Why is Gaming Journalism Such a Joke?

Alright, before you make the obvious joke/critique: no. I don’t consider myself a game journalist. I write these articles for two reasons: to share my honest thoughts on games, whether they be good or bad, and to have fun. Everything you read is strictly my opinion. That’s all these articles have ever been, that’s all they’ll ever be.

I also do it completely for free. Partly because my past attempts at monetization have fallen flat. And partly because I feel really gross trying to make money off of this website. This is a creative outlet for me, not a job. I want to do it because I love it, not because I have to!

Now, with that said, let’s get into the meat and potatoes.

On paper, gaming journalism sounds like a cool job. You get to play video games before anyone else and make money for it?! Sign me up!

Just one problem: gaming journalism isn’t about actually playing games and reporting about them. It’s about getting enough clicks to make money. It’s about maintaining good relationships with developers. By any. Means. Necessary.

Why do you think sites like IGN never give games anything lower than a 6 out of 10? They can’t risk making developers or publishers upset, otherwise they won’t get future review codes and it’ll effect their bottom line. Like a gentle parent who doesn’t want to hurt a kid’s feelings, only the kid writes their paycheck!

You want to know something even more sad? If one of these companies blacklists a site, they’ll go out of their way to slander them in retribution, farming that company’s fanbase for hate clicks. Just look at Kotaku. When Square Enix blacklisted them, they started to release article after article lampooning ‘Final Fantasy XVI’ for being… racist, sexist, and homophobic.

First of all: that’s just sad. Secondly: that isn’t journalism. That’s activism. Which is fine! There is nothing wrong with having a cause, believing in it, and fighting for it.

Just don’t call yourself a journalist.

It certainly doesn’t help that most game journalists don’t actually play video games. We all joke about how they constantly whine for easy modes, but it’s true. I’m sorry, if you can’t even beat the tutorial of Cuphead, then why in God’s name are you talking about it? A literal child could beat it faster than a journalist could! There’s video evidence! I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried!

It’s especially funny when they actually get what they want. Game has an easy mode? Time to complain that it’s too easy! Game is even slightly hard? Compare it to Dark Souls and whine!

But why? Why is it this way? How did it get so bad?

Remember: these websites are businesses. Their goal is to make money. It isn’t like this or similar blogs, or independent YouTube channels or Twitch streamers. They’re companies where every writer is an employee. One whose individual voice has been stripped away, forced to spew the words of their corporate overlords.

There is no individuality. There is no passion. There isn’t allowed to be! These journalists are forced to write whatever their managers think will get the most clicks, quality be damned.

Whether the readers will like it or hate it doesn’t matter. They clicked on it. Nothing else matters.

It’d be really funny if it weren’t so disgusting.