Knockout City, a brand new IP by Velan Studios, exploded onto the market like a bomb ball to the face. I often refer to the three months following our launch as “drinking from the firehose,” because it felt like we had opened the floodgates. The work I had done previously to scale communities was put to the test, and the learning curve was steep– in no time, we had a thriving community of over 13 million players, a network of 100+ dedicated creators, and social channels that grew from nothing to hundreds of thousands of followers.

It was important to me that Knockout City’s community strategy included initiatives to support and sustain this massive growth and engagement, while encouraging long-term retention. To that end, I focused on three main areas: influencer engagement, education through entertainment, and multi-channel platform marketing.

I started by spearheading our Creator Crew program, connecting with innovative content creators, supporting their growth, and ensuring their efforts to support our game would be reciprocated by pushing for in-game cosmetics designed just for them. Then, to educate and entertain our audience, I wrote engaging newsletters and blogs that covered everything from in-depth game breakdowns to community spotlights, which were featured on national sites like Xbox.com, PlayStation Blog and more.  Finally, I managed all of our social media and platform marketing efforts, ensuring that each message was customized for the proper audience from Steam to Twitter for maximum engagement.

When it came time to switch to self-publishing, I rolled up my sleeves and took on customer support, creating knowledge base articles, and training our support staff in troubleshooting and communications, ensuring a smooth transition without losing player trust. Social media? Handled. Player feedback loops? Built from scratch. Sentiment analysis? Designed and implemented.

Knockout City wasn’t just a game—it was a living, breathing ecosystem, and I made sure every player felt like they belonged in it.