Variety Presents: Gaming on TikTok Leadership Summit featuring conversations with executives and creatives on the leading edge of video games, entertainment and content.
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00:00creating for TikTok is about producing content that is authentic to the community and the for you
00:05page. So you know I think there's just really great ethos that I can get behind and I don't
00:09want to call you out but Vanessa actually we were talking a little bit about this,
00:13but it's really to think like a marketer but act like a creator. So I think that was a really
00:18great example of how we did just that and having Riot Games here to have this conversation
00:23and storytell how we got there is just you know demonstrating and exemplifying that statement
00:28and that ethos. All right so let's dig in. What were Riot's main goals for the Valorant console
00:34launch and how did they shape your strategy? When we were approaching this launch we really
00:39came at it with this idea that regardless of platform our community would be key and so we
00:46went out really set to engage and excite the current player community so we could welcome
00:53our new console community into the fold and we did that by thinking about the summer of Bao
01:00and so of course console was a huge moment for us in the summer but we had a lot of other really
01:04exciting things happening. We had our esports championship, we had our an agent launch and so
01:11it was really this moment that we could talk about and it wasn't just about bringing a pc game to
01:16console but more about welcoming a whole new audience into this amazing community and celebrating
01:24the best of Bao. I love that. I really love how Riot Games approached this as a celebration. It wasn't
01:30just a launch it was a welcoming and then leveraging the community and their desire to co-create
01:36that is the fuel that drove this movement. So now that we've got Riot Games' goals clear
01:45what emerging trends did you see in the intersection of gaming and social that served as
01:49I guess an opportunity or informed your strategy? Yeah I mean I think being TikTok it's you know no
01:56surprise that short form content is king and that's because it's just so versatile right like you can
02:03have it be about a gameplay moment, you can have it be about a highlight, you can have it be about
02:09interactive challenges and one of the biggest ones obviously is UGC. That is where so many of
02:16our creators can come to life and they they want to meme about our games right they want to show
02:21off their gameplay and it lends itself to the sense of community while also letting them feel
02:28like they have a bit of ownership in Valorant and I think that was really really exciting for us.
02:34The other thing that came out of this was DevTalk. So DevTalk is a thing right and we saw a ton of
02:42engagement with our devs and it was really great because it allowed them to have an opportunity to
02:47talk about the choices that they made to explain why maybe something was done on console differently
02:52than how it was done on PC and at the end of the day that lended a ton of credibility and authenticity
02:59to an audience that a lot of them were net new to Riot. They didn't even you know know who we were
03:04because we had never been on console before and so that was so important to us and we really saw
03:08that take off in a really fun and exciting way. Yeah listen we're making DevTalk happen.
03:14Our audience really loves to get that kind of peek behind the curtain if you will and I think
03:18it's just a really great example of how playing in these unexpected communities builds cultural
03:23resonance and it also grows new audiences. Absolutely. Yeah so let's take a step back here
03:30and talk about and look at actually the timeline. So April 1st we were actually briefed on Valorant
03:38console and now I'm going to talk in a little TikTok speak here but can I get it can I hear a
03:43little commotion for the brief? Yes. I do have to take a second to flex the brief that Riot pitched.
03:50It was comprehensive and thorough. It outlined the how and the why and it invited us to collaborate
03:57to be part of this movement and TikTok was actually weaved into every single phase of the
04:02marketing and I think most importantly as you can see in this timeline it gave us runway. This is
04:09the model for how we want to work with all of our partners. I was so impressed with this. We got the
04:14brief on April 1st. Six weeks after that we got approvals. Three weeks after that we launched.
04:19So if we look at the actual launch of Valorant console which happened in August we're talking
04:24about a four month runway. Four months to collaborate and create. I cannot stress how
04:30important it is to have that long lead in building out a successful strategic partnership and the one
04:36thing I do want to call out as well is as we were doing this right in the middle April 18th we were
04:41also pitched on Arcane Season 2. So bringing it all together. Absolutely. All right so
04:49tell us more specifically about the role TikTok played in Riot's strategy. Yeah so we knew that
04:55Val was a hit on PC and we were confident that it was going to be really exciting for console players
05:01too but we needed to figure out how to reach those players because as I mentioned before a lot of
05:07them may have been new to Riot and didn't know who we were or didn't know that we made console games
05:14and so with TikTok I think one of the great things that we're able to do with you is really
05:18you know tailor our activations around moments that we thought would be resonant with our players
05:26and we worked really closely with you to figure out where we could slot in different levers and
05:32tools that are available to us through TikTok in order to make those moments pop. So you know we
05:39look at things like the
05:48sorry oh the music example yes the music example sorry. So we look at things like that right we
05:57knew that music was incredibly resonant on TikTok and we wanted to make sure that we were leaning
06:02into that because we could speak to players that way. The other thing that we saw was the agent
06:08alignment and that was something that we did in order to make sure that players that were new to
06:14Valorant or were maybe a little bit intimidated by kind of joining this community that has been
06:19around for many years you know they could now use this tool to figure out what agent made sense for
06:26them and that was just a way that we could really make sure that players felt welcomed into our
06:32community in a way that really felt natural and that was really important because
06:38organic for us is really kind of the underpinning of everything that we do and we used paid in order
06:45to amplify that even more. Absolutely I mean what I'm hearing is you really leaned into a TikTok
