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[Ruxar]

Thanks for that info, I must say the whole press release / generating buzz seems almost as complicated as writing the game itself.

[Tascha]

For one, personal contacts ALWAYS trump blind press releases. Therefore if you want to spend some money spend it on actually attending conferences (GDC etc) and try to get in contact with the journalists.

The easiest way imo is through twitter. It may take some time but if you follow their conversation and get to know them (just DO NOT PITCH YOUR GAME...EVER on social media if you try to get in contact with someone or make friends!).

In my experience blind press releases to the big guys are just wasted time and effort.
What you should do is target smaller blogs (http://www.pixelprospector.com/ comes to mind.

I did a small test earlier this year where I did send the same press information to the big guys (Kotaku, RPS, IGN etc) but also to a few smaller indie blogs (http://www.pixelprospector.com/). The big ones didn't cover the news but a few days later pixelprospector write about it and low and behold the big guys picked it up from Pixelprospector directly.

So it's a good idea to make a list of sites/blogs that get picked up by the big guys. Once THEY cover your game, check WHO covered it and try to get in contact through twitter or email. A thank you for the coverage is also always a nice opening to establish a proper contact.

Specially the big guys won't really respond to your emails even if they go on covering your future PR. If you have met them during a conference though, that's much more personal and you always have something to fall back onto.

Indie Marketing = Making Friends
AAA Marketing = Paying Friends

Now, which of the two friend types is most likely the more loyal?

Not to mention personal contacts also show the journalist the person or studio behind the game. And last but not least, you are always much more inclined to believe a friend/someone you know than a random stranger without a face.

[elmike]

Tascha, i totally agree with your comment!

Btw, does gamebizwire still exist? I cant find any info anymore...

[Mittens]

To be honest, I think that press releases are wasted time and money these days. At least for indies.

I agree, but I'm still going to do them anyway since I often get more responses from my PR's than I get from just directly emailing people (Since I started using gamerelease.net at least)

[chubigans]

Tascha, i totally agree with your comment!

Btw, does gamebizwire still exist? I cant find any info anymore...

I think they're gone...the website is missing and emails to their PR team come back as undeliverable.

[yaaar]

The easiest way imo is through twitter. It may take some time but if you follow their conversation and get to know them (just DO NOT PITCH YOUR GAME...EVER on social media if you try to get in contact with someone or make friends!).

Do you mind elaborating on this? What you're saying is that even if you want them to check out your game, you should never directly tweet at them to check out your game; instead, just follow and comment on their tweets over time, and hope that they'll naturally be interested in your game?

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

the thing is, journalists review the games other journalists review. once you get the ball rolling it's easy, but you do have to get the ball rolling. for a game to get reviews, it has to be perceived by a journalist as "big", and that usually means being reviewed by a lot of sites. i think all the tweets and press releases in the world won't help a game get reviewed if nobody has reviewed it yet

[Pandara_RA!]

Paul is mostly right, press gets more press.
I have to keep this short though I'll explain more when I get home.

1. DONT hire a PR group. It's a waste of money to burn your bridges through mass emails. You are paying someone to give a poor mechanical impression of what you are making.

2. Contruct a press list, go out and and read up on the top 30-40 game sites, find out which writers like what stuff, and write that down...this is an extremely rewarding process...connect your game to people who actually might like it.

3.Be brief, provide all information (have a press site/press kit!) DONT waste their time with two pages of babble

4. Email every one at the same time, dont email one at a time

[Super80sWorld]

Just curious, is it ok to use multiple outlets for a press release?

One of the smaller ones with more game industry connections as well as one of the big ones (PRN / Reuters / AP)?

[ThunderAwesome]

Will any of these be useful for board game/card game releases too? I've got a card game on IndieGoGo that could use a boost and some press to talk about it.

[jackterror]

  New one just hit the scene 

A "community-driven, nonprofit Indie Game Press Release Distrubition Service."  AND... It's totally free!!!
RobotSaid.com

Can't wait to try it out tomorrow with Albino Lullaby PR!!!!

[iamsed]

So, since it's already dug out, what do you use these days guys? What has changed over the years?

Is it still
"To be honest, I think that press releases are wasted time and money these days. At least for indies."
as TeeGee put it in 2012?

[AdoreGames]

So, since it's already dug out, what do you use these days guys? What has changed over the years?

Is it still
"To be honest, I think that press releases are wasted time and money these days. At least for indies."
as TeeGee put it in 2012?

Yeah, it's still a waste of time actually for indies. The only thing why you might want to publish some press-releases is to include them into your press-kit while sending pitches to gaming press and bloggers and to have some backlinks to your site or store page for better search exposure. Plus you may tweet about your press-release from time to time with relevant hashtags to keep your twitter account afloat

[kalyrical]

Yeah, it's 100% a waste of time if all you're doing a developing a press release and then posting it in hopes of getting coverage. You MAY be able to get that odd place that picks it up, but for the most part, the outreach has to be there. The press release should still be treated as a doc that pitches your game to an author/editor and summarizes the key points/exciting news you want to get covered on. It's an industry standard to present info in a uniformed way, especially for industries like the indie gaming one where there's lots of new games being released or getting updates every day. A press release should be included in your press kit for outreach, but you've got to do the outreach.