We look back at the Top-Tier Coverage we Secured through Journalist Relations & The Press
It’s been an incredible year for Noovola, from conjuring the ideation of the company to the foundations we have built with steady expansion of our clientele and team. As part of our one year anniversary celebration, we wanted to take a look back at our favourite and most impressive clippings from this year-long period. From printed articles to household magazines covering our news, the traction we have gained this year brought delight and success to all parties, and we would love to share that with you in today’s post.
Honourable Mention - SeaRing | January 2022 - AlphaBetaGamer
Before we get started, we wanted to give an honourable mention to SeaRing, a 2D indie action-puzzle game. After we proved time and time again we could secure a plethora of coverage for our indie-game clients, we were asked to work our magic in helping The SeaRing Team launch their watery adventure! We knew we had to cast our nets wide to maximise broadcasting, so we found the perfect fit - AlphaBetaGamer, a website purely focusing on new and upcoming demos. ABG’s piece allowed new fans to find and play SeaRing, which contributed to a boost in over 500 wishlists before the demo’s launch.
#10 - Stack Up! (or Dive Trying) | July 2021 - EveryEye
Kicking off our list is Stack Up, a stack-your-way-up party platformer. They were our first client, in which we helped PixelConflict, a small Italian indie team, launch their debut title with little to no budget. We knew straight away the potential this incredibly entertaining party game had and our expectations were matched by the Italian press, with powerhouse EveryEye being one of many outlets covering the game’s launch. This was also our first piece of top-tier coverage, the website having over 2.2 million UMVs, so this was a huge step into getting what everyone wanted; meaningful exposure. These were exciting times and the stepping stones to bigger and better things.
#9 - The Life and Suffering of Sir Brante | February 2022 - The Xbox Hub
This won’t be the first time we’ll mention Sir Brante, a narrative driven RPG, today. Our most recent campaign had some fantastic clippings from The Xbox Hub, a platform dedicated to every piece of Xbox news and upcoming titles. We knew sharing news with the Xbox community was a must, considering the game’s launch on their platform. The Xbox Hub did an extensive coverage of Sir Brante, releasing an article upon the game’s release, a full review a few days later, as well as a detailed mention during their weekly podcast.
#8 - Mortis Chronicles | December 2021 - Spazio Games
We picked up Mortis Chronicles, a 2D turn-based RPG, at the back end of 2021. A culmination of factors piqued our interest with Mortis - its charming retro look and playstyle, the orchestral soundtrack, a developer with a vision, and running a successful Kickstarter Campaign. One of our main sources to step into the market was of course outreaching to the press, so it came as a happy surprise when a company as highly rated as Spazio Games, another huge Italian magazine conjuring over 1.7 million UMVs, covered the Kickstarter’s launch. All parties were utterly thrilled when we managed to reach the campaign goal of £3,000 in the last 24 hours and Spazio Games’ coverage definitely helped!
#7 - The Life and Suffering of Sir Brante | March 2022 - Game Pro
We could not miss Game Pro, a subsidiary of mega Italian gaming magazine GamesVillage, and their exclusive coverage on Sir Brante. Game Pro did a four-page dedicated spread on Sir Brante, splitting the piece into a full game review and an in-depth Q&A with the developers, Sever. The amount of quality press Sir Brante secured doesn’t stop there however, so make sure to keep reading away!
#6 - Lost Away | October 2021 - IGN
When Game.Partners, Polish-based indie publishers, proposed Lost Away, a first-person survival-action game with the task of showcasing the trailer for their latest title to the masses, we undeniably knew it would be possible. However, we would have never expected in the slightest that one of (if not) the biggest gaming magazines, IGN, would put the trailer on their frontpage. This was a huge win for both Game.Partners and us securing desirable reach, especially with IGN’s mammoth UMVs of over 45.6 million! This wasn’t the only IGN coverage we secured this year, though…
#5 - The Darkest Tales | October 2021 - IGN Italia
You didn’t have to wait too long to see another IGN clipping, as IGN Italia did a full coverage of The Darkest Tales, an action-adventure 2D platformer. Seeing as the developers Trinity Team are based in Italy, it made logistical sense that the Italian press were heavily interested in their proceedings. By this time, we built up a fantastic network of contacts in Italy, but IGN Italia’s coverage boosted numbers to an all-time high! Their strong viewership didn’t stop there however, with the magazine also posting the news on social media, via Twitter. If this is how we start our Top 5, you’ll love to see what else we have in store below.
#4 - The Life and Suffering of Sir Brante | March 2022 - Maniac
Just missing out on the top three is Maniac, a German based gaming press outlet, which printed a great little piece on Sir Brante. When we did our standard outreach, prior to the game’s console launch on PlayStation and Xbox, we were quite contemptuous with the split of coverage between both American and European markets. When Maniac got in contact with us about the possible magazine slot, after posting the news on their website, we couldn’t have been more joyful. It goes without saying this is always a special moment when a client of ours is physically featured. It’s definitely one for the mantlepiece, but it wasn’t Noovola’s first magazine feature!
#3 - Lost Away | October 2021 - PC Gamer
The Lost Away campaign was unquestionably one of our most successful projects in terms of viewership, with PC Gamer, equating to over 19.8 million UMVs, also covering this space-exploration game’s launch trailer. What we loved most about this article was Andy Chalk’s, the journalist who wrote the article, creativity and description of the game - his playfulness came across nicely when describing the landscape of the game itself and its setting. This could've reached higher up the podium, but we’ve left our best pieces until last!
#2 - The Life and Suffering of Sir Brante | February 2022 - GamesWelt
Taking in the silver medal is Sir Brante’s mention in GamesWelt, a gaming news outlet situated in Germany, which rallied in a whole series of pleasantries. In their game review, you could tell right away they were impressed with this virtual novel breathed with life. So much so that they said Sir Brante was “The best video game story in years”, receiving the honour of two accolades in the process - GamesWelt Recommends and Award in Narration. All parties were truly ecstatic when hearing the news, and we especially were overjoyed when sharing the news.
#1 - Stack Up! (or Dive Trying) | July 2021 - PC World
Finally, the recipient of the gold medal is… Stack Up’s piece within PC World magazine in Hungary, taking a resounding first place. Rounding off Stack Up’s launch campaign was a super fun collaboration with PC World, who offered us a full page on their magazine. This was a magnificent noteworthy moment for us and PixelConflict, both sharing their first bit of reportage within the mainstream media, and what a way to end our first (of many) campaign, with hundreds of downloads coming as a result of this piece. They started our list so it was only fair for them to cap it off!
This year in a review has been thrilling to say the least. Looking back at all the fantastic press coverage this year, from a number of resounding sources, has really shown the positive impact we constantly set to achieve, and it’s always a bonus having fun in the process! We want to thank all our clients for taking us with them upon their individual journeys, and to the journalists and outlets who covered all our news. We look forward to another year of hard work and great success, and we hope you can be with us on this incredible path.
Thank you for reading,
Noovola