When it comes to Public Relations or PR, consistency is key. This holds particularly true in the video game industry, where it relies on relationships with journalists and media to bring attention to your games. Like us here at The Game Marketer, video game marketing professionals are constantly seeking new opportunities to reach a number of potential players through various means and channels. However, PR strategies can be ineffective if they're not consistently carried out. This article will explain why it's so important for game developers to be consistent when it comes to strategy and your video game PR efforts!
Before we get into it, here are some facts that catch out even the biggest video game developers and publishers:
- Video game journalists are some of the least paid but most overworked individuals in the industry.
- On Steam alone there have been over 18,000 new PC games released since 2025. And yes, all of them want PR coverage.
- The big conflict: What games to cover vs. what will drive traffic. An article about a popular video game franchise is going to get more clicks than a story about an unknown game.
Based on the number of releases, it has never been more difficult to get coverage, especially for a Level 1 developer. So how do you battle this? Start early and create a consistent video game PR strategy.
Consistent Video Game PR Is Key In Building A Brand
Take the time to build your brand with journalists, content creators, and other media figures. This will allow you to strengthen your relationship with these key players in order to gain new PR opportunities for your video game.
Consistency helps form long-lasting partnerships, as well as reinforcing the message you are trying to deliver.
Look at Innersloth, the studio behind the very popular game, Among Us. The game did not gain much attention upon release, but because of a small community, Innersloth consistently updated the game with new maps and new ways to customize. Eventually, in 2020, 2 years after its release, it gained a surge of popularity thanks to streamers. By the end of 2020, around 60 million were playing every day.
It will take time to develop your message and relationship with those you are trying to convince, but as Jeff Bezos once said, “All overnight success takes 10 years.” Releasing regular press updates linked to key milestones in your game's lifecycle is crucial for success and helps sustain healthy relationships with the press. A journalist or streamer you built a relationship with is much more likely to open your next email about your imminent release than one who has never heard of you or your game before.
Consistent Video Game PR Means Less Work In The Long Run
Thanks to your video game PR strategy, the relationships you’ve built, and the reputation you’ve established, promoting your game becomes easier over time.
Journalists and content creators who are already familiar with you are more likely to engage with your updates, compared to those who are hearing you for the first time.
For example, Yacht Club Games, the developers behind the hit game Shovel Knight. Even after a successful Kickstarter campaign which earned them over $300,000, their constant work on the game almost burned through their money. They even dipped into their own pockets to continue their work. The game became a massive success, earning critical acclaim, even being hailed as one of the greatest games ever made. One of their recent releases, Mina the Hollower, was also well-received, earning high marks from critics and players alike. Because of their success, consistency, and a bit of sacrifice, they have established themselves as a great company and game developer, with journalists and content creators now keeping an eye out for their next release.
Starting early and staying consistent in sharing updates about your game saves a lot of work in the future. And while a video game PR strategy is not something you can develop overnight, the dedication and hard work you put in will pay off in the long run.
Being Able To Track Your Results Can Help You Adapt To Any Situation
The video game industry is very competitive, and being able to track your results despite the chaos can help you improvise, adapt, and overcome.
The success of any video game PR campaign usually has three components: visibility, credibility, and momentum. Visibility helps others find and learn about your game; credibility will convince them that they should care about what you're saying; and momentum helps keep all eyes glued to what's happening with your game. If your approach is last-minute, inaccurate results may show up, and people may end up raising their eyebrows at what you say.
RPG developer Logic Artists launched Expeditions: Viking to a chaotic, un-tracked PR where they couldn’t see which storefront button clicks or media posts were being converted into actual purchases. They eventually partnered with a data analytics team to implement tracking across their media push. By tracking this data, they were able to pivot their entire strategy. This helped completely save the cycle, turning it into a highly profitable campaign.
With a good and consistent video game PR strategy, it’ll be easier to track your results through metrics such as social shares, website traffic spikes, increased games media coverage, etc.
Consistent Video Game PR Builds Trust and Reliability
The first step in staying consistent with your video game PR is choosing a campaign goal and then setting specific goals for each tactic within the PR strategy you came up with. Remember, consistency does not mean spamming. If you email a journalist and they don't reply, do not assume they ignored or have not read your message. Immediately chasing is more likely to get you blocked than responded to.
For instance, Mobius Digital didn’t spam the press with weekly check-ins or every day emails. Instead, they focused on a highly organized press kit and only reached out to journalists when they hit major, polished milestones. And because they were consistent and reliable, media outlets learned to trust that an email from Mobius was worth opening. This professional credibility led to widespread acclaim and major coverage from well known gaming sites.
This just goes to show that if your PR strategy is sound, then journalists and/or content creators will most likely understand the message you are trying to get across about your game. Being consistent with your PR goals helps you achieve your objectives, no matter the obstacle.
A Lack of Video Game PR Consistency May Lead To Confusion
Video Game PR is a delicate balance of knowing what your objectives are and being able to execute them properly. As a video game marketing agency, we tell our clients not to be afraid to do something new or different so that you don't burn out the media with repetitiveness, as long as the product message and key points are still there.
But, if you change your product message every time you send out a press release in an effort to make things more interesting or get attention, you are actually just confusing people.
Enter Redfall.
Arkane Studio is best known for making single-player games such as Dishonored, Prey, and Wolfenstein. So you can imagine the surprise when Redfall was announced that it would be multiplayer. With a lack of manpower, confusion whether the game will be a single-player or multiplayer, and management regularly switching, saying Redfall should be like Far Cry one day and Borderlands the next, there was no direction. When it eventually released, it was buggy and was panned by critics.
So as a lesson, you need to make sure that every point, every direction is as clear as possible. You have to be consistent in your vision and your goals.
Remember, consistency equals reliability.
In short…
As we stated earlier, consistency is key. You must be consistent in building your brand, in tracking your results, and in your messaging. By staying consistent, you build trust, reliability, and a good reputation. But if you’re still worried about your PR, don’t worry. The Game Marketer also specializes in video game PR. We can help you get your game noticed and your message out there. Message us and together, let’s put you in the spotlight.
