Getting a Video Game covered by a publication, be it a ‘mainstream’ one, or one focusing solely on Video Games such as IGN, or Kotaku, may come easy when you’re a AAA developer or have a load of contacts in the Journalism world. But what about when you’re an Indie Developer looking to get more press for one of your first Indie Games?
Well, there’s really only one sure fire way to get your Indie Game covered by the press, especially a quality Publication. But, there are a couple of different boxes you need to check before you contact a Publication to be as sure as possible that it’s going to be covered. Before you continue below, you might be thinking: Who is this guy and why the f*ck does he think he knows more about getting my Video Game covered than I do?
Well, allow me a brief introduction: I’m a Journalist and Digital Marketer and I’ve focused almost exclusively on Video Games for the last four years. Over the span of those four years, I’ve written hundreds of Articles on Video Games and read thousands of Press Releases. After working as a Journalist for a while, everyone finds a way to sort through the Press Releases they get, so if you’re working in Public Relations or Marketing for a Video Game, you need to know how exactly to grab a Journalists attention and get him/her to write about your game. So how exactly do you grab a Journalists attention?
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There are two main things you’ve got to focus on getting right: making a game that Journalists find interesting (or that their readers will find interesting) and writing a Press Release that actually grabs their attention. The first of these can be simple enough to get right for an Indie Developer (by ‘simple,’ I mean, you should already have the skill-set to do it), but the second one is where many Indie Developers fall short. You could have one of the best games of the year, but if you can’t grab peoples attention, then it isn’t gunna be played.
Trying to tell you how to create an awesome Indie Game is far beyond my skill-set, so I’m going to leave that to people far more knowledgeable than me; Zoe Quinn’s article for Kotaku should be a good starting off point for anybody who wants to check it out. Instead, I’m just going to focus on how to get your Indie Game covered by a Journalist - it’s one of the few things I know a fair bit about.
While a lot of Journalists may stumble upon your Website/Steam Page/Other Online Asset and may cover your game then, the most tried and tested way would be with Press Releases covering the upcoming release of your game and what else you might have going on (and yes, you need your Press Release to be about something other than ‘Hey! Look at my Game!’ It’s gotta be more of ‘Hey! My Kickstarter just got funded!’) So what should you do when writing your Press Release? Well…
Know Your Indie Game’s Strong Points
This might seem like the most obvious point to make, but you need to know what makes your game stand out; I’ve seen too many Press Releases to count that could’ve promoted almost any game in the genre, all that needs to be changed would be the name of the game. Other than that, it’s pretty formulaic. While good Press Releases follow a certain formula, this is taking things to an extreme; some Press Releases genuinely look like the developers just copied and pasted another release, switching out the names.
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If you’re looking to get your game covered, that’s not the way to go about it — you could even argue that if fans read the exact same thing, it wouldn’t draw their interest, so your losing out on coverage and any revenues you might’ve gotten from gamers who may have stumbled onto your Indie Game.
When you’re writing your Press Release, focus on your Indie Games strong points, and actually talk about them. If you’re Indie Game has an awesome unique feature that hasn’t been used in a game of that genre before, or you developed something that hasn’t been used ever in a game, actually talk about it. Don’t just say ‘Awesome Unique Feature’ and not explain it; after all, you’re trying to attract players to your Indie Game, and it’s a journalists job to write about your game while attracting readers who may want to play your game once they know what your awesome unique feature/key selling point is.
Include Links To Your Wherever You’re Selling Your Indie Game/A Website/Wherever We Can Find More Information/Assets
Again, this one may seem somewhat obvious, but Video Game Journalists can be extremely busy when we’re working — add in the fact that we’re underpaid and are probably working a different job just to pay the bills, and we’ve very little time to research a game extensively. The more difficult it is to find information about or assets for your Indie Game, the less likely we are to actually cover your Indie Game. We’re underpaid and working to a pretty tight deadline; making it easy for us to write about your Indie Game makes it more likely that we’ll actually write about your Indie Game.
When it comes to your Press Release, or a website where you’re promoting your game, there’s a fine line with how much information to include. On a website promoting your Indie Game, as long as the information is broken up into sections — Game plot, Features, Assets etc — there’s no problem. (Press Kit is extremely helpful for both Game Developers and Journalists when it comes to formatting etc for your website. Find it here.)
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Distribute Your Press Release To The Right People
Many Video Game Publications have writers who focus solely on Indie Games — or at least, one of the things they focus on is Indie Games. So, contacting most of the other people at that Publication may end up being a fruitless process (although, some might forward your Press Release to the relevant Journalist). So, if you’re going to be emailing someone the Press Release directly, make sure that you send it to the relevant person. (You could always send it to the Editor, who should then forward it to the relevant writer).
Check out the Publication(s) that you want to send your Press Release to, figure out who would probably be the most relevant Journalist to your game, and you should be able to find their Email/Twitter Handle etc pretty easily on the site. Boom, there’s one Journalist you know you can contact. Repeat for each of the Publications that you want to contact. Some Publications have also got ‘Contact Us’ forms that include sections for Press Releases, so that’ll make things easier.
There’s also GamesPress.com, which is really helpful in spreading your Press Release to a mass audience. GamesPress.com is visited by thousands of Journalists on a daily basis, so you should be able to get a few articles based on your Press Release. Check it out here.
Don’t Be Afraid To Share Your Indie Game Coverage On Social Media
As unfortunate as it is, most owners of Publications look for how many views a certain article can get, and this has spread somewhat over to Journalists: most of the websites that do pay their Journalists pay based on views, so Journalists are looking for games that’ll help them make a living. So, when your article does get some Press, try your best to share it across Social Media: we’re more likely to remember what you did to help promote the article, so we’re more than likely to report on future games/expansions/updates you make down the line.
Miscellaneous
For some other aspects that help you get more coverage, check out the links below.
How To Contact Press — And Increase Chances To Get Press Coverage, here.
Trailer Creation, here.
Contents & Examples Of Press Kits, here.
Luke Luby is a Video Game Journalist and Digital Marketing Specialist based in Cork City, Ireland. You can find him on Twitter and Facebook.
