Speaking of supporting, like Crimefest this event has no barring at all on people playing Payday 2 which is weird considering that this is supposed to be a celebration. Like many fans, I bought most of the DLC when it was released with the exception of the recent ones and by not counting all that DLC, Overkill is punishing their fans that supported them day one. First is the fact that only DLC bought during the event counts towards hype fuel. While both events are similar in practice, there are a few differences that are causing the fan base to be annoyed with Overkill. The event has a bunch of rewards including another new character, two heists and the final reward is to have an official Payda圜on where people can get together and meet.īut despite these rewards, the community is not taking to the event with many of them calling Overkill out for being way too greedy and misusing the community. The Overkill and Completely Overkill DLC packs are what Overkill is hoping people will buy to fuel the hype train event. Those two DLCs give more hype fuel than the regular DLC and it appears that it only counts DLC bought during the event. Two special pieces of DLC were added with the start of the event with one giving new weapons and the other one costing the most at $20 giving special masks and a secret reward. The Hype Train event works like this, anyone who buys DLC between the 5th of February and the 12th of March will unlock hype fuel which gets added to the counter and once it hits the different points, the community as a whole will be rewarded when the event begins March 13th. Now Overkill is trying a second go at this with the Hype Train but we’re not seeing the same interest and enthusiasm by the fan base.
There were reports that people were making free Steam accounts with the sole purpose to join the group to inflate the numbers which Overkill didn’t mind. By the end of the event there were over 2 million subscribers and the game received a second life with a lot of people playing again and interest renewed. The Payday 2 Steam group is used by Overkill to promote updates and news and anyone a part of it would also get free community upgrades which the crimefest bonuses were a part of. These rewards ranged from new masks, heists and even a free character pack including fan favorite Hoxton making a return. The rules for Crimefest were simple, every member in the Payday 2 Steam group would be counted and at certain thresholds of numbers, rewards for the game were unlocked. Let’s start with Crimefest as that set the stage for the hype train event. The difference in marketing strategy is our subject today and why one promotion succeeded and the other is failing for Overkill. However this time the event has become hated by the fans and at this point, it may not come anywhere near reaching all the rewards. This year they are running the hype train event with the promise of the same system.
The event featured months of lead up where players could influence the rewards they would get for free based on how many people signed up to the Payday 2 Steam group which culminated in an entire week of free updates to the game.
Last year Overkill Software ran an impressive marketing event called Crimefest for their hit game Payday 2.