Gaming companies continue to rake in revenue, as gamers have bucked the media recession of the last few years. But they're apparently not investing much coin into their
communications efforts. In this assessment of gaming companies online pressrooms, written by Steve Smith, editor-in-chief of PR NEWS sister publication Electronic Gaming Business,
we offer some valuable lessons on why it's crucial for industries to cultivate good media relations, particularly online, which, of course, is where all the waves are headed.
Very few game companies are even close to being ready for mainstream press coverage, if the sad state of their online pressrooms is any indication. That's our humble (but
irascible) conclusion after surveying major game publishers' sites. In many cases, there is no direct link to a press area, now considered standard at corporate sites seeking fair
media coverage.
There are no press areas that show an understanding of reporters' needs for contacts, assets, and searchable press releases. In fact, there seems to be little to no effort made
to do basic corporate PR at these sites in showing how these companies are part of a larger social community let alone where they sit as leaders in their industry.
Lest we seem like too tough a grader, let us point readers to real media company sites like Time Warner (http://www.timewarner.com),
or an industry leader that knows the value of good press to their business like Astra Zeneca (http://www.astrazeneca-us.com), or
Hasbro (http://www.hasbro.com), which seems to understand how to organize necessary media assets and contacts in ways reporters actually use
them. In comparison, virtually all of the game company sites have poorly placed or generic PR contact information, no media clips or pointers even to positive press coverage.
There's also no attempt to cultivate executives or creatives as leaders or quotable experts in the industry.
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Publisher/Final Grade
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Press Releases
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Media Assets
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Corporate Financials
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Corporate/Executive Background
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| Activision: http://www.activison.com ; More investor friendly than press friendly with no dedicated press room to serve specific needs of media. C+ |
Timely postings, contact info included; not searchable. B- | Limited number of executive or corporate photos or logos. Game images strewn across dedicated game sites. C | Excellent access to all SEC filings and annual reports, recent Webcasts, investor calendar and stock quotes. A | Good investor-oriented backgrounders and company timelines but in windy, tiresome prose. Needs a bullet-point illustration of major assets, subsidiaries, brands, sales, etc. Doesn't sell executives well or document speeches. B- |
| Eidos: http://www.eidos.com ; Some good qualities but with scant contact info and press-centric area, EIDOS is still not ready for prime time media. C- |
Limited number of press releases and releases are not searchable or sortable. D | Eidos reps regularly give gaming press contacts direct ftp access to game screens and b-rolls, but no relevant assets are available from the communications area. C+ |
Direct links to annual reports and filings; no investor calendar, Webcasts, or stock info. B | Excellent overview, with bulleted breakdown of key corporate assets and brands. No documentation of executive speeches, community involvement, position in industry; excellent timeline. B |
| Electronic Arts: http://www.ea.com While it looks and navigates like a site designed in 1997, EA's corporate site does come closer than most in delivering the goods the press needs - except who to contact. B- |
Timely postings thoughtfully sub-divided by corporate division, the releases are searchable only by date when they should be searchable by keyword. B |
Finally, a company that puts images of media events, games, and even executives for press use. They are atrociously organized, however. B+ |
All present and accounted for: filings, archived Webcasts, stock info, email alerts. The 2003 "Interactive Annual Report" should be a model to others. And unlike the general press area, the investor area actually has a contact link.A- |
Good thumbnail overview of company, brands, and assets. Fair executive bios and pictures, though there is no record of executive speeches, corporate outreach or social involvement. Curiously, there is no real representation of exactly how successful a media company this is, its run of million sellers, awards, press and investor fawning. Go figure. B+ |
| Take 2 Games: http://www.take2games.com ; Tech-heavy and attractive but still underpowered information- wise, the site is about as helpful to the press as liner notes on a CD. C+ |
Timely but without a keyword search. No contacts within releases. B- | Skimpy on info about key executives, the plant, the studios, the logo. Individual game sites carry screenshots if press has time or cares to forage for their assets. C |
Perfunctory investor info, with excellent interactive annual report but no links to SEC filings or Webcasts. A list of analysts covering the company is helpful. C |
Concise but cursory corporate background, with no timeline, sales figures, awards, or positioning/sales within the industry at large. There seems to be no PR effort here to counter-balance or address controversy surrounding GTA: Vice City, even though that obviously is why most mainstream press would be here. C+ |
| Vivendi Universal Games: http://www.vugames.com ; While it is among the more attractive game company sites, VUGames.com pretty much disses the press out of hand. C- |
Timely but sort-able by date only. No searching, no breakdown by category. B | No company images or logos. For game images, just root around the game-specific pages if you like. C- | As a major media subsidiary, VUG defers to the parent company, but at least there should be some indication of the unit's market share, overall sales, growth... something. F |
Almost everything at the site is cursory and insufficient, but VUG gets points for delineating its major brands and its major partners as well as giving bios of many executives. With no indication of sales levels, awards, community outreach, market position or share, there is no way of telling if VUG is good or successful at what it does. C |