Need proof that not even the bullshit profession of writing about videogames for a living is impervious to the current economic Ragnarok? EGM (aka Electronic Gaming Monthly) was shuttered earlier today after parent company Ziff Davis offloaded its videogame division to the Hearst Corporation.
Solid numbers on just how many EGM staffers were handed walking papers are still trickling in, but I can most certainly testify that an informal poll of those I know at the magazine indicates layoffs on a massive scale.
Additionally, 1up.com — the online network component of Ziff Davis’ gaming division — is to be merged with Hearst’s UGO.com network, effective immediately. It’s currently unclear what content will carry over from 1up, though I do have word that all of the site’s multimedia content (read: podcasts and video blogs) have been canceled.
Normally I’d try to end a post like this on a joke, but I’m a bit too nervous that the shambling corpse of the U.S. economy may soon be clawing at my door. As I load my shotgun and hack my staircase to splinters, I’d like to remind my employers that not only do I work cheap, I also look great in a mini-skirt and pumps and have no idea what the words “sexual harassment” mean.
Edit: Altered headline. Original wording made it seem like William Randolph Hearst had returned from beyond the grave to devour media outlets. As far as I’m aware, the dead have yet to rise in anything other than fanciful metaphor.
I blame this on an almost complete lack of actual “journalism” or “criticism” in the gaming industry. Almost all the magazines are the equivalant of Entertainment Weekly.
I can’t exactly argue with that. My resume is literally just a collection of kitten pictures and dick jokes.
Over the past few years, I’ve been known to freelance a feature or two for EGM. This makes me really sad. Not as a paycheck loss–I haven’t written for them for a while, and had no plans to do so again–but just as like a… “Well, shit,” sort of thing.
I’ve been reading that magazine since I was in junior high; I still remember eagerly poring over new issues for details on games like Tomb Raider 2 and Masters of Teras Kasi–back when once-monthly screenshots and blurbs were literally all the exposure one would get to a game before it came out. (And also back when I was young and/or dumb enough to think that Masters of Teras Kasi was going to be BADASS.) And maybe I’m biased, here, due to my longtime reading of the magazine (not to mention writing for them a few times), but I’ve always found the writing in other game magazines to be just ridiculously sloppy and pandering–to advertisers, to game publishers, to readers–in comparison to the solid previews, reviews, and features in EGM.
Ugh. I will repeat: This makes me sad, and even if a whole lot of people weren’t reading the magazine at this point, I feel like videogame journalism as a whole will suffer because of this.
I still think that there’s some pretty good video game writing happening, it’s just not happening in print magazines focused on games. Kotaku, Escapist, dtoid, et al; are all doing some decent writing on games (‘specially Escapist). Hell, even the Grey Lady had a good article on Prince of Persia last week.
Your resume is just about as good as mine. Looks like it may be time for both of us to invest in a nice set of knee-pads.
I’m going to assume you listed 2 of my employers as a love note directly to Ol Nexy, right Graham? Right?! Please validate me!
But yeah, in an industry where most of my colleagues suck ass, the EGM kids have always been top shelf.
@Nex; You worked for NYT and et al?
But seriously, where is the really serious deep-thought writing on gaming happening? Is it happening?
Just when I think Graham likes me he shanks me in the spine with a barb about my long-running bitter rivalry with the New York Times. You bastard.
I only took the job with Wired to make you and mom happy! And that Pulitzer I won? I sold it! To buy you a comb for your hair! The hair that you smoked in the bong you bought me for my birthday!
I hate you dad!
Also: The important, thought provoking discussion does exist, it’s just generally incredibly dull and doesn’t pull in traffic or subscribers for shit. Why do you think I focus on dick jokes and zombie metaphors? I could do a high-brow dissection of Katamari Damacy as a modern day surrealist Sisyphus/Oedipus hybrid (think Basquiat with huge balls, both metaphorical and literal) — but if I did that I wouldn’t be making the big bucks as one of the most successful sell outs in games writing! (And I might not have to drown my self-loathing in a long-running addiction to Percocet!)
But seriously though, read Leigh Alexander’s stuff. Not only is she the editor of Gamasutra (http://www.gamasutra.com/) she also keeps one of the most intelligent personal gaming blogs on the net (http://sexyvideogameland.blogspot.com/), and she’s like my bestest pal in the world of games writing.
Also, she’s a bit of a fox.