Video Game Press Kit: What to Include Before You Contact the Media
A good video game press kit lets someone understand your game and decide whether they can cover it without starting an email exchange. That sounds simple. Yet I still see studios send a Dropbox folder full of files called things likefinal-final-3, an old trailer, one version of the logo and a document that says the game is launching “this summer”. The recipient then has to ask basic questions before they can use anything.
You can avoid that. A press kit does not need to look like a glossy presentation. It needs to be tidy, accurate and useful enough that somebody can cover the game without waiting for a reply.
Start with a factsheet
Put the essential information near the top of the press page or in the first file someone downloads. A journalist should be able to scan it quickly and understand what they are looking at. Include:- Game title and subtitle
- Developer and publisher names
- Platforms
- Release date or current release window
- Price, if confirmed
- Genre, with enough detail to be useful
- Player count and multiplayer information
- Supported languages
- Age rating, where available
- Engine, if it is relevant to the story
- Official website and store links
- Social and community links
- A named press contact
Write short and long descriptions
Your press kit needs at least two descriptions because different people will use them in different ways. The short description should fit into one or two sentences. Explain what the player does, the game’s genre and its most distinctive hook. Avoid opening with a slogan that could describe any game. The longer description can cover the premise, core mechanics, setting, tone and what makes the game different. Write it so a journalist can understand the product and rephrase it in their own voice. Do not fill it with every feature you have ever mentioned in a pitch deck. A useful test is to remove the game title and read the description again. If it could belong to five other games in the same genre, it needs more specific detail.Supply screenshots that show the game
Screenshots are among the most useful assets in a video game press kit, but only when they show what the game actually looks like. Steam’s graphical asset guidance says store screenshots should show gameplay rather than concept art, pre-rendered cinematics or promotional text. The same principle works for press assets. Give people images they can use to explain the game, not only polished key art. Include a small selection that covers different parts of the experience:- A clear image that communicates the overall game
- A few different environments or situations
- Screenshots showing important mechanics
- A clean image without interface elements, when useful
- A vertical or cropped option if creators may use the image on social platforms
game-co-op-boss-arena.png, rather than final-final-3.png.
Do not include every screenshot you have ever exported. Ten useful images are better than fifty near-duplicates.
Include the current trailer and useful video
Link to the latest public trailer, preferably on a platform that loads quickly and can be embedded or shared easily. If you have raw gameplay footage, a B-roll reel or short clips for social use, include those separately. Steam’s trailer guidance shows why technical details matter. Steam recommends high-resolution video and supports common formats such as.mp4. Your press kit does not need to reproduce Steam’s upload requirements exactly, but it should provide a clean, current file or link that a recipient can use.
Tell people what each video contains and whether it can be edited or reused. A creator may want unedited gameplay footage they can talk over. A journalist may only need the public trailer. Make both options obvious.
Add logos, key art and brand assets
Include the game logo in more than one version. A full-colour logo is useful, but a light version for dark backgrounds and a dark version for light backgrounds can save someone from asking for another file. Useful formats may include transparent PNG and, where available, SVG or another editable vector format. Include the main key art, capsule graphics and selected promotional images as separate downloads. Do not make someone extract a logo from a screenshot or a trailer frame. If your studio has a simple brand guide, add it. It does not need to be a forty-page document. A short note about logo use, fonts, colours and credit requirements is enough for most coverage.Give journalists and creators the information they actually need
Journalists and creators overlap, but they are not the same audience. A journalist may need a clear description, release details, developer information, screenshots, a press contact and a review-key process. A creator may also need vertical clips, raw gameplay, thumbnail-friendly images, music information and permission to use specific assets in a video. You do not need to build two completely separate sites. Label the assets so people can find the right material quickly. A section called “Creator assets” can sit alongside the main press resources. If you offer review keys, explain the request process. State which platforms are supported, whether keys are limited and who handles requests. Do not promise access you cannot provide.Include credits and permissions
Make it clear who created the game and who should receive credit. Include developer, publisher, composer, voice actor or partner information when it is relevant to coverage. Add a short usage note for the assets. For example, you might allow screenshots and trailer footage to be used in editorial coverage and creator videos while asking people not to redistribute raw files as standalone media. The wording should reflect your actual policy. Check music rights before including a soundtrack file or raw footage with music. A creator who receives a video that triggers a copyright claim may not use it again.Make the contact human
Use a real person’s name and email address where possible.press@yourgame.com is fine if somebody monitors it. An inbox that nobody checks is not.
Include the best time to contact you, how quickly you normally respond and what information to include in a review-key request. Those small details reduce delays when a journalist is working to a deadline.
The press contact also owns the maintenance job. Somebody needs to update the release date, pricing, platform list, screenshots, trailer and contact information when they change.
Organise files for speed
A press kit should work for somebody who has never seen it before. Use a simple folder structure and consistent names:01-factsheet02-descriptions03-screenshots04-video05-logos-and-key-art06-credits-and-contact07-review-information
