For as long as the video game industry has been around, there's been marketing to push upcoming games towards their respective audiences. This is especially important for indie games like We Are OFK, that don't usually have the support of a brand or big-name company behind them. While Sony is helping out a tad on the marketing side with their exclusive partnership, We Are OFK has decided to market itself in a unique way. It's using the faces and personalities of the game's band members as stars.
The biopic narrative indie game was revealed with a live performance by the band at The Game Awards last year. Despite the performance of the debut song "Follow/Unfollow," not much was given back then in regards to the game itself, just that it was coming. More details have been shared as of the latest State of Play, including the game's release window. In the meantime, however, OFK hopefuls have been given content to tide them over in the form of the group's Twitter accounts.
OFK Live on Twitter
Shortly after The Game Awards performance, the official OFK band Twitter went live, and with it came the announcement tweets and personal tweets of the band's members, Luca Le Fae, Itsumi Saito, Carter Flores, and Jey Zhang. While many of the accounts have differentiating usage, naturally the OFK official Twitter and Luca's Twitter, as the band's lead vocalist, tweet the most out of the group. Despite the accounts being used to promote the game and the band, the accounts are all being run in different ways; and Luca himself streams on Twitch every so often.
While some of Luca's streams have been him being the "host" for official We Are OFK Q&A's with the developers, a majority of the streams deal with the character being portrayed through a Live 3D Model in the game's art style, as he plays through games such as Hades and Super Mario 3D World. The other band members use their Twitter as if it's their personal accounts, with Itsumi's sharing frog pictures and Carter's being structured in almost a poetic sense. All of the Twitter profiles, as a whole, come off as friendly and open while letting fans get to know the characters themselves.
We Are OFK: Showcasing Characters First is Brilliant Marketing
For a biopic narrative game about how OFK was formed, promoting the game by giving the characters life is a brilliant tactic, especially with the type of audience that We Are OFK is trying to bring in. At The Game Awards, Luca wore a "Black Trans Lives Matter" T-shirt, and all OFK members make sure that their pronouns are publicly displayed in their profiles. The atmosphere their social media presence sets up is incredibly LGBT friendly, as the characters are openly LGBT themselves. This is only added to the fact that the dialogue options in We Are OFK have been implied to include flirting and romance options in the latest State of Play trailer.
It's clear that We Are OFK seeks to make itself known to LGBT+ audiences with these Twitter profiles. The way that the characters run their social media presence is done in ways that only the people of that demographic could manage, which in turn, is perfect for attracting the intended audience. While it may seem unorthodox, it works incredibly well and makes the game an inviting experience for those it intends to sell to. The openness of OFK's characters in itself is what many LGBT+ people want to see in their media, and everything so far about the game promises to deliver a great experience for its fans in regards to LGBT+ positive representation.
While the game isn't out yet, just the way the marketing has been handled alone speaks volumes about how the game is not only made to be LGBT+ positive, but also written and led by LGBT+ people themselves. This, added with the fact that the cast is made up of a majority of different races, also paints We Are OFK as a great game for a diverse audience of players right from the start.
This kind of unexpected marketing is exactly what a game like We Are OFK needs in regards to its material. With the game being narrative and player-choice driven, having a good core cast of characters is important. Not only is this a great way to flesh those characters out, but it also gives players a good idea of what to expect from the game as a whole. With how Sony reportedly wants more diverse games for its lineup, We Are OFK may be the potential hit needed to change what games like these can do for that audience.
We Are OFK releases in 2022 on PS4 and PS5.