Rebranding can either revitalise or demolish a company, so it’s no wonder that many businesses will pay top dollar to branding agencies and the like to make sure they get things exactly right.

Of course, there is still no guarantee that everything will go as planned, with many a brand having been metaphorically flushed down the toilet by a dismal rebranding strategy.

Video game and online gaming companies have been riding a wave of success of late, with many seeing their profits skyrocket in 2020, as people begin to buy into the idea of eSports as mainstream avenues of entertainment.

As brands in this competitive sector jostle for market share, many are deciding to pivot in new directions and search for a brand image that will appeal to a wide demographic, thereby reaping maximum rewards.

Here are some of the most interesting rebranding campaigns of the last few months, all of them from gaming companies that always have one eye on the future.

Tencent Gets a Facelift

Tencent is the biggest gaming company in the world, largely because it spearheads the already enormous and rapidly growing Chinese video gaming market.

They recently teamed up with DesignStudio in order to give their brand a more global appeal, as Chinese companies such as theirs look to branch out beyond China’s borders to compete with American and European firms.

America Is Opening Up to New Industries, So Branding Teams Are Scrambling

In recent times, American states have begun to warm to the idea of gaming companies moving in to offer new and exciting ranges of games. This includes poker, casino games, and mobile AR-based games.

In order to prepare themselves for the seemingly inevitable opening of new markets in one of the largest economies in the world, many online gaming companies have adopted a fresh brand approach and begun launching television ad campaigns all over the globe. Expect more to follow as regulatory boundaries continue to come down.

Mixer Becomes Facebook Gaming

Sometimes you can stick with a failing brand for so long that eventually, it’s necessary to admit defeat and try something new.

That is exactly what has happened with Microsoft-owned Mixer, which has been unable to compete with the likes of YouTube Gaming and Twitch, meaning that it has decided instead to partner with Facebook to create Facebook Gaming.

It is unclear exactly how users and streams alike will react to this move, with the Facebook brand having lost some credence with many younger demographics in recent years.

Discord Is Branching Out Beyond Gaming

Anyone who has spent time gaming online will know that the go-to place for gaming communities to chat is Discord, with the platform taking on a life of its own in recent months to become a fully-fledged social media entity.

At least that is the hope of its founders, who are currently in the midst of rebranding Discord to give it a wider scope, hoping to attract people from further afield than just gaming.

The worry is that by abandoning their main customer base they may cut the branch they were perched on from underneath themselves, although it seems that as long as the company maintains a strong relationship with Twitch it should do just fine.

PlayStation Studios Brings Everything Under One Roof

The PlayStation 5 is due to go head-to-head with the Xbox Series X in the run up to Christmas 2020. Part of Sony’s strategy to put on a unified front to consumers is to bring all of its games studios under one brand, namely PlayStation Studios.

It is a bold move, especially when you consider that most tech experts believe that the console concept could be on its way out in the not-too-distant-future, but Sony seems hellbent on pushing ahead regardless. We will only have to wait to see what comes out of it.