Our Work, Case Study:
MicroProse
Rebuilding a legendary games publisher for a new generation
45+ games. A 40-year publishing legacy. One brand to bring back to life.
vMarketer partnered with MicroProse, one of the most recognised names in PC strategy and simulation gaming, to rebuild its marketing presence, strengthen the publisher brand and support a rapidly expanding portfolio of more than 45 games across launch, Early Access, development and ongoing release.
​
Our role covered the full layer between game development, publishing and the market: marketing strategy, positioning, Steam strategy, paid media, influencer marketing, PR and games media, social media, content production, community growth, partnerships, release planning and ongoing LiveOps.
This wasn't a campaign for a single game, It was helping rebuild an entire publisher.
MicroProse had something most new publishers would love to have: decades of brand recognition and an incredibly passionate existing audience.
​
But that history also created a challenge.
For many players, MicroProse was still closely associated with its original era, including legendary games and creators from decades earlier. The modern MicroProse needed to establish what the brand represented today, while simultaneously introducing a completely new generation of players to its growing catalogue.
​
At the same time, the publishing pipeline was expanding rapidly.
Games were moving through announcement, wishlist building, demos, Early Access, full release, major updates and ongoing LiveOps at different times.
​
There wasn't one marketing funnel to manage.
There were dozens.
The Challenge
Our Goals for MicroProse
-
Re-establish the MicroProse brand with both existing fans and a new generation of PC gamers.
-
Build audiences around individual games while strengthening the publisher behind them.
-
Grow Steam wishlists, followers, awareness and sales across the portfolio.
-
Create scalable launch and go-to-market processes capable of supporting 45+ games.
-
Develop influencer, media and community relationships that could support future releases.
-
Generate enough commercial growth to justify building a permanent internal marketing function.
MicroProse had a strong name, a growing catalogue and significant market potential, but internally the marketing and production functions lacked the structure needed to support that growth.
The people involved in marketing were fragmented across the business, with responsibilities often assigned based on availability rather than individual strengths. There was no clear ownership of channels, campaigns or outcomes, which made it difficult to know who was responsible for what.
​
There were also very few established processes. Marketing activity was often reactive, priorities shifted frequently, and there was no consistent structure for planning launches, supporting titles or managing ongoing communications.
​
At the same time, the business had useful internal resources such as graphic design, video production and other creative support, but there was little visibility around what was available, how to access it or when those teams should be involved.
Production faced similar challenges. Timelines, assets, launch requirements and marketing dependencies were not always aligned, making it harder to plan ahead and support a rapidly expanding catalogue.
​
The challenge was therefore much bigger than simply improving marketing performance.
Building From Scratch
We first needed to create the operating foundations behind the marketing function:
​
-
Put the right people on the right responsibilities based on their skills.
-
Establish clear ownership and accountability.
-
Introduce repeatable marketing, launch and production processes.
-
Define how internal creative and support teams were accessed and used.
-
Bring greater structure to production planning and marketing dependencies.
-
Create a system capable of supporting a growing portfolio without relying on ad hoc decisions.
​
Only once those fundamentals were in place could MicroProse begin scaling its marketing, production pipeline and team from a much stronger position.
A layered start-up strategy was built over time
The MicroProse brand had been synonymous with Sid Meier and other long-removed IP like Civilization and X-Com. Our goal was to build a layered strategy that would re-focus fans’ perceptions to the core of MicroProse (Mil-Sim genre) and educate a new generation on what the brand represented. In a start-up environment, growth relies on your team doing ‘everything-at-once’ and ‘out-of-the-box’ thinking.
​
Add a catalogue of 45 newly released, new to early access, preparing for early access or planned releases - we had to reinvent the planning, product-brand go-to-market strategy and release execution for so many titles.
Strong Fundamentals of Marketing,
Stronger Outcomes
We created fresh stories, angles and campaign hooks that gave press a reason to cover MicroProse again, helping rebuild media interest around the publisher and its games.
We rebuilt the fundamentals behind MicroProse’s marketing, from refreshing the brand and visual identity to restructuring email marketing, strengthening communications and rebuilding relationships with games media.
​
The result was a more consistent, recognisable publisher brand, stronger engagement with its audience, and a marketing foundation designed to support dozens of titles.
Much of the branding and positioning established during this period is still used by MicroProse today.
We overhauled the newsletter, refreshed the brand and introduced a more structured approach to email and player communications across launches, updates and the wider portfolio.
We created a stronger, more consistent visual identity across social, video and campaign content, with much of the branding and creative direction still used by MicroProse today.
Grow Marketing, Production Pipelines, Team
From a Position of Market Strength
Before scaling, we focused on getting the fundamentals right. That meant strengthening the MicroProse brand, improving communications, creating repeatable marketing processes and building a clearer structure around how games were positioned, promoted and brought to market.
​
Once those foundations were working, we could scale with confidence.
Marketing expanded, production and release pipelines became more structured, more titles could be supported at the same time, and the business was able to invest in building out its internal team.
​
Rather than growing first and trying to fix the problems later, we helped MicroProse grow from a position of market strength, with stronger systems, clearer processes and a brand players already trusted.
Expanding into physical collectors editions, attending trade shows like Gamescom etc came later, once income streams were stablized
Successful Outcomes
The ultimate objective wasn't to make MicroProse permanently dependent on vMarketer. It was to help build the commercial and marketing foundations that would allow the publisher to grow.
​
Over approximately 18 months, we helped revitalise the MicroProse brand, grow awareness around its portfolio, establish marketing systems and relationships, support revenue growth and build the foundations for a permanent internal marketing operation.
​
MicroProse ultimately reached the point where it could bring marketing in-house and establish its own full-time team.
​
For us, that's one of the best possible outcomes of an engagement.
Build the strategy. Build the audience. Build the systems. Create growth. Then leave the company stronger than when we arrived.
"Ash and his team are absolutely phenomenal, we couldn’t have gotten to where we are without them!
We set the overall pie-in-the-sky goals and left the details to Ash. Sorting out the huge catalogue of upcoming releases as well as growing us as a brand was a gigantic job. After over a year we wanted to move the marketing inhouse, and Ash & his team made this happen. We offered Ash the CMO role but he loves what he does on his terms, you gotta respect that, it works well!
We will definitely work with them in the future"
David L.
CEO, MicroProse