Understanding Game Journalism

aka. “It’s better to have other people say how awesome your game is then

having to do it yourself.”

Understanding Game Journalism

#gamejournalism

Table of contents• Who am I

• Understanding the game press

• Dealing with the game press

• Handy tips & tricks

• Summary

• Questions?

#starttalkingalready

Who am I?This is a lecture by

Vlad MicuDid freelance journalism, consulting, event management and

research under own company

VGVisionary.comUsed to be the European editor of

Gamesauce MagazineWrote for many other international outlets including

GMR magazine, Control Magazine, Bashers.nl, Gamert.nl,

CriticalGamer.co.uk, XBLAFans.com, Game Mode Magazine

And now went Indie since April 3rd to work on

Snobli RunThis slide’s design is inspired by

Brandon Boyer @brandonnn

#thatguy

Recap: Understand how press works

#davidvsgoliath#inversefunnel

Who are they?#struggleforrecognition

Professional press & Professional game press

Enthusiast game press & Wannabe game

press/communities

Understand their differences

VS

They get paid They get free games & goodies

Similarities• Both of them deal with a

bombardment of PR & Marketing

• Both are fighting for attention and traffic

• Largely dependant on what publishers offer them

• Very little (or no) attention/time for indies and small companies (because it doesn’t generate traffic).

#thefunnelisnotalie

Love them both, but…

There’s an institutional problem with game journalism

#struggleforprofessionalism

Brandon Boyer’s GDC ’10 rant

(he’s my hero)

Different topic: When things go wrong

#brandingiron

Who knows this guy?

Recap: game marketing?#scratchmyback

“Quid pro quo, Clarice” – Hannibal Lecter

Why you should know about this stuff

#saleshatesobjectivity

• Marketing vs. Press

• 1-10 Scale discussion

• Make/break based on Metacritic results

Know your real ‘enemy’#david vs goliath

• Dirty tricks, lots of money

• Pressure on journalists, tons of advertising

• Power over the media

You Random big publisher

“The games press is often painted as corrupt, lazy and – as I mentioned –

fundamentally stupid. This is because we tend to be corrupt, lazy and

fundamentally stupid. “- Kieron Gillen (former game journalist)

Your marketing strategy

Don’t use their tricks#bedifferent

“I have been one of those people, doing everything I can to get to try game journalists to place my games on the cover of their magazines, extended previews, assets posted online and the scores as high as possible. I have pulled ad buys

in protest of what I felt were unfair review scores. I have spoken to the “boss” of publications

before, and complained about certain journalists. I have “banned” certain media outlets from

getting pre-release access to games, because of previous unfavorable coverage.”- Anonymous person from a Big Publisher

Behind Closed Doors#awkwardmoments

“At the end of the twenty-minute presentation, the man who was in charge—or

at least, who talked the most—held out a large, glossy folder emblazoned with the

THQ logo. “Everything you need is in here,” he said. […]

Here was my preview. […] My qualification was the ability to publish

information about MX vs. ATV: Untamed without a THQ watermark. So then I had an even worse thought: I was not the author of the piece I was about to write.“

- Joseph Bernstein (game journalist)

Wake up and smell the coffee#saleshatesobjectivity

“The job of a game journalist consists in many ways of balancing acts between a

perceived loyalty to the reading public and a dependency on industry material. “

- David Nieborg (game researcher)

New Game Journalism#weneedmoreofthese

“Where the review/preview structure is the bread and butter of the majority of game

publications; with very few exceptions, there is no culture of historically and critically informed game journalism to speak of.“

- David Nieborg (game researcher)

Dealing with the game press#itallstartswithanemail

“A passionate games journalist who loves your work will get you more

coverage than an entire PR department.”

- Kieron Gillen (game journalist)

Step 1: Find your champions!#chooseyourtarget

“Here’s the good news: We’re on your side. […] You represent the

ideal of why we want to write about games in the first place”

- Kieron Gillen (game journalist)

Reach out to them

“A journalist, investigating, that’s how 90% of indie games get

reviewed.” – Kieron Gillen (game journalist)

#fearisyourbiggestenemy

Take action• Read the press, and leave a

comment some times

• Get in touch with them, send them a polite request to have a look at your game

• Offer people review copies/codes, politely

• Know why your game is actually worth while looking at

• Look back at my marketing lecture.

#preparationiskey

Court them• Get to know these people personally, have

a beer with them.

• Understand the mechanics of game journalism (read everything I give you at the end of this talk)

• Be polite x 3000

• Don’t pressure them, there’s enough fish in the sea!

• Prepare for any attention or interest accordingly, have your press kit and elevator pitch ready

• Make it easy for them to remember you and your game (do marketing).

#justdontsendthemflowers

Step: 2 Don’t exaggerate#dontbethatguy

“The press is busy just like you. They work hard and are often underpaid. It's perfectly fine to send them one email and leave one

voice message. […] Don't email them multiple times per day or leave multiple

voice messages. […] Annoying journalists is the shortest path to getting ignored for the

foreseeable future.”

– Luis Levy (game developer & author)

Step: 3 Choose the right people

Making a PC game?• Focus on big PC

markets– Great Britain– Scandinavia– Germany

• Magazines and website watch each other constantly and yes, they copy stuff from each other. All. The.Time.

#thinkniche

Summary• Do. Your. Research.

• Be polite.

• Have press kits prepared at all time.– Put your gameplay trailer

on your phone!

• Mail press, meet them at events.

• Build a relationship.

#doallthesethings

References/Further Reading• Most importantly: http://www.pixelprospector.com/indev/2010/08/the-big-list-of-indie-

marketing-and-business-tips/• http://gillen.cream.org/wordpress_html/?page_id=693 • http://www.next-gen.biz/blogs/everyones-a-critic• http://www.planetxbox360.com/article_5728/

A_Detailed_Look_into_the_Problems_of_Games_Journalism• http://www.gamespace.nl/content/NieborgSihvonen09_TheNewGatekeepers.pdf• http://sorethumbs.tumblr.com/page/20• http://bitmob.com/articles/what-defines-a-games-journalist • http://sorethumbs.tumblr.com/post/48781177/publisherperspective • http://bitmob.com/articles/a-new-era-of-video-game-journalism• http://sorethumbs.tumblr.com/page/20• http://shawnelliott.blogspot.com/2008/12/symposium-part-one-review-scores.html• http://shawnelliott.blogspot.com/2009/02/symposium-part-two-review-policy.html• http://vgmwatch.com/• http://killscreendaily.com/articles/intern-affairs-you-can-ski-jump• http://www.planetxbox360.com/article_5728/

A_Detailed_Look_into_the_Problems_of_Games_Journalism• http://gillen.cream.org/wordpress_html/?page_id=693• http://kotaku.com/#!328244/gamespot-editor-fired-over-kane--lynch-review

#readitall

Contact me• I’m in ur campus, working in ur Gamelabz

• Will be staying in the guest lecturer house at Talo 6 #F28. Look me up there in the evening and let’s play some beer pong.

• Mail me at [email protected]

• @vgvisionary

• Website: www.vgvisionary.com

#imlonely