Looking for feedback: A social platform for video game reviews
Hi everyone! 👋 I'm Marco, just joined today to get some inspiration and maybe hear some early feedback on an idea that I've been thinking about for a while!
My hypothesis:
Nowadays game purchase behavior is majorly influenced by content creators and personal recommendations – But it's hard to keep track of all the thoughts of the people you care about
Reviews have always been a major thing in the gaming sphere, magazines, review websites, watching Youtubers and Twitch streamers. But since review websites are only for the big players, and social media posts tend to be very short-lived, I'd like to create an alternative platform
Now the idea is simple: A twitter-like platform for short reviews about any kind of video game. The type of review you would receive from a friend "Yeah, you should totally get it! Feels amazing and you can even pet the dog!" Complete with some social features like following each other, commenting and curating lists of games you love.
Think twitter, but with less noise.
Review articles, with less padding.
No more followers asking about your thoughts on a game over and over...
I'd specifically target influencers, twitch streamers, Youtubers and reviewers to build communities and growth, but everyone should be able to write reviews and curate lists. The business model would be affiliate marketing and on-site ecommerce for developers to sell with less friction. At some point partners should also be able to receive an affiliate share to have another incentive for staying active
What do you think, would a focused platform for this kind of topic make sense or is it not relevant enough to attract users? Any gamers around who would like to join a platform like this? 😉
Well, I think that in terms of idea you might have come up with something interesting. But I couldn't tell whether it's a viable business or not.
Often when I was looking for a new game I'd think to myself 'wouldn't it be nice to know/follow somebody who likes similar games that I do?'. Reading reviews, even if they are exhaustive (like on Steam), is not always a great indicator because at the end of the day liking a game is quite a subjective matter. I bought some games in the past because they had tens of thousands of positive reviews on Steam only to find out that I don't actually enjoy them.
So yes, I think that recommendations from somebody like-minded is a great way of exploring.
If you decide to go ahead with that, let me know I'd gladly follow the progress and give you some feedback. And If you're interested in accountability partner - I'm currently looking for one. I'm also trying to develop game related platform.
Thanks Jake, that's some great feedback!
I have exactly the same issue with public reviews - there's so much noise from people that just like to complain, or they're mass downvoting because of some controversy like DRM.
I'd very much prefer to have a filter and only see the reviews of reputable sources and people I care about.
I'll let you know when I go further with the idea :)
Sounds like this is the core problem you're trying to solve for, yeah? How do people currently solve this problem?
That is a good question! I'd say it's a two way thing. For one you want to see what everyone you care about think of a certain game, on the other hand you also want your own opinion to be heard.
Right now people are just posting into social media where it will be lost after a day, or they repeat themself again and again to followers and friends.
Personally I keep track manually with a "watch later" type of list. And later when I look at it I remember - oh, Person X was raving about it! But I always wonder if other people in my bubble tried the game and what they think about it - This is how the idea came to be