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June 30th, 2008 @ 15:54
It was, in a word, awesome. The Diablo III reveal in Paris on Saturday was the stuff of dreams. Dream product, dream venue, dream organization. We got there and reported from it with ease. Why? Because everything we ever wanted from a press conference was included. For all the publishers and developers in the audience, everything you’re doing wrong when showing your games to the press for the first time is listed after the break. Please take note.
Things you should do when announcing a game at a conference
1 – Provide a proper, industrial strength internet connection. This is baffling to us. The vast majority of gamers get their information primarily from the internet. That’s a fact. And yet publishers still insist on not providing heavyweight wireless internet connections at events web journalists try desperately to report from live. Take the Sony PlayStation Day in London. No web connection at all. Why? The Worldwide Invitational provided a super-speed wireless connection to journalists, with limited log-ins meaning it wasn’t swamped. It meant reliable live reporting including photo uploads as the conference happened. Please take note the rest of you. EA’s recent London event had a great wireless connection and, again, you only got access by asking for a key. A good sign, but you can bet your bottom dollar none of the E3 or Leipzig conferences have it. Really helpful.
2 – Don’t have mini-Hitlers stopping people moving around. The Worldwide Invitational was a huge, huge affair, and yet the atmosphere with crowd control staff was blissfully relaxed. Journalists need to get up from their seats at presentations to take photos, film, and so on. This is a fact. There were no restrictions on movement at all. People were running around as they pleased and there was ample spacing between rows of seats. Please, please, please take note. We’re not there to smile and clap. We’re working, and we’re reporting on your products. Don’t stop us being able to do it properly by employing some brain-cripple in a suit to stop people trying to take fucking photographs that don’t include the back of someone’s head.
3 – Provide a proper, genuine ton of assets. Yep, we know development’s very hard, and we know deadlines are a nightmare, but just look at what we got on Diablo III. Dozens of shots, loads of art and a 20-minute gameplay movie, all released at the event itself. You want your game to headline every major site, right? That’s how you do it.
4 – Don’t give out any details to “partners” before the event. Blizzard has kept Diablo III under wraps for four years. That means it is possible. Until the game’s logo was shown in that presentation, no one outside the company knew for sure what it was. We’d spoken to properly senior sources in the UK and Europe in the week running up to the event that were “99 percent sure” it was Diablo III, but no one really knew. The atmosphere on the day was insane. There is nothing more demoralizing or hate-inducing than spending the money, taking the time and making the commitment to attend these events to get an MSN message 10 minutes before the conference starts saying, “It’s on IGN”. Have some faith in your fucking games, for God’s sake. And if you can’t have faith in them, shouldn’t you be asking yourself why?
5 – Nail the big four – movie, shots, wallpaper, lore. This was highlighted to us this morning by someone who really does know about these things. As well as assets, the lore aspect of Diablo was covered in hilarious detail at the Worldwide Invitational, leaving few questions unanswered. So we had information on both future and past iterations in the series, art to make things pretty, screens to show what the game looks like and for those who can see it, a stupidly long piece of video showing loads of sections of the game, different classes, monsters, mechanics: everything. Take away any one of those elements and you have a roomful of journalists saying, “Got any artwork?” Not at a Blizzard event.
6 – Do a massive website update. Do not fuck about. When the curtain lifts, blitz your site with all the assets, a new design, wicked graphics, awesome music and leave everyone clicking for Jesus. Why on earth wouldn’t you? You’re not rubbish, are you?
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June 30th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Most of this is common sense. How some publishers still effs it up is beyond me.
June 30th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
It was a masterclass. I think the key to this all was preparation - they obviously took their time, didn’t rush things and planned it properly.
June 30th, 2008 at 4:19 pm
It was the slickest reveal I’ve ever seen, definitely. The fact that no one was fighting for connections and assets said it all, really.
June 30th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
The only thing I’d complain about was the streaming feed… which was shocking, one of the worst I’ve ever experienced.
