Get Journalists To Cover Your Game
Lessons from Online Dating, Praying and ‘No Man’s Sky’
Thomas Reisenegger @Olima 2
@Olima 3 Number of Steam Games Released
11 Games Per Day 4500
4000
3500
3000
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 @Olima 4
@Olima 5
@Olima 6 Number of Monthly Articles – Games Media 2016
250.000
200.000
150.000
100.000
50.000
-
@Olima SOURCE : ICO PARTNERS 7 Number of Monthly Articles – Games Media 2016
250.000
200.000
150.000
100.000
50.000
-
@Olima Top 20 games All other games SOURCE : ICO PARTNERS 8
Thomas Reisenegger
● PR Manager & Consultant at ICO Partner League of Legends, SMITE, Endless Space 2, IndieCade Europe, Armello, A Normal Lost Phone
● 7 years as a freelance video game journalist
@Olima 9 Topics
1 Is PR the right thing for you? – 3 ways to victory
2 Understanding the media landscape – 5 key insights
3 How to get your game covered – 5 golden rules
@Olima 10 Topics
1 Is PR the right thing for you? – 3 ways to victory
2 Understanding the media landscape – 5 key insights
3 How to get your game covered – 5 golden rules
@Olima 11 3 communication roads to victory
Marketing Community PR - AAA - Long running - Classic premium - Casual - Early access - Hardcore F2P - Copycat - Niche - Critic’s game - Mobile - B2B
@Olima 12 Topics
1 Is PR the right thing for you? – 3 ways to victory
2 Understanding the media landscape – 5 key insights
3 How to get your game covered – 5 golden rules
@Olima 13
1. How much coverage is good coverage?
@Olima 14
Average launch coverage per game type (number of articles)
1.494
231
AAA GAMES TRIPLE-I GAMES
SOURCE : ICO PARTNERS
@Olima 15 No Man’s Sky is NOT an indie game
@Olima 16
2. Who talks about which platforms?
@Olima 17 PS4 vs. Xbox One in media coverage
20.000
16.000
12.000
8.000
4.000
- Jan Feb Mrz Apr Mai Jun Jul Aug Sep Okt Nov Dez Jan Feb Mrz Apr Mai Jun Jul Aug Sep Okt Nov Dez Jan Feb Mrz Apr Mai Jun Jul Aug Sep Okt Nov Dez Jan 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 17
Playstation 4 Xbox One SOURCE : ICO PARTNERS PS4 = 35% more coverage than Xbox
@Olima 18 Different markets prefer to cover different platforms
@Olima 19
3. Console and PC media vs. mobile media
@Olima 20
Media Coverage
90
80 Global launch
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
03/16 06/16 02/16 02/16 02/16 02/16 03/16 03/16 03/16 03/16 04/16 04/16 04/16 04/16 05/16 05/16 05/16 05/16 05/16 06/16 06/16 06/16 07/16 07/16 07/16 07/16 08/16 08/16 08/16 08/16 08/16 09/16 09/16 09/16 09/16 10/16
Clash Royale
@Olima 21
Media Coverge
200 Games for gold 180
160
140
120
100 Global launch
80
60
40
20
0
02/16 02/16 02/16 02/16 03/16 03/16 03/16 03/16 03/16 04/16 04/16 04/16 04/16 05/16 05/16 05/16 05/16 05/16 06/16 06/16 06/16 06/16 07/16 07/16 07/16 07/16 08/16 08/16 08/16 08/16 08/16 09/16 09/16 09/16 09/16 10/16
Clash Royale Goat Simulator
@Olima 22
Media Coverage 700 Global launch 600
500
400 Games for gold
300
200 Global launch
100
0
02/16 06/16 09/16 02/16 02/16 02/16 03/16 03/16 03/16 03/16 03/16 04/16 04/16 04/16 04/16 05/16 05/16 05/16 05/16 05/16 06/16 06/16 06/16 07/16 07/16 07/16 07/16 08/16 08/16 08/16 08/16 08/16 09/16 09/16 09/16 10/16
