Playing by the rules: the decision to accept review keys

A friend reached out to me about a video game they’re promoting.

They’d recently started a freelance role and were helping an indie developer spread the word about their upcoming release. My friend and I had originally met six years ago through the blogging community, and they asked if I or anyone else still around from that time would like a review key.

It’s not uncommon for video game bloggers to receive offers for preview or review codes like this. They might come your way through a friend, similar to the situation described above. More commonly, you’ll eventually find yourself added to press distribution lists and then receiving regular email notifications from public relations (PR) firms and publishers.

There’s obviously a buzz which comes from receiving your first key. That feeling is pretty special because it’s the moment you realise that someone out there in the gaming industry is starting to take notice of what you’re going. However, such offers come with certain obligations and associated pitfalls which, during my ten years of blogging, I’ve learnt that I’d usually rather avoid.

There may be some readers who are now thinking: ‘Why on earth wouldn’t you want to accept free games?’ In my mind, they shouldn’t be considered as being received without a fee. Accepting a code from a developer may not mean you’re legally required to produce a review, but taking a game can be seen as some kind of agreement and I’d feel guilty if I didn’t follow through on my side of the bargain. While I might decide to publish critiques occasionally, I wouldn’t say they’re posts I particularly enjoy writing.

There’s also the fact that I often don’t have enough free time available to be able to play a title quickly or thoroughly enough to be able to do a review justice. Trying to fit both gaming and blogging in between work commitments, family responsibilities and training for the London Marathon is a struggle. It might be possible to find an evening where I can get through an hour or so for a ‘first impressions’ post, but I’d still feel as though I wasn’t upholding my side of the transaction if I didn’t write a full review.

If I did aim for a complete critique, there’s a very good chance that it would be published far too long after a game’s release date to have any positive impact for the developer. Timeliness and relevance in the gaming industry often dictates that early reviews carry more weight in promoting a release and helping consumers make purchasing decisions. There could potentially be hundreds, if not thousands, of other articles already on the internet for interested gamers to read by the time mine went live.

In addition to the reasons given above, more of our lives are taken up by adult responsibilities as we grow older. The few hours I have to devote to gaming each week are therefore precious to me and I’d rather not spend them having to play something I’m not enjoying. It’s my choice alone to put a title to one side if I’ve paid for it with my own money. But I can’t legitimately do that if it has been given to me for free by a developer who is expecting a review in return.

We’re meant to look forward to our hobbies – after all, that’s what make them hobbies and not a job. As I wrote last week, I try to steer clear of genres and mechanics which make certain types of video games feel like work to me. Accepting a free key for something that I already know I’m unlikely to enjoy based on the type of game it is, and then having to write a review about it, therefore seems counterproductive. I want to maintain the pleasure I get from gaming and ensure it doesn’t become an obligation.

There’s one final reason why I rarely accept review and preview codes nowadays. Although it’s not always the case, these releases are usually the means of the developers’ livelihoods. It could be seen that free keys are a way of paying for marketing but I can’t help feeling that each I’m offered is a cut into the money they could be making for their effort. If a title catches my eye and I’m interested in playing it, I’m happy to purchase it for myself and support independent creators in this way.

If a title I’ve bought myself inspires me enough to make me want to write about it, it will end up being the subject of a blog post anyway. But that’s completely my decision to make, rather than it being a choice arrived at as the result of feeling any kind of responsibility. It will be one which gives me confidence that the opinions and words published here on the Later Levels blog are my own and aren’t influenced by any other party. Maintaining the site’s authenticity and integrity are extremely important to me.

It won’t come as a surprise that I turned down the offer of the key from my friend. After checking out the project’s trailer and screenshots on Steam and discovering that it was a puzzle-platformer, I was honest with them and politely declined. They may be highly rated but I’ve never really enjoyed releases like Portal or The Talos Principle. I didn’t relish the thought of having to spend several hours playing a title for a target audience of which I don’t consider myself to be a member.

I was also aware that if I did push myself to play it, there was a chance that my reluctance would come across through in my review. Disliking a particular genre or type of video game can affect neutrality when it comes to writing a critique and that wouldn’t be fair to either my friend or the developer. It was better not to do anyone a disservice, when there are plenty of puzzle-platformer fans out there who would jump at the chance to experience their project.

My choice to be picky when it comes to accepting review and preview keys comes from a good place – a desire for authenticity, a measure of self-awareness, and a genuine appreciation for video games and those who create them. By declining those for titles which don’t appeal to me, I maintain the freedom this blog gives me to engage with games on my own terms. This deliberate selection process allows me to celebrate the releases that genuinely speak to me, while supporting the indie developers who create these amazing experiences.