Womenize! – Inspiring Stories is our weekly series featuring inspirational individuals from games and tech. For this edition we talked to Freyja Melhorn, Director Marketing Communication at BXDXO GmbH. She speaks about her work on the “EVERSPACE” series and the Gaming Zone at The CCON | COMIC CON Stuttgart, her transition to a Director of Marketing Communications role, and the importance of passion and communication skills in game PR. Read more about Freyja here:
Hi Freyja! Since entering the games industry more than 15 years ago, you’ve worked on a diverse range of PR campaigns for games across various platforms. Could you share a particularly challenging or rewarding campaign that stands out from your career and the lessons you learned from it?

After 17 years in the games industry, I’ve managed hundreds of PR campaigns in my career, from AAA to super small part-time indie devs. What I value the most is that my job is never boring as every campaign is unique due to the different requirements, backstories, and goals. However, one of my favorites are definitely the campaigns for “EVERSPACE” and “EVERSPACE 2” from ROCKFISH Games. I’ve been working with the Hamburg-based studio since day one (I even worked with Michael Schade and Christian Lohr back in the days of Fishlabs Entertainment), and the PR business has changed a lot during that time. From the very first announcement of a Kickstarter for a new space game from Germany, the release of the original EVERSPACE, to the most successful German Kickstarter campaign back then for the 2nd instalment of the series, the release of EVERSPACE 2 which became an international bestselling space game, to winning “Best German Game” at Der Deutsche Computerspielpreis 2024 – I’m proud that I contributed to this success story over the last 10 years and I’m happy to continue working with these incredibly talented guys to share all the exciting things they’ve been working on for space fans.

A particularly challenging project was the Gaming Zone at The CCON | COMIC CON Stuttgart, which we created for the first time in December 2023. We were able to implement our vision of a gaming event from the idea to the implementation on site as the organizer fully trusted our expertise. It was a lot of fun to bring the 500m² area to life, but as typical for the event business, it was also quite nerve-wracking at times. We were particularly pleased that the Gaming Zone was voted the third most popular area at CCON by visitors right from the start. For 2024, we want to implement some improvements and offer even more great games, tournaments and show programs for visitors.

You transitioned into the role of Director of Marketing Communications in May 2023. How has this new position allowed you to further leverage your expertise in PR and contribute to the success of gaming-related marketing efforts, and what excites you most about this role?

The biggest advantage in my new role is that I have been able to expand my area of expertise to include marketing and project management. I now have much more insight into campaigns, where PR is always just a small part of a big picture. At BXDXO, we work like a fully functional marketing department, are often more involved in product management and strategic consulting than a traditional PR agency. By gaining insight at a much earlier planning stage, we can coordinate marketing and PR campaigns even better.

As someone who graduated with a diploma in Public Relations, how important do you think formal education is for individuals looking to enter the gaming industry, and what skills or qualities do you believe are essential for success in game PR?

The games industry is nowadays very open to career changers, and I firmly believe that if you are passionate about a topic, you can learn the necessary skillset. In addition, communication skills, organizational talent and social media knowledge are of course in demand and useful, especially in PR and marketing – the rest is more or less learning on the job. However, you can’t teach passion – either you have enthusiasm for games or you don’t.

Thanks for this interview, Freyja!

Freyja’s links: LinkedIn

Womenize! – Inspiring Stories Feature by Madeleine Egger