Why Independents are Needed. And Subscriptions.

To be fair, just as the latest closures in Australia  – Kotaku, Lifehacker and so on, it appears Game Informer was shut down by its parent due to it non-performing in a business sense.

There is probably an argument the licencing agreements Pedestrian had with Kotaku, et al for the Australian rights was either too complex or too expensive which also contributed.

Either way, as a business model, it obviously wasn’t viable otherwise they would still be running.

Now I am not a gamer in the sense that, well, gamers call themselves gamers. I used to be, but in my case, once they (the games) started to get too clever for themselves and became a chore to play as against just for fun, it all became too hard. I don’t have that sort of attention span.

Too many commands to remember, too high a spec computer needed to get the best impact and frankly, in many I tried, just too damn hard and I got bored trying.

But this is not a piece about gaming and gaming mags per se, more about the state of the tech publishing industry as a whole, as I bet there are a lot of people outside of those directly involved that have no idea how it works.

And I am also willing to wager, that there are more than a few myths.

Firstly, let me say that every reputable publisher / journalist, whether they be a company or solo operator such as myself, Leigh over at Pickr, Nick Ross at High Performance Laptops and so on are not on the “take” to publish material in a certain way that curries favour.

Nor are we paid to write these reviews; far from it. I’m lucky in that I can spend my time fully on Creative Content, but just about everybody else has a first job to support the work they do, as the “industry” gives them, if not diddly squat, then diddly squat plus a few bones now and again to keep ‘em happy. It might be in the form of a discounted laptop, a free software licence or the (very these days) occasional aeroplane trip to some launch or another.

THIS is why we need to ask for subscriptions, in order to bring this information and personal opinions on products to you, the public, so that YOU are informed in an unbiased way as to what might be a good or bad purchase.

To reiterate, we are NOT paid sums of money to do what we do, which popular opinion sees to believe. This has occurred mainly I believe, due to the rise of the so-called “influencer over the last decade or so.

What is the difference between a journalist and an influencer then, you ask?

Most of the journalist such as I have mentioned have some sort of academic degree in the field they operate. I know for example Leigh has a degree in Fine Art specialising in photography, so you can be sure that when it comes to reviewing a camera say, he KNOWS what he is talking about.

For mine, sadly no degree (I did briefly start one during COVID lockdowns but it got too damn hard as many others found). I started my journalistic life under the heady gaze of one Howard Sattler and went on to the ill-fated Sunday Independent before accidentally freelancing in the area of motor sport. But when I did switch to writing and reviewing tech, like many others at the time, it was very much under the experienced wings of the (late) famous Jeremy Horey, Linda and Don Kennedy at IDG, Glenn Rees at APC and more.

The most respected folk in the industry – then and now (apologies if I have forgotten anyone).

Many did have academia under their belt, but the rest of us learnt on the shop room floor so to speak and were guided skilfully by these experienced hands.

Influencers in contrast, generally simply have a large following for some reason or another and are often famous for being famous. Think Kardashian, Hilton etc at the top end of the scale, but there are a million others who are simply receiving cash – or more likely kind – to simply wax lyrical on how good a product or service is.

I doubt many have ever used a product they gush about, especially in the tech area where some level of expertise is needed.

So, in short, yes, the demise of the gaming magazines is symptomatic of the way the industry is at present due to its lop-sided nature, and I don’t pretend to understand why vendors decided to go down the path they have. Maybe it was advice from their PR advisors, the “marketing gurus” on LinkedIn (gawd forbid), orders from on High or another reason.

Suffice to say that in order for independents to keep the ball rolling, letting the buying public – the ones that REALLY count – know about what is good, bad or indifferent, what is new, the best way to use something, what the pitfalls may be, and why you might not even need it, you need these independents for fair and unsolicited advice.

And for them to do that, they MUST be supported.