Hello. I really love playing osu and I'm recommending it to my friends whenever I can. Sadly, it's popularity is still far away from giants like lol, cs:go, forttnite etc. I do realize that osu as a rhythym game probably will never be that popular as first person shooters are, but it doesn't mean that it can't go big. Recently compuetr card games got really popular. Few years ago no one would guess that Hearthstone will have over seventy milion players and will organize tournaments with prize poll of $1,000,000 USD. In the last osu! World Championships there was a 300$ for every Polish team member (they won the tournament).

1.How to make osu more popular?

1) I've never seen an ad that would recommend osu to me. In my opinion it's the most important thing. With it even some not really good games became more or less popular. For example I often see an ad of Naruto online game. As I know it jumps everywhere even to people that are not into anime.

2) Pay bigger gaming/anime content youtubers that are not connected with osu for advertising it. Many games are using this way of advertising becouse they know that people who watch it, may actually get interested in it.

3) Organize more live tournaments (even small) on bigger events. The biggest advantage of lol, cs etc. over osu is that they have live tournaments when people can see their favorite players and cheer them. It works especially on team vs team tournaments.

4) Get more intersted into youtube, facebook etc.

2.I do realize that it all costs, but there are a few "easy" ways of getting more money.

1) Why won't you enable ads on the official site? I really woudn't mind seeing them if it helps you with improving the game. Hell, I would even click it once a day if it gives you additional money.

2) As I wrote in the point 1.4. Upload videos more often. For example: show people a few most popular new beatmaps once a weak, present new fun skins, show some epic plays etc. Make it longer then 10 minutes, so you can give more advertisements.

3) Try to get some sponsors?. Afetr all those years users still keep asking the same questions: "What tablet should I buy for osu!?", "What mouse is the best for osu?", "Should I buy a new keyboard to play better?". Recently many big companies are interested in supporting online games and e-sport. Even those not related to games like Sprite or Red bull.

4) Maybe open a shop with osu gadgets? Clothes, cups, mouse pads and more.


I know that it all needs a time, but take step forward!

You're ignoring the biggest reason why people don't play osu and probably the biggest stigma.

There's so much weeb shit going on.

Chintam wrote:

You're ignoring the biggest reason why people don't play osu and probably the biggest stigma.

There's so much weeb shit going on.

But osu is better than them, isn't it? Most people don't even know that osu exists and thats the biggest problem. If it had a better advertising campaign then more people would try playing the game and some of them would like it.

rafiti12 wrote:

4) Maybe open a shop with osu gadgets? Clothes, cups, mouse pads and more.

uhhh, I randomly saw this thread so I don't have much to say, but this point concerned me.
don't you mean... https://osu.ppy.sh/store/listing ?
this already exists.
it's linked on the homepage

rafiti12 wrote:

4) Maybe open a shop with osu gadgets? Clothes, cups, mouse pads and more.

uhhh, I randomly saw this thread so I don't have much to say, but this point concerned me.
don't you mean... https://osu.ppy.sh/store/listing ?
this already exists.
it's linked on the homepage

rafiti12 wrote:

But osu is better than them, isn't it? Most people don't even know that osu exists and thats the biggest problem. If it had a better advertising campaign then more people would try playing the game and some of them would like it.

I shouldn't have been drinking coffee while reading that, I almost choked laughing.

1) Why would osu! need to be any more popular than it already is?
2) What will it being more popular accomplish?
3) r/osugame being having posts that touch the front page of reddit not enough?
4) Is osu! logo being one of the biggest subjects of /r/place a year ago not enough?
5) Is pewdiepie featuring osu! not an advertisement enough?
6) Are youtube comments mentioning osu! in almost every piece of music popularized by it not enough?

Almost every person that plays games and spends their time online knows what osu! is. They eventually bump into it. They know how cancerous it and they avoid it. Those who don't spend their time online and play games have a life still not ruined by this game.

Noffy wrote:

rafiti12 wrote:

4) Maybe open a shop with osu gadgets? Clothes, cups, mouse pads and more.

uhhh, I randomly saw this thread so I don't have much to say, but this point concerned me.
don't you mean... https://osu.ppy.sh/store/listing ?
this already exists.
it's linked on the homepage

Well, I didn't know about it xD

abraker wrote:

rafiti12 wrote:

But osu is better than them, isn't it? Most people don't even know that osu exists and thats the biggest problem. If it had a better advertising campaign then more people would try playing the game and some of them would like it.

I shouldn't have been drinking coffee while reading that, I almost choked laughing.

1) Why would osu! need to be any more popular than it already is?
2) What will it being more popular accomplish?
3) r/osugame being having posts that touch the front page of reddit not enough?
4) Is osu! logo being one of the biggest subjects of /r/place a year ago not enough?
5) Is pewdiepie featuring osu! not an advertisement enough?
6) Are youtube comments mentioning osu! in almost every piece of music popularized by it not enough?

Almost every person that plays games and spends their time online knows what osu! is. They eventually bump into it. They know how cancerous it and they avoid it. Those who don't spend their time online and play games have a life still not ruined by this game.

I want it to be more popular becouse with popularity comes money and money means more good things for us - users. Don't you want to see some huge osu events like major in cs:go or LCS in lol? I would love it.

Also with new players come new mappers. There is never too much songs

And I won't agree that most players know about osu. Only a few of my friends knew about osu before I showed them what it is. Some of them are still playing it. Maybe it's more popular in USA, but in Poland (and probably other European countries) hardly anyone knows about the game.

if osu gets very big it will get killed by artists dmcaing everything since all the audio in maps is basically used illegally with very few exceptions.

