Game Marketing Firm Deletes Blog Boasting About Astroturfing Reddit
Trap Plan’s Controversial Reddit Campaign
Trap Plan, a video game marketing company, recently removed two blog posts that openly detailed an astroturfing campaign on Reddit. The posts, published in early and mid-2025, described how Trap Plan made around 100 posts and comments across multiple gaming-focused subreddits—including r/pcmasterrace, r/PlayStation5, r/Mecha, and r/gaming—with the intent to generate "organic-style" discussions about the mech shooter War Robots: Frontiers.
Tactics and Admission
According to former Trap Plan CEO Pavel Beresnev, the company meticulously crafted posts to reflect subreddit culture and user tone, including sharing game clips, screenshots, and discussion prompts. Rather than overt marketing, these posts aimed to spark authentic conversations comparing War Robots: Frontiers to titles like Titanfall and MechWarrior. Beresnev claimed the campaign avoided bots or fake accounts and instead relied on staff genuinely playing the game to produce credible content.
The blog posts boasted that moderators and users treated the posts as genuine community interaction rather than advertisements. This approach, Trap Plan claimed, effectively encouraged curiosity and player-driven discovery.
Community Reaction and Aftermath
The posts went unnoticed for several months until users in the r/Games subreddit spotted the candid admissions, prompting rapid blog removal. Public backlash was limited, with minimal evidence of review bombing or significant negative response to War Robots: Frontiers on Steam. One notable user review referenced the marketing tactic after a brief playtime.
Beresnev emphasized that Trap Plan’s campaign was an independent experiment not commissioned by War Robots developer My.Games, acknowledging that openly naming the game and studio in the blogs was a misstep.
Implications for Game Marketing
Astroturfing—marketing disguised as spontaneous grassroots enthusiasm—raises ethical concerns in online communities, especially platforms like Reddit that value authenticity. Trap Plan’s episode highlights risks companies face when transparency backfires, potentially undermining trust with gamers and clients. While the practice remains controversial, its allure lies in generating natural-seeming engagement in crowded digital markets.
Sources:
PC Gamer, Kotaku, Internet Archive (for deleted posts)
Published: November 10, 2025
Author: Andy Chalk
Design Delight Studio curates high-impact, authoritative insights into sustainable and organic product trends, helping conscious consumers and innovative brands stay ahead in a fast-evolving green economy.
Leave a comment