How did NetEase's "Terminator 2" become popular in the App Store within a week?

"No matter how you hide, how you run, in the end you have to pick up the gun and face it. The same is true for life."

This is a post from a friend’s Moments , with a screenshot of eating chicken attached, and it says “Good luck, let’s eat chicken tonight”.

Many friends who used to play Honor of Kings with me have not been online recently. Later I found that most of them were playing the mobile game PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds . Sharing screenshots of PUBG achievements in Moments, discussing PUBG topics in WeChat groups , and friends inviting you to team up to play PUBG...there's a feeling that if you don't play PUBG, you'll be OUT.

Behind the rapid development, why was NetEase able to seize the list in a short period of time, and how did it push the chicken-eating mobile game "Terminator 2" to the forefront? What exactly did NetEase do? Please see this article for interpretation.

1. Standing on the vent

" PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds " has sold 20 million copies on Steam, with an online peak of nearly 2.4 million, and has won the weekly sales championship for 35 consecutive years. On domestic live streaming platforms , "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds" has surpassed " League of Legends " to become the most popular game category, and celebrities such as Wang Sicong and Lin Gengxin are also playing it.

It’s clear that “chicken-eating” games are on the rise.

Just like "League of Legends" to "Honor of Kings", "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds" has also brought a large user base to the mobile game of chicken. As soon as the chicken-eating mobile games from NetEase, Xiaomi and other companies were launched, players responded strongly, which shows that there is potential demand in the market itself.

There are many players in China who want to play PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds but do not have the hardware required. In addition, apart from Honor of Kings, there haven't been any high-quality, heavily competitive mobile games that have caused a stir among players for a long time. When it comes to the PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds mobile game, players are full of novelty and curiosity.

When the wind comes, even pigs can fly. The popularity of NetEase's "Terminator 2" is inseparable from the trend of eating chicken. Before Tencent, a large company, released the game, it vigorously promoted the mobile game of eating chicken. It is obvious that they want to take advantage of the trend of the mobile game "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds" to quickly expand their territory and harvest users.

2. Pre-launch promotion

For a new product, it is necessary to find a suitable early market, that is, the first batch of seed users , during the cold start .

To find the right early market, NetEase needs to find people who have a strong demand for the chicken-eating game, constantly verify the demand for the product and quickly iterate the product to prepare for the next outbreak in advance.

Judging from the Baidu Index, the search volume for Terminator began to fluctuate in mid-September and continued until November. This period was the internal testing period for Terminator 2.

What did NetEase do during the warm-up period before going online?

1. Invite seed users to participate in the internal test.

During this period, you can see breaking news and internal beta invitations for "Terminator 2" on major gaming media websites, gaming public accounts and other channels . The main selling points to attract players are "Chicken Eating Mobile Game" and "Terminator Movie IP".

The official collects bugs after many players have experienced the game, and iterates quickly, constantly polishing the details to create a better gaming experience.

2. Appointment activities in the Taptap community

Taptap is a sharing community that recommends high-quality mobile games. It is known as the " Douban " of the gaming industry and has attracted a large number of game enthusiasts with its professional game recommendations and reviews.

In early October, the Taptap community also launched a pre-order campaign. In a short period of time, Terminator 2 received over 1 million pre-orders and received a very high score from Taptap. Before the game was launched, it had already captured the attention of a large number of core players and had a good reputation among users.

3. Preheat in the live streaming platform video community

Starting from mid-October, NetEase gradually invited mobile game anchors from live streaming platforms such as Huya , Panda , Douyu , and Chushou to broadcast games, and invited UP hosts from video communities such as Bilibili , Youku, Tencent, and Aipai to post game trial videos.

Most of these anchors and UP hosts have moderate popularity, are not expensive, and have a number of loyal fans. Since the PUBG mobile game is relatively new, it attracted many players who watched the live broadcast to make reservations and grab beta codes to experience the game.

3. How to detonate after going online?

On November 1, when the Android version started testing, it topped the TapTap popular game Android rankings .

On November 3, Terminator started iOS testing, and the data continued to rise after it was officially launched on the Appstore on the 4th.

What marketing strategy does NetEase adopt?

1. Promote to different player groups in a rhythmic manner

From the pre-launch reservation activities, the participation of seed users in the internal test, to the promotion by gaming influencers after the launch, followed by the hype marketing by e-sports stars, to the live broadcasts and cross-border marketing by entertainment stars.

Every step taken by NetEase is quite rhythmic and targeted, and corresponding marketing strategies are adopted for different target audiences at different stages.

2. Focus on exposure

Rather than saying that NetEase is rich, it is more accurate to say that this is their concentrated exposure strategy. NetEase has carried out so many marketing activities in such a short period of time.

Of course, spending millions on Weibo advertising and inviting celebrities such as Liu Yan and Ruo Feng to live broadcast is indeed extremely luxurious. It is obvious that NetEase is benchmarking against Tencent. I think Boss Ding is determined to get ahead of Tencent in this opportunity.

3. Promote word-of-mouth communication

For good products, users will automatically share the products. How to impress users and get players to spread the word spontaneously is the key point of social marketing . More than 60% of Onmyoji ’s popularity comes from word of mouth and mutual recommendations from users, which is inseparable from the support of products and marketing.

