Dinkum

case study
Written By Black Soup

ABOUT THE GAME

Dinkum invites players into a charming, community-driven life simulator set in the heart of the Australian outback, where every farm, crafted item, and town-building decision shapes a personal story. Its cozy aesthetic and rich sandbox gameplay encourage exploration, creativity, and connection, while the game’s evolution from a solo project to a KRAFTON-published title reflects the growing excitement around its unique, heartfelt world.

Campaign Stages

Our campaign consisted of various stages. Use the menu below to jump to each respective section:

  1. Steam Spring Sale

  2. Free Weekend

  3. Global Launch

  4. Organic Campaign Summary

  5. Steam Summer Sale

Phase 1: Steam Spring Sale

Overview

  • Publisher: KRAFTON

  • Developer: James Bendon

  • Platform: Steam

  • Timing: Early 2025, coinciding with the Steam Spring Sale and free weekend

  • Goal: Increase visibility and drive new user acquisition via discounted price and free trial period

  • Strategy: Focus on YouTube evergreen content with supplementary Twitch coverage

  • Roster: 5 creators (3 solo, 1 duo)

Results

YouTube

  • Total Views: 292,000+ (vs. 189,000 estimated) → 155% overperformance

  • Notable Performers:

    • Gab Smolders: 118,000 views (148% of estimate), released an additional organic video

    • TmarTn: Last-minute addition with high-quality delivery

Twitch

  • Avg. CCV: 1,830 (vs. 2,700 estimated) → 68%

  • Hours Watched: 6,300

  • Overtime: All creators streamed over an hour longer than contracted

Phase 2: Free Weekend Activation

Overview

  • Timing: Free Weekend on Steam

  • Goal: Maximize player acquisition during time-limited free access

Results

YouTube

Twitch

  • Est. CCV: 13,780 | Actual CCV: 20,691 → 150%

  • Minutes Watched: 4,132,273

  • Avg. Overtime: 80 mins

  • Top Performers:

Phase 3: Global Launch

Overview

  • Timing: April 23rd, 2025 - Official full release of Dinkum under KRAFTON publishing

  • Goal: Celebrate the global launch and convert long-term interest into new sales

Results

YouTube

Twitch

  • Est. CCV: 15,900 | Actual CCV: 14,992 → 94%

  • Hours Watched: 47,092

  • Avg. Overtime: 84 mins

  • Notable Mentions:

TikTok (Spark Ads)

  • Estimated Views: 270,000

  • Actual Views: 1,933,049 → 716%

  • Top Performers:

Organic Campaign Summary

The stats below combine results of organic creator campaigns across Phase 2 and Phase 3. 

Results - Outreach & Engagement

  • Influencers Contacted: 356

  • Keys Sent: 72

  • Response Rate: 21%

  • Influencers Who Created Content: 58%

Results - Content Output

  • Unique Influencers Activated: 42

  • Livestreams: 149

  • Total Videos (incl. VODs): 128

Phase 4: Steam Summer Sale

Overview

  • Goal:

    • NA: Leverage Steam discounts with evergreen YouTube content from NA creators known for "100 Days in …" videos.

    • EU: Activate European creators to highlight the new features from the biggest update.

YouTube results (NA & EU)

  • Estimated Views: 722,000

  • Actual Views: 924,800 → 128%

Big organic coverage from Seanie Dew creating YouTube Shorts about Dinkum.

Twitch Results (EU)

  • Est. CCV: 5,700 | Actual CCV: 7,228 → 127%

  • Duration: 1,604 mins total streamed

  • Hours Watched: 25,412

  • Avg. Overtime: 109 mins

  • Top Performers:

    • Maxim: 146%

    • HollaDieWaldfee: 154%

    • Ultia: 130%

FINAL THOUGHTS

Across all four phases, Dinkum's influencer campaign demonstrated remarkable scalability, adaptability, and long-term community potential. While Phase 1 laid the groundwork, subsequent beats built momentum, expanded reach, and diversified creator presence across regions and formats. Organic contributions were significant, helping amplify paid efforts and providing a consistent stream of player-generated visibility. Strategic creator selection, transparent communication, and cross-team alignment proved key to success.

In the final phase of the activation, we encountered significant challenges in covering the update within the European market. These were mainly due to the limited pool of relevant German creators available to cover the game on YouTube within the required timeframe — combined with budget constraints — which impacted results. On Twitch, relying on a diverse group of consistent and regular creators helped deliver strong outcomes. On the other hand, the evergreen content planned for NA went well and the format and selection (although being short) helped with the good results.

From an organic perspective, we can see that the initial results were very good, even exceptional, compared to the later ones. In the final organic push, we had to broaden our creator prospecting in an attempt to secure coverage, as the last outreach yielded no results. In this case, it became clear that there were too many attempts within a short period of time to attract the same pool of creators to try the game and produce content, which had a negative outcome and, we believe, oversaturated creators.

Black Soup https://www.blacksoup.gg
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