Crusader Kings III

Adapting quickly and decisively, the planned preview event for May 2020 was quickly moved to a digital only hands-on event with attendees including Gamespot, Rock Paper Shotgun and PC Gamer, generating extensive and overwhelmingly positive coverage.

With the momentum and buzz surrounding the game gathering pace as the release date neared in early September, mainstream media outlets were a key component of the latter stages of the campaign in order to try and broaden the scope of the coverage outside of the hardcore strategy press. The Sun (5/5), The Express Online (5/5), NME (5/5), and Stuff were some of the mainstream outlets that lavished universal praise on Crusader Kings 3 which, at time of writing, has a metacritic rating of 91.

Empire of Sin

Empire Of Sin was a game we looked to maximise from day one in terms of PR opportunities, as this was the first collaboration between Romero Games and Paradox Interactive, as well as being a long time passion project for developer Brenda Romero. This began with with an exclusive front cover and eight page hands-on preview, simultaneously, in both the US and UK June editions of PC Gamer which created a huge impetus and anticipation for the game moving forward. In the run-up to release, we went far and wide with the game securing widespread coverage in all areas of the mainstream and specialist gaming media, highlights including an interview with Brenda Romero in the Scottish edition of The Sun newspaper, and launch coverage in The Express online, Metro online, NME and The Guardian online.

Imperator: Rome

The eagerly anticipated Grand Strategy game set during the Roman Empire from Paradox Development Studio (Crusader Kings II, Stellaris), the PR campaign for Imperator: Rome focused primarily on key Strategy influencers along with top tier Specialist Gaming media outlets.

The focal point for the overall campaign was a preview event at the Roman Baths in Bath attended by influencers and media from around the world, resulting in multiple hits of universally positive coverage for the game in the run up to its eventual chart-topping release in April 2019.

BattleTech

A much loved table-top gaming franchise, BattleTech was the first turn-based tactical Mech PC game in 20 years.

Expectations and excitement from the hardcore BattleTech and PC gaming communities were high, so we worked hard in ensuring that the game was covered by every key gaming website and Influencer in the UK to maximise awareness. This included EDGE, PC Gamer, Eurogamer, Gamespot and Yogscast. In addition, we were successful in generating positive coverage for BattleTech in the gaming sections of more mainstream media outlets including The Metro, The Guardian and BBC Radio 5.

Divinity Original Sin II

The follow-up to the critically acclaimed original game released in 2014, the campaign for this eagerly anticipated sequel focused squarely on Specialist Gaming media and influencers, the core audience for this in-depth and content rich Computer Role Playing Game.

With a current metacritic rating of 93 and surpassing the original in every aspect, Divinity: Original Sin 2 was extensively covered by every key gaming outlet and Influencer in the UK and universally hailed as one of the greatest CRPG’s of all time including review scores of 10/10 from The Metro online, 92% from PC Gamer, 9/10 from EDGE and Eurogamer rating it as ‘Essential’.

Tyranny

The highly anticipated follow-up to Pillars of Eternity, developers Obsidian unleashed isometric RPG Tyranny to an expectant world. Feeding on this anticipation, Johnny Atom delivered a widespread PR campaign across Specialist Gaming and Mainstream media along with a comprehensive influencer campaign.

The critics loved the game with coverage appearing in outlets including The Guardian who said that “Tyranny will leave a lasting legacy on RPG’s” on the way to scoring it 4/5 and Eurogamer who described Tyranny’s depiction of evil as “fascinating and thought-provoking”.

West of Dead

Featuring the vocal talents of Hollywood actor Ron Perlman, West of Dead was a multiplatform cell-shaded rogue-like twin stick shooter from British development studio Upstream Arcade and Swedish publisher Raw Fury. Being UK based, the client (Raw Fury) felt that getting the game in to the hands of key UK Specialist Gaming media at the preview stage would be pivotal in driving awareness for the game in the run up to release. We therefore organised a studio visit for Official PlayStation Magazine, which culminated in a 4 page preview. A 4 page preview with EDGE magazine was also secured.

Call of the Sea

Revealed during the Xbox Games Showcase in Spring 2020, Call Of The Sea immediately stood out with its vibrant colour palette and relaxed, cerebral gameplay. Building on that reveal, we secured a prominent video slot at the E3 edition of the Future Games Show, helping to write the voiceover script for first time Spanish developers Out Of The Blue. The response was overwhelming. This then enabled us to secure a second voiceover video slot at the Gamescom edition of the Future Games Show, building up to the game’s release on Xbox and PC in December, along with a 4 page preview and Studio profile in EDGE Magazine. By the time of release the profile and anticipation for the game was very high which was reflected in the critical response including 5/5 from The Metro, 9/10 from IGN and 4/5 from The Guardian.

