How Western Politics Ruined Modern Gaming & Journalism ( Video Essay )

what's up everyone it's indemion in this

video I want to talk about the state of

the modern gaming industry and how the

modern audience curse is creeping its

way into the halls of gaming websites

this video will be full of harsh

criticism hot takes and brutal honesty

before we dive in let's hear from the

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begin when I was a fresh-faced high

school graduate one of my dreams was to

work at IGN and cover video games I

wanted to talk to developers and learn

how my favorite entertainment medium was

created I mostly just wanted to be one

of those game journalists that had the

opportunity to share their opinions

about things they loved so much and make

a living off of But as time has gone on

and the industry has changed I look back

at that innocent dream and I cringe so

hard I sometimes want to slap myself

forever thinking that way the IGN I used

to love has become a shadow of its

former self as have many other gaming

websites I remember religiously

scrolling through places like kataku or

Gamespot for news about every new game

and these days if I'm being honest most

video gaming websites are dead to me and

I don't seem to be the only one since

this year especially the tech industry

has seen record levels of layoffs across

the board sites like CNN Vice BuzzFeed

and more are all having layoffs and

staggering numbers and as you know the

game awards just happened which is the

night the industry comes together to

celebrate the best of video games in one

mega event but as the glitz and glamor

of the game awards happened and World

premieres were being shown and champagne

was flowing into the glass classes of

the industry's finest another news story

broke the same day when everyone was

supposed to be in celebration and that

story is that there were actually

layoffs at IGN the biggest video gaming

website on the planet in the worst

timing imaginable IGN's parent company

zif Davis decided to lay off their own

employees the same day as Gaming's

biggest celebration was kicking off the

layoffs are apparently due to company

restructuring and AD Revenue being down

across the board for not only IGN but

many of these major websites that cover

video games movies and more but as awful

as layoffs are especially right before

Christmas no less I have to wonder if

this massive restructuring of media is

indicative of what's to come in the

future I mean who's at fault and most

importantly what caused all of this to

happen if you haven't noticed my content

has changed from covering just Souls I

likes to the entire industry this has

happened not because I've fallen out of

love for games like Eldon ring but

because I think it's my duty to discuss

and point out the fallacies of this

industry that I love so much so I'm

about to say some really scathing stuff

here but I think it needs to be said you

see the reason why so many of these

companies are falling apart losing

revenue and entire workforces is because

they did it to themselves let me explain

back in the early 2010s the gaming

industry as a whole was very situated

around talking about video games and

having fun with discussion the days of

shows like podcast beyond with Greg

Miller and Colin Moriarty for example

are what I consider to be the golden

years of sites like IGN where people of

differing political stances walks of

life and so on could come together and

talk like real human beings But as time

went on and especially around 20 2016

when a certain president was elected

into office it seems like the world had

just lost its mind and places like video

game websites suddenly went from being

fun and full of life to becoming gated

off communities full of vitriol

tribalism and political correctness

gaming sites started publishing articles

attacking their consumers as well as

bringing race into the discussion when

it wasn't even warranted one such

example was when days gone was being

previewed back in 2019 in both IGN and

Kotaku in their previews decided it was

important to point out that the main

character Deacon Saint John who's played

by Sam whitwer is boring because he's a

white biker guy IGN's John Ryan even

said and I quote while I'll admit that I

initially rolled my eyes at yet another

Gruff white male protagonist in a grim

World especially one with such a Gruff

white male protagonisty named as Deacon

Saint John I ended up getting far more

invested than I'd initially expected end

quote this sort of reader attacks would

become far more prevalent and ridiculous

with even Kotaku at one point talking

about the state of the world in politics

during their review for the PS5 ha I

wish I was kidding Kotaku writer Ian

Walker at one point while reviewing the

PS5 just decides to turn a 180 and I

quote but I'd be remiss to ignore all

the reasons not to be excited for the

PlayStation 5. The World Is Still

reeling under the weight of the pandemic

there are more Americans out of work

right now than at any point in the

country's history with no relief in

sight our Health Care system is an

inherently evil institution that forces

people to ration life-saving medications

like insulin and choose ending yourself

over suffering with untreated mental

illness as I'm writing this it looks

very likely that Joe Biden will be our

