A Practical Guide to Indie Game Marketing by Joel Dreskin

Author:Joel Dreskin [Dreskin, Joel]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
ISBN: 9781138801547
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Published: 2015-12-21T23:00:00+00:00

If you decide to review the game, we ask that you hold your coverage until 8:00 pm Eastern time on November 6.

Thanks!

— Petr Fodor and Lukas Korba, developers

Octagon press pitch used courtesy of Lukas Korba and Flow Studio

In this example, the intriguing subject line—which includes an interesting premise description, platform and release date—encourages the recipient to open the email. A question mark can help in an email subject line because it prompts the reader to take action with a reply.

The first paragraph distills the most important information about Octagon and ends with the reason for writing (an offer of a review copy). The reader knows right away that continuing to read the email will yield more information about a game they’re being asked to consider for review. This particular email proactively provides a review code, rather than asking the recipient if they’d like one, cutting a step out of the process and making it easy for the journalist. If codes are limited or you want to keep close tabs on which journalists are considering coverage, you might instead want them to write back to request a code. Or you can try different approaches for different types of press (for example, provide a code for harder-to-get consumer and big gaming press, to make things as easy as possible, but ask people from smaller gaming sites to write back and ask so you can keep better track of who’s interested).

The pitch email’s second paragraph dives into the gameplay, describing the course (an 8-sided tunnel), the levels, the controls, the fast pace, and that quick reflexes are required. The developers wanted to attract people who like very challenging games, so they emphasized Octagon’s difficulty.

Next the pitch states the most important features, the price, and the absence of in-app purchases (which the developers noticed consumers and press had been complaining about in similar games).

Finally the developers provided links to assets (trailer and screenshots), access to the review copy and an embargo notice. While this pitch exceeds five paragraphs, the ones near the end are very short and the full email doesn’t look overwhelming on the screen. Bulleting out key points and using bold headings are other ways to make your email easy to read.

You can see additional press communication samples in the supplemental section after this chapter—another pitch example and more.

This pitch resulted in launch week reviews from AppSpy, AppAdvice, Cult of Mac, PC Magazine’s AppScout column, Arcade Sushi and iMore, among others. The game was also featured in the App Store—something the developers had discussed with Apple separately, but good press always helps! A year after launch Octagon was still generating around $200/day, making it one of the developers’ most successful titles to date.

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