im so sorry you might actually have to pay for video games like the rest of us you poor poor thing
OK, sarcasm, frustration or not, if you think game reviewers just review for the purpose of getting free games then you are mistaken, as that's absolutely NOT the reason any reviewer should review games. It's for the passion, for the ability to express your thoughts directly to the publisher/developer of the games, and to share your thoughts with any readers who are on the fence regarding specific games. I never get paid to write a review, and I only began to review games upon seeing numerous indie developers on the Wii U eShop get completely ignored by other gaming websites, which made me want to do something to give them feedback so they can improve with their games and future efforts. I have a big, long explaination on why I began to review in the first place in the spoiler tag so I don't take up a majority of the page, so feel free to read if you have time to listen to me ramble.
Spoiler
Therefore, I decided to use my old website to reach out to them, review their games, gave my honest feedback on the matter and those smaller developers thanked me for the feedback, whether it was a low score because their game was not good, or a solid recommendation for a hidden gem.
Eventually my small website spread via word of mouth, and despite the forums not getting any activity in terms of replies, I still managed to build a community via my website's twitter account, where the majority of views and feedback come from. Over time I helped a wide variety of developers and eventually I helped third party publishers with their games as well, which prompted me to remodel my simple freeforum to a website with a domain name, which has brought even MORE traffic and allowed me to establish relationships with publishers such as Nintendo of America, NIS America, Atlus USA, Xseed Games, Little Orbit and Natsume Inc. I do this for the passion and for the fact that I feel that I can actually help out the gaming industry in any way I can, and hearing "thank you" from folks who followed me on twitter that read my reviews and used those to decide if they should buy the game or not, or from developers who used them to improve their sequels or future efforts.
I didn't start reviewing just because "oh cool i can get free games from nintendo", I did it to help out game developers, and my growth is what led to me to review games for bigger companies like NOA. I don't always get review copies from publishers, and that never bothers me if they can't fulfill my requests, as they always give a reason why, whether because it's priority based and that the bigger websites should get them first, or because they didn't get many from the console manufacturer to begin with. It's something that if I can't do, I move on and work hard on other reviews. The reason NOA PR is an issue is because they don't really communicate with reviewers that well compared to most other PR companies. They claim to put you on a review list for the game, only to suddenly reverse that decision without explanation or simply ignore you upon launch day, which is frustrating for both myself and even some bigger reviewers out there as they don't make it clear on what's going on.
I know that the PR folks can't do much about things if someone higher up makes the decision to not give someone a review copy, which is understandable, but the reason it is frustrating for me is that bigger publishers like NOA really only take feedback from reviewers who review the game before the release date, from reviewers that review it the moment it comes out, or for reviewers who are allowed to write a post-release review. This means that for PSMD, I could work super hard on a long review, filled with feedback, my honest thoughts, etc just like I would do for any other game, only for NOA PR to ignore it because it's post release unless they state that they can send the reviews off to NOA themselves during that time.
I could care less about getting it for free, I just want to have my voice heard on the game like with any other thing I review, so therefore that's why I'm working very hard, to show that I can still give feedback and I'm willing to review any game sent my way. This could be the only chance I have to express my opinion directly to NOA and Spike Chunsoft on a new PMD game, which is something I've wanted to do for a while in order to give my honest thoughts and feedback on the game, which in turn influences future efforts from the two. It's not like I've never ever reviewed games for NOA before, by the way, quite the opposite! I've gotten review copies for Dr. Mario Miracle Cure and Yoshi's Woolly World from them, and reviewed Boxboy, Pokemon Rumble World and amiibo tap for them in my own time, all of those reviews having been sent off to NOA themselves to take my feedback into account, along with all the other reviewers who put their time into writing reviews. I still buy the majority of my games to enjoy in my own time, and I even review a few of those if I want to share my thoughts on them.
Yes, I know it may be hard to believe all of what I said about how much work goes into reviewing a game and giving feedback to developers and publishers that need it, but in all honesty that's why I review games, to give feedback. Getting a game early or for free is only a small perk, nothing more and shouldn't ever be the reason for anyone to review games in the first place. I sincerely apologize for writing a very long reply to a short comment, but I wanted to get that off my chest to clear things up for those wondering why this is an issue for me.
TLDR: I review games for feedback, and I don't care about free stuff, I just like to express my thoughts on the games I play, and help out the developers and publishers by doing so, and seeing folks happy or pleased with my feedback makes me thankful to do this as a hobby. The only reason NOA PR makes me upset is because there's a chance they may not accept ANY feedback I have on PSMD after it launches, even when I buy it myself and give my full thoughts on it, all because it would be made after the game launches and therefore irrelevant compared to doing it when the review embargo lifts, which makes me worried that this big chance to give feedback directly to Chunsoft and NOA about PMD may not happen.
Where do you review games? do you have a lot of audience?
I review games on my own website, which I made a thread about in the creativity corner. I've helped out Gonintendo with news tips for years now, and I've also given feedback to other websites/reviewers hoping to start out for the same reason as mine. As for my audience, I have a decent following on my twitter, which is where the majority of my feedback comes from, and on my newly launched youtube channel I have a lot of folks who watch my gameplay videos and give me feedback on things like my retrospective. I'm small, yes but still growing and enjoy hearing the feedback folks send to me via any of those sources, and I'm working hard on trying to get a community going on my website forums as well.
But anyway, I do apologize for going on and on about reviews. I put a lot of effort into them and do it as a hobby, hence why this weekend in particular is stressful as I really want to give it my all so I'm working my butt off to do so