Sable

One of the most eagerly anticipated indie games of recent years since its reveal at E3 in 2018, when the release date was finally locked in for September 2021 the PR campaign could begin in earnest. With so much interest in its two-man development team, Shedworks, coupled with the stunning soundtrack from Japanese Breakfast and its comic-book aesthetic, we targeted the full breadth of mainstream, lifestyle and specialist gaming media including reviews, features and interviews in outlets including The Sun, The Metro, The Guardian, NME, Mail Online and Stuff. This resulted in blanket coverage around launch more in keeping with a Triple A release.

Age of Wonders - Planetfall

Developed by Triumph Studios, the multi-format Age of Wonders: Planetfall had a high-profile, year long PR campaign encompassing Specialist Gaming, Mainstream and Entertainment media, along with a heavy focus on key influencers, as well as two-session preview event held at the Red Bull Gaming Sphere in Shoreditch, London some 5 months prior to launch.

Surviving Mars

Developed by Haemimont and published by Paradox Interactive, Surviving Mars was an eagerly anticipated city building game released simultaneously on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One (as well as  PC), therefore widening its potential audience outside of the traditional PC strategy outlets.

Cities: Skylines PS4 / Xbox One Editions

Hailed as the new benchmark in the City Building genre upon its original PC release in 2015, Cities: Skylines made its much requested debut on console with the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 editions releasing in 2017.

Targeting the Specialist Gaming and Mainstream media, some of whom did not cover the PC release due to being console led, the game lived up to their expectations with Official Xbox Magazine scoring it 8/10 and Metro Game Central saying “the overall experience is pleasingly unique on consoles.”

JACKBOX PARTY PACK 2

Approached by US publisher Jackbox Games at the eleventh hour, Johnny Atom was tasked with securing as much news and review coverage in the busy Q4 2015 period across all Specialist Gaming, Mainstream and Lifestyle media in the UK.

Regardless of the limited amount of time available to us in the busiest release period of the year, we secured around 30 positive reviews with nothing lower than 7/10 across key Gaming and Mainstream media including 9/10 in the Sun on Sunday and 4/5 in the Independent.

MAGICKA 2

Released on PlayStation 4 and PC in May 2015, Magicka 2 was the MOBA-like sequel to the indie-darling Magicka. The PR and promotional campaign was focused on gameplay coverage featuring up to four games media or YouTubers playing together and publishing the often hilarious results.

As such, the campaign was split-focused between the gaming media, who championed the original game, and YouTubers, the best visual medium for showing how much fun Magicka 2 is played with other players, including a negotiated exclusive with Yogscast ’Sjin’ who posted 10 “Let’s Play” videos in total, each one receiving between 50,000 and 200,000 views.

War Of The Worlds

Based on the legendary book by HG Wells, War of the Worlds was a love letter to the side-scrolling platformers of yesteryear, released on XBLA and PSN.

A comprehensive Pan-European PR campaign was undertaken encompassing Specialist Gaming,

Mainstream and Lifestyle media where it received extensive critical acclaim.

Starborne

With no PR strategy in place, we were brought on board for 18 months to help build and implement a long-term PR plan taking the project through and beyond its Open Beta launch in April 2020. With the aim of the PR campaign to not only increase the awareness for the game, we secured a number of high-profile features and articles in both the UK and US including a 4 page Studio Profile in EDGE magazine, a Studio feature on GamesIndustry.biz along with hands-on features for Starborne with Rock Paper Shotgun and as well as a front cover and 4 page feature with Wireframe magazine.

Chime Super-Deluxe

An innovative music-creation game exclusively released on PS3 and developed by indie darlings Zoe Mode, Chime Super Deluxe's PR campaign was targeted at the Music, Mainstream and Lifestyle media in addition to the Specialist Gaming Press.

The resulting media coverage elevated the game into the consciousness of music fans, professional musicians and gamers alike, garnering it impressive critical acclaim.

Life Is Feudal

The Steam Greenlight phenomenon with a huge and loyal fanbase, Johnny Atom was recruited by publisher Bitbox Ltd to promote the full release of this ‘medieval Minecraft’ at the end of November 2015 across the Specialist Gaming media in the UK and Germany and with key gaming Streamers and YouTubers across the world.

A deep and complex game that needs to be seen rather than read about to fully understand, our primary focus was Twitch and YouTube channels resulting in, as of January 2016, around 200 hours worth of “Let’s Play” videos published by gaming Streamers and YouTubers.

Bad North

Developed by Plausible Concept and published by Indie darlings Raw Fury, the brief from the client was for a short (and simultaneous) announcement + review and Influencer campaign for the Switch, PS4 and Xbox One releases in the UK, France and Germany. Along with our European partners, we therefore had to work fast and hard to place Bad North with as many key gaming outlets and Influencers as possible to ensure as much positive awareness around the games’ launch. This was achieved as positive news, review and “Let’s Play” coverage was secured with outlets including Eurogamer, Nintendo Life and Reformist TM in the UK, Jeux Video and Gameblog.fr in France, along with GameStar, 4Players and PCGames.de in Germany.