Hi all! I’m going through the Marketplace catalog and our past submissions and noticed some patterns I thought people might find interesting. In no particular order, these are the top three things we get the most submissions of:
- Blueprint Inventory Systems
- Crates\Barrels
- Stone\Rock material packs
We get dozens and dozens of each, and not all of them are high enough quality to make it past the Epic quality bar. In general, it’s better to try to find something unique or different about what you’re creating that sets it apart from others than it is trying to compete in a crowded area. One way to differentiate is by adding more functionality and being easier to use rather than simply adding more content and trying to compete only on quality.
On the subject of how to stand out in the Marketplace, I had a few thoughts on that. An important lesson in product design and marketing for Unreal Engine Marketplace sellers: A pack of 15 hammers is less useful than a pack of hammers, wrenches, pliers, screwdrivers, and a toolbox to put them in.
First think about usage cases in a video game: How many games have 15 different hammers? How many people are likely to buy that many hammers for their project? You may be limiting your market by being too specific. You want your appeal to be broad enough to generate sales for a variety of game types, while being specific enough to think “Hey, I could use that! I’m going to buy it!”
Next, think about what a buyer is likely to do a Google search for when they want something: If someone searches for “hammer,” are they likely to want 15 different hammers? Or are they more likely to want an assortment of tools they could use throughout their game in a variety of different usage cases?
The purchase impulse and thought process are going to be “I need a specific thing,” and then “okay, what else do I get for the price?” If it’s a pack of 15 hammers and they only need one, that’s not going to be a lot of value, and they probably won’t buy it. But if they only need one hammer, and they get a variety of other tools and props as well, that’s more likely to lead to a purchase.
Hammers were a random example, but I see this with packs of 50 variations on a single type of stone, or a Blueprint that can only assemble a single type of thing. Finding the right balance between filling a specific need and doing it in a general way that will be useful to a large ‘market’ of game types (action, horror, RTS, racing, etc) is the tricky part. Fortunately, I’m here to observe what does, examine the data, find the best way to do it, and then to help teach the community to market and design products for the Marketplace. Epic wants you to do well and succeed.
Now, with all that being said, here are the top 3 types of content we’d like to see more of:
- 2D content
- User Interface content
- Characters (rigged!)
I see a lot of opportunities there to create great content and dominate those entire categories. Right now they’re a little bit light, but I know the talent is out here in the community to do terrific work and help fill them out.