A big moment for us, LadiesGamers is ten years old. Especially in the business we are in that’s a long time, for which we are very proud. Looking back, we couldn’t have done it without publishers and developers in the gaming industry. The PR companies that, like us, work with indie developers and small studios to ask for attention for their games. And it’s been a great partnership!
We’ve kicked off several special articles to celebrate our decade. A survey for our readers, our former writers have chipped in, our team has made special anniversary articles and more. Paula and I also asked PR partners for their thoughts. We asked for their opinion and left room for tips. What did we get back? Picture a rainy and gloomy Monday afternoon, feeling sorry for yourself because the holiday is over. Well, their collected reactions are excellent reading material on days like that, just as a pick-me-up!
First Contact with the Publishers! Always Exiting!
Over the years, we’ve gathered quite a big list of contacts for review codes. So, as explained, for this anniversary occasion, we reached out to a group that we worked with the most to ask them some questions. The first questions were about the first time we worked together and how they found us…or did we approach them?
How did we find each other?
Of course, for some PR agencies and publishers, our working relationship goes back a few years. The first ever company that I came into contact with, and for whom I made a review in 2015, was Aksys Games. That was such a hallmark moment for me that I still remember it (as you can read in this YvoCaro Plays)! But often, neither they nor we remember when the first contact was. On our side, we look at games due for release and try to gauge whether our readers would enjoy reading about that game and if one of our writers might enjoy reviewing the game, after which we ask for a code of the publisher working with that title.
On the side of the publishers, they search the internet and social media, looking for a media outlet that they feel would fit with their PR agency. The reviews that are already published on a site are like a calling card!
Fairly new in our PR contacts since 2022 is Alex Harding from the Australian company TheIndiEXP. He remembered:
We found you by searching in Google reviews for various indie games, and your website frequently showed up. We found your coverage to be very thorough and insightful, with a real passion for the finer details in gaming, as well as having a warm and inviting tone of voice, so we knew we had to reach out to open up a dialogue.
We were still quite small at the time, working with our first clients’ games. We were very happy with the warm welcome, as you made us feel as though it didn’t matter that we had only just started.
Pirate PR is a company we have been working with since 2022, so it has not been very long. What’s nice, though, is that we have been working with them since they started.
Robby from Pirate PR adds:
I think I first discovered the social media channel on Twitter, I love the wholesome undertone of your coverage. We added you to our press list from the get-go. I don’t think we’ve sent out a press release where you weren’t one of the addresses.
Who made the first contact?
With Stride PR, we go back quite a bit, as far as I can see, to 2018, when we reviewed a twin-stick shooter game mixed with base-building mechanics, Sleep Tight, for them.
Ray Porreca, Account Executive, Stride PR, explains:
We pride ourselves on building relationships with outlets across gaming and adjacent industries and work hard to maintain stay up to date on sites of all sizes with our media database. Typically this means keeping an ear to the ground and checking in with media outlets to current on different publications, but we also encourage both journalists and content creators to sign up for our media list by filling out a quick form on the Stride PR website.
We approached Forever Entertainment in this way. I think it was to make a review for Grab Lab in 2018, and that was the first of many reviews we did for them.
Of course, there are many more publishers and development studios that we approach to get the best reviews out there. Sometimes successful, at others, the contact is a one-time thing.
You may have noticed there are some companies that we always review games for. That’s because the kind of games they make suits us very well, and they are just the kind of games our audience is interested in. Like we do for Decibel PR, Future Friends Games and for Mens Sana Interactive. Sergio Ueta from Mens Sana Interactive remembers:
After exploring more of the website and loving its focus on indie & wholesome games, I realized that our studio creates exactly the kind of games that LadiesGamers covers. Our games aim to challenge players’ minds while maintaining a relaxing mood, so I felt they would be a perfect fit for the site and its audience. I reached out to Yvonne, introducing ourselves and offering our games released on Steam for them to review. That’s how our great relationship started, and we always keep LadiesGamers in mind when promoting our releases.
Which review we made for you stands out to you?
Ask each of our writers, and all of them have a favourite review they made over the years. Often, games that they rated very enthusiastically. We asked the same of the publishers and jogged their memory to hear which review still stands out to them to this day!
Ray Porreca, Account Executive from Stride PR:
“With the caveat that it’s not a game I directly worked on, but instead one of my colleagues at Stride, I quite like the A Space for the Unbound review. It’s a special, emotional game that players tend to resonate with, so seeing a critic engage with it and have a positive response is great.”
Alex from TheIndiEXP:
“Oh, that’s a good question! If I had to choose, it’d probably be the one for Joon Shining. This would likely be because I was doing three game launches in the same week, and this game didn’t get as much attention as the others did. So, the developer was really chuffed with your review, and I’m quite certain he took some quotes from it to promote on his own socials. In addition, while James did give the game a thumbs up, he also pointed out some great and valid criticisms, and this feedback certainly helped the developer with his later projects, one of which you have since covered in Dream of the Star Haven (also covered by James). Thanks, James!!”
