Public Relations for Game Developers

Contents

Information and Material You Need Helping the Press Help You

Let’s face it – when you’re developing a game, every painstakingly creative accomplishment is big news.Every new creature, every new tree, every new spell or weapon is something to be celebrated and cherished.Unfortunately, much of it is a face only a mother could love.With so many genres and so many new games developing, launching, and spawning sequels, press coverage is sometimes difficult to get, but can make or break even a great game.Announcing every pizza that the team orders and every new word printed in the manual is a quick way to have your real news make a direct trip from the inbox to deleted - unread.

Truth be known, a lot of developers simply don’t have much time to do any PR for their game or the training in journalism, multimedia distribution, or public relations that it takes to create a strategy and the guidelines for promoting a game.Granted, gargantuan developers often have the funds to hire an agency to do their promotional campaign, but smaller, more focused developers have limited resources and are working to get the game out, not squawk about it.After seeing numerous mistakes, from promoters pelting the press with the announcement of every new hair on the hero’s head to great games getting passed by because the team didn’t feel the need or have the resources to promote it, I have put together some basic PR guidelines for developers.I hope that it saves some time and money and gets the best games in front of the gamers for whom they were created.

Information and Materials You Need

When you begin working on a game and the basic information is pinned down, it’s a good time to announce the upcoming game.Announcing the title, platforms, tentative release date, and genre informs the press and gamers that there is a new game on the horizon and gives them a taste of what the game will be like.The announcement can also provide the game with exposure to the publishing community if a publisher has not yet been chosen.

The announcement should include the title, property information (if the title is property based or a sequel), genre, details about gameplay, platforms the game will be created for, competitive likeness (how the game is like or not like competing games), and information about the developer and development team.Providing the press with this necessary information saves time on reduced follow-up efforts and allows the announcement to go out while it’s still news.If you leave pertinent information out, the press will either prints insufficient information or they will have to contact you, which may take days during times when you’re very busy.If it takes too long or too much effort to get the necessary information, your announcement stands a good chance of dying.On that note, make certain that when you send out the announcement you provide several correct numbers so you may be reached for comments, quotes, or questions that the press may have.

Offering adequate information and making yourself easily accessible will be much appreciated and, in turn, will likely get your game announced to the very gamers for whom you’re creating it.Any artwork or screenshots that are developed add to your announcement, as they provide a visual feel for where the game is going and offer a sample of your artistic and technological style.Artwork also provides a visual bookmark – something that will allow your audience to map the game’s development as well as give them a referent when they are purchasing games to remember your announcement and art.  

Newsworthy Events in the Development Process

In addition to the initial announcement of a new game, announcements of the official fansite going live, the game reaching testable beta stage, the game going Gold Master, and of course, the launch are newsworthy events and merit dropping word to the gaming press.In addition to sending a concise, informative press release, artwork is a must.Receiving artwork throughout the development process really allows the press and the consumer to follow the game’s progress and gives them a feel for what the end product will look like.

Sending demos for preview and review also helps gauge the game’s development process and provides useful feedback on the game from the people that know games best – those who review hundreds of games, write hundreds of reviews, and are the primary consumers of games – the gaming press.Occasionally, developers are hesitant to send their precious creation out to the press for review.It may be that the developer has seen some low ratings (12 out of 100) or fear having their graphics slammed for one reason or another. The problem is that if people who review, play, and purchase games all of the time give you a bad review, they will likely not be the only one.It might hurt to expose the demo and put it on the line for throngs of people to criticize and pick apart, but it will hurt a lot less to catch and repair those mistakes now than for sales to suffer as everyone under the sun mocks the finished product.Withholding the demo for testing also creates assumptions in the community about the quality of the game, or lack thereof.

On the other hand, if you create a spectacular game with amazing graphics and advanced technology, the beta will be highly reviewed and excitement will build until release (which can be very good for reputation and sales). A following will develop and consumers will anxiously mark days off of their calendar as the release date nears.And although we are all very aware that those dates are, well, tentative at best, keeping as true as possible to schedule and keeping the press informed of that schedule can do nothing except help your game.

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Helping the Press Help You