The turmoil is larger than just [video game] journalism, it's the Internet. We're at a time of great change, what advertising means on the Internet is changing in a very big way, sort of like you're seeing on television with DVRs making standard ads obsolete. Business is going to have to change, and we're all going to have to adapt to move forward and keep going for the years to come. People that stand by as existing ad formats get less and less useful are going to feel the brunt of stuff like this.
Jeff Gerstmann, March 16, 2012
At E3 last year we saw a 40% increase in video views, we also saw a decrease in page views, so there was a consumption shift. Also in the time of day, we're seeing that people that are really into games, people are opening a livestream, and putting it in a tab in their browser window, and they'll listen to it while they're doing work. If they're really into games they want to consume it as it happens, they want to participate when they can, they want to be able to move in and out of it. So it's very different from print. Buying a print magazine is implicit loyalty. I have chosen you to tell me about this thing I care about. Whereas online it's “I really want to know what's going on with Skyrim, Google please tell me or YouTube please tell me. Who's got the best stuff? I don't know who, I just want cool stuff. Or I've heard that there's this specific thing in this game and I want to know more about that, how do I find that? So the discovery patterns have changed, the way that we serve things up have changed; I think we're seeing a big shift in consumption behavior and delivery behavior and it's healthy. You can't keep plodding along the way that you used to, and you can't just make a magazine and put it on the web. You've got to start a conversation, you've got to be focusing on what people are going to want to talk about.
John Davison, Vice President, Programming - Games & Metacritic at CBS Interactive, January 17, 2012
Now the desemination of information is certainly the role of these websites, that’s how the news gets out. So how exactly could a games journalist look at that more objectively, or indeed is posting the press release the most objective thing they could do, is any commentary after the fact merely subjective, does it cross into the territory of punditry or op-ed? It’s a strange notion, particularly when many of these same people also engage in critique, they are reviewers, but they also write these articles. There’s a very large cross-over in games media, there is very little distinction between an industry commentator, a pundit, a reviewer, a critic, a journalist. Most people in games media cross over those lines and why you might ask? Why is there no distinction between the two?
Now you could argue as a result of sites wearing many hats, they’re able to establish themselves as independent and interesting entities. I mean Giant Bomb is one of the most notable examples of that. When I hear Giant Bomb’s opinion I trust it because they haven’t given me a reason not to and yet they’re able to present content in a very unique way. Their Quick Looks straddle the line between entertainment, Let’s Play and critique and I modelled WTF is... after that, although with a more serious focus, because I had a great respect for that particular format. As it turns out that format has been highly successful, both for Giant Bomb and for myself, and we see even more traditional outlets going down the route of creating this more off the cuff content, which provides a more unedited and uncensored look at a particular title and I think that’s actually quite valuable.
John “TotalBiscuit” Bain, September 9, 2014
This is the reality of the current industry we are in and it’s something that Jeff Gerstmann predicted back in the day when he talked about the byline and the fact that the person writing the review was just as, if not more important, than the actual text of the review itself, or of course the video of it. It seems that some sites are attempting to adapt to the modern landscape by either creating personalities or pushing already existing nascent personalities on their staff. Either the most camera-friendly person or the most interesting person, giving them a show or along those lines. We see sites like GameSpot doing that a lot, they’re really chasing after the dream of what Giant Bomb did years ago and it’s the reason why Giant Bomb is extremely relevant at this point because they saw that coming.
John "TotalBiscuit" Bain, September 9, 2014
I am a quote that's small and on the right
FLStyle
The turmoil is larger than just [video game] journalism, it's the Internet. We're at a time of great change, what advertising means on the Internet is changing in a very big way, sort of like you're seeing on television with DVRs making standard ads obsolete. Business is going to have to change, and we're all going to have to adapt to move forward and keep going for the years to come. People that stand by as existing ad formats get less and less useful are going to feel the brunt of stuff like this.
Jeff Gerstmann, March 16, 2012
At E3 last year we saw a 40% increase in video views, we also saw a decrease in page views, so there was a consumption shift. Also in the time of day, we're seeing that people that are really into games, people are opening a livestream, and putting it in a tab in their browser window, and they'll listen to it while they're doing work. If they're really into games they want to consume it as it happens, they want to participate when they can, they want to be able to move in and out of it. So it's very different from print. Buying a print magazine is implicit loyalty. I have chosen you to tell me about this thing I care about. Whereas online it's “I really want to know what's going on with Skyrim, Google please tell me or YouTube please tell me. Who's got the best stuff? I don't know who, I just want cool stuff. Or I've heard that there's this specific thing in this game and I want to know more about that, how do I find that? So the discovery patterns have changed, the way that we serve things up have changed; I think we're seeing a big shift in consumption behavior and delivery behavior and it's healthy. You can't keep plodding along the way that you used to, and you can't just make a magazine and put it on the web. You've got to start a conversation, you've got to be focusing on what people are going to want to talk about.
John Davison, Vice President, Programming - Games & Metacritic at CBS Interactive, January 17, 2012
Now the desemination of information is certainly the role of these websites, that’s how the news gets out. So how exactly could a games journalist look at that more objectively, or indeed is posting the press release the most objective thing they could do, is any commentary after the fact merely subjective, does it cross into the territory of punditry or op-ed? It’s a strange notion, particularly when many of these same people also engage in critique, they are reviewers, but they also write these articles. There’s a very large cross-over in games media, there is very little distinction between an industry commentator, a pundit, a reviewer, a critic, a journalist. Most people in games media cross over those lines and why you might ask? Why is there no distinction between the two?
Now you could argue as a result of sites wearing many hats, they’re able to establish themselves as independent and interesting entities. I mean Giant Bomb is one of the most notable examples of that. When I hear Giant Bomb’s opinion I trust it because they haven’t given me a reason not to and yet they’re able to present content in a very unique way. Their Quick Looks straddle the line between entertainment, Let’s Play and critique and I modelled WTF is... after that, although with a more serious focus, because I had a great respect for that particular format. As it turns out that format has been highly successful, both for Giant Bomb and for myself, and we see even more traditional outlets going down the route of creating this more off the cuff content, which provides a more unedited and uncensored look at a particular title and I think that’s actually quite valuable.
John “TotalBiscuit” Bain, September 9, 2014
This is the reality of the current industry we are in and it’s something that Jeff Gerstmann predicted back in the day when he talked about the byline and the fact that the person writing the review was just as, if not more important, than the actual text of the review itself, or of course the video of it. It seems that some sites are attempting to adapt to the modern landscape by either creating personalities or pushing already existing nascent personalities on their staff. Either the most camera-friendly person or the most interesting person, giving them a show or along those lines. We see sites like GameSpot doing that a lot, they’re really chasing after the dream of what Giant Bomb did years ago and it’s the reason why Giant Bomb is extremely relevant at this point because they saw that coming.
John "TotalBiscuit" Bain, September 9, 2014
I am a quote that's small and on the right
FLStyle