Your first creator campaign should answer a useful question without committing your entire launch budget. Start with the amount you can afford to spend, include every promised payment, and decide what evidence would justify a second round. The worksheet below is a planning example, not a market-rate guide or a prediction of results.
1. Give the test one question
Choose something your team can act on. For example: Can creators who make co-op challenge videos explain our two-player mechanic clearly? That is a more useful first test than asking whether influencer marketing works in general. Pick the game build, intended audience, and video format before asking for quotes.
Separate evidence about the content from evidence about the game. A video can explain the mechanic well but reach the wrong audience. Interested viewers can also arrive and leave because the opening experience is confusing. Record those as different findings so the next decision addresses the right problem.
2. Set a ceiling that includes every commitment
Write down your total spending limit before negotiations. Include creator fees, performance bonuses, any separately quoted edits or usage rights, and payment fees you expect to cover. Keep an uncommitted reserve for changes you explicitly approve. A reserve is money inside your ceiling, not permission to exceed it.
For a hypothetical $300 test, a studio might reserve $240 for creator agreements, $30 for payment or production costs, and $30 for unexpected changes. These are arbitrary planning amounts. Actual quotes may make that allocation unsuitable; change the number of videos or the scope rather than assuming creators will accept it.
- Give each proposed video a row: creator, agreed fee, maximum bonus, other approved costs, and maximum total.
- Add the maximum totals before approving the work. Keep committed money separate from money already paid.
- Do not count possible referral revenue, hoped-for game earnings, or a creator declining the offer as available funding.
3. Calculate the maximum cost before choosing the offer
For a fixed fee, enter the agreed amount plus any optional work you have approved. For a view-based offer, write the rate, whether payment is proportional, the measurement date, and the cap for each video. The maximum possible payment belongs in the committed column even if the video has not been posted.
For example, a hypothetical offer of $5 per 1,000 qualifying views, paid proportionally and capped at $50 per video, reaches its cap at 10,000 qualifying views. Two approved videos could therefore cost $100 in total. If you also promise a $20 base fee per video, their combined maximum becomes $140. State clearly whether the cap includes the base fee.
Agree how views will be evidenced and which uploads the offer covers. Cross-posting one edit to several platforms should not silently multiply either the expected deliverables or the payout. If the creator quotes a different structure, update the worksheet before accepting it.
4. Buy a test you can learn from
Choose the smallest set of collaborations that can answer your question. If the available budget cannot cover the quotes you receive, ask about a narrower deliverable or wait. Do not divide a tiny budget across so many creators that nobody can deliver the format you need.
Keep the recording build and main call to action consistent where possible. Record meaningful differences, such as one creator receiving access earlier or choosing a different opening. Changing the audience, format, build, and offer all at once makes it harder to understand what caused a different response.
Leave room to learn before committing to the next wave. Where a performance payment is measured later, that obligation remains committed until it is settled; an early low view count does not release the reserved money.
5. Make a spending decision after the test
Review the actual content, delivery against the agreed scope, audience response, and any game-traffic evidence you can reasonably connect to the campaign. Compare those observations with the question you wrote at the start. Public views alone do not tell you how many people became retained players or paying customers.
Choose a concrete next step: repeat the format with a better-fit audience, improve the recording build, revise the pitch, or stop. Increase spending only when you can explain what the next round is meant to improve. A useful first campaign leaves you with a decision and an accurate record of what you still owe.
- Before committing: scope, maximum payment, measurement date, and payment timing are written down.
- Before adding another creator: the sum of all outstanding commitments still fits the ceiling.
- After the test: actual spend, unpaid commitments, observations, and the next decision are recorded separately.
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