Clash Royale Goat Simulator Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
@Olima 23
4. What are the most covered VR devices?
@Olima 24 Number of media articles – VR Headsets
12.000
10.000
8.000
6.000
4.000
2.000
- Mai Jun Jul Aug Sep Okt Nov Dez Jan Feb Mrz Apr Mai Jun Jul Aug Sep Okt Nov Dez Jan 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 17
Oculus Rift HTC Vive VR Playstation VR SOURCE : ICO PARTNERS
@Olima 25
5. Who decides which gaming news gets picked up?
@Olima 26
Top tier UK / US media Other western media
@Olima 27 Topics
1 Is PR the right thing for you? – 3 ways to victory
2 Understanding the media landscape – 5 key insights
3 How to get your game covered – 5 golden rules
@Olima 28
Rule 1 Make your game Tinder ready
@Olima 29
Galactic Junk League Galactic Junk League
Galactic babies and battle-ready Build Whatever Ship You Want space toilets. Build and battle and Battle Your Friends. spaceships in any shape.
@Olima 30
ready
1. Make clear why the other person should care… within 10 seconds
@Olima 31
icopartners.com/gif-guide @Olima 32
ready
1. Make clear why the other person should care… within 10 seconds
2. Better to be amazing for a few people... than okay for many
@Olima 33
Problem
@Olima 34 $ $ $ $ $ $ $ Rule 2 Think in headlines (bring clicks) $ $ $ $ $ $ @Olima $ 35
Be relatable No Man’s Sky
No Man’s Sky trailer shows massive universe
New No Man’s Sky Trailer Invites You to Explore Game’s 18 Quintillion Planets (Gamespot)
@Olima 36
Paint a mental image No Man’s Sky
No Man’s Sky shows off procedural generation, everything is unique
No Man’s Sky - The game even the developers haven’t seen all of
@Olima 37
Refer to other games (if there is demand for it!) Northgard
Finally something new for Settlers fans – Viking strategy game Northgard announced (Gamestar)
@Olima 38
Refer to other cool things Memoranda
A Beautiful Point ’n’ Click Adventure Inspired by Japanese Author Haruki Murakami Short Stories (Kotaku)
@Olima 39
Guerrilla Marketing Polygod
Polygod is free for those with certain The Binding of Isaac achievements
@Olima 40 There is always a new story
● Feature focus: In Hyper Light Drifter every second is a stunning wallpaper
● Dev focus: Owlboy, the indie platformer that took 10 years to build (Guardian)
● Erment focus: Only One Person In The Entire World Has Unlocked This Steam Achievement (Kotaku on Devil Daggers)
@Olima 41
Rule 3 Write emails people want to read
@Olima The perfect mail pitch – AIDA template42
Attention Catchy subject line
Game text / pitch
Interest Gif or Youtube video preview
Reference to more Desire info and assets Action Call to action @Olima @Smeijerhof121 @Olima 42 43
Rule 4 Pitch to the right people
@Olima 44
@OlimaKnow which god you are praying to 45
Official blogs
@Olima 46 Streamers and YouTubers
● Only care about your game, not your story
● Must be easy to record ● Space to insert selfie window ● Have a windowed mode ● Be able to hide user name
● Implement special features for influencers
@Olima 47
Rule 5 Make something pull-worthy
@Olima 48
Push PR Pull PR
Make something pull-worthy and push it @Olima 49 Media landscape – 5 key facts
1. English m media - opinion leader 2. PS4 gets 35% more coverage than Xbox One 3. Average launch coverage: 1500 articles AAA, 230 articles for III 4. media < PC and console media 5. VR: Oculus gets more coverage than HTC Vive
@Olima 50 Get your game covered – 5 golden rules
1. Make your game ready 1. 10 second rule, also 2. Get not 2. Think in headlines (like 18 quintillion headlines) 3. AIDA email template - (attention, interest, desire, action) 4. Know the god you are praying to 5. Makes something pull-worthy and push it
@Olima 51
WWW.ICOMEDIA.EU BRIGHTON UNITED KINGDOM
[email protected] +44 (0)20 7193 5158
@Olima