We released our latest game Faerie Solitaire early this month... and have yet to send out press releases. Really this is because we are currently poor and won't have any money for this sort of thing until next month. Here is my newbie attempt at writing a press release:

I'll be as bloody harsh as I like! ;-)

Headline: "Newest Casual Game Faerie Solitaire to Take the Industry by Storm"
-- Really? Taking the industry by storm? I've never heard of it. I usually have heard of things that are taking the industry by storm. When PR overhypes releases, whatever we might claim about not getting caught up in the fuss, it has a detremental effect on you if it doesn't live up to the jargon.

"Compelling gameplay"
-- How about "vague vagueness"? This is a phrase that plenty of us pressfolk have been discussing lately. Stephen Totilo made a claim for it to be eradicated, when he spoke at this year's GDC. Probably best avoid that, if you want to stay on our good side.

"will surely please solitaire fans"
--You're sure? Are you really sure?

""We strove to make this game as fun as possible," said Andrew Sum"
--Really? I thought you'd have been aiming to make a bloody awful game.

"We had many hour long sessions with players, seeing what they liked and didn't like.
Using that knowledge we were able to really make a fantastic game"
--So... you playtested, then. Like everyone else. Also, "hour-long."

"Faerie Solitaire is a major release of developer Subsoap.
The game is available exclusively at www.subsoap.com."
--Sounds like quite a minor release to me, if you've no distributors.

" The game also features a musical score by the Jeff Tolbert based
studio from Seatttle (www.jefftolbert.com), 9 hand painted cutscenes,
and voice acting by Jeffrey McIlvain, Meredith Binder, and Jeff Blancato."
--I'd shove that before the previous paragraph, but might be personal preference.

Hope that helps.

Oh - actually - more:

I have no idea what the game is actually about. Is it solitaire? Is it a narrative involving it? I'm left guessing a bit, here.

Also, how do I contact you if I want to know more?

It's a lot of marketing jargon, to be honest. It's like a hundred press releases I receive every week. What's exciting about your casual game, as opposed to the thousands of others?

Is the company called Subsoap or Subsoap Games, is Subsoap (Games?) an actual registered Trademark and has this game taken the industry by storm? You don't want to out and out lie on a Press Release, but you need to big up the game as much as you can wherever possible. I rewrote what you did to:

Seattle – 23 June 2009 - Subsoap Games today announced the release of Faerie Solitaire, a new and imaginative remake of the classic card game Solitaire for the PC and Mac.

In the land of Avalon, players are in search of magical faeries that have been trapped by an evil and mysterious force. To save these poor faeries from an unknown fate, the player must battle their way through more than 400 levels of solitaire. Players will also be able to train their own bets, battle through 8seperate worlds and will have hundreds of hours of gameplay owing to the very fact that Faerie Solitaire is based off of the traditional card game that has lasted generations.

"We strove to make this game as fun as possible," said Andrew Sum, lead programmer and co-founder of Subsoap Games. "We had many hour long sessions with players, seeing what they liked and didn't like. Using that knowledge we were able to really make a fantastic game, and it shows in the final product. I'm very excited about making more games, at the same quality as Faerie Solitire, in the future!"

"'Faerie Solitaire' is an excellent reflection of creative freedom, teamwork, and our focus on creating awesome gaming experiences for our customers," said Brian Kramer, director and co-founder of Subsoap Games. "With this release we will continue to show our strong passion of serving the worldwide casual game audience with only the best gaming has to offer. Expect more exciting games from Subsoap in the future!"

Featuring a musical score by Jeff Tolbert, 9 hand painted cut scenes and voice acting by Jeffrey McIlvain, Meredith Binder and Jeff Blancato Faerie Solitaire is a must have for all solitare fans.

Faerie Solitaire is available via digital distribution from Subsoap Games (http:///www.subsoap.com) for just $6.99(USD).


Even then I think the Press Release is a little thin on the ground and there's no links to media or potential gameplay trailers etc. It's a very "samey" press release, but most are in reality and if every single press release read differently that new format would become samey as well. It's a tough line to tread press releases...

 Hi Brian, Here are some tips from someone who has to write press releases quite often, me!

• The most important thing you need to do is write a better headline and the best way to do this is to imagine you're sending it via Twitter. You've got 140 characters so you need to make every letter count. Decide what the most interesting feature of your game is and then build the headline around that. 
• Now go through the text you've written and cut out anything that is an opinion or your own prediction, such as, "Faerie Solitaire to Take the Industry by Storm" or "Faerie Solitaire is the next triple-A casual title". No writer is going to use those words without deciding for themselves. A press release should include the most interesting facts about your game, not your own opinions which might be somewhat biased. 
• Quotes. Personally I see them as useless, and yet it seems standard to include them. Either way, two is too many. If you're desperate to include a quote try to sound less like a hedge fund manager and more like a totally obesessed, bedroom-coding, casual game genius. That is why you're making games, right? A quote is one of the few places in a press release where people can get a sense for what your studio is about. Let that character shine through.
• Add some media content to your release. You should include a link to a page where writers can download high quality, unwatermarked screenshots. And link to a trailer on YouTube if you have one.  
• Finally, make sure you include your contact details at the bottom of the release. The press release will appear verbatim on some news-scraping sites so if you don't want to be flooded with Spam either use a generic "news@subsoap.com" or write it out as "your_name [at] subsoap [dot] com".

OK, now your press release should be in better shape. Why don't you post your next effort so we can see how it's changed? And while we do that you can be thinking about how to get it to the people who matter.

• The good news is that sending a press release won't cost you anything, so it doesn't matter if you're poor. There is absolutely no benefit in you paying to put your release on the wires.
• The bad news is that it is extremely unlikely that IGN, GameSpot, Eurogamer and the other biggest sites will write about your game. Don't get hung up on that, in your case they are not the sites that matter. 
• Instead, make a list of the 10 or 20 sites that you think would be most interested in your game. These will be the sites that already write primarily about casual games. Within each site, find the writer who covers puzzle games or the one who reviews games that are similar to yours.
• It should be pretty easy to find the email addresses for those writers. So your next task is to work on turning your press release headline into an email subject line. The email itself should be very short and to the point. Don't forget to include your contact details.
• Add the press release to your email, put it all together, check at least five times for typos, then get someone else to check, cross your fingers and toes and hit send.
• Don't forgot to tell your existing customers and forum users as well. It's best if they hear all your news first, direct from you, rather than by reading about it on some other site.
• Another tip that won't cost you anything is to join Games Press. This is a site that aggregates press releases from just about everyone in games. It's free to join and use and could result in some extra coverage from sites you weren't targeting.

Hope this help. 

Wow, awesome feedback, though I don't know why someone felt the need to rate the thread?

I'll work on it based on the feedback and post a new version in a bit. Thank you Lewis, Ian, and James!

I'm not going to take apart your press release and i'm kind of necro-posting (what the hell, it's Friday, right?) but the best advice I can give you is leave the hyperbole out and tell us why your game is interesting, awesome or cool.