Press and Creator Outreach for Indie Games
"Nobody covers indie games anymore" is half true: nobody covers badly pitched indie games. Journalists and curators are drowning in generic key requests. The developers who get coverage do a few unglamorous things well — a proper press kit, a pitch that respects the recipient's time, and targeting people who actually cover games like theirs.
The press kit is table stakes
A press kit is a page (not a zip file, not a Google Drive link) with: fact sheet (title, developer, release date, platforms, price), a two-paragraph description, key features, 5–10 screenshots, your trailer, logos, and contact info. Journalists on deadline will use whatever is easiest to grab. If your assets take effort to find, they'll cover the game whose assets didn't. Keep everything downloadable in one click and keep it current — an outdated press kit is worse than none.
Targeting beats volume
Two hundred generic emails get you zero coverage and a reputation. Twenty targeted ones get you three articles. Target writers and curators who have covered games in your genre in the last six months — not the outlet's general tips inbox. Steam curators are especially underused: they're algorithm-adjacent, genre-sorted, and reachable. A curator with 50,000 followers in your exact niche is worth more than a general gaming site that buries you on page four.
The email anatomy
Subject line: game title + one hook, under 50 characters. Body: three sentences max — what the game is, why this person specifically should care, and the ask (key? interview? 10 minutes?). Attach nothing; link the press kit and the trailer. Sign with your name, not your studio's. Follow up once, a week later, with something new (a trailer, a demo, a festival selection) — never "just bumping this."
Keys and embargo etiquette
Send keys without making people beg, but don't blast them unsolicited to inboxes that didn't ask. For streamers, include a one-line content note (mature themes, difficulty spikes) — creators remember who saved them an awkward stream. Respect embargoes exactly; the fastest way to never get covered twice is to burn a journalist once.
Devlogs and announcements as outreach fuel
Every update is a reason to reappear in feeds. Steam announcements, devlogs, and short-form clips keep your game in the ambient awareness of press and creators between beats. The trick is consistency over production value: a monthly devlog with one genuine insight beats a quarterly cinematic. Each announcement should have one clear news hook — "we added X" is news, "we're still working" isn't.
The long game
Outreach compounds. The journalist who ignored your first email covers your second game because they remember the professional kit. The curator who passed on the demo features the launch. Treat every interaction as the start of a relationship, not a transaction, and keep a simple list of who you contacted, when, and what happened. Six months later that list is an asset.