But that is true. Game journalism is basically dead. Look at sites that publish gaming news. They barely hold up and most of them had to be attached to bigger groups to survive like IGN. Gaming mags almost all are dead. Simply put people no longer seek jornalist advices which should be their primary work. Now instead they look for opinion of thatsnwyboi324 on youtube because unlike journalists he at least plays games and you can see for yourself if game is for you or not.
Mind you that this is not just game journalism. Journalism in general is in death throwes. TV news stations don't even care about journalism they hire pundits to spin information to whatever their overlord wants, papers that used to be at the top of food chain are dying left and right AND they are not immune to clickbait as they collapse and print shit that would not fly 20-30 years ago. Gaming journalism shouldn't be even a therm if 99% of people who do it never finished jornalism high school. Out of all people i have seen in whole industry barely 5 people constitute as real journalists and half of them are self made youtubers rather than attached to some publishing companies.
Game journalists are like barbers right now. Yes you can find barber occasionally but overall they are dead as profession
Yeah but my beef is people calling out games journalism in particular. To add my opinion to your points.
- Gaming mags are almost dead:
Print media in any form is 'almost dead'. Look at the statistics. It isn't just the gaming industry that is suffering. Any kind of consumer-facing publications, in particular lifestyle magazines, are dying as a result of downward trends for print media.
- unlike journalists he at least plays games and you can see for yourself if game is for you or not.
I'm sorry, but the whole 'at least he actually plays games' argument is bullshit. The prerequisites to get into video game journalism are incredibly high. It's a fiercely competitive industry. If someone is in the industry, you can bet that they've got there through a strong knowledge of the industry and games in general, as well as being gifted writers. It's a multi-disciplined industry, whether that's content creation, feature ideas, research; w/e. The difference is, unfortunately, these people don't have the luxury of being able to play games all the time, unlike most streamers.
- Mind you that this is not just game journalism. Journalism in general is in death throwes
Fair play, I see I've started responding to your opinion before I've read the entirety of what you have to say properly (my bad). You're right, the industry is suffering in general – because it's a business. Websites are click to jump to list-based articles that are guaranteed to get clicks over substantial journalism – but it's unfair to say that all sites are doing that. Eurogamer, GamesTM, The Guardian, Gameindustry.biz, GamesMaster and OPM all publish some fantastic feature articles – many the result of months worth of quality research and journalism. If you like at some of the feature editors at these publications – and even the freelancers that are getting commissioned – they're dishing out quality pieces.
In summary/TLDR: I don't think it's fair to tarnish the entire video game journalism industry as being 'dead' because certain sites put out shit quality from time to time. It undermines the fantastic work other (legitimate) journalists are doing.
