Games Magazines In Turmoil? Or, Are They Just Copping Some Bad Press?

The games magazine industry has been copping a bit of a beating lately. Not only has there been talk that they are losing a large number of subscriptions and sales but one of their own has come out and criticized them.

The blame for declining subscriptions and sales has been squarely placed on the internet. Magazines can't compete with online news services to cover and publish the most up to date news. The problem with this lies squarely with the time constraints placed on producing the magazine. Magazines don't go to print the day before they are placed on the news agent's shelves. They are finished weeks prior in order to accommodate page layout, publication, delivery and distribution. This places a strain on the currency of information provided in magazines. It is becoming more and more difficult to create exclusives which are relevant.

However, on Wednesday one of the industry's own journalists and editor of Gamearena came out and publicly criticized what goes on behind the scenes of the game industry magazines in order influence the review and publication process. "For starters, most are super-protective of the inner-working of “games journalism” and pretend like it is rocket science. It is not. To a lesser extent, there is an attitude of self-importance, like they are Gaming Gods. If anyone should be a Gaming God, it is the guys who create masterpieces – like the folks behind Mario or GTA or Pro Evo or World of Warcraft," he says. But every industry has their own megalomaniacs who believe that they not only control the world, but created it as well. I don't find this hard to believe. He goes on to say, "I have a seriously hard time giving using the word “journalist” with a straight face. “Games reporters?”… yes. “Games reviewers?”… yeah I think so. But “journalist”? You cannot be serious." Richie is obviously personally attacking those in the industry and some of them will come back and say that is exactly what he is doing.

This is not the meat of what he had to say, "Now, having said all that, reporting on games is not nearly as corrupt as some places claim it to be ... All I am saying is that you should not trust any game review, or reviewer, that your search engine throws up ... Fact: games reviewers have been offered either sex or money to change a review score ... Fact: be careful when you read an “exclusive” review. You probably already know this, but they are much-more-often-than-not tied to agreements about coverage or minimum scores ... Fact: most game reviewers get paid little, which increases the likelihood that they will fall into the trap of temptation. This is not their fault, but a reality of the industry." While Richie offered some other facts about the gaming industry these ones summarize the basis of his argument. He is not the only person talking out about the industry. Jason Hill of The Age has been criticizing the print media and there was a session at Egames in Melbourne last year devoted to it.

Should anyone be surprised by this? That the gaming industry, being an extremely large global economy, should attempt to pervert one of the main tools at its disposal which it uses to sell games? Of course, they want to have some control over it. They want to be able to sell more product. That is what they are about. It is not some warm and fuzzy environment where people respect honesty and integrity. Games distributors want to sell games. That is it. This should not surprise anyone. I believe that readers of magazines should be media savvy enough to know that this goes on.

These things are the reason why I started thecynicalgamer in the first place. I was completely dissatisfied with the reviewing process. The biased nature of reviews which seemed to be slanted in a particular way in order to paint a positive picture of their product. This is where thecynicalgamer reviews started. As being a means to review a product with a particular slant and shape the review in that way. If I can do it then anyone can do it.

It would be good to see the gaming magazine industry have a shake up. A good kick in the pants is what it needs. People purchase games and magazines in good faith. They shouldn't have to spend their well earned money (and it is probably a damned lot harder for them to earn it than the gaming industry) and feel that they are getting what they paid for. More often than not gamers are not seen as people but just another part of the demographic who will spend their money on a given product based on its placement to appeal to that demographic as opposed to the quality of the product itself. People shouldn't have to waste their money on material which is second rate and this includes the magazines that they read and the games that they buy. But don't be naive enough to believe that this just goes on in the gaming industry. It goes on everywhere. It is the abhorrent evil which underlies the consumer driven marketplace.

If you want to read the entire editorial then click here. It is well worth the read.