"This product was received for free" reviews

[jaket]

I didn't want to address this, because I thought the subject would die off when more reviews started showing up, but unfortunately it didn't.
Some folks have been accusing of paying for reviews and / or giving away keys for reviews.

-So do we give away keys? Yes we do, a lot of them.
We give keys to classic press, to Twitchers and Youtubers. We offer the keys. That's how things work - they create content for their readers and we get more visibility for our game. It's always been like that with the classic press. But nowadays we have to rely on Youtube and Twitch too. We're a small company with an unknown game and we need to get our game out there. But even big studios do that, reviewers and youtubers don't pay for keys.

-Why are there only small youtubers reviewing the game?
We would love for PewDiePie our some other huge Youtuber to try our game. We mailed him and everyone else. We spent days sending emails to Youtubers. But the bigger guys are hard to get. Some of them even *asked us for money*. Yeah that's right, some bigger Youtubers asked us for money to feature our game. But no harm done, everyone has their business and the right to ask for what they want. But we don't pay Youtubers to talk about our game. Because we don't want to and we'd rather spend that money in real advertising.
The smaller youtubers are much easier to approach, to get back to us and to feature our game on their channels. We did get a few bigger youtubers, but these don't bother to write on the Steam page.

-But why are all the reviews positive?
They're not. There's even one youtuber who made a negative review here in Steam that had already disliked our previous game and made a negative review about it on Steam too.
And we'll send him our next game too, maybe the third time's the charm.
The "product received for free" reviews here on the page are just a fraction of all the keys that we sent. Most of the guys just play the game on their youtube channels and don't go write on the Steam game pages.

-So we give out keys to everyone who asks for one?
No we don't. We get dozens of emails daily from supposed "Steam curators", "Steam giveaways" and fake youtubers asking for keys.
Most of the times these keys end up being resold somewhere else.
We also try to select channels with a minimum of viewers and subscribers.
So there is a selection process.

I hope this makes sense to you or at least that it clarifies how the free keys are given away.
If it doesn't make sense, wait a few more days for more reviews :)

[C O R P S E Y]

Any chance I could get a copy? I can't guarantee a positive review, but I can guarantee a thorough and honest review. I'm a huge fan of horror games, and would love to play this during this Halloween season.

[MarcusReed]

The game is great, free key or not a good game is a good game and over time the reviews will reflect as such.

[MoonKnight87]

Hey Jaket, do you all have a twitter I can reach out to?

[Baby on board]

Any free keys left? I usually post reviews on steam.

[e n e m y]

Originally posted by jaket:

I didn't want to address this, because I thought the subject would die off when more reviews started showing up, but unfortunately it didn't.
Some folks have been accusing of paying for reviews and / or giving away keys for reviews.

-So do we give away keys? Yes we do, a lot of them.
We give keys to classic press, to Twitchers and Youtubers. We offer the keys. That's how things work - they create content for their readers and we get more visibility for our game. It's always been like that with the classic press. But nowadays we have to rely on Youtube and Twitch too. We're a small company with an unknown game and we need to get our game out there. But even big studios do that, reviewers and youtubers don't pay for keys.

-Why are there only small youtubers reviewing the game?
We would love for PewDiePie our some other huge Youtuber to try our game. We mailed him and everyone else. We spent days sending emails to Youtubers. But the bigger guys are hard to get. Some of them even *asked us for money*. Yeah that's right, some bigger Youtubers asked us for money to feature our game. But no harm done, everyone has their business and the right to ask for what they want. But we don't pay Youtubers to talk about our game. Because we don't want to and we'd rather spend that money in real advertising.
The smaller youtubers are much easier to approach, to get back to us and to feature our game on their channels. We did get a few bigger youtubers, but these don't bother to write on the Steam page.

-But why are all the reviews positive?
They're not. There's even one youtuber who made a negative review here in Steam that had already disliked our previous game and made a negative review about it on Steam too.
And we'll send him our next game too, maybe the third time's the charm.
The "product received for free" reviews here on the page are just a fraction of all the keys that we sent. Most of the guys just play the game on their youtube channels and don't go write on the Steam game pages.

-So we give out keys to everyone who asks for one?
No we don't. We get dozens of emails daily from supposed "Steam curators", "Steam giveaways" and fake youtubers asking for keys.
Most of the times these keys end up being resold somewhere else.
We also try to select channels with a minimum of viewers and subscribers.
So there is a selection process.

I hope this makes sense to you or at least that it clarifies how the free keys are given away.
If it doesn't make sense, wait a few more days for more reviews :)

is it an survival game where you gather rescources to stay alive?...if it is i can dedicate tons of hours of gameplay and definitley an honest review,providing i get a free copy.

[Doktor Mandrake]

This thread wasn't intended so you could all beg for keys ya scrubs lol

Looks like this topic is gonna need locking before it gets turned into a beggers thread

[d0x360]

ill make a video and i paid for it...if only i could get my issues fixed. I just emailed support so fingers crossed

[<NOG>DogManDan]

I will be making a review on this game soon. Mid-sized YouTube creator and I received a copy of the press release version through my PR firm that I work with. Through my PR firm I choose which games I want to cover and which I do not that will not interest me or for that matter might not interest my audience.

Youtubers & Streamers are a big part of advertising when it comes to smaller companies and while you will not always see a "BIG" channel covering it sometimes the smaller ones make bigger impressions, good or bad, than one or two "big" guys.

As I said I tend to choose games which interest me and my audience so for the most part unless a game is so messed up beyond belief that it warrants a negative review I will try to stay in the neutral area and/or postive area if I really enjoy it.

Remember creators are normal players as well and a review is simply a personal opinion of what one person thinks of the game no matter how neutral it is. Use multple reviews and watch several videos to get an idea of whether something will appeal to you before you make the plunge and purchase it. Never let anyone's opinion stop you from getting something you will enjoy just because they did not. Its no different than a movie reviewer.

[jaket]

Guys we're not looking for Steam reviews, but thanks anyway :)
But if you're a content creator (Youtuber / Twitch) and want to feature our game, drop us an email at [e-mail] and we'll get back to you.

@RandomlyRyan I think you already got it ;)
@d0x360 We'll get back to you
@<NOG>DogManDan Thanks for explaining how you guys work!

[mafon2]

I know it 1st hand how hard it could be to criticize the game you recieved from the dev or pr-person. Even worse if you know the dev/pr-person. Many people just afraid to a) hurt the feelings of others b) lose the chance to get the free key again.

Though I have a feeling of unease sometimes, I don't allow it to alter my opinion. And maybe even act more brutal to the stuff I like, so to diminish personal sympathies factor.

[d0x360]

I used to work for the games press about 13 years ago. I could give a free game a bad review. There is a difference between a reviewer and a person trying to scam free keys.

Now I paid for this game and I've had some bugs I'm waiting for support to help with BUT I wouldn't review it and because the issue I'm having is insanely uncommon and could be my own fault. By the same token if I got the game free and everyone had issues I'd say that too. Honesty is key.

Now I'm personally enjoying this game despite the issues I have but I assure you people who get free keys, people who really care about gaming...those peole can write an honest fair review.

Please don't lump key scrubs with actual reviewers.

[Lord Crocosquirrel]

I featured it on my channel not once, but twice, and rather liked it... I'm not a hundred percent on the apparent lack of save points, but that could be me missing things.

I still told the PR firm I got the key from that I had a fairly good experience with it.

[brunomtc]

Originally posted by Lord Crocosquirrel:

I featured it on my channel not once, but twice, and rather liked it... I'm not a hundred percent on the apparent lack of save points, but that could be me missing things.

I still told the PR firm I got the key from that I had a fairly good experience with it.

What do you mean by lack of saving points ?
They are marked on the minimap (their locations), you had problems finding them ?

p.s. You added icons on the minimap showing the saving locations in a patch shortly after release.

[jaket]

Originally posted by brunomtc:

Originally posted by Lord Crocosquirrel:

I featured it on my channel not once, but twice, and rather liked it... I'm not a hundred percent on the apparent lack of save points, but that could be me missing things.

I still told the PR firm I got the key from that I had a fairly good experience with it.

What do you mean by lack of saving points ?
They are marked on the minimap (their locations), you had problems finding them ?

p.s. You added icons on the minimap showing the saving locations in a patch shortly after release.

WE added icons on the minimap showing the save locations :)

[H3NT41M4N14C]

just ask. pertama, saya beli sebuah game, memberikan good review, dapat notifikasi bahwa Product received for free, cek transaksi masih ada pembayaran tidak ada free. bagaimana kita tahu bawa permainan ini gratis bila kita sudah melakukan pembelian game tersebut? bagaimana pengembalian duit yang telah kita bayarkan setelah mendapat notofikasi Product received for free? atau saya melakukan kesalahan saat memberikan review?