June 30th, 2008 at 4:26 pm
Ah, yes. I kept getting MSNs saying the feed wasn’t working at all. That’s a bit of a stand-out, you’re right.
June 30th, 2008 at 5:56 pm
Don’t forget about teaser splash … amazing how they controlled minds of all gamers including journalists … only Live stream was little off the zone.
June 30th, 2008 at 6:01 pm
Yep, definitely. That splash thing was genius.
June 30th, 2008 at 6:12 pm
Meh.
If other companies had the sort of cashflow that Blizzard do then it would be a lot simpler. When your next 5 developments have already been paid for your view on things is quite different.
Choosing to ignore the wholly unique position Blizzard are in when asking why everyone else doesn’t do it like them is a bit short sighted really.
June 30th, 2008 at 6:17 pm
To sum up Blizzard fucking rock, but then we all knew that anyway. Good article. Unfortunately most developers are forced to reveal projects far earlier, and not everyone has such a wealth of talent of the calibre that Blizzard have coming out of their ears (not to mention their money trees), but there are certainly practical lessons that can be learned about running these kind of events.
This weekend has been great just watching all the panels etc on the stream, and I can only imagine how cool it was to be there, but then I would never expect any less of Blizzard. We are really lucky to have them, and I don’t just mean PC gamers, I mean the whole industry.
I cursed the live stream to start with, but just as the D3 reveal began it suddenly started working for me and it didn’t give me any problems for the rest of the weekend.
I don’t remember the last time I was this excited by a game announcement, but it wasn’t in this decade.
June 30th, 2008 at 6:29 pm
Shatner - Giving people internet access isn’t very expensive. I’m not talking about mid-tier publishers here. I’m talking about people like Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo. It’s a tad pathetic to sit down at an E3 press conference and not have access to the internet, in my opinion. It’s not necessary, and causes the media no end of problems. If Blizzard and EA can work out what a wireless router is, why can’t Nintendo?
June 30th, 2008 at 6:37 pm
Shatner, so you’re saying that other companies like Ubisoft, Activision, THQ, Sony, Microsoft, EA and the like which release a lot more titles per year than Blizzard are too poor?
I understand that an event like WWI is something really unique and big. It’s in a league of its own, it’s more than just announcing new stuff and Blizzard does have unique strengths like a close community.
Still, that doesn’t give the other companies any financial excuse to announce their new games as they do now: through hideously overhyped (written mag) press exclusives, poor websites, announcements which are made way too soon, not showing enough real content, having the nerve to provide mock up screens and trailers, or only showing mini-screens in job ads… even if this WWI would have been ‘only’ a press event, with the announcement itself plus developer panels and the online extravaganza then it would still be one the best ways to handle a new game announcement as pat said. Of all these things, what is really that expensive for a PR department to handle? Isn’t most of it just common sense?
June 30th, 2008 at 7:10 pm
The one I liked the most was “have your event on a Saturday”. Separates the men from the boys, eh Pat?
June 30th, 2008 at 7:37 pm
Heh. That combined with “get up at 3am and go there are back in a day, including navigating one end of Paris to the other” made it a proper event, definitely
June 30th, 2008 at 8:01 pm
No, swiftranger, that’s not what I said at all. But when you have an income of steady cashflow in the tens of millions every single month then you have a luxury that practically no other company in this industry does: you take as much time as you like. You don’t work to the same sort of demands as others because you’re not beholden to the same sort of deadline constraints as them.
Pat, I’m not the one who wrote an article with the sort of headline that suggests everyone should be doing what this one unique developer is doing. It’s a very very narrowly viewed piece with leaves out far more information than it keeps in and it’s written, shamelessly, from one perspective.
This won’t become the norm because the circumstances are unique. Don’t demand totally unrealistic expectations from things and you won’t be disappointed.
Blizzard made it extremely easy for you to do your job. And they fed, watered and entertained you whilst you did it. One week we have journalists crying about embargos and spinning stories into david-and-goliath fables. A few weeks on and the same journos seem to LOVE it when they don’t have to do too much to get their headlines or web page hits.