What specifically has NetEase done in these marketing strategies?

1. Short video marketing

NetEase found internet celebrities in the gaming category of Bilibili, Youku, iQiyi and other platforms to release videos of "Terminator 2", such as Gu Amo, Muyu Shuixin, Lao Fanqie and other video UP hosts, who used short videos to quickly and accurately promote the game. Most UP hosts released videos on multiple platforms simultaneously, and many internet celebrities had a total online playback volume of over 1 million.

According to people familiar with the matter, NetEase spent a huge amount of money this time and basically invited all the top UP hosts it could from various video websites.

2. Live broadcasts by popular e-sports anchors

Game live streaming platforms have become an important promotion channel for game products due to their precise user base and concentrated traffic .

On November 5, Ruofeng, a popular anchor in the e-sports circle, live broadcast "Terminator 2".

On November 13, PDD, known as "the most sexy pig", live-streamed the mobile game "Terminator 2". During the live-stream, PDD revealed that NetEase spent one million to allow him to live-stream for one hour.

At the same time, NetEase is also working with major live broadcast platforms to recruit anchors for "Terminator 2" at a high price.

3. Cross-border entertainment marketing

During the Double 11 period, many people in the circle of friends were sharing JD.com ’s advertisements from “Terminator 2”. On the parachuting plane before the game started, the words “11.11”, “JD.com”, and “Buy mobile phones, trust JD.com” were written. JD.com packages and JD.com work clothes also appeared in the game. Interesting and innovative entertainment marketing successfully caught the players' attention.

In this cross-border cooperation, JD.com also gave "Terminator 2" banner positions on mobile and PC. With the strong exposure effect, "Terminator 2" successfully topped the Appstore list.

After the game was updated on November 15, new props such as OFO bicycles and Baidu Takeout were added to the game, which perfectly integrated the hot topics in life into the game, giving players a sense of surprise beyond their expectations. Players’ positive reviews can be seen everywhere on channels such as WeChat Moments and Weibo.

4. Celebrity effect + hot topics on Weibo

On November 14, Tian Liang and Ye Yiqian teamed up to live broadcast "Terminator 2".

On November 15, NetEase boss Ding Lei teamed up with sexy goddess Liu Yan and two anchors to start a ranking match. All players on the server will play with the goddess and Boss Ding. Killing Boss Ding will give you a Koala shopping card worth 888 yuan.

NetEase bought the Weibo startup page poster that day and used the Weibo topics #Ding Lei and Liu Yan team up to play Terminator 2# and #Who will shoot Ding Lei#.

During this period, many Weibo celebrities were invited to create momentum and rush to the list , such as " Weibo Funny Ranking ", "Memories Special Vest", "Circle Prince", "My Toilet Reading" and other Weibo celebrities. The total reading volume of Weibo topics exceeded 40 million .

The combination of Mingxing Yan and Boss Ding Lei has attracted a lot of attention. Coupled with the word-of-mouth spread of players within the game and the hype on Weibo, it has attracted many people to download the game, hoping to play with the goddess and Boss Ding.

In addition, on November 17, singer Wang Sulong was invited to start a live broadcast on Yizhibo, which is really generous.

(Weibo word cloud)

5. Operational activities

In addition to the in-game operations, the external operations of "Terminator 2" are also quite good.

The official WeChat account of "Terminator 2" launched the #Let's draw a chicken# campaign to encourage players to draw chickens. The magical and funny hand-drawn pictures can induce players to share and spread them by themselves.

In addition, the game also cooperated with NetEase Cloud Music to launch the #The weather is cold and the earth is frozen, exciting to survive the winter# topic event , using prizes as a gimmick to guide players to post short videos of eating chicken.

At the same time, "Terminator 2" also cooperated with major live broadcast platforms to launch anchor recruitment activities, such as cooperating with Tentacle Live to hold the "Tentacle Winter Tournament", rewarding the top 10 anchors of the game with a prize of 10,000 yuan; it also joined hands with NetEase CC Live Platform to spend a huge prize of 5 million to create two super events, the championship and the team league.

4. In conclusion

No matter how good the marketing is, it will be useless if the product is not good . The popularity of "Terminator 2" is always inseparable from having a good gaming experience. After all, before NetEase's two chicken-eating games were launched, many domestic game manufacturers had already released chicken-eating mobile games, but due to low restoration and poor gaming experience, they ultimately failed to take off when the chicken-eating trend became popular.

In addition, the main contradiction in the advertising industry has transformed into the contradiction between users' growing demand for interesting content and advertisers becoming increasingly bored. The cross-border marketing of "Terminator 2" is really wonderful. JD.com's Double 11 airplanes, ofo, Baidu Takeout and other creative ideas are all allowed to be spread by players themselves.

There is an iron rule of marketing that says that this is an era of information explosion, and if you want to be famous, you must stand out. For example, Ding Sanshi vs. Calabash Brothers H5, NetEase Music Review Subway, and NetEase Onmyoji ’s card drawing, all of these are very NetEase.

Although NetEase's "Knives Out" and "Terminator 2" have occupied most of the chicken-eating market, the battle for chicken has just begun. Tencent will never easily give up the chicken-eating market to NetEase. We just have to sit back and wait and see who will have the last laugh.