PR isn't bad, mmk?

mike470

I read through these forums and take noteds in my mind about the the community says.  Notes such as BLT, soup, chicken sandwi-, oh wait, that's my lunch menu.  Anyway, I see all the hate fly, all of the anger, all of the different thoughts, etc.  One thing that stands out is where I hear people saying PR is bad.

I hear people yell "PR is bad, it ruined AoC!" and "Advertising is horrible, they should just shut up and work on the game!"  Both of which, I may add, are completely false.

I'm tired of people putting the blame on PR.  PR helps games gain the hype necessary to release a game; the developers want the game to be known, and they will do it through PR.  It's not the PR's fault that the game fails, it is the developers.  Without the PR, you probably wouldn't even know about the game (or not as many people would). 

Then, once people get all excited for the release (due to the PR) the game ends up doing poorly: incomplete, missing features, bugs, preformance, the whole nine yards.  They are disappointed about the game's outcome, and now they need to attack everything they have done: the PR is a victim of this.

I'm just here to say that games do NOT fail because of PR, they fail because of the developers.  IF the game actually has all of the completed features they boast about, then it wouldn't be a problem.

Now I agree, PR in the early stages isn't a great idea, but as the development cycle comes closer to an end, it is very important to have some sort of PR for a more successful release.

That is all.

 

[Deleted User]

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valkyrieUK

PR is fine.  But only so long as the PR department and the dev department are on the same page.  The problem is arising when PR start to promise things that are either not in the game yet, or are planned for time in the future in the development cycle.

trancejeremy

I think the problem is that the line between PR, game design, and game testing is getting blurred.

Right now, it seems like companies originally design a game to be really great, I guess listening to their PR department, then realize there are more features in the design than they can make in time for release in a timely fashion, then cut them.

And then we have the beta testing of a game becoming not testing, but a way of selling pre-orders. And so when things get screwed up during a beta (which is the point of a beta, to find and spot problems before the release), people just flip out., rather than realize, running their head into problems and bugs is the whole point of beta testing.

FischerBlack

Problems arise when there is a gap between what PR promises and what the Devlopers deliver.

PR is fine, and like you say necessary to raise awareness of a product. But studios (Im thinking in particular of Failcom here) do themselves more harm than good if they let the PR wagon start getting ahead of what the Devs can realistically deliver on launch day.

Advertising is good, lies are not.