next president but it's clear that the

worst people are going away just because

a new old white man is sitting behind

the Resolute desk well at least not this

old white man our government is

fundamentally broken in a way that

necessitates radical change rather than

incremental electoralism the harsh truth

is that for the reasons listed above and

more a lot of people simply won't be

able to buy a PlayStation 5 regardless

of Supply or if they can concerns over

increasing austerity in the United

States and the growing threat of

widespread political violence supersede

any euthanism about the consoles SSD or

how Ray tracing makes Reflections more

realistic that's not to say you can't be

excited for those things I certainly am

on some level but there's an irrefutable

level of privilege attached to the

ability to Simply tune out the world as

it burns around you end quote Oh my God

if this example from Kotaku doesn't

spell it out for you it's that the

gaming industry as a whole has

definitely become far more politicized

and not only that but these journalists

and I use that term loosely all seem to

be cut from the same cloth with the same

ideologies as well besides IGN and

Kotaku we also have Gamespot who had one

point released a preview video about Far

Cry 5 where the staff stood around in a

circle as they talked about how

traumatic it was to have a conservative

Quest Giver I'll just let the video

speak for itself here listen watching

some footage with you guys with a guy

running for Senate who's a quest Giver

who's also herc's Dad herc's Dad dude

that said Obama loving libtards

if them Obama love and live cars find

out I can't look after my own property I

can kiss this Senate run goodbye just

watching that guy I don't understand

what tone they're going for with him

because I'm like okay he's not a villain

he's not like but he's he's a quest

Giver so is he just kind of meant to be

an [ __ ] am I supposed to like him

what are they trying to say with the

characters in this game I don't really

know it seems like they are trying to

sort of have it both ways because um

even though the game is set in America

and it's you know gonna be viewed

through that lens of the current

political climate as we're in right now

they're also trying to say that it's its

own Standalone thing it's not related to

current politics which again is weird

because you have scenes like scenes with

heart stat who's talking about Obama

loving the guitar game also has a

character creator and I decided to make

my character black so stick going on to

this property and actually hearing him

talk about like a sort of deeply

conservative and like you know sort of

gun toting attitudes that made me really

uncomfortable so as you can see there

seems to be a pattern here amongst many

of these gaming journalists they all

seem to be of one political leaning and

have an almost Hive mind-like mentality

when it comes to how they perceive

things the one Gamespot employee here

you can even see the way he looks at his

colleagues like he's trying to find the

right words to say so he doesn't get

rejected from the group because anything

that goes against what they've been

programmed to believe causes their

brains to malfunction and it's extra

hilarious when the one Game Spot writer

says he was extremely uncomfortable

being a black character talking to

herc's Dad who's wielding a gun but also

doesn't seem to realize that his

character in Far Cry 5 has a gun on them

too and is responsible for like 99 of

the deaths in that game by their own

hand it's like these gaming journals go

out of their way to be offended when

there's nothing to be offended by like

their brains can't process someone of a

different political leaning being viewed

in a non-hostile manner this deep-rooted

tribalism mentality is what is killing

the industry for me and many others

these gaming journalists and the

websites that employ them all seem to

believe they know better than everyone

else and if you have any opinions that

are different from their own you are

considered sub-human and the enemy and

these are the same Publications that end

up getting mad when their viewers decide

to fight back like what did you expect

you should never attack your audience a

big reason for why I've largely

abandoned so many of these Publications

is because there's just no unique voices

within them have you noticed how every

one of these sites all have the same

opinions about literally everything like

where is the interesting and nuanced

discussions why would I want to listen

to five Yuppie journalists in a room

smelling their own farts who all have

the same opinion it's not interesting

because there's nothing to be challenged

or debated this is largely why so many

viewers and consumers have moved to

Independent Media like for example you

right now are watching me I'm that

Independent Media I don't have igns or

gamespot's editors breathing down my

neck telling me what I can or can say I

already know someone like me who isn't

even fully conservative or liberal

myself would either not get hired by any

of these places or I would be fired for

simply thinking differently than them

the point is that the reason why modern

games journalism is largely dying is

because they did it to themselves

they've alienated the people they should

be catering to while also being too

afraid to have any opinion of their own