Sergio Ueta from Mens Sana Interactive:
“One review that stands out to me is the first “Two thumbs up” we received. That was for Island Cities – Nintendo Switch edition. We developed this game as an improvement upon our previous title, Island Farmer, and aimed to enhance the player experience. It was our debut release on the Switch, and we put a lot of effort into adapting it to the platform. Receiving the “Two thumbs up” stamp from Paula was incredibly rewarding and motivating for us.”
Tom Heath from Big Games Machine:
“For me, it has to be the lovely Rytmos review. My favourite project from my time in PR, and I loved reading all the praise it received.”
Simon Callaghan from Johnny Atom PR:
“I knew that Paula was very excited about Snufkin: The Melody of Moominvalley, so that review stands out as I can tell how much she enjoyed it. Shame about the game-ending bug, however! I loved playing it also, so it was good to see that joy in someone else.”
Robby from Pirate PR:
“The most recent one was Please, Touch the Artwork 2, and we really liked the article. The developer, too, and he even had you on his wishlist as one of the sites he hoped to receive coverage from.”
Mikolaj from Forever Entertainment:
“In our opinion, all of your reviews are very good quality, but we really liked your Blocky Farm review.”
Reviews: The Dreaded Low Scores
When all is said and done, reviews are important for readers. They help them decide whether or not they should spend their hard-earned cash on a new game, or not. No one wants to buy a game and be sorry when the actual gameplay isn’t what they expected. As most indie games are download-only, it may be even more important. So, we asked the publishers if it’s hard to accept a less-than-stellar review. Because though we don’t like doing it, we do give out lower ratings.
Is it hard to accept when we give your game a less-than-stellar review?
When you know our rating system, you’ll know that there’s the dreaded red “I don’t like it”. Really, we try to avoid giving that, as the developers have often poured their heart and soul into the game. But still, if a game has big flaws, is broken in any way, or is an obviously bad port, they do receive that rating.
Mikolaj from Forever Entertainment feels that:
We want reviewers to be honest with our games, because we want to provide gamers the best products that will be enjoyable for them.
What everyone we spoke to feels is important is that the review is made fairly and in good faith. As long as a review is respectful, it is, after all, our job as critics to make sure our audience is well-informed. And I think respect is the reason why a negative review is accepted, as we make sure our review is never mean or degrading. Alex from TheIndiEXP says:
I myself have six years’ experience when it comes to reviewing games and I know that a review is only as good as it is honest. There’s a difference between a negative/mediocre review that respectfully points out its foibles, compared to one that is simply being mean for the sake of it. I have seen some negative reviews on your website and these are always handled with grace and understanding. Developers never intend to make bad games, so in the future, when/if you give one of our clients’ games a negative/mediocre review, we know that it’ll come from a place of honesty and empathy.
What is it like working with us?
As you can imagine, this is the part that makes us very happy reading. An open question, to which we got some lovely reactions. Can you blame me for just putting the lovely comments in here?
Ray Porreca from Stride PR:
“Great! One of the best parts about working on the games industry’s PR side is interacting with countless editors, creators, and more as part of our daily routine. We have greatly appreciated the opportunity to work with your team and are very grateful that you take time out of your busy days to consider our clients for coverage and share their work with your audience!”
Joe Robinson from Hooded Horse PR:
“I want to say on record that working with you (and LadiesGamers) is always a pleasure. You show great professionalism and are firm but fair with your coverage. I enjoy reading your reviews.”
Alex Harding from TheIndiEXP:
“An absolute breeze! You check our emails, you fill out forms for requests, you deliver content in a timely manner, and your team is always very polite and friendly. Whenever I think of press to reach out to for a new game, your website is always in that initial group to contact. It always means a lot when developers get coverage for their games and you make the process an absolute breeze.”
Sergio Ueta from Mens Sana Interactive:
Tom Heath from Big Games Machine:
Simon Callaghan from Johnny Atom PR:
Robby from Pirate PR:
Mikolaj from Forever Entertainment:
And That’s a Wrap
I would like to thank all the publishers who answered. There was more input, some with short answers or only with congratulations, like from David Lozada from HomeRun PR, Derek Reeve from PR Hound, Jurge from Popagenda PR and Evgeniy Kolpakov from Pinkerator – Sometimes You.
The companies quoted here really took the time to answer elaborately. When you’ve read this far, you may be thinking: well, that’s a lot of positivity drawn out across the virtual page. Honestly, we had hoped for some praise but also welcomed pointers to do things differently in the future. I guess we are also proud of all the heartfelt responses we got.
I’ll end this article with the notes Sergio Ueta from Mens Sana Interactive added. I couldn’t have said it better myself:
Congratulations on reaching the milestone of 10 years! This achievement serves as concrete evidence of the demand for this type of coverage. We’re grateful for the opportunity to have our games reviewed on your platform. As fellow enthusiasts of wholesome games and a small team ourselves, we find your journey incredibly inspiring. Here’s to many more years of success and growth for LadiesGamers. God bless you, Ladies!
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