It is not surprising to me that Polygon, one of the most infamous gaming sites on the internet is having major job cuts. The video game industry’s journalism side has always been a strange place. On one hand, it began as an offshoot of the computer nerd magazines of the 1970s. Many people who started writing for such publications, were nerds and not activists. They just loved computers as much as the software and programming nerds.
However, video gaming has changed and we now have tons of publications that are run by activists. Many of them wished to be on cable news or some left-wing internet news site. Instead, they settled on video gaming where they can spread their influence into this industry.
For a while, it seemed that their influence was not going anywhere. They popped up in every search result on Google or Bing. Gamespot and IGN had been successful and Polygon just represented the next stage of online gaming journalism. However, things are not that simple.
Why is it that these publications are cutting jobs like crazy?
It’s because they were not writing about video games anymore.
Every game that came from a big developer was basically a review that was ”sponsored” and not the person’s actual opinion. Even on YouTube, which was once a haven of truth, had become infested with corporate sites.
The reviewers became obessed with checklists of what the game represented to them instead of focusing on what made these video games, simply video games. Too many sites wanted to impose Hollywood on video games.
Video games have to be allowed to be video games. That means that not everything has to be politically correct. The nature of games is similar to that of animation, too much regulation gets in the way of the medium’s ability to express ideas.
What journalists need to accomplish is go back to writing about the games not about the politics. That what we want as gamers as the industry continues its changes.
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