What a year it was for the gaming industry. Major layoffs and studio closures matched Microsoft's $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The rise of artificial intelligence and UGC, the closure of Google's Stadia, and more. While it’s certainly been a challenging time for all gaming market members, Drope.me is excited about the prospects of the gaming industry and influencer marketing.
Drope.me is an AI-enabled performance-based influencer marketing platform, that helps gaming companies pay only for tangible results and engage micro-influencers at scale. While offering game developers and publishers a tool to ease their marketing efforts, we provide an opportunity for small content creators to earn, grow, and reward their communities.
With the official launch of our beta on June 16, 2023, over 170 influencer marketing campaigns were hosted on the platform by indie devs, publishers, UEFN, and Roblox creators. We paid out over $45K to influencers and hosted over 100 Drops with prizes for the community. Constantly transforming and developing the platform, we also led many successful initiatives and projects, which we will talk about further.
Product Hunt Launch
Product Hunt (PH) is an international online platform where users discover and share new products and services. Drope.me's recognition as the #3 Product of the Day and #3 Marketing Product of the Week on PH highlights our user-friendly interface and groundbreaking features that captivated the gaming community and beyond. It’s been our first campaign, and we’re overwhelmingly proud of the result.
Drope.me results on Product Hunt. Image: Drope.me
Over 620 votes were collected since the launch happened on July 14, 2023, along with being one of the trending searches on Product Hunt and highlighted in the PH Newsletter.
Gamescom 2023 in Cologne, Germany
Then Gamescom 2023 happened, one of the most important gaming events in the world. Drope.me not only represented Ukraine within a dedicated Ukraine pavilion but also hosted its first offline mixer. We gathered the most talented and passionate gaming experts from around the world, talked about the industry’s future, introduced Drope.me, and just had fun.
Dima Okhrimchuk, founder and CEO of Drope.me, at the Gaming Buzz: Drope.me Mixer. Photo: Drope.me
Indie Roadshow to Empower Indie Game Developers
The Indie Roadshow was a pivotal project for indies aimed at supporting game developers. We opened submissions to select 50 of the most talented indie developers to grant them $10,000. This budget was divided between the participants so they could boost their marketing efforts and launch influencer marketing campaigns on Drope.me. However, due to the high interest in the project, we later prolonged it by opening 15 more spots and allocating an additional budget.
Indie Roadshow results. Image: Drope.me
We witnessed over 300 companies apply, 65 were selected, with 59 campaigns on Drope.me launched, resulting in a direct payout of over $8,000 to streamers. Introducing this project allowed indie developers to test our product firsthand. Those who participated in Indie Roadshow began considering the platform for their upcoming promotional efforts, with three developers already initiating new campaigns on Drope.me.
Drope.me Indie Game Awards 2023
The Drope.me Indie Game Awards 2023 was the final initiative of 2023. We wanted to celebrate the best indies issued this year and showcase them to the world. While we believe the community is the gaming industry’s core, we invited gaming enthusiasts, players, and streamers to nominate and later vote for the shortlisted games in five categories.
As a result, we received over 700 submissions, partnered with the hardware brand Lorgar and gaming media outlet Indie Games Devel, and set up 34 Drops with over 800 unique participants. To announce the winners, we decided to host a live ceremony on Twitch and invited five streamers to participate in a quiz during this stream. AYV3E, HarkerRyan, PNKFacil, ultracauaHD, Agent, and Dima Okrhimchuk, founder and CEO of Drope.me, as a host of the stream, made a hilarious mini-event on Twitch together that was viewed by 54 viewers at peak and 40 viewers on average.
Drope.me Indie Game Awards 2023. Winners’ ceremony. Image: Drope.me
Apart from this, Drope.me was featured on Hackernoon, The Indie Diarist, IndieGameiacs, and more, presented at the IndieGameBusiness and HIT Games Conference events, partnered with the Games for Love charity that helps kids in need, and has even more to come.
Looking Ahead of 2024!
As Drope.me concludes an eventful chapter in 2023, the stage is set for an even more thrilling 2024. Some of the initiatives will find their further development in 2024, Indie Roadshow, for example, and new ones will launch for sure. Stay tuned for Drope.me's continued dedication to innovation, collaboration, and reshaping the gaming and streaming experience.
Dima Okhrimchuk, founder and CEO of Drope.me. Photo: Drope.me
“During the first six months after launching a beta version of Drope.me, our main focus was to polish the product based on the feedback from gaming companies and creators. However, we are just beginning to scratch the surface of our vision to enable companies to run influencer marketing campaigns on a complete auto-pilot and pay only for tangible results. Stay tuned!” shared Dima Okhrimchuk, founder and CEO of Drope.me.
The journey doesn't end here; it's only just begun.
Source: Drope.me
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