In summer of 2021, Digital Extremes came to us for support with launching The New War – a massive story expansion for the independent studio’s hit online sci-fi shooter Warframe. Recognizing the game’s established fervent fan following, we knew media and players alike would be excited, but also have high expectations for the next chapter of their favorite F2P space epic. Keeping that in mind, we focused our efforts on strategic individualized pitching to land coverage with some of the most reputable gaming and entertainment outlets in North America.
With The New War launching eight years after the inaugural game’s release and requiring players to have already dedicated significant amount of play time, we knew we needed to dig deep to find the biggest Warframe fanatics in gaming media. Our targets needed to understand the lore, game mechanics and high stakes to truly appreciate the scope and significance of the franchise’s upcoming installment.
Once we meticulously vetted our list of media, we began pitching a virtual press preview event for The New War, hosted by Digital Extremes. Our diligent efforts resulted in stellar preview coverage from major gaming and entertainment outlets, including GameSpot, Game Rant, Attack of the Fanboy, Bleeding Cool, Fanbyte and more.
After seeing the enthusiastic response from our preview attendees, we knew Digital Extremes delivered and that the launch of The New War would be a defining moment in Warframe history. We quickly got to work preparing assets, ironing out our media list and drafting a compelling lead-in that would entice even those who were not already familiar with the franchise.
We pre-pitched the trailer to a targeted list of our press contacts before sending the announcement of The New War’s arrival to our wide media list the day of the launch. In the first two days, we locked in coverage with several noteworthy gaming and entertainment outlets, including GameSpot, TheGamer, Wccftech and PC Invasion. In addition, our outreach secured numerous articles and guides with geek and gaming outlets DualShockers, Attack of the Fanboy and Fanbyte.
To further promote the hard work that went into producing this epic expansion to an already free game, we also coordinated an exclusive interview between Warframe’s live operations director Rebecca Ford and massive gaming outlet Polygon. As we head into the new year, we have additional interviews in the works and are continuing to work closely with Digital Extremes to plan its post-New War campaigns.
Check out some of our coverage highlights from The New War launch campaign below:
