The Content Ecosystem
We’ve had a busy couple of weeks for Nut Hunt, with our first US Distributor order, and our biggest review yet from The Dice Tower (seal of approval included!).
Both happenings are really exciting milestones for us as a company – but today I wanted to talk about the ecosystem of board game content – reviews, previews, etc., and how to get content made for your game or Kickstarter campaign.
Kinds of Content
Content can come in as many forms as you can imagine – and I’ll get into mediums later. But first I want to focus on the kinds of content that you can expect.
Preview: Preview content is often paid and is created to coincide with a game’s launch, or pre-launch (often for Kickstarter). Instead of offering opinions or a rating for the game, preview content highlights the game mechanisms, frames who the game is for, and showcases cool components and gameplay.
Review: Reviews are usually the most in depth content. They offer an opinionated view into a games mechanisms, production, and fun, and a clear recommendation on the game’s overall quality and who it is for. Most reviews are free, although some are paid – especially when covering games that haven’t been released yet.
Teaser: Teasers are short form content or pictures that aren’t as in depth as previews or full reviews. The best examples of this kind of content are Instagrams, or TikToks that aren’t really about a specific game but do showcase it.
How to Play: How to play videos are often commissioned (we partner with Shea Parker at RTFM for ours). They’re an easily digestible rules teach. Personally, I prefer learning rules from a good how to play video as opposed to a rulebook (and suspect that many gamers do as well).
Playthrough: Playthrough content is the most long form content that you’ll see. It’s usually video content or a stream. It often includes some level of a rules teach or play description, and commentary on gameplay.
Unboxing: Unboxings are usually video content, although I’ve seen blog unboxings with pictures. They’re pretty straightforward showing the experience of unboxing a game. Some include commentary on components and gameplay, but for the most part they are simply a demonstration of what a game comes with.
Round Ups: Round ups come in all kinds of shapes and sizes but uniformly they don’t showcase one individual game. Some are top X lists of games of a specific genre, a survey of games currently crowdfunding (like The Dice Tower’s Crowd Surfing or Board Game Co’s Kickstarter Round Up), or even comparison content like “if you like Catan, here are 5 game you should check out”.
Paid Versus Unpaid
It’s important to note the difference between paid and unpaid content. Most review content and round ups is unpaid, while a lot of preview content is paid. Whether content is paid or unpaid will also depend on the individual creator, and the size of the channel’s audience.
For instance, a smaller channel will likely create preview content for free (to help build its audience and have novel content), while larger established channels will charge a fee for content.
Not all paid content is created equal, and it’s important to partner with creators whose tastes and audiences align with your design. Even when content is paid, you can tell how enthusiastic content creators are about the game they are covering.
Getting Coverage
There are two main kinds of coverage – coverage before your game is released or crowdfunded, and coverage after your game is published.
I wrote up an article on how to reach out to content creators: How to Query Content Creators.
It’s worth noting that the process of reaching out to content creators is relatively similar in each case. However, once your game is published you will get a higher proportion of inquiries for coverage, as well as unprompted coverage.
Once a game is published, unless you are paying for specific content (like a how to play video), the vast majority of coverage will be unpaid (although you may send a review copy of your game).
Where to Find Content Creators
Most readers will have their own favorite board game content creators. Those are a great place to start when looking for reviewers and previewers for your game. But, it’s always worth expanding your playlists. Here are a few places to look for content creators for your game:
This Stonemaier List (see the bottom of the blog post)
Who are your favorite under the radar board game content creators?
