According to Press Engine data, the global pool of games journalists has shrunk by 25%

“For quality games media, I continue to believe that the best form of stability is dedicated reader bases to remove reliance on funds, and a hybrid of direct reader funding and advertisements. If people want to keep reading quality content from full time professionals, they need to support it or lose it. That’s never been more critical than now.”

The games media outlets that have survived, except for Gamespot and IGN, have just about all switched to this model. It seems to be the only way it survives.

  • SSTF@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    4 hours ago

    Back in the late 90s-early 2000s the PCGamer magazine was actually worthwhile. It had reviewers who specialized in different genres and if read enough you could get a feel for their writing style and critical voice. The fact it was a monthly publication meant they weren’t racing to get a review out in the first 24 hours.

    Nowadays it all seems like publications race to put reviews out online for relevance, and the reviewers often seem to have a disdain for video games and even if they don’t they aren’t genre experts.

    I don’t like fighting games. My review of a fighting game would be trash. Yet major publications just pump out reviews by whoever.

    Individual youtubers at least can develop a recognizable critical voice and stick more to genres they know and enjoy.