Oh, I know it’s the way the game is played. Blizzard aren’t doing it out of love. It just seems shallow and superficial to me.
This is a better example, in my opinion, of journalists telling the industry how things should be done.
June 30th, 2008 at 8:16 pm
Having been at press events where you don’t get internet - or food or water - I have to say I don’t think it is necessarily a luxury or part of the PR “wining and dining” to have working internet at a press event. It’s normally just a very pleasant surprise, and allows journalists to do their job and therefore results in faster/better coverage. Every publisher *could* do it (although of course sometimes it may break…).
However, having Diablo 3 in development for 4 years without anyone knowing is more of a luxury unique to Blizzard.
June 30th, 2008 at 8:44 pm
Shatner - So you think having more than three press shots, an internet connection during a press conference, for the game not be given to a big American site without you knowing before you waste your time to see something someone else has seen weeks before, and to not be manhandled by some idiot for trying to take a photograph is “narrow”? I’m sorry, I find that bizarre.
I know you clearly don’t like the “press”, but I think causing people to waste time and money by behaving stupidly is not acceptable. Try to imagine the challenges of a UK website trying to cover an E3 press conference live. Just think about it for a second. Now, aside from the logistics, just imagine asking a company like Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo if there’s going to be a line at the event and being told, “Not sure.” Do you know how much flights to LA cost?
We don’t all work for huge companies. Publisher incompetence in this regard can be crippling. It was a pleasure to cover the Blizzard WWI because they’d actually thought about what the press needed for more than two seconds and didn’t treat journalists as though they should be honoured to watch a 10-second movie of the reveal game. Why is that so difficult to agree with?
June 30th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
rauper - They do have the luxury of being able to take as long as they like, it’s true. But it really was the best reveal I’ve ever seen. I just hope the other “press conference” firms really do take note.
June 30th, 2008 at 9:00 pm
I’m fine with the press pat. I just don’t like the flip-flopping attitude it has towards the industry. In the last few weeks I’ve seen examples of the press hating the industry if it thinks it is making their job harder and gushing over it and setting out 6 commandments when it gets something it likes. If the tone was less abitrary (and less sanctimonius) I’d be fine with it.
And your definition of “wasting time and money” is not necessarily the same as others definitions of it. Just as your appreciation of an event may not be the same as mine.
I agree that publisher incompetence can be crippling. You’d be amazed how much the major ones fuck things up - the stuff that gets shown, sent, detailed or mismanaged by the largest publisher on the planet. One or two careless words honestly cost millions of dollars and other things that money simply can’t cover. Christ, the stories I could tell you would have you speechless. No need to gush when someone thinks of you “for more than two seconds” though. Personally, I prefer to read from someone with a higher purchase price than that.
I’ve never disagreed with what you’ve said. I’ve mainly stated that the notion that your 6 commandments should be adopted industrywide is said at the expense of almost total lack of industry context in favour of a rather narrower, self serving view.
Nothing I’ve said is personal so I sincerely hope you’re not reading it as such. After all, there’ll soon be a time when my title gets announced and I’ll be looking to see my publisher schmooze the press as much as the next developer.
June 30th, 2008 at 9:16 pm
Shatner - tell me some stories that would leave me speechless. You’re amongst friends
June 30th, 2008 at 9:21 pm
Bloody hell. It was neither arbitrary or sanctimonious, and that is personal. I was asking for an internet connection and some screenshots. Why do you think I wrote the article? The vast majority of press reveals are terrible. This one wasn’t. Quite why you can’t understand why it’d be good for more events to not be terrible is just a little wearisome, to be honest.
June 30th, 2008 at 9:32 pm
Shatner likes to argue with people for no reason at all. Get used to it.
June 30th, 2008 at 9:40 pm
Okay, I probably misunderstood you then Shatner, but what do deadlines and the (financial) possibility to delay them or not have to do with the way you announce a game for the first time? In the end nobody will care about the amount of reworks or the number of development years. It might have an impact on the quality of the game (making it better or worse) but it’s not what people think about when they first see a game.
