Press Releases (Game-Related)

[Phil_Stein]

Among other things, I run a small site that aggregates blogs from a few different casual/indie-type game developers.

Users can find my contact info through this site, and I am increasingly receiving press-release type stuff.

I have no interest in these things. I used to regularly update my own blog (though rarely with commentary on other folks' games), but I haven't even done that since last February.

When the e-mail comes in and it's reasonably obvious that all they did is stick me on their e-mail list (i.e. "For immediate release:"), I just ignore it.

Some folks go a bit further and include a bit of apparent personalization (though evidently not too much, as if they did reasonable research, they'd see I wouldn't likely be interested, and even if I was, my traffic is minimal).

Should I be responding to these folks at all (i.e. "No thanks, this isn't applicable to me.") or should I just entirely ignore them?

And for those of you who are serious game press folks, how many of these p.r. type e-mails do you get per day/week? Do they have much impact at all (i.e. leading you to find/cover things you might not have otherwise)?

[RichardC]

I get literally hundreds of press e-mails a week, and that's not counting Junk. I do read pretty much all of them, or at least see what they are. But it's not a win/win scenario. Send me a press release with a quick, well-written summary that tells me not only what it is, but something other than its mere existence as a reason for the mailshot, maybe a couple of screenshots, the details I need to request a review copy and other information I need, I'll almost always take a look. I don't discriminate between PRs and names I know.

Keep sending things just called PRESS RELEASE or FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE or... no kidding... EMBARGOED UNTIL (WHENEVER), or inundate me with 6MB of JPEGs on the first date, or send too much silly things like blathering about game lore or whatever, or fill the damn thing with amateur legalise about how much trouble I'll be in if I break an NDA I never signed and therefore doesn't exist, or any other gibberish like that, and you're going to get on my blacklist pretty quickly.

I used to write polite letters back, but got tired of inevitably being berated for it by return of post. If I'm interested, I'll usually give it a try. If not, it's one click to add someone to the shit-list. That goes double if people start blasting mailshots* to my home address without so much as an introductory e-mail. If it's of interest, I might say "Thanks, but please send this to..." in the future. Otherwise, I consider it spam, and treat it as such.

(* Obviously, if individuals or companies or whatever want to get in touch directly about something, it's cool...)