Peppy has made the statement that he does not intend to make an effort to advertise osu! (his specific comment was about adding osu1 to Steam). I dont think its going to happen if the creator isn't on board

Nao Tomori wrote:

if osu gets very big it will get killed by artists DMCAing everything since all the audio in maps is basically used illegally with very few exceptions.

Yeah, we're in a pretty big legal grey zone currently with the rights of the song. Part of the reason why we're fine is because osu is relatively small but also because osu! is free.

Adding ads might constitute as profiting off the songs, therefore, making some more people unhappy.

Honestly, I do wish there were more people who played osu.

Nao Tomori wrote:

if osu gets very big it will get killed by artists dmcaing everything since all the audio in maps is basically used illegally with very few exceptions.

Basically this - too much attention will lead to wave of DMCA which will end in "a pretty disaster". No point to make osu more popular than it is. I am more than sure some artists / distributors are right now looking at osu and just waiting for the moment to hit it with DMCA or close one eye on what we are doing.

The moment where osu! will profit directly from the songs is moment where everyone wakes up and start sending very bad notes to ppy.
The moment where osu! will be way too big, read above.

osu!lazer map compressig and hiding song file may be a way to lower the thread since there will be no direct option to get an song file out of it.

[Taiga] wrote:

osu!lazer map compressig and hiding song file may be a way to lower the thread since there will be no direct option to get an song file out of it.

Yeah, I thought about the same thing. Aren't all those songs with circle clicking sound treated like a cover? Problem is that everyone has
access to songs in their files.

rafiti12 wrote:

[Taiga] wrote:

osu!lazer map compressig and hiding song file may be a way to lower the thread since there will be no direct option to get an song file out of it.

Yeah, I thought about the same thing. Aren't all those songs with circle clicking sound treated like a cover? Problem is that everyone has
access to songs in their files.

I highly doubt that, since you can A. listen to the music in the menu as-is and B. turn off hitsounds while playing.

The only thing i'll add that hasnt been said by anyone else before is that the live tournaments you speak of like in LoL, CS etc. are going to need external sponsors.
Those might be hard to find for a game like this. Sure, there is a community and it's not like the game itself isn't advertiser-friendly, but with the whole weeb thing going on i doubt it's going to be easy

FreezyLemon wrote:

The only thing i'll add that hasnt been said by anyone else before is that the live tournaments you speak of like in LoL, CS etc. are going to need external sponsors.
Those might be hard to find for a game like this. Sure, there is a community and it's not like the game itself isn't advertiser-friendly, but with the whole weeb thing going on i doubt it's going to be easy

I know that those tournaments need external sponsors, but as I said, baby steps. Sponsors don't really care about what type of game it is, the thing that matters is pupularity. I know that event as big as LCS isn't possible at the moment but maybe in the future.

rafiti12 wrote:

FreezyLemon wrote:

The only thing i'll add that hasnt been said by anyone else before is that the live tournaments you speak of like in LoL, CS etc. are going to need external sponsors.
Those might be hard to find for a game like this. Sure, there is a community and it's not like the game itself isn't advertiser-friendly, but with the whole weeb thing going on i doubt it's going to be easy

I know that those tournaments need external sponsors, but as I said, baby steps. Sponsors don't really care about what type of game it is, the thing that matters is pupularity. I know that event as big as LCS isn't possible at the moment but maybe in the future.

The sponsors will when they realise that they're sponsoring a game that uses music illegally.

osu!'s always been spread via word of mouth - i doubt serious advertising will ever really happen. i can't think of a single time we've sat down as a team and gone, man, we really need to get more people playing osu!, i think we're all kind of happy with how the game has naturally grown over the years, and are occupied enough with ensuring that things continue to run smoothly for everyone

big does not always equal good/successful, there isn't a bigger community-oriented rhythm game around currently, so we've already sort of.. won, if you think about it.

we would definitely like to feature more big-name community tournaments though, like OHC, etc.

it isn't important for osu! to be big, it just should be fun to play and always free-to-win

abraker wrote:

rafiti12 wrote:

But osu is better than them, isn't it? Most people don't even know that osu exists and thats the biggest problem. If it had a better advertising campaign then more people would try playing the game and some of them would like it.

I shouldn't have been drinking coffee while reading that, I almost choked laughing.

1) Why would osu! need to be any more popular than it already is?
2) What will it being more popular accomplish?
3) r/osugame being having posts that touch the front page of reddit not enough?
4) Is osu! logo being one of the biggest subjects of /r/place a year ago not enough?
5) Is pewdiepie featuring osu! not an advertisement enough?
6) Are youtube comments mentioning osu! in almost every piece of music popularized by it not enough?

Almost every person that plays games and spends their time online knows what osu! is. They eventually bump into it. They know how cancerous it and they avoid it. Those who don't spend their time online and play games have a life still not ruined by this game.

What are you talking about? Osu has 20 million players but almost 90% of them are dead accounts

I think the major issue here, is if osu! got popular, there'd be a DMCA notice in five minutes, there is so much music on here and it's a wonder the game isn't gone already

I think the major issue here is that you have no idea about how I've run osu! for the last ten years. I will not advertise the game nor allow advertising on the game. Go make your own game if you want to actively commercialise it.

I do things on my own terms. Sorry if it's not popular enough for you.

@PCMasterRays and everyone else spouting that DMCA word without even realising what it entails: please do some research. We 100% comply and regularly process DMCA notices, which is likely one of the reasons osu! is still running to this day. Much like youtube or any other service where user uploaded content is a primary consumable.

Edit: oh, ephemeral beat me to it.