06:51first approach which we absolutely love. So you leveraged our best practices you activated during
06:56the entire life cycle which you can see activating across each moment. We actually tapped every single
07:02premium product that we have at TikTok and then you also provided the tools to our community to
07:06co-create and to engage them so really brilliant on that. Tell us more about the Val community
07:13on TikTok and how you actually leaned into audience insights to drive meaningful fun
07:18conversations and then build that trust with the audience. Yeah absolutely I think audience insights
07:23are so incredibly important to us especially when we're trying to meet players where they are
07:29right in today's remix culture I think TikTok really is at the epicenter of creative fusion and
07:35so really being able to tap into that and you know let players express their fandom is so so important
07:44and and being able to join their fandom of Val with all of their other interests whether it's music
07:51or sports or fashion you know really made sure that we were part of the broader conversation
07:59and you know it wasn't just about Val console it was this broader cultural landscape. Yeah well
08:06Cat and I had a great conversation yesterday and we are research nerds right so we love this we
08:12love these audience insights we're absolutely research nerds and we build on top of it so there
08:17was just an awesome conversation that we had that I feel like is absolutely tied to what we're
08:21speaking about today but communities are built on niche talk I cannot stress this enough you know
08:27and this is how you build stronger communities and fandoms on TikTok and I really love that kind
08:33of analogy of passing the mic to the community if you will giving them a platform to speak on as well
08:39as giving your community a voice. All right let's shift gears here because one of the areas that
08:45Riot leveraged so beautifully and you kind of touched on this already was organic and more
08:49specifically the balance of paid and organic because when we think about TikTok it's not just
08:55about advertising solutions it's not just about paid it is really about the ecosystem of creators
09:00publishers and organic content that come together so wonderfully to make TikTok what it is so how
09:06did Riot Games balance advertising paid advertising rather and organic content on TikTok for Valorant
09:12console? Yeah so organic really is where our community can come to life because it fosters
09:19those connections it leans into creativity and it allows players to and fans to show what is so
09:26special to them and the magic of paid is that we can amplify those voices right it's not just about
09:33paying for a placement and it also allows us to no longer have to be as a publisher
09:40the one making every single moment that resonates every time instead we can go out into the community
09:47see what's hitting see what's resonating and amplify that so that they can then bring
09:52that story forward and continue the conversation with us. So I wanted to actually give light to
10:01this amazing stat that we have here and let me give this context so this is an all-inclusive staff
10:08for streaming search video social discussion and player sentiment it is a metric measuring a game's
10:14relative popularity and week over week Valorant was on top and number one so I think this deserves
10:20a little bit of applause. All right folks I feel like we're at the end of our conversation here
10:32and we want to really pull everything together and close the circle so after the success of
10:37Valorant launch how are we redefining strategy for the launch of Arcane Season 2? Yeah I think
10:44the most exciting thing about Arcane is that it really invites fandom beyond our games into the
10:50ecosystem and when fans get here we want to make sure that they feel welcome too very similar to
10:58the story that we're talking about with ValConsole right and so we do that or we're going to continue
11:04to do that through methods that we learned through ValConsole launch right the paid and organic
11:08amplification I think one of the other things that we touched on briefly but I haven't dove too
11:14much into is all of the great tools that TikTok has and you're developing even more right and so
11:21we want to make sure that we are on the cutting edge we want to make sure that we're really leading
11:25in to emerging tech and kind of staying ahead of the trends and ahead of what is exciting to players
11:32because especially with the younger generations coming in that's what they care about right they
11:36want to know what the new thing is they want to to be really cool and so by really partnering
11:42deeply with you all we're able to to achieve that and then I think you know finally the the biggest
11:48thing again is community and we need to keep that kind of at front and center and and make sure that
11:54that is what we are supporting because at the end of the day we don't want people to just consume
12:01right we want them to participate and that participation might be the game the game loop
12:07right the watch play loop which we love and will take all day long absolutely but I think the other
12:14way that people can participate is just by joining the conversation especially when we're talking
12:19earlier we were saying you know some people maybe have played our games and then have churned out
12:24because they have kids or life got in the way or whatever and so now this is giving them an
12:29opportunity to join our community in a way that still feels good and it still feels nostalgic and
12:34resonant and and really allows them to to participate in that way so for us the goal isn't
12:41always you know our goal as I said at the top is to meet players where they are and those players
12:46might be league players those players might be Valorant players or they might be cosplayers right
12:51and so making sure that they are all feeling welcome and that they're all you know here with
12:56us is really what's most important because I think that's where the magic is yeah and as we
13:01get into arcane season two and we kind of build out this strategy for it I'm going into it with
13:06the same energy if not more energy now that we've already done so successfully the launch of Valorant
13:12console on tick tock and it's clearly partners like you that are willing to sort of look at our
13:17tech and like participate with us in alphas and betas and just trust us to build out the best
13:24package to build out the best strategy to share with you our expertise of what makes sense what
13:29our audience wants you know it's partners like you who give us four months runway right and in the
13:34case of arcane season two seven months seven months to the launch of arcane season two so
13:40it's super exciting we have a lot we have a lot of things in store that we're super excited about