The video game and iGaming industries generate billions of dollars globally each year, and a lot of the industry's success isn't just down to players buying the games.

It's also about companies running effective gaming promotions to increase player engagement and retention, command attention to a product, and maximise the lifetime value of each player.

Let's dive in and take a closer look at some of the greatest gaming promotions of all time, which can also be referred to as video game or iGaming marketing campaigns.

What is the point of gaming promotions?

There are many different reasons for gaming promotions. For example, some gamings are designed to drum up pre-launch support for a new release. Other gaming promos run as soon as the game launches.

iGaming operators, for example, tend to run year-round promos to attract new members, run other promos to keep existing members, or get their fully registered members interested in certain games.

Today, you can find any world-class online casino with a promo offer that rewards players just for registering an account with them. It's called a welcome bonus or sign-up bonus, which usually includes a matching deposit bonus or a free spins bonus. There are many variations from casino to casino, but each offer is an attempt by the operator to keep the new visitor on the site and tempt them to play the many casino games on offer.

You also have other famous online casino promotions, like the iconic Drops & Wins promotion.

This famous iGaming promo is a network-wide promotion connecting over 50 online slot machines and hundreds of thousands of players through a prize-packed monthly online slot tournament.

During each Drops & Wins promotional period, players can win prizes just for playing their favourite Pragmatic Play slots in the real money mode.

You also have many one-off (in-game) promotional offers at specific times of the year and plenty of other regular, ongoing promotions.

The other reason for these gaming promotions is to stay one step ahead of rival companies, ensuring their games are exposed to the biggest and most relevant audiences.

Today, companies with nothing to do with the gaming industry can now advertise their products, services, and brands, such as clothing lines, fashion labels, sports brands, and electronic gadgets, in open-word games and metaverses like Fortnite, Roblox, Grand Theft Auto, and Minecraft.

This form of marketing/advertising/promotional campaign has completely changed the landscape of gaming forever.

What are the greatest ever gaming promotions?

Game development studios and publishing houses aren't just looking for a player's one-off payment fee for purchasing their game. It's different from the eighties, nineties, or even noughties. Today, it's different.

Companies are now competing against each other for players' attention over prolonged periods. Running the right kind of promotions can be the difference between how successful a game can be.

Some of the greatest ever gaming marketing campaigns over the past few decades involved the following games promotions:

* Animal Crossing - New Horizons for the Nintendo Switch once ran Lazy Oaf and 100 Thieves fashion brand with several branded events and online competitions

* Halo 5: Guardians - Master Chief. The '# HuntTheTrruth'l offer was designed to support the upcoming launch of the upcoming Halo 5: Guardians game via podcasts, an award-winning trailer, television and media outlet advertising, and online gaming activities, focusing on Master Chief. Ads were hidden in messages for players, which helped boost initial/pre-sales of the game

* Fortnite - Astronomical VR concert. Epic Games collaborated with Travis Scott to present an in-game virtual reality concert, which was a huge hit and got more players interested in the game. VR concerts are now a common occurrence and more popular than ever, with many other game development studios, singers, musicians, and bands collaborating to host similar events. People who attended could unlock exclusive add-ons and skins, encouraging players to spend money on other in-game 'purchaseables.' This kind of marketing has become known as Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO) marketing

* Bioshock 2 - a huge and significantly successful marketing campaign for this game led to it becoming the most successful launch of 2010

* Call of Duty: Black Ops II - also ran a successful advertising campaign around the same time (2010) that included a documentary that was trailered during the NBA playoffs. It was also released on YouTube, gaining over 38 million hits that helped boost initial sales of the game.

Some of the other notable gaming promotions that are still remembered today are the Gears of War' Mad World', the Nintendo Wii 'Wii Would Like to Play', and the SEGA Genesis' Genesis Does What Nintendon't'.

That's not forgetting the Merge Mansion 'He is Alive' and the PlayStation 3 'It Only Does Everything', as well as gaming promotions for Mass Effect 3, Disney Infinity, Mario Kart, FIFA Soccer 13, EAFC 24, Angry Birds, Wii Sports, Dead Island, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, and The Sims 2, to name a few.

Today, gaming involves more than just television advertising. Companies also promote their games via influencers on video game streaming platforms like Twitch and YouTube.

There are also many website and blog advertising campaigns and social media campaigns (TikTok, Twitter, X, Facebook, etc.).

To launch successful gaming promotions, companies must be familiar with their target audiences, listen to their feedback and comments, and what they like or dislike about certain game elements.