Every (big) title has to go through an announcement and I think it’s not that presumptuous to state that each new game is supposed to amaze people when it is first shown to the public, isn’t it? Or at least that it should be made easy for everyone (not only journalists) to get that first intel which (partially) defines the game.
Is it really that hard to provide screenshots, artwork, background information, trailer(s) and a proper website at the same time? Just saying: Blizzard sits in an unique position indeed but I don’t see how others in the industry couldn’t do the same things for just an announcement like the DIII one (the splash page might be stretching it
). I prefer the ‘keep it secret till we got something cool enough to show’-mentality, and really, you don’t need to keep a title behind the curtains for four years or more to do it that way.
In general that’s even how it happens nowadays for most titles, but it’s all just not as centralised as with the DIII gig for example and that’s a big shame. It’s like some PR people would rather want to see exclusive preview deals, mass confusion over certain features, foreign magazine scans and odd translations show up on the net instead of actually giving a clear picture of a fresh game right away. Even a simple FAQ is asking too much sometimes.
Whether pat sounds too preachy in his advice isn’t my concern
, his point in general is still sound. These kind of announcements could be improved, not just in the viewpoint of the press but also in terms of how the audience can become interested in a project.
June 30th, 2008 at 9:51 pm
You two going for the longest post awards?!
June 30th, 2008 at 9:57 pm
I’m out. That’s the first time I’ve got riled by comments on the internet in about three years. You win, shatner
June 30th, 2008 at 10:00 pm
Things can always be improved. But everything costs people, time and money.
If you’re not capable of understanding how that relates to what’s being discussed and the expense or availability of such resources then this sentiment I’m hearing boils down to romantic idealism.
Seriously guys, there as staggering whiff of “we’re victims” in all of this. You’re not. Just do your job. Everyone else manages it - they just don’t own the platform to preach from to suggest “woe is us” whenever it suits them.
The media needs to stop trying to BE the news all the time.
And pat, if you felt aggreived personally by that statement then perhaps you’ll put more care into how you phrase your own headlines and statements in the future. Maybe it’s fun for you to write a bit of sarcasm or attitude into a headline and think nothing of it - but I’m sure others can be just as affected by what you say as you appear to have been by what I have said.
This is precisley what I mean by an inconsistent and arbitrary attitude towards the industry. You feel aggreived if you believe you’ve been slighted by some words but I don’t see any evidence of you putting careful consideration into the people YOU talk about when you write your stories.
I don’t take it personally because I appreciate how this game works. Don’t try to make me be the bad guy just because I’m not afraid to say it out loud.
Morris, thanks for the invite, but I think I’ll pass. I know what side my bread is buttered on
June 30th, 2008 at 10:11 pm
Give me a break. So what you’re saying, even though you’re denying it, is that you found the piece offensive? Because I said some publishers do things wrong? That was a lot of words to say that, wasn’t it?
June 30th, 2008 at 10:38 pm
Yes, most is common sense. However, common sense is the least common of the senses. =p
June 30th, 2008 at 10:40 pm
No, I said I found it shallow, superficial and abitrary. I never said I found it offensive.
I’d be more offended that someone didn’t read what I wrote before telling me what they thought I said.
Pat, we’re not in such a deep argument as you think. We’re just approaching the same thing from different perspectives and different appreciations.
June 30th, 2008 at 10:45 pm
I never thought I’d ever see so much discussion on something that’s essentially opinion and advice. I really can’t see much wrong with the points being made… especially as they’re intended as a short list of how to please the press at your event.
Which you’d think the author had some authority to comment on.
June 30th, 2008 at 11:24 pm
I wasn’t aware you required authority to have an opinion.
June 30th, 2008 at 11:31 pm
Of course not, but it lends a certain weight to that opinion.
July 1st, 2008 at 12:19 am
Let’s just say we all won.
July 1st, 2008 at 12:20 am
You won nothing morriss. Now back in your box until you’re needed!
July 1st, 2008 at 12:28 am