Ok, time to stop now
Samantha Hardesty: There were definitely a few comms blunders in 2023, but I think one of the biggest faux pas was Twitch’s announcement of guidelines prohibiting the use of advertisements being placed directly into streams, causing immediate backlash from content creators. The new rules threatened to directly affect monetisation for creators on the platform and had both influencers and influencer agencies scratching their heads at how this could possibly be a good move. Although Twitch acted fast and backtracked on the policies the next day, it left some wondering what the thought process was behind the decision. The initial announcement showed a complete lack of audience understanding from Twitch’s side and it has damaged some trust there. This could have been avoided if Twitch had taken more care in listening to its creators and hadn’t been so flippant with the announcement. There must have been some conversations beforehand on how this was going to go down - I’d personally have looked at some focus groups and community feedback before communicating a decision like this, to avoid the embarrassment of backtracking.
Alex Verrey: Recently, I also believe that Microsoft could have easily avoided the
Q.
Redundancies have barely left the news for 18 months. Aside from the loss of talented colleagues, what has been the implication for PR and comms?
Suzanne Panter: This is a subject close to my heart as I was made redundant from Deep Silver after having worked there for ten years. From a personal perspective, it was a shocking and exceptionally sad experience that I needed time to recover from.
Samantha Hardesty: It’s genuinely heartbreaking to see so many talented people lose their jobs, it paints a bleak picture for gaming’s access to talent moving forwards. Would you want to dive into an industry where there are layoffs happening on a weekly, if not daily, basis?
Danielle Woodyatt: This past 18 months is probably the worst we’ve seen for job losses in our industry and doesn’t seem to be slowing down. We’ve seen the LinkedIn posts and the number of people looking for work is staggering
avalanche of anger from the Xbox community over news that some games would be going multi-format. Assuming plans were not changed post leak, this was really no news at all, it’s logical and in line with the business model the Xbox team are pursuing, I’m personally all for it. Allowing rumours to take hold and then waiting a week to confirm what was really going on, was (in my opinion) a baffling decision to make. A simple press release would have been sufficient, no need for a 20-minute studio-led ‘Business Update’.
Anita Wong: A glaring lack of transparency was a common theme of most comms blunders in 2023. It’s common for messaging to be decided in a small boardroom without taking further feedback into account, which makes it feel tone-deaf once it’s sent. It’s imperative to keep in touch with your community and to try and acknowledge their needs whenever possible.
Chris Glover: Things can always go wrong. I’m sure every comms professional has memories of something that hasn’t gone the way they’d planned, but when that happens, it’s important how you acknowledge it and communicate through it. Staying silent isn’t really an option these days.
and unsettling for the creative industry. Aside from the pool of development talent affected, so many incredible journalists and media outlets have been affected too. From a PR and comms perspective, our
approach has to be even more focused. It’s so important to connect the right media to the right games. Press are under more pressure than ever, so we’re even more conscious of making every pitch we send worthwhile.
Samantha Hardesty: On one hand, we’re seeing publications cut down on staff. Fewer journalists naturally means fewer people to pitch to. It’s already hard enough to be noticed with the sheer volume of noise with game launches and updates, so less coverage of the news makes it even more crucial to find ways to not only stand out, but to make a journalist’s life as easy as possible!
“When redundancies loom it’s often the marketing and PR folks that tend to be the first to go. In every industry, PR and comms can be seen as a luxury.
It is incredibly frustrating” Samantha Hardesty, Heaven Media
February /March 2024 MCV/DEVELOP | 17
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