Marketing AAA Games: Why Positioning Beats Advertising

In this episode of The Future of Marketing, host Andres Figueira interviews Pierre Miazga, Studio Marketing and Communications Director at Ubisoft Bordeaux. Pierre reveals how AAA game marketing has evolved from traditional campaign-based promotion to embedded development marketing - where marketers function as "enablers" rather than sellers, working directly with creative teams from concept phase through launch. With Assassin's Creed Mirage as a case study, Pierre unpacks how Ubisoft Bordeaux navigated the challenge of marketing a legacy title to hardcore fans in a market releasing 52 games per day, while maintaining creative risk-taking and authentic player relationships. His approach demonstrates how entertainment marketing can balance player expectations with creative surprise in an increasingly fragmented and competitive landscape. Topics Discussed: Embedded marketing in game development vs. traditional go-to-market campaigns Marketing as "enabler" in creative development processes Navigating the saturated gaming market (20,000 Steam releases annually) Competing for player time, not just against other games Building games "from fans to fans" through direct player involvement Balancing player expectations with creative surprise The 3-4 year game development cycle and when marketing enters Cross-functional collaboration between marketing, creative, artistic, and technical teams Positioning vs. advertising in game development Managing tone consistency across multi-year development cycles