Paula’s Game Ramblings: the Perks of the Job

In our last Q&A we talked about the work that goes on behind the scenes of LadiesGamers. (you can find the article here)

A lot of the work we do for LadiesGamers involves receiving review codes from game publishers. After all, we wouldn’t be much of a handheld gaming site if we didn’t have games to review for our audience to read! And all this work has some perks too!

Staying in Touch Constantly

At the stage where LadiesGamers is now, we receive promotional emails about future game titles being released from all the publishers we are in contact with. If the game will appeal to our audience, we ask for a code. So, on a weekly basis emails go back and forward between Yvonne and myself and publishers. And if there’s a game in our sights from a publisher we don’t know yet, we get in touch by sending an email introducing ourselves and our work. 

It wasn’t always like this though: at the start we really had to constantly scour the internet for possible contacts and work hard to get a code. Eventually though, publishers found their way to us!

The Perks of the Job

Having a good relationship with the publishers is key to receiving review codes and it can also offer up other opportunities too. Publishers can hold virtual press meetings and some of the larger publishing firms send out promotional packs for certain games.

In August Yvonne was invited to a NIS America (Nippon Ichi Software) virtual press meeting on Discord. I was lucky enough to be able to tag along by joining the press meeting too. We were shown some of  NIS’s upcoming new game titles in action as one of their representatives played a few of their games. I really enjoyed seeing their new titles in action and it was great fun to be able to see all they have planned to release for next week year.

Just this month on the release of Bubble Bobble the Baron is Back on Nintendo Switch, I was delighted to receive a promotional pack to celebrate the release of the game. PR Hound, who are the publishers for that particular game, sent a box of various goodies my way. Being in shielding for most of the year, such a box is very welcome!

Now I’ve two new face masks to wear when out, a Bubble Bobble mug to drink my coffee out of and a mouse mat with…you guessed it Bubble Bobble on the front of it. Also included was a bottle of bubbles, which I passed on to my grandson, who at five years old will get more fun out of the bottle of bubbles than I will.

A Two Way Street

Working with publishers is a two-way street, they get the news of their game out there to the public from the review that has been published on LadiesGamers. The writer who wrote the review gets a free game code, in this case, James who’s review you can read here. And the odd time we get some treats from the publishers as a way of thanks.

Most often though, it’s enough to get thanks in a kind email that we of course pass on to the writer. Publishers know by now that we are a trustworthy partner. Even if a rating isn’t positive, explaining our reasoning is much appreciated!