How 10 Chambers is using Lurkit as a force for creator engagement
The team behind GTFO share the secrets behind the reveal of Den on Wolves
The community team at 10 Chambers, behind the game GTFO, is using creators at the center of their marketing strategy. To reveal their upcoming title at The Game Awards, the team leaned on Lurkit to execute a marketing stunt that had never been seen before. This wasn't their first time working with Lurkit. After the success of GTFO, Lurkit was 10 Chambers' first marketing pick for this new title.
10 Chambers' Head of Community, Calle Johansson-Sundelius, and Social Media Manager, Vlad Smolyakov, sat down with Lurkit to reflect on the success of GTFO and to take us behind the scenes of their marketing stunt at The Game Awards for their upcoming game, Den of Wolves. The duo keeps a steady finger on the gaming community's pulse,
At its heart, 10 Chambers is a game studio created by ten industry veterans with a dream in 2015. Ulf Andersson, the co-founder and CEO, would say that he'd step down if there were ever more than ten people at the company. Fast forward to 2024, the game studio has over 100 people. "Ulf is still around," Calle says jokingly.
GTFO was 10 Chambers' first game, a passion project of the founding members and the original crew of developers.
"It was built by a studio of 10 people, a very skeleton crew of people creating this game,” says Calle. “The game idea was to be very hardcore and force players to cooperate. If you’re not cooperating in GTFO, you will die."
Why 10 Chambers Continues to Choose Lurkit
Tapping into the tight, niche communities is usually the biggest struggle for game developers. This player base is picky about their games and would only play them if a recommendation came from someone they trust. 10 Chambers had a solid game in GTFO, which would become a staple in the library of a hardcore FPS lover. To reach these niche communities, 10 Chambers turned to smaller streamers.
"I was really excited that Lurkit was set up when I joined 10 Chambers because I came from the streaming world, and I understood what value small tight streamers and their communities can bring compared to larger ones," says Calle.
GTFO was always meant to belong in the big leagues, a reflection of the ambitious vision held by 10 Chambers during its creation. The developer added aspects you'd only see in AAA titles. And with Lurkit's creator program, 10 Chambers also managed to connect with smaller streamers and their loyal audience.
"We are super impressed by the agility and flexibility in working with Lurkit,” Calle adds. “It’s impressive how Lurkit can deviate from the roadmap to consider other opportunities. We also liked that Lurkit is challenging us: why don't you do, try this and this?"
Onboarding Hundreds of Creators
10 Chambers went with Lurkit's creator program, where developers can onboard streamers to talk about their games, send them on missions, and reward them for engagement. Possibilities are endless, and 10 Chambers benefited from them fully. The vision for the community team is clear: quality over quantity. Instead of squandering money on gaining numbers, they wanted meaningful engagement, Vlad explained.
"You'd be surprised at how many agencies would push to spend on the follower numbers, but if you dig into those numbers, you’d quickly find out that you wouldn't get out so much," Calle says. "Engagement is extremely important. And you really need to do your homework."
10 Chambers understands how smaller creators are a linchpin of building an engaged community.
"The hardcore gamers want to be whipped and thrown into burning oil,” Vlad continues. “But how do you satisfy the needs of all players? That is the challenge. That's where creators come in; they can play the game, fail, learn, and adapt. And they can show their gaming experience to new players."
With Lurkit as a secure bridge, 10 Chamber's litmus test was a success. However, revealing their future title, they sought an additional edge.
Exploring Den of Wolves' Unorthodox Title Reveal
With one successful title already under their belt, the 10 Chambers team dove into influencer marketing as the primary strategy for promoting their upcoming title, Den of Wolves, a cooperative heist FPS. But, this time, they wanted a jaw-dropping launch and asked Lurkit to make it happen.
Goal: Achieve a successful game title launch for Den of Wolves without leaking the teaser ahead of time. 10 Chambers wanted a big reveal, which would start conversations among gamers and boost engagement.
Challenge: To achieve the goal, 10 Chambers would need to enroll creators via Lurkit’s creator platform. However, they wanted a foolproof reveal without any leaks. Although creators on Lurkit adhere to strict embargoes, 10 Chambers aimed for a grand unveiling, envisioning a moment where viewers collectively experience the launch for the first time.
"The process started with Calle and me bashing our heads against the walls,” Vlad begins. “We have this project at hand; we have the budget, but we cannot afford a leak. It was a really secret project, so we couldn't reach out to creators in advance to risk a leak.
Solution: 10 Chambers came to Lurkit with an idea that would sound wild to a regular game marketing platform. They wanted a paid sponsorship activation but with a twist. Instead of informing them about the reveal ahead of time, 10 Chambers came up with the idea of a "faux-hack” of the streamers OBS that would reveal it as a surprise.
"Let's see with Lurkit if we can pitch creators to be part of this secret project. And can we activate the overlay at the right time? To this day, we still don't know how Lurkit managed to pull off such a secret sponsorship," Vlad continues.
During The Game Awards, Lurkit supplied 160 streamers with an OBS URL. To ensure that creators felt safe and happy, the platform communicated that it was a sponsorship event and something would happen during the TGA stream. But, to maintain confidentiality upon 10 Chamber's request, creators weren't told about the Den of Wolves title launch, breach timing, or even the nature of the sponsorship. At the exact time Ulf, the CEO, went up on stage at the TGA for the reveal, a message said, "Your stream has been breached. Go to DENOFWOLVES.COM '' appeared on all 160 streams.
Result: 10 Chamber's stream-breach marketing stunt was a big success, with streamers reacting to the news game, creating tons of hype around the title reveal. As a result, viewers of all 160 streamers were intrigued to check out the mysterious game that hacked their The Game Awards stream.
“Looking at the hard numbers, it was a success for us,” Calle says. “Seeing the effect going live and the reactions was so cool. People loved the trailer, and I think those honest reactions to whatever happened made even better exposure for the game.”
Key Takeaway: For 10 Chambers, Lurkit is a marketing platform that is open to ideas, executes them to perfection, and continues to provide consistent solutions. Lurkit has a strength in being a lean platform. Agencies have super big margins; you are transparent with costs and how much goes to creators. With the self-service model, we can keep it lean and very effective. Whether it was organic campaigns or paid, Lurkit ensured that 10 Chambers got value for their money in boosted engagement, something that was a priority for the developer.
10 Chambers aims to work with Lurkit in the long-term, a platform they labeled as a "full stack tech with a personal approach."