Game PR: Communicating In A 24-Hour News CycleNote: This is the first in a series of career focused articles on IndustryGamers, detailing different roles within the games industry.
An untold number of video game fans aspire to become part of the billion-dollar industry, but lack the necessary computing skills to be a programmer, or the artistic eye to create highly detailed worlds.
That said, these talented people could still make an impact on gaming through a variety of professions, chiefly public relations, a rapidly growing segment of the business where savvy professionals effectively communicate games and products to the mass market, hardcore players and the press.
For Tammy Levine, Electronic Arts’ Vice President of Public Relations, the job comes with its share of challenges, but she admits the rewards far outweigh the negatives.
“A lot of benefits come with this job. You see the world, attend cool events and meet fascinating people. You get to play the games before they are released to the public, and offer feedback that helps shape development, but the number one coolest part of the job is having the opportunity to work with so many tremendously talented people. The development teams we represent are defining pop culture today. They are creating the entertainment of a generation,” she said.
Levine and her team at EA play a role in every game’s development, including the company’s biggest title of 2011, Battlefield 3. This not only involves playing the game and offering feedback to the development team at DICE, but listening to fans as well as journalists to make the product a quality experience.
“Electronic Arts puts a very high value on individuals working for the company. We’re given tremendous responsibility. We work closely with the dev teams and our opinion matters. We’re a reflection and a voice of the player and the press. The critical feedback we bring back to the team is important and integrated into the product,” Levine added.
Born in Montreal, Levine studied communications in college, unaware that her grad school program, a postmodern deconstructionist analysis of communication theory, informed by French philosophy, would eventually pay dividends at Ubisoft, following a stint at hardware graphics company, Matrox.
As it turns out, the gig at Ubisoft helped bring her to the States, where she worked as a liaison between the company and the U.S. press, largely because of her fluency in both English and French.
“This role of communications, a conduit, became critical. It was an interesting place to be, to see the role you could play in bringing the message to people who didn’t speak the same language,” she said.
“PR professionals entering or working on video game PR should expect a fun, exciting and challenging career like no other... There is never a dull moment.”
Along the way, she met a variety of brilliant people while learning more about video game development and the steps in bringing one to market. She quickly became inspired.
“Ubisoft was more about creative expression, the gameplay, the characters, the world and design. I fell in love with the games and the people. I was the spokesperson - the mouthpiece in some ways. When you are literally translating, you really feel connected to the process. It made me feel valuable and a true extension of the team,” she noted.
After leaving Ubisoft, Levine made stops at Konami and the PR firm Bender/Helper before reaching EA in 2004, where she became part of one of the world’s biggest, most successful video game publishers.
With that, of course, came a new set of demands that fall into a thrilling 24-hour news cycle, a reality of the business new recruits must adjust to.
“I’ve been woken up at four in the morning. I’ll get calls at home. Someone is always on deadline. Everyone has a boss,” she related.
“Crisis communications is one of the biggest challenges of the job. There’s actual backlash, concerns and complaints that arise. Addressing those in a 24-hour news cycle with great urgency is the biggest challenge we face.”
Of course, working with the press is one of the best ways to make the public aware of a game, despite the challenges that arise from communicating to multiple outlets.
“A lot of times, journalists have a point of view and push back. They’ll critique you throughout the entire campaign, and criticize the developers on every decision. As a PR person, we have to explain to the press and consumer why those design choices were made and the rationale behind it. Not every decision will be loved or unanimously embraced, but that goes for movies and books as well,” Levine remarked.
This also means preserving truth, while maintaining healthy relationships with the media, a line that some critics feel PR crosses. In the past, other publishers have been accused of paying for high scores and other shady practices that Levine says EA is strongly against.
“The division between church and state is incredibly important and should be preserved. Conflict of interest is very real, as well as the appearance of it. Every quarter, I hold an all hands meeting to discuss how we can get better as a group. Ethics plays a big role in this job. In fact, we looked at the New York Times code of conduct. Everything has to operate on the basis of truth,” she explained.
The same can be said of the consumer, who Levine says has just as big a say as the press: “The line between journalist, critic and consumer is very blurred. The customer is just as engaged, vocal and influential as a journalist was historically.”
As such, a public relations person must understand that fans don’t necessarily take a day off, when in fact, they may be busier on the weekend, sharing their concerns with thousands of like-minded buyers.
“When things percolate on the Internet, there’s no stopping it because it’s Saturday morning,” said Levine. “In PR, we need to address issues before they escalate. Whenever something happens, my team will discuss the issue and untangle what may be misinformation. Then we figure out how to fix it.”
This may involve issuing press releases to the media, granting them access to executives and/or speaking with community members on message boards, where the goal is to correct mistakes while preserving the integrity of the game.
“Only by knowing your product,” said Levine, “will you know how to pitch it to reporters. Understanding how to speak to the press and pitch your game is fundamental if you want to see meaningful coverage and drive positive consumer awareness. On a more macro level,” she continued, “it is important to understand the impact PR has on the marketing campaign as the company brings a game to market, and to see the opportunity that PR has in helping to shape the game quality as it is being developed.”
It’s a demanding though lucrative job. Informing prospective recruits that such opportunities exist, however, appears to be difficult, given common misconceptions about a career in video games.
“There’s a stigma about games,” said Levine. “At EA, one of the most important things we do is work with guidance counselors on the high school and even university level. A lot of kids in high school have a huge passion for games, but their parents don’t connect that to a career. They want them to become engineers. They don’t consider entertainment, but there are jobs in this industry.”
On that note, just because a person doesn’t attend college to become the next Shigeru Miyamoto doesn’t mean they can’t play an important role in creating the next big hit.
“I came into the industry without a PR specific education,” said Levine. “But we have formal structures in place where we share knowledge, so that we grow the team as individuals and a group.”
This support network ultimately, and in the right setting, appears to make a PR team a family of sorts, working with the company’s best interests at heart.
“PR professionals entering or working on video game PR should expect a fun, exciting and challenging career like no other,” said Levine. “PR offers you an opportunity to be innovative and creative. It is always changing. As a PR professional, you are always adapting to the changing marketplace. There are always fires to fight and issues to resolve. There is never a dull moment.”
Levine finished by giving us the best advice of all:
“A person, no matter who they are, will be successful if they do things they love. You’ll have a much longer career trajectory.”
