportunity when it gets floated your way. We make sure first party teams know the game well and I love when we’re able to have a pretty good work-in-progress trailer to show them. 

Then there’s the Geoff Keighley World Tour: The Game Awards, gamescom Opening Night Live, and Summer Games Fest. For these, you also need to be proactive, Geoff handles the editorial choices himself (outside of the awards portion itself) so you basically need to pitch him as well. PR agencies, publishers or funding teams can help arrange those connections. 

Certain events like Wholesome Games, Day of the Devs, or The Mix for example, make a call for submissions. Devs submit the form and we hope for the best. 

The year this showed at the E3 PC Gaming show I had booked FOUR trailers for that same E3. That was the year I decided that I was taking on way too much work and also not charging enough.

Does the venue come to you because they heard you’re working on something cool, or do you submit to the venue? Do shows seek out trailers for specific games they’re excited about because they know it’ll make their show stronger?

I would say it’s very rare that you’ll be reached out to unless you already have funding from a first party for example or your project is already a known quantity and people are VERY excited about it. 

Is the process very different for AAA games?

A lot of the bigger shows rely on relationships and contacts and that’s true for AAA as well. Indies and AAA often don’t have the same contacts at first parties, but the process is pretty much the same I believe.

Do developers have to pay a fee to be in the shows?

Submission fees are pretty much a thing of the past. As for paying to get on a livestream, some shows will have sponsored slots. It’s no secret that shows like The Game Awards pay their bills with advertisement. 

This trailer for Ooblets came mere months after the reveal, but the opportunity to be in a big E3 show was too great to pass up.

Are there restrictions on length? Are there restrictions on excessive violence or profanity?

Often yes! It’s usually communicated early by the teams. We often communicate directly with the ESRB to make sure our assets are considered for all ages. You can expect different formats based on the showcase or opportunity: short b-roll for sizzle reel placement, developer interviews that are on-camera, longer unedited gameplay footage for scripted voice overs, etc. Assume that the less blood or violence your trailer has, the more showcase opportunities it could lend itself to.

Do shows have a house style they ask you to adhere to? For example, Nintendo Directs and Wholesome Games seem to feature a lot of trailers with developer commentary instead of fast cut hype trailers.

Depends on the showcase, but mostly yes, first parties especially have editorial feedback on the trailer you’ll be showing. They have specific deadlines to see first cuts so they can help direct where your trailer is going and that it aligns with the showcase they’re building. It’s always smart to look at previous showcases to get a sense of the format before starting work on your own trailer because they vary a lot! 

This trailer I made for Spelunky 2 was designed to fit into a typical PlayStation State of Play show with the more leisurely pace and developer commentary.

What are some painful or stressful lessons you’ve learned from getting trailers into shows?

I feel like we haven’t had any horror stories yet. Some of the hardest stuff to coordinate was making trailers before the launch of a console where everything had to be recorded basically on a dev kit, and if possible at 4K. For a game that’s actively being worked on, that became a pretty big headache, but that’s a rare occurrence.

Otherwise as I said, I always suggest having different concepts of trailers in mind very early on, even before submission, and then communicating with the editorial team of the showcase early about your plans so if things need to change, you can fall back on other options.

What are the measurable impacts of being in a big showcase like Opening Night Live, Nintendo Direct, The Game Awards, or another curated online show? Wishlists? Social media following? Press articles? YouTube coverage?

Yes, it basically benefits everything you listed. Strategically, we always want to debut trailers as part of a showcase because they come in with such a bigger audience. Trying to push a trailer on your own is extremely hard. 

Are there any negative impacts from being in a show you’ve either experienced or seen?

What can be frustrating maybe is that you don’t always have a ton of visibility on when the shows will air and it’s not up to you. It’s also a lot of coordination and work on top of making the trailer. There’s also always the offhand chance that something major/a long awaited game will be announced alongside your own beat, which will completely overshadow whatever news you were trying to premiere. 

Among Us has so much attention that this five minute trailer I helped make (in collaboration with Innersloth animator Jake Clark) became a stand alone event.

If a game makes it into a show, what should developers have ready to receive the most benefit? For example: making sure the store page is live, website is up, social media posts are ready to be put up immediately after?

Exactly, in marketing terms you want a conversion point. Nowadays, wishlists are the way to go. We usually prep our own press release as well and once the embargo on the show goes up, social media posts go live.

What are the pros and cons of so many online showcases with different areas of focus?

On our end, it’s probably good that the audience watching the show is already into the kind of game you’re making so there’s some buy-in from the get go. While it splits the broader audience into smaller pools of viewers, it’s probably better for them (and us!) as they already know the content will cater to their interests (based on platform, genre, appeal, etc). 

Do you wish there were more shows or fewer?

It often feels like there are too many shows and we’re all drowning in live streams to watch. That said, we’re also drowning in games at all times and everyone wants an opportunity to get out there and make an impression.

This trailer debuted at the PC Gaming show and as soon as it started playing I immediately started thinking: "Oh crap, this is cut too fast for this sort of audience" (But I think should work great for the Steam page and online).

Even though I find it rather fatiguing to have so many shows, I agree it's a good thing, because it creates more "qualified leads" which is marketing-speak for: "More focused shows attract people more likely to be interested in the things in the show." For example, Wholesome Games attracts players who want cozy games, not zombie shooters with dismemberment and decapitation (and vice versa). A more generalized show means everyone watching will have a mixed experience.

One last tip about making trailers for online shows comes from Michal Napora who wrote this great article about a trailer made for the PC Gaming Show for The Invincible. They knew the trailer would play during several livestreams where influencers are commentating. So they made the trailer slowly paced with lots of dead air to give room for discussion. It's sort of like how in live comedy shows the actors will wait if they're getting a lot of applause (but done preemptively)

So there you have it, there isn't some sort of impenetrable barrier to getting into these online show cases. Of course it needs to start with a good looking game, but otherwise it's like any other part of marketing, except in this case you're marketing to people in the industry, not the public.

Thanks so much again to Nick for your insightful answers!