One of Jeff’s Favorite Game Companies

Being involved in every aspect of putting together what folks see and hear on The Gaming Gang it’s not difficult to realize that Elliott, James, and I spend a quite a bit of time talking to a lot of people behind the scenes at various game companies. Of course there are many movers and shakers in the industry who are simply a joy to work with while, at the same time, there is a handful who happen to be a bit of a “challenge” I suppose we’ll say. Just as in any business, the gaming industry is made up of quite a lot of diverse personalities – most who wow you with their integrity while, on the flip side, a few that leave a lot to be desired. Our favorite less than stellar move is when a company contacts us to review their latest release, asks us to help promote that release, link to what we’ve written about said release and then never sends us a copy of the game to even review.

This isn’t the norm but it does happen more often than people would think.

I mention this not because I’m writing a “tell all” of who’s cool to deal with and who isn’t; that’s not the point of this post whatsoever. This isn’t to focus on people we don’t like to deal with because we have more fun things to do. There are some companies out there that I feel really deserve some special recognition not only based on our own great experiences with them but because of how they really go above and beyond in taking care of the gaming community. So from time to time I’ll be sharing a game publisher that I feel really deserves extra consideration for your hard earned ducats.

First up is GMT Games! 

Not only is Tony Curtis always a pleasure to be in contact with but they really do look out for the gaming community. They really are very lovely and good people who I genuinely feel are trying their best to offer excellent products and services to a customer base that they understand is small but quite dedicated to the hobby. Granted most people think GMT only produces traditional (and not so traditional) wargames, and a great many of their releases do fall into that category, but they honestly have a wide range of interests and genres to choose from for just about every type of gamer.

The folks at GMT really care about the gaming community and their “Tough Economy” program is yet another example of that fact. If you aren’t familiar with the program, rest assured you should take a peek, because I can guarantee that you could count on one hand the number of game publishers who would even consider something like this let alone run the promo for the third straight year. Here’s the scoop on the Tough Economy program direct from the GMT website:

The “Tough Economy” Special Offer is Back!!

We’ve run these specials twice in the past couple years, but we are STILL hearing from gamers who are out of work and we all know the economy is still pretty difficult. So, we are going to offer our tough economy special once again. Here are the details of the offer:

 Many in the gaming community turn to games as a welcome respite from their day jobs, using money from those day jobs to buy the games. In these difficult times, some of our loyal customers have lost their day jobs. No jobs and no cash to buy games is a morale buster. Now, we can’t help in the new job department, but one thing we can do is at least help you continue to enjoy the games while you are job hunting.

So, if you did not participate in our Tough Economy Special offer in 2008 OR 2009 and have lost your job since November 30, 2008 and remain unemployed, if you will provide verification of such status to Tony ([email protected]) or the office folks by mail or phone or e-mail, we will send you TWO FREE IN-STOCK GAMES of your choice. Play them, Enjoy them, and know that we will keep this information private and wish you only the best for a quick recovery.

We hope you guys find this special helpful.

Overall, this was another terrific year for our P500 program, and all you guys who pre-order our games are the ones who make it work for us. So we just want to show our appreciation, as best we can, for your continuing support, even during some rough economic times. As we’ve said many times, P500 is the engine that allows us to produce games – without it and your support we would not have survived to celebrate 20 years producing games that you guys like! So thanks very much for your support – and we hope you enjoy these additional benefits of supporting our P500 program.

Let’s be very honest here; there are a lot of great game companies out there and you’d be surprised at how generous many of them are when it comes to promoting the hobby. I do have to ask though, is there any other company out there, that jumps to mind, that would be willing to send out any two games (regardless of the retail price or popularity) of your choice to you? Simply because you’re out of work and you ask for a couple of games? I can’t say any other company jumps to mind that would but I know for a fact a few that certainly WOULD NOT…

The people at GMT understand that times are still tough out there for a lot of folks and they want to do their part to at least help keep morale up. The job hunt grind can be a real bummer and I’m sure having the opportunity to unwind and blow off steam with a couple of free games is nearly priceless.

Even if GMT didn’t release awesome games or have stellar customer service, the Tough Economy program alone sets GMT head and shoulders above many of their brethren producing games.

And that makes them one of my favorite game companies!

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Jeff McAleer

Founder/Editor-in-chief of The Gaming Gang website and host of The Gaming Gang Dispatch and other TGG media, Jeff tackles any and all sorts of games but has a special fondness for strategy, conflict sims, and roleplaying games. Plus, he's certainly never at a loss for an opinion...

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