Why not give info to big media sites like IGN and PC GAMER

I think some things are a bit overlooked here...

One one side, yes, getting good coverage from major outlets largely requires paying them money; this has been pretty established practice in gaming journalism for, by my estimate, around a decade or so, close to the beginning of much of the current monetization philosophy permeating the industry. Possible exception being GameInformer... Which appears to mostly try to "herd" towards whatever the others say, and, more importantly, rate and cover games based upon how much they (being GameStop, which owns GI) thinks they can squeeze in sales from their stores. (which kinda screws over a game like PoE, as it offers GameStop zilch options to cash in on it)

However, on the other side... It's a bit insulting to say "anyone with half a brain always ignores major outlets, I just get all my info from (name famous streamer) and Reddit!" Simply put, while these segments have large fanbases... They don't have mainstream reach, and as a result, of many of the "intelligent" gamers will often not find such sources... Or even be aware that they EXIST. As a result, "mainstream media journalism" maintains a grip simply by virtue that someone didn't spend hours researching to see even if there WAS any better option.

I look a bit towards my case, as egocentric that may be. I don't bother to follow streamers whatsoever, because I just don't like joining someone's cult of personality; I may watch some clips that amuse me, but I could never get myself to fanboy over someone else playing a game. Reddit and other such places are rather vast, and not very conducive to just "going out to see what's there;" it's more designed to instead grab people already interested in a subreddit's topic and keep them glued there.

I only ever found out that PoE existed simply by virtue of the fact that it was on Steam... And I actually didn't touch it for several months, before seeing enough references and reviews pop up from users (namely friends and acquaintances) to suggest that further investigation would actually be worth my time.

I'd like to think I'm a good fit for the target userbase for this game; I played Diablo 2 endlessly, hate hand-holding and easy games, and cower & shriek like a demon when someone brandishes Diablo 3 or Marvel Heroes at me. Yet in spite of all that, the game never appeared on my radar whatsoever until after 1.0 was already out, and didn't actually get into it until almost a month or so into 1.1, I believe. Certainly more can be done in terms of outreach.

Kate who ?

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ACGIFT wrote:

Simply put, while these segments have large fanbases... They don't have mainstream reach, and as a result, of many of the "intelligent" gamers will often not find such sources... Or even be aware that they EXIST. As a result, "mainstream media journalism" maintains a grip simply by virtue that someone didn't spend hours researching to see even if there WAS any better option.

This is true for console players, but not for those who mostly play on PC.
On PC internet is at your fingertips at any time.

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Or even be aware that they EXIST.

Anyone who spent more than 10 minutes in the internet reading anything game-related is most likely aware.

Besides any player who purchased games like Asscreed Unity on release should realise that sites like IGN aren't reliable sources of information in the slightest.

Some people do have mainstream reach.
For example TotalBisquit can make or break the game sales by releasing a video about it.

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Charanjaydemyr wrote:

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the_truth wrote:

I mean you (GGG) quoted kripp as a marketing quote... like what?

Overall, Kripp's probably done more for this game than 'big media sites' and I'm willing to bet the target audience for this game are going to trust him over review sites whose integrity remains a sore point in this day and age.

Exactly. I don't even watch Kripp's stream but I value his opinion over the average game journalist's. Not to mention he has thousands of people following him daily.

RPS did an article today on the Awakening and previously did another one back in April. That's pretty much the only game review site I frequent because they seem to be unbiased and give quality reviews.

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This is true for console players, but not for those who mostly play on PC.
On PC internet is at your fingertips at any time.

You miss the point: the Internet as at the fingertips for EVERYONE now, be they on console or PC. Everyone has either a desktop capable of using a web browser, or a phone with a web browser.

The problem is that the Internet is VAST; sure, you can go ANYWHERE on it, but not EVERYWHERE.

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Anyone who spent more than 10 minutes in the internet reading anything game-related is most likely aware.

You underestimate the sheer size of the Internet; it's huge, as is the library of possible games.

And as I'd also mentioned, it's one thing to hear about a game, and another to actually find good information. I'd known about PoE since at LEAST its release; and actually I do recall hearing some mentions before. But my time has some value to it, so I don't rush gleefully to every advertisement shoved in my face. Another strike it has against it is being "Free to Play;" that means that if trying to make a snap judgement, it's more likely to consider that the game might've just been another useless, "me too" throwaway that wanted to copy off of the success they saw in other games.

It's actually a HUGE issue that's widely discussed in academic and business circles: media, and especially social media (of which streamers are 100% a portion of) are a medium that's grown exponentially over the Internet, and have gotten too vast for individuals to assimilate all of it, so the big issue is on filtering and curating it so that people can try to be connected with what's relevant to them.

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Besides any player who purchased games like Asscreed Unity on release should realise that sites like IGN aren't reliable sources of information in the slightest.

Just knowing that one thing is bad doesn't automatically direct someone to the good alternative. That applies EVERYWHERE in this world; making a mistake doesn't automatically teach you the correct answer.

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Some people do have mainstream reach.
For example TotalBisquit can make or break the game sales by releasing a video about it.

TotalBiscuit is still a good deal away from "mainstream." There are still currently no "mainstream" streamers. I don't even know if streaming is a media that ALLOWS for it to ever be mainstream.

There's a big difference between having millions of followers, and having mainstream reach. An analogy here might be "cult classic" media: they'll have millions of fans, but they'll be largely unknown outside their direct fanbase. Perhaps streamers are the "cult classics" of journalism.