without approval from the hive mind that

they all bow to I mean it's not even

conspiracy theory like to say that it's

not just games journalism but all media

that just has a liberal bias and look I

don't care who you voted for on my

channel you can be liberal conservative

akami or all of the above as long as you

Vibe with the fact that I will always be

cynical and have a no [ __ ] approach

to everything in existence then we're

cool if the gaming journalist of today

are unwilling to speak out against their

own peers without fear of being

ostracized from the group well that's

why people like me exist because I

couldn't care less about having

exclusive sneak peek coverage on

whatever game is coming out in a strange

twist it's the content creators of the

modern era who act more like a

journalists than the actual people who

went to school and got jobs at these God

forsaken websites these days anyways

this cultural shift has been gaining

momentum for years now and when it comes

to games coverage why would I go to a

major Gaming website when I can go to

YouTube and watch a channel who

specializes in certain games or genres

channels like xylostorm for example

cover everything from software related

and I know by watching his stuff it'll

be news with no stupid bias or I guess I

could go to polygon and then get told

that from software is apparently sexist

and doesn't know how to write women I

mean we're seeing the consequences of

these Bad actors in real time with

entire networks like G4 going from from

a full-blown relaunch to closing down

within a year G4 like IGN and so on was

a place I used to watch religiously when

I was a kid I was a major fan of attack

of the show and X-Play and when it got

announced it was returning I was

skeptical of them achieving anything

remotely close to their former glory and

unfortunately I was right with newcomers

like Frost with her now Infamous speech

about sexism and gaming Spirit bombing

the entire Network's integrity and

destroying any forward momentum G4 had

in its Revival then the network limped

on Lost subscribers and Investments

until it was reported that G4 was going

to be hit with massive layoffs according

to sources people who worked at G4 came

into the office to work and were

completely oblivious to the Reckoning

coming their way with employees being

pulled one by one into HR and being told

that they were being let go effective

immediately eventually after the initial

layoffs Frost who with her Infamous

sexism speech causing all of this would

also be let go and even industry Legends

like Adam sessler who was brought back

to host X-Play and more decided to

attack his already dwindling audience in

unhinged tweets prior to g4's mass

layoffs Adam sessler would send hateful

tweets targeted at conservatives by

saying things like Republicans or stupid

racist and drink piss he even said in

2021 until they cleaned their ranks

Republicans are a terrorist organization

and even further back in 2020 sessler

would go on to say all the Republicans

in my family can eat [ __ ] and die while

I sip something bubbly remember when I

said earlier that there's a hive mind

over there in the game's journalism

sphere they all have the same talking

points they all hate the same people

because it's politically correct for

them to do so this my friends is the

absolute state of modern video game

journalism today it's full of Bad actors

who hate you even if you've done nothing

wrong and it sucks because I used to

like Adam sessler I used to enjoy

listening to him talk about video games

and be passionate about them I miss the

days when your political stance or

ideologies didn't completely define you

as a person to those around you in my

experience people are far more nuanced

and not as rigid as these modern

journals would want you to believe I

mean you're allowed to disagree with me

or with each other doesn't mean because

we don't see eye to eye that we can't

also respect each other as well you can

disagree or agree with anything you want

life is not like World of Warcraft you

don't need to be in a binary Choice like

saying you're either the alliance or The

Horde I can almost guarantee that many

of you watching this right now are just

like me you're just tired of all of this

you're annoyed and over these people at

varying levels of power telling you how

to think or act and I'm here to tell you

that unlike IGN Gamespot or G4 and so on

that there are places for you to just be

yourself places like my Channel or

others where no comments are suppressed

your political ideology or whatever has

no effect in how I will perceive you why

these big entertainment websites can't

understand this is beyond me I mean not

only are these sites losing Revenue at a

Breakneck Pace they're also running out

of venture capital too places like

BuzzFeed recently have laid off 12

percent of their Workforce due to their

awful biased brainless content CNN laid

off hundreds of employees as well AMC

cut its staff by 20 percent in places

like Disney are completely restructuring

their businesses due to loss of Revenue

and the thing all of these major

companies gaming websites journalists

and more have in common is that they're

all making content aimed at a modern

audience that doesn't exist in the first

place they think by pushing ideologies

that they deem politically correct while

attacking their consumers that this will

somehow work in their favor and bring in

imaginary we add revenue and

subscriptions from Modern consumers that

they are so sure exist but who out here

actually likes being talked down to who

honestly enjoys being attacked 24 7 and

being told they're worthless unless they

agree with everything they're told do

you really want to live your life being

told what to think or say by people who

so clearly hate you for existing in the

first place the reality is thankfully

much more bright for the consumers and

fans at least because these attempted

attacks and dividing people are starting

to backfire on all these websites and

the journalists who cling to them like

flies on [ __ ] people are waking up and

taking their money elsewhere with

viewership at places like YouTube and

Twitter are at an all-time high because

no one trusts these major Publications

anymore I did a whole video about the

Callisto protocol and the Shady tactics

of Metacritic a site which can control

its scores and influence what people buy

with simple stupid numbers yet it's also

a disingenuous website at its core

something like that Metacritic video

that that I made would never be produced

at a Gaming website these days because

the reality is that a lot of these sites

are in bed with one another in order to

mutually benefit each other and what

sucks is that the people who are

responsible for alienating the audience

are almost never the first people to be

let go just like how Frost was kept on

longer than many of her co-workers who

actually edited wrote scripts and you

know played the actual games she was

kept longer than them anyway and look at

IGN where the full extent of their

layoffs are still unknown to the people

working there it's not really the people

riding these garbage hit pieces that are

being let go but instead individuals who

are deemed Expendable and are clearly

passionate about gaming that are getting

let go instead 1X IGN employee affected

by this layoff went on to say and I

quote I have no words just a broken

heart after working so hard this past

year I've been terminated from IGN I'm

so crushed I can't stop crying I'm so

confident fused I moved to LA for this I

can't even say I'm looking for

opportunities because I don't have it in

me to want this anymore I don't think

I'll be able to bounce back I think this

is the end of my career in gaming I'm

sorry to all those that supported me

another employee let go also had this to

say and I quote I worked for seven years

to get my job only to lose it to

restructuring

it gets even worse when you realize as

if Davis's CEO was paid 16 million

dollars in compensation last year but

sorry zif Davis just doesn't have the

money to apparently keep these IGN

employees on the payroll of course they

can't and again all of this happening on

the same day as the game awards big

yikes so while the industry Elite came

together to celebrate their achievements

drink champagne and have the budget to

invite people like Al Pacino to present

Awards who by the way even set himself

on stage that he doesn't even play video

games these same companies also couldn't

care less about the people who actually

work to keep their sights up and running

the video game industry is at its core

becoming more rotten and exposed as the

years go on it's an industry full of the

Selected Few feeding off the talents of

faceless individuals crunching day in

and out only to be thrown away in the

shadows of Celebration the video game

industry needs a course correction it

needs to stop attacking its audiences

with stupid brain dead articles and tone

deaf opinions for an industry that

apparently Champions diversity and

identity it's a hypocritical Behemoth

that is more than okay with throwing

away the very people they deem to care

so much about as well look this video is

not meant to be a gotcha moment or

anything towards anyone I hate it when

people get laid off I hate it when

people can't freely Express themselves

without being attacked but the realities

that we're living in a time where

corporations are willing to so easily

say they care about their fans and

workers while also dropping and

blacklisting them all while the liquor

flows and the cameras roll and the

celebrities come to visit despite what

I've said and shown in this video the

gaming industry is worth fighting for

and I will continue to do so because

without independent voices this kind of

crap will just keep on happening and

when the Day of Reckoning comes the

people who will be shocked at what's

happening and are looking for someone to

blame will only have to look into the

coldness of their own mirror

thanks for watching everyone I know this

video was way more cynical than usual

when I saw the IGN layoffs happening and

I saw all the glitzing glamor of the

awards I couldn't help but feel that

rage in me just brewing ever hotter we

all deserve better anyway if you like

what you saw consider subscribing or

sharing the video and remember to use my

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meals with hello fresh because you can't

fight corporate evil on an empty stomach

after all thanks to my patrons as always

for fueling the madness and I'm in

Demian I hope the people at IGN who were

let go find help and hopefully they land

on their feet we all deserve better and

I'll see you in the next one