Check out this 1Up article that discusses the impact that online message boards have on game developers. Often times the feedback they get is good, and often times it turns around and bites them in the ass. But ain't the interwebz funz!
Quote:
But just how closely are they paying attention? Do marketers keep their ear to the ground at NeoGAF and other message boards? Do they track public reaction to their promotional efforts? Did they all take notes when Bell got his 15 minutes of online infamy? Do they see inside our heads?
Elizabeth Tobey (community manager, 2K Games): With the proliferation of public-discussion places, we have a constant source of real-time feedback that can lead to bigger and better things for our products. At every level, we have people who follow the trends closely and pay attention to what the community takes to and what the community skewers.
Tammy Schachter (senior director of PR, EA Games): People at EA are gamers first, so they are reading the boards like everyone else in the industry. Whether in the studio or in marketing, we're all always interested in hearing what gamers are saying about our games and the competition. We live in an online world where anything we say and do is disseminated on a global scale in an instant. This has revolutionized the way we do marketing and PR. While we are always thinking about our campaigns through a digital, global lens, we do not micromanage our campaigns in reaction to any one online moment.
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There's a few good stories about company executives being ripped when they login to take part in discussions. It's a good ROFL at the least...and proof that what us forumites do and say is heard far and wide.
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