Is Video Games Media Dead? - Kinda Funny Games Daily 09.24.24

[@GenePark]

If y’all ever wanna chat about layoffs and the general health of the overall media industry, I’m down. It’s all interconnected.

[@WackoWambo]

Dude no offense but why would they want to talk to a rando on KZbin comments? Is this you shooting your shot? Cause if so I’m down to talk about it too

[@jeffhodges4086]

​​@@WackoWambouh, dude...Gene is the videogames reporter for the Washington Post. Very much not a rando.

[@LuisCastillo-tg6xw]

Hi Gene!

[@GenePark]

@@WackoWamboI work for the Washington Post, am a former vice president of a news union, the former president of the Asian American Journalists Association of DC, and am a 20-year veteran of the media industry haha

[@GenePark]

@@LuisCastillo-tg6xw hey!

[@Baytuh]

I'd say yes and no. I think the bigger sites like Ign and Gamespot will still be around, the mid size ones will fall but some might stay and the smaller ones will unfortunately go away completely but i think creators or media like Kinda Funny is like the replacement of the smaller media companies.

[@BasketCase-rr7tx]

Even the big sites like IGN and Gamespot only still exist because their videos get lots of views on You Tube. Very few people seem to care about most of the articles they write.

[@BasketCase-rr7tx]

IGN and Gamespot are only still around because they make all their money from having millions of subscribers who watch You Tube videos. Very few people seem to care about reading articles on their website.

[@m.3.3.w]

I kinda hope Kotaku kinda goes with the wind too. It's hella click baity. But eh. Don't mind be proven wrong.

[@ThePokestopPapi]

That Baker's Dozen intro is goated 😅

[@Baytuh]

Bummer about Banishers its such a great game and on my top 10 games of 2024. Phenomenal story, characters, acting, world and lore.

[@Baytuh]

I just hope not all video games media dies off and we have to rely on youtubers and streamers because that would be terrible. I still remember when Diablo Immortal was announced and i think it was an ex blizzard dev was saying something along the lines of since games journalist won't be all critical on this we don't need them anymore we have youtubers. And man i cringed so hard when i read that, like i've been a cc for 11yrs now on YT and let me say we are worse we streamers and youtubers are way way worse than games media.

[@BasketCase-rr7tx]

I don’t know. Like Greg says it’s really just an evolution. Maybe you don’t like the delivery method but at the end of the day it’s just the same shit in different clothing.

[@matthewnelson6478]

why read the news when you guys sum it all up everyday? all love towards you guys! but could podcasts Like yours be hindering the clicks to the websites themselves?

[@MatthewNovak]

I'd say social media is more to blame. I get all my gaming news from Twitter first. Why go to individual sites when social media combines all of it already?

[@georgeflores4226]

Before the internet, there were a ton of gaming magazines and kids reading them. Now, podcasts and twitter are killing those jobs and kids can't read.

[@TrueProphecy22]

Square needs to fire its analysts... nothing they release hits their sales expectations.

[@K_Rob]

Square Enix: “Our game sold 4 million copies during the fiscal year…it did not meet our expectations.” Also Square Enix: “Our game sold 6 million copies since launch…it did not meet our expectations.” The games are selling fine. Square just continues to be the stupidest company imaginable with how they feel about game sales. What the hell even is their expectations at this point?

[@23Amadeus92]

Thank you man you get it. And that's why I don't know if Blessing understands what he talks about. He just accepts what the publisher says and doesn't analyze the numbers and doesn't even question if what square enix gives as an excuse is real

[@exysa2798]

Budget: $150 Million Earnings: $125 million This is great

[@impotenceaura]

Yeah they don't have a sales problem, they have a spending problem.

[@Heimersleep]

💯 A game is only a financial success to them if it saves them from bankruptcy

[@Heimersleep]

@@exysa2798I bet that’s not including the money Sony would have paid them to make the games exclusive

[@TheBigTuna11]

Wrong date in title guys.

[@Danno_omen]

As someone who decided to jump into games media and start my own site I feel this conversation a lot. It’s a scary space to be in. We need people to click the news articles to generate views and give us access to the games and companies but it’s very difficult to do so when you can just get your news from social media or podcasts. Ultimately what we’re doing is because we love games. We might never become massive and that’s ok. We just wanna talk games and if we make money cool, if we don’t we’re doing something we love.

[@EveryTimeIDavid]

Man, the thing with all the people out there creating their own Patreon is it’s so god damn hard to support everyone. Look at RT spinning off. I only have the capability of supporting you guys, and so many others. There’s something to be said for news especially being free and open to all. It’s just not valued. Such a tough situation.

[@JebberGamingJaws]

Kindafunny is the best game talk hub on youtube, glad y’all are here.

[@pyoko13]

Here for the G.I. Joe ebaums world references

[@mwm1145]

I don’t think it’s dead it’s just evolved to the point where there’s such an abundance of coverage from all angles that the over saturation of talking heads in this space caused these institutions to collapse. I also find that most of the games media has terrible takes and perspectives with uninformed opinions because they fall into a habit of reviewing games as a job while losing their passion for games.

[@HAL1138]

What happens when Patreon is purchased by an Amazon or Google and starts creating serious problems?

[@FeatherDory]

Kinda funny cannibalizes the news and draws the audience away from the outlets. But what will KFGD do when you have no news outlets to make content for you? It’s an interesting dynamic

[@LockDown-kn6qn]

This is an interesting point. Most KF podcasts are made up of “quote….quote…quote”.

[@garrettgilbert2622]

FF16 coming out and grabbing my attention prior to the release of rebirth is a heavy influence in my decision to not finish my playthrough of rebirth. I still bought the game so they didn't really lose money on me but I think the idea Blessing and Greg mention is correct. Too much similar offerings in short succession.

[@jameshall8463]

Loved Banishers unfortunate

[@godspeed9216]

Does anyone know if they covered the new rumored Rocksteady Arkham

[@David-uc6sg]

They had a new AC Shadows 13 days ago.

[@MarioNotBros]

It's certainly not alive, at least not the way it used to be. "games journalism" used to be a path many many people wanted to follow, but there are fewer and fewer viable outlets, and the gaming industry as a whole has shown time and time again that it is not stable enough to support the people within it

[@wyrmslayer1991]

More people should have bought Jusant.

[@bennetthasty7886]

Yes , thankfully 😂

[@YKM]

Comment for the algorithm.

[@XiKrazyK]

Yes and you guys killed it

[@audisiojunior21]

I love when Greg and Junior host the show. Just Tim is missing, but he seems so distant since he got married. Hope he gets back to form as soon as we get Switch 2 announced. KFG became my favorite gaming media. Keep the amazing job guys.

[@BasketCase-rr7tx]

Tim is still recovering from dying so many times in the Elden Ring tutorial.

[@spazco8669]

Greg, the veteran games journalist that only just discovered steam and doesn't know how frame rates work. Blessing the host of a PlayStation podcast that doesn't know how much a ps5 controller is. Tim the guy who constantly gives opinions on the 'business side' without having any idea how it works. This is why it's dying.

[@jermelpurse3018]

Money talks, you can say if you were voices than ever before you can say we need all of this media, but guess what it’s not being concerned. I love game informer as a magazine guess what I haven’t read the magazine in over a decade. It ultimately had to close its doors because people just weren’t reading it anymore. The same is sadly true for games media in general. People are not reading not consuming traditional gaming media so How can companies afford to keep people employed. If nobody comes to visit the website so advertisers don’t give us money to advertise on the website how can we pay people for writing for the website? You can’t.

[@LuisCastillo-tg6xw]

I hope the media evolves into more voices being heard instead of loud vouices grifting for money and clicks

[@jermelpurse3018]

In some ways yes. What we have come to know as traditional video games media is dead. I can give you several examples. First consider IGN just brought up a whole bunch of the competition I mean website after website they acquired. Sure they were the biggest game in town, but any hint of competition has been purchased. In fact, let’s look at their current competition. It’s not traditional video game media. It’s a podcast like this which while it may be run by people from traditional video game media, it is anything but traditional. It is what would be considered the new normal Go one step further and look at what our developers doing when they are trying to get people to look at their games. Yes, they are bringing traditional media or people from traditional media to come see the game, but they are also bringing influencers to come see and come play the game Finally look at advertising and look at where the money is being spent 10 years ago video game companies didn’t give money to influencers now there have been some influencers caught with their hand in the cookie jar. All of this let you know traditional games media is not what it used to be and it’s going the way of the dinosaurs .

[@RodrigoBessa]

Well. After a long time listening to just easy allies, I got tired of the low energy in almost every episode. Couldnt handle MinnMaxx talk and I CANT understand the english spoken by some members from Second Wind. Also, I cant stand Whats Good Games, so right now, I just listen to KF gaming stuff.

[@grimbro387]

Rebecca valentine is a perfect example of everything wrong with games media today and why it's failing. Leave your politics, opinions, and biases out of it and just report the relevant news.

[@Cevidence]

Can you imagine the blowback if they tried to change Yasuke as a main character and replace him? Woooo boy you want to talk about madness lol. I'm here for the CHAOS

[@LuisCastillo-tg6xw]

Albino Yasuke? It would tank there stock wen more. Ubisoft should have never addressed the haters

[@David-uc6sg]

The ign Astro article is just ragebait garbage made to fuel clicks.

[@kmessina85]

Who wants a body massage!?

[@ltw126]

If you have to ask the question, then yes games media is dead.

[@elimanator]

“Is video games media dead” and “there are less voices then ever before” are both patently false. One stop shops are dying, that’s it. There are more video game voices now then ever before, literally thousands of differing voices available making videos every day. Why go to a place that has someone who’s semi into dark souls review the newest souls like when I can go to someone who is a literal expert on the genre. Why listen to a mid cod player discuss the latest game when I can here from a literal top ten player or someone’s sparking zero review when I can here someone who’s plaid every game in the series s

[@elcapitan2293]

Barrets right. Did multiplatform help hit expectations for avengers or guardians?

[@BasketCase-rr7tx]

Avengers had poor reviews though, and I feel like Guardians was a surprise because everyone was prepared for it to suck.

[@elcapitan2293]

@BasketCase-rr7tx but what was there expectations for them? Those games are also marvel properties, which automatically gives them a boost from the average consumer who doesn't even look at reviews.

[@BasketCase-rr7tx]

@@elcapitan2293 I don’t know. If the marvel name sold games then Rivals wouldn’t be releasing as Free to Play. Doesn’t seem like gamers buy things just because “Marvel” is on the box. Midnight Suns is another recent one that didn’t seem to sell well.

[@BasketCase-rr7tx]

Games don’t sell just because “Marvel” is on the box. If they did Midnight Suns would have sold well. Even the insomniac Spider-Man games don’t sell well because they are Spider-Man, they sell well because they are big Sony exclusives that have good marketing behind them.

[@elcapitan2293]

@BasketCase-rr7tx just cuz, no. But it helps. And if you don't think it does, then I don't know what to tell you. That's why these publishers fight over marvel and star wars license.

[@ericpalahniuk6013]

I love you guys