作者：Ben Kuchera

当游戏评论者获得一份游戏副本时，他们同时也会收到评论发布时间限定。这种限定能够将所有人置于同一基础上，并推动着评论者真正地尝试整款游戏，而不是匆忙下定论。在现实世界中，评论常常用于核实发行商独家挑选的销路。不过我们今天要讨论的是另外一个问题，即与独立开发者相关的问题。很多独立开发者都希望在游戏发行后（即玩家能够进行购买之时）再出现相关评论。

这并不是一种穷凶极恶的要求，并且通常都是基于礼貌性措辞，特别是对于小型游戏来说，合理的评论时间将有效影响着游戏的销量。Ars Technica就为何早期游戏评论将不利于这些游戏销量这一问题与Tom Ohle（游戏邦注：正在执行刚刚发行的《Anomaly: Warzone Earth》的PR工作）展开交谈：

reviews(from enolsoft)

首先Ohle呈现出了《Anomaly》在今年游戏开发者大会上的表现。我喜欢这款游戏，希望能够尽早体验游戏并进行评论。当我收到最后的游戏副本时，对方友善地要求我在某一特定日期再发布评论内容。

Ohle说道：“随着数字发行的不断发展，各种平台间的竞争日益激烈，早期评论对于独立游戏的影响变得更加重要。你需要为产品创造任何可能的成功机会，而为了做到这点，你应该有效地规划宣传事件。”

一些大型开发者都会利用评论网站，因为大型游戏往往都会带来较大的流量。而小型开发者便没有这种影响力，这便意味着他们只能与一些作家合作，并且未使用任何繁琐的战术。“我讨厌限制——至少是严格的限定。关于《Anomaly》，我们只是说‘看，如果你不会过早写下评论的话就好了，因为开发者的生计完全依靠于游戏的销量。’”这样就不存在任何威胁也不需要签署任何协议，只是提醒评论者适当的评论发布时间对于开发者来说至关重要。

但是为什么？

为什么较早的评论会不利于独立游戏的发展？Ohle说道：“假设在某一知名网站上，一条评论被浏览了1万次。我只是假设，但这数值看起来却是公平的。”真正的诀窍应该是如何让那些浏览了评论的玩家购买游戏，即使其中只有10%的玩家购买了游戏，你也将售出1千份游戏。

并未谈及相关数值，Ohle只是描述了知名游戏网站的影响范围。让我们着眼于《Slice HD》，这款游戏的评论拥有超过1万名的浏览者，并成为了当月我们最受欢迎的内容。同时它也是来自小型工作室的低价游戏之典例。

还有一些比Ars还大型的网站；当我在某次展会上与一名PR进行交谈时，对方告诉我在Penny Arcade上获得正面评论就像是“被闪光灯笼罩着”一样，如果该评论是在游戏发行后出现的，这将为游戏带来巨大的销量。

Ohle解释道：“如果当玩家看到评论后却找不到任何渠道去购买或预定游戏，他们很快便会转向其它游戏。”所以这里所存在的诀窍便是可及性：独立开发者希望能够自己的游戏能够获得正面评论，而玩家则希望在阅读到评论时能够立即购买到游戏。

“特别是关于10美元以下的小型游戏，它们更加依赖于玩家做出冲动性购买；而如果是50美元的游戏则更需要经过周详的考虑。如果评论是正面的，你便希望玩家能够立刻便购买游戏，但是如果你不能让他们这么做，玩家便很有可能将其忘记，你便会在当下，甚至是永远失去提高销量的机会。”

不只是《Anomaly》想到了这点，还有很多人独立开发者给我们发送电子邮件希望去宣传他们的游戏，同时还要求在游戏可购买之时再发出评论。如果网站在早期对一款来自大型发行商的高预算游戏做出评论并给予较高的分数，那么商业广告，平面广告，店内展示等等内容都将随时提醒玩家去购买游戏。但如果面对的是独立游戏，即如果开发者不能将最初的热潮转变成销量，他们便很难再有机会接近用户。

Ohle说道：“特别是在独立领域，你所面对的是一些较小的内容，远不及《使命的召唤》或新iPad，所以你很难长期保持用户对于这些内容的想法。当下周出现了一款新游戏时，它们便很难再突显于媒体中，并因此而失去更多销量。”

把问题讲清楚

今天《Anomaly: Warzone Earth》就要与玩家见面了。我想说的是，这份工作的部分乐趣便是来自于对游戏的支持。而在这次谈话后，我们最需要做的一件事便是：坐等评论。

（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

How early reviews hurt sales of indie games

by Ben Kuchera

When a game reviewer is given a copy of a game for consideration, we’re almost always told when we’re allowed to publish the review. In a perfect world, these embargoes put everyone on the same footing and allow reviewers to play through a game in its entirety instead of rushing through it to be first. In the real world, they’re often used to make sure an outlet picked by the publisher gets an exclusive. That’s a story for another time; we’re here to discuss another issue that has come up in conversations with independent developers. Many of them want reviews of their games published no earlier than the day of release, when the game is available for purchase.

This isn’t nefarious, and the request is always phrased politely, but the timing of a review for a smaller game can have a huge impact on the sales of that game. Ars Technica spoke with Tom Ohle, who is doing PR for the just-released Anomaly: Warzone Earth, about why early game reviews can hurt the sales of these games.

Ohle first showed me Anomaly at this year’s Game Developers Conference. I loved what I saw and requested an early build to play and report on. When I received a final copy of the game for review, it came with a friendly request to hold reviews until a certain date.

“The concerns I have about early reviews of indie games—or games in general, really—have been made more relevant by the rise of digital distribution, a constant flow of competition across various platforms and the speed at which the hivemind moves on to the next hot thing,” Ohle said. “You need to give products every chance possible to succeed, and to do that, you really need to time your publicity effectively.”

Major developers have leverage over review sites because big games drive big traffic. Small developers don’t have that same influence, which means that they have to work with writers without resorting to heavy-handed tactics. “I hate embargoes—strictly enforced embargoes, at least. With Anomaly, we really just said, ‘look, it would be great if you didn’t write about this early, because the developers’ livelihood depends on getting sales.’” There were no threats and nothing to sign, just a reminder that it was important for the developer that reviews not be published early.

But why?

So why are early reviews so destructive to independent games? “Excuse me while I get all grade-school mathematician here. Let’s say a review at a really popular site gets, what, 10,000 views? I’m really just guessing here, but that number seems fair,” Ohle said. The trick is to get those people to buy the game, and even if only 10 percent of readers purchase the title you’re looking at 1,000 units sold.

Without talking about our numbers specifically, Ohle may be significantly under-selling the reach of the more popular gaming sites. Our look at Slice HD, for example, had a readership an order of magnitude higher than 10,000 readers, and will be one of our most popular stories this month. It’s also another example of a game with a low price from a smaller studio.

And there are sites much larger than Ars; I once spoke to a PR person at a trade show who told me a positive mention on Penny Arcade was like “being touched by the light,” and if that mention happens when the game can be purchased directly, it can mean a significant number of sales.

“If there’s nowhere for those players to buy or preorder that game, then every day you’re likely to lose a percentage of them to the next big thing” Ohle explained. The trick is accessibility: independent developers hope to create a situation where their game earns a positive review, and gamers are able to purchase the game the moment they’re done reading about it.

“Especially with smaller, more affordable games up to $10, you’re really banking on a lot of players making an impulse purchase; at $50 it’s more likely to be a well-thought-out decision,” Ohle explained. “If a review is positive, you want people to be able to buy the game right then and there, and if they can’t, there’s a good chance they could forget about it, and you’ve lost that sale for the time being or, worse, forever.”

This didn’t just come up with coverage for Anomaly; there have been multiple independent developers who e-mail us about coverage for their games, while at the same time asking that reviews or coverage be held until the game is available for purchase. If sites review a new big-budget game from a major publisher early and give it a positive score there will be commercials, print ads, and in-store displays to remind you that you should buy the game. With an indie game, if the developer can’t convert that initial buzz into sales, they may not get another chance at the audience.

“Particularly in the indie space, you’re already dealing with smaller mindshare than, say, Call of Duty or the new iPad, and you’re not going to maintain that mindshare indefinitely,” Ohle said. “Next week a new game will be out, and you’ll have a much harder time getting media coverage and otherwise getting exposure and sales for your game.”

Just to drive the point home

More thoughts on the game are coming soon, but Anomaly: Warzone Earth will be released today. You should really buy it, because it’s a wonderful game. Part of the fun of this job is supporting games that do interesting or exciting things. After this conversation, I know that one of the best ways to do that is counter-intuitive: sit on the review for a bit.(source:arstechnica)