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Getting Review Copies of Games: How's it Done?
- Thread starter uncleslappy
- Start date
Air Zombie Meat
Member
Was hoping Dorito pope would make an appearance.
hbkajshdvfbkjhvgkahsgdfka
Member
Yes. It's something that actually happened here on multiple occasions and is apparently a widespread issue with some game stores.
Depends on your readership. I have a weekly gaming column in my paper each week and still couldn't get much interest from publishers. We have a subscription base of around 30,000 people, so that's probably why. Not as many people get their gaming news from newspapers as websites and other mediums.
Cosmo Clock 21
Banned
Back in the GCN days our shitstain of a website got review copies of software from large publishers. Our PR guy was also a wizard, so that might have had something to do with it.
The other site I wrote for had very strong relationships with companies built up through years of E3 attendance. Business cards and being an LLC helped.
The other site I wrote for had very strong relationships with companies built up through years of E3 attendance. Business cards and being an LLC helped.
When I was dabbing in reviews last year, I got quite a lot of "promotional copy / not for resale" ones. They don't throw out as many debug-only releases as you might think.
uncleslappy
nethack is my favorite dark souls clone
Cool man! Send me your channel, I'd love to check it out. Sounds like the best method is to start small with downloads and stuff.
uncleslappy
nethack is my favorite dark souls clone
From a content only perspective, do you guys see anything I could be working on to improve?
Cosmo Clock 21
Banned
If you haven't figured it out from every other post on this thread, networking is key.
Don't just go looking for review copies, either. Interviews whether by email, phone, or in person are a good way to build rapport with studios. A well done interview is also hella more interesting to read than a dime-a-dozen game review, which will help drive traffic.
Don't just go looking for review copies, either. Interviews whether by email, phone, or in person are a good way to build rapport with studios. A well done interview is also hella more interesting to read than a dime-a-dozen game review, which will help drive traffic.
SlasherJPC
Banned
www.youtube.com/slasherjpc
I do reviews, skits, live streams, etc. It's kind of all of the place. I recently got two jobs, one full and another part time so my video uploads have slowed down a little but I'm keeping at it.
Again just keep at it. The last thing I got for review was PID. Which I plan on doing a quick review on (shorter) though for example I just got a email from Square Enix saying there trying to include me on review copy of Hitman. Again no gauruntees but still, I'm working with these contacts, and sometimes you get product, sometimes you don't. Whatever you do don't get discouraged. For me its a bonus if I get something from the company, 9 times out of 10 I was going to buy/rent it anyways for review.
uncleslappy
nethack is my favorite dark souls clone
Excellent point.
lol no, getting on Metacritic doesn't work that way.
Yeah, I should have said that they probably won't care, but it's still worth a try.
Elginer
Member
LOL, nicely done. To be fair, I used to work for a site that was on Metacritic a few years ago. You'd be amazed at how much publishers will kiss your butt to review their product when you're on there. Good luck getting review copies if you're not though. Perhaps being influential with a podcast or YouTube show would help though. It seems that publishers love social media rockstars now.
D
Deleted member 47027
Unconfirmed Member
All true. Even at 10k uniques a day you're probably barely a blip to them. Don't bother them until you break that.
LonelyGreyWolf
Banned
LOL. No offense but you have no idea what you're talking about, on any of your points.
EDIT: Well, except the last one.
EDIT #2:
Wow, wait, wha- no. No. You still don't get it. I saw you respond to this after I posted a reply. It's not about caring. Metacritic don't just pick reviewers randomly or by chance. They have a criteria that they follow. For starters, you must be a professional. You have to work with reviewing. Not just have a little hobby doing some reviews because you like it. And saying "do 20 reviews" is so dumb. What does that have to do with anything? Why 20? Why would Metacritic even care how many reviews you've done? Quantity has nothing to do with quality, and even then, it's not even their criteria.
Generally I get approached by PR, mainly for mobile stuff but I've gotten XBLA/PSN stuff and a couple discs too. I don't actively seek out free games. The value proposition, along with accessibility (like for disabled people, not soccer moms) are two big components in my reviews.
It does not take 10k uniques a day. That's in the territory where you'll easily get publishers to back you.
Post a pic of you diving in a pool full of Mountain Dew
Review copies. VIP Access. Women.
What the hell happened here? what did Geoff say to her?
Visitors aren't everything. Actually, I'd say that the first and more important step is to make a good first impression. That means: Good design, good concept, good name, a real domain, making a professional impression.
Your blog, right now, looks like a billion other ones and just screams "hobbyists who writes stuff no one cares for". Nothing wrong with that, but this way you'd need a hell of a lot visitors in order to get a publishers' attention.
You definitely need a new domain and design (and name -- having your name in a domain always makes things seem more amateurish), but also your focus on your backlog (and thus pretty old games) probably won't make you a very attractive place for publishers.
Your blog, right now, looks like a billion other ones and just screams "hobbyists who writes stuff no one cares for". Nothing wrong with that, but this way you'd need a hell of a lot visitors in order to get a publishers' attention.
You definitely need a new domain and design (and name -- having your name in a domain always makes things seem more amateurish), but also your focus on your backlog (and thus pretty old games) probably won't make you a very attractive place for publishers.
You aren't getting anywhere near Metacritic with 500 uniques a month
uncleslappy
nethack is my favorite dark souls clone
Honest and helpful. Thank you.
hbkajshdvfbkjhvgkahsgdfka
Member
She walked up to Geoff and asked him to drink the Dew romance style and he started stuttering and looked really violated.
She just wants to protect him.
Dark Octave
Banned
I was just kidding. I'm not a writer but that would be pretty cool to get free things you love just for doing something you enjoy doing anyway. You're a lucky guy. I'm sure this can also work for podcast groups too. 8-4 Play mentioned that they get free games all the time and they don't review games at all.
Yeah, some people get identified as influencers and they get all sorts of free stuff. Look at someone like iJustine. She gets EVERYTHING for free and early. Hardware, software, and all sorts of tech goodies. All she does is posts an Instagram with them or a short blurb on her YouTube channel.
HipHopGamer did that.
Are you the same Jeff-DSA from the site DS Advanced back in the day?
Haha, yep. I stayed through until right before the site sold to Game Zone and was shut down.
Edit: And whatever you heard about me...it's not true!