MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
In the Feb/Mar issue of MCV/DEVELOP we featured our annual PR Panel, bringing together the good, the bad (in a good way) and the beautiful people of games PR to give us their take on what’s been going on in our beloved industry over recent months.
The magazine feature was essentially a “best of”, so to complete the collection here are all the interviews complete and uninterrupted.
We began with Suzanne Panter yesterday. Today it’s the turn of Alex Verrey of Overload PR.
MCV: What’s been your personal PR highlight of the past 12 months?
Alex Verrey: We’ve been fortunate to work on some standout projects this year, both internally and externally. We work with both gaming and gaming tech and we were proud to be tasked with launching CRKD, a brand new premium hardware brand that’s designed and managed in-house here at Freemode. The debut product from CRKD was the Nitro Deck for Nintendo Switch, it’s a very unique product and one which surprised us all in terms of its popularity amongst the media and gamer alike. The results were more than we could have hoped for, winning several accolades, being unveiled exclusively on IGN and nominated for a Golden Joystick award, not too shabby for a brand no one had previously heard of!
We also love working with the likes of Limited Run Games, a studio which is so much fun and where every project is different and never boring. Launching the Jurassic Park Collection last year was exciting as the franchise is so popular and loved on a global level. We’re blessed with variety, we even got to work with Middle Earth enterprises and the Windmill Theatre as they staged a musical production of The Lord of the Rings last summer. It’s just won multiple awards and it was a surreal few weeks for sure.
What’s been the biggest comms faux pas and what should’ve been done to avoid it?
There have been some howlers, for sure. It always amazes me how industry behemoths continue to make such incredible mistakes when it comes to communication, they’re big enough and experienced to know better, but so many fall down when it comes to communicating news, especially when its sensitive information they know the community will react poorly to.
We’re big advocates of media training at Overload PR and publishers of all sizes would be well advised to invest a little more thought into this service. I find it hard to believe that the Unity incident doesn’t feature at the top of everyone’s list, it was sadly a textbook example of not only how not to communicate, but also on the perils of making rash business decisions. With Unity, we should not forget that the comms angle was only part of the equation, the bigger issue lied in the changes they attempted to force through without properly engaging with developers. The whole thing unravelled almost instantly leading to John Riccitiello standing down and it’s a cautionary tale on how not to make such a seismic change to your business model without properly engaging with your customers and your community.
Recently, I also believe that Microsoft could have easily avoided the avalanche of anger from the Xbox community over news that some games would be going multi-format. Assuming plans were not changed post leak, this was really no news at all, it’s logical and in line with the business model the Xbox team are perusing, I’m personally all for it. Allowing rumours to take hold and then waiting a week to confirm what was really going on, was (in my opinion) a baffling decision to make. A simple press release would have been sufficient, no need for a 20-minute studio led ‘Business Update’. Ultimately, I’m a supporter and a cheerleader for our industry however, no matter how experienced, we all make mistakes and I like to think that how a company reacts to a comms crisis is what’s really important. Though hard, trust can be won back from being honest and doing right by your customers.
Redundancies have barely left the news for 18 months. Aside from the loss of talented colleagues, what has been the implication for PR and comms?
This a highly emotive subject and a tough one to answer. I’ve worked in-house and agency side which allows me to experience two very different perspectives. It goes without saying that all redundancies are heart-breaking, I’ve been in that position myself before and wouldn’t wish it on anyone. When you’re working in-house, redundancies can be extremely stressful, both fearing for your own role but also potentially picking up an increased workload resulting from a diminished team. During Covid, many in our industry we’re rightly reluctant to speak about the fact that gaming was one of the few areas thriving, as many of us were furloughed at home and unable to socialise normally. As more internal teams downsize, we’re getting more requests for business as companies would rather contract PR agencies than hire in-house staff. Many have imposed a lock-down on new hires so are turning to agencies to plug the gaps in their marketing teams. I would much rather not have the work and see more of my industry friends and colleagues keep their jobs, but I’m simply reporting on what I see. It’s a troubled time for many in our industry and if we can assist by giving good people work when more accounts come our way, then that’s what we’ll strive to do.
We saw some great games released last year, but the sales numbers didn’t appear to line up with the acclaim. Have there been too many good games? What’s going on?
It’s an interesting conundrum and one that mirrors Hollywood. It’s true to say that there has never been more fierce competition for attention when it comes to entertainment, as consumers are presented with overwhelming choice from a myriad of streaming services as well as gaming, all battling for relevancy. I think that Indie gaming has truly come of age. There are so many good games made by smaller studios, which (often for monetary reasons) rely on innovation and solid gameplay, rather than leaning on inflated budgets. I’m just as excited to play curios such as Stray, than to play AAA blockbusters. Again, we have here many parallels with the movie business where sequels and reliable blockbusters are now falling out of favour as consumers seek something new and original. Hogwarts Legacy was not a sequel, it was based on an established franchise for sure, but it delivered wish fulfilment in spades, using IP that was both popular but not overcooked. When you deliver something fresh and the quality is high, games usually find their audience. It’s not a perfect answer for sure, but then if we all knew the secret to a successful game all the time, we’d all be living like Rock Stars! Picking a successful launch window is critical, having a well-conceived marketing plan is a must and actually having a decent title to market never hurts either, but laziness is rarely rewarded for very long these days.
Are the days Twitter/X (aka Twix?) and mass-email-pitching numbered. What will replace them? AI? What will replace them? AI?
No, I’d like to think that X/Twitter still has its place. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve been warned that PR is a dying art, but I don’t buy it, I simply think that the art of marketing a title is constantly evolving. As the business changes and matures, so does the way we market titles, there will always be a new technology to condemn as the harbinger of doom, but as an example, we have just signed a new client that moved away from their prior agency because the agency in question was caught using AI to write a press release. Professionals can always tell, and while it’s true that the technology will evolve quickly, the art of telling an enticing story and subtly adjusting the hook to suit the media outlet you’re pitching to, will (I believe) continue to favour the human touch. Our business will go where the tech takes us but the truly successful marketeers will never allow the tech to control them.
It’s been suggested that ‘information overload and standing out’ are the biggest PR issues right now. Would you agree and how are you attempting to overcome such challenges?
Without sounding facetious, that’s been an issue for some time now. Discovery has been a challenge since the Indie phenomenon exploded, digital stores are crammed with thousands of titles and attention spans are increasingly slight. How to break through the noise and ensure your message resonates in an ongoing battle, it’s a cat and mouse game played with all forms of entertainment vying for attention. The days of press release/code/review are coming to an end, it’s all about the story, the journey, and the points of difference in how you approach the campaign. The great ideas usually shine through and are remembered, it’s about creativity and the discipline to approach every new title with fresh eyes.
