I’ve been seeing a lot of discussion around the lack of game outlets that people like to follow nowadays. I used to follow a decent amount, but with how many of them have changed - Giant Bomb, PC Gamer, RockPaperShotgun, Game Informer - I also have been looking for a new outlet/community.
I’ve been working towards starting an outlet myself, and I’m wondering what folks would like to see out of one. My list:
Independent, or more so. Referral links make it hard to trust an outlet being unbiased if they have a financial incentive to promote things.
Discourse focused: Modern coverage, especially from influencers, is a lot of a singular person speaking. Giant Bomb especially had great dynamics between the various perspectives when covering a game.
Diverse Coverage: By this I mean, not just focused on AAA titles and the yearly release calendar. Covering mods, older titles, different communities (speedrunners, small multiplayer communities, etc.)
Other questions:
Would you be interested in supporting an outlet financially? Would you even if all content was available freely, eg. public media as opposed to “premium access.”
Do you have any preferred platforms? Would you be interested in an outlet that prioritizes the Fediverse over Twitch, Youtube, etc.?
Do you have a preference between written content, video, audio?
Like the other commenter discussed, I think objective when it comes to reviews is a very tricky idea. My ideal solution to it is having multiple perspectives on a game from an outlet, not necessarily in a review score, but in other formats. That’s part of what I loved about Giant Bomb, I’d typically like what Jeff did, but might not be as into a Brad or Dan game all the time.
I don’t think the idea of objectivity makes a ton of sense at this point, but an authentic perspective can serve that role.
I think a large part of why so many outlets sell out is due to the idea of infinite growth and/or revenue dropping from Youtube/Twitch/etc. taking more of a cut. Ideally this would be solved by remaining small, focused, and less dependent on revenue sources that can change on a whim.
it really is as simple as being able to distinguish opinions from facts, and clarifying each in the revew.
Facts: This game has X combat, Y selectable characters, the crafting looks like Z, etc.
Opinons: This game is amazing! 10/10! Best story of all time! GOTY!, etc
You absolutely can have an objective game review, it’s just that no writer wants to do that. They’d rather make it more about their opinions of the game than of the game.
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Like the other commenter discussed, I think objective when it comes to reviews is a very tricky idea. My ideal solution to it is having multiple perspectives on a game from an outlet, not necessarily in a review score, but in other formats. That’s part of what I loved about Giant Bomb, I’d typically like what Jeff did, but might not be as into a Brad or Dan game all the time.
I don’t think the idea of objectivity makes a ton of sense at this point, but an authentic perspective can serve that role.
I think a large part of why so many outlets sell out is due to the idea of infinite growth and/or revenue dropping from Youtube/Twitch/etc. taking more of a cut. Ideally this would be solved by remaining small, focused, and less dependent on revenue sources that can change on a whim.
it really is as simple as being able to distinguish opinions from facts, and clarifying each in the revew.
Facts: This game has X combat, Y selectable characters, the crafting looks like Z, etc.
Opinons: This game is amazing! 10/10! Best story of all time! GOTY!, etc
You absolutely can have an objective game review, it’s just that no writer wants to do that. They’d rather make it more about their opinions of the game than of the game.