Some games like Dust have exploded in popularity through word of mouth. For the PC release, I'm sure Totalbiscuit sold thousands of units by himself.
In the PC ecosystem it is actually much easier to get by without advertising because this article does get something right, that if you can get the game in front of the right people they will advertise it for you through the youtube gaming scene at al. Look at Minecraft and how much advertising it had.
It just has to be insanely good and innovative enough to justify people giving a shit to spread it like wildfire, rather than play it as a weekend hobby and forget about it.
> Some games like Dust have exploded in popularity through word of mouth. For the PC release, I'm sure Totalbiscuit sold thousands of units by himself.
That is marketing. Totalbiscuit probably couldn't have found it himself without the creator of Dust getting the word out to him (directly or indirectly).
I agree, it's probably easier and more beneficial on PC, but that doesn't really take away from my point.
yes, i speak from experience. but unfortunately, i'm not at liberty to say much in detail other than the lame "i currently work at the walt disney company and all my opinions are my own".
as to marketing, yes, you will need to do a little bit of emailing and twittering. if your game is great, you'll get some pretty easy traction from places like touch arcade, tigsource, and indie game mag. from there, with no ad spend, i've personally seen much better than moderate, aggregate success.
especially when you consider the users are essentially free as opposed to paying $2-$5 per install from ad channels.
> if your game is legit, you'll do just fine.
Even if your game is legit, nobody will buy it if they don't know it exists. IMO, marketing is just as important.
BTW, are you speaking from personal experience? Have you made a financially successful indie game?