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Navigating The Gaming PR Dance

Posted by simoniker on from the cha-cha-cha-or-tango? dept.

PhPetey writes "I recently began reviewing games and gaming culture for a U.S.-based national trade publication. I find the most difficult aspect of my job so far to be the lack of communication skills possessed by many of the people involved with the public relations departments of various developers and publishers. Simply establishing a basic relationship with these organizations is mind-numbingly difficult, as calls and emails repeatedly go unreturned. Are there any tips and tricks from experienced gaming journalists that could make this process any easier?" Tips from people who just pretend to be journalists to get free games are, of course, also appreciated.

1 of 19 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Interesting... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting
    I'll post as an anonymous coward for now.

    My suggestion is relatively simple: Make sure you initially attempt to contact PR or community types whenever possible, and make sure you have credentials. You don't have to send (photo)copies of your work, but they do have to realise they are dealing with The Real Thing(R), and not a fanboi who wants a piece of the action :)

    Quoted stuff and other discussion for those interested:

    • ... if you're a small developer you *need* each and every PR opportunity that comes your way, and if you're "too busy coding" to take the time...well, good luck getting anyone's ear next when you need them.

    While this has a core of truth, you should realise that it's almost impossible. During early development, hardly anyone is interested in hearing about "indie company A", developing "unknown title Q". Somewhere halfway during the process, most of the requests you get are from fanbois who simply want to see whatever's newest before any of their peers do. Having to sift through these requests, keeping an eye on truckloads of websites and other media always takes more time than any developer can afford. And when you finally manage to secure a publisher, you don't have to worry about PR anymore.. they'll do it for you. In the unlucky case you don't find a producer (I'd say at least 85% of all cases), you're usually out of funds, and out of luck.

    I love to do marketing and sales. Heck, I could do it all day long (and no kidding, with the amount of attention we sometimes get, it's more than 80 hours a week). HOWEVER, this is not my job. My primary job is development, and if I have to spend more than half my time on PR, where over half the requests -are- bogus, it hurts the product more than supposed lack of PR.

    If a product's good and unique enough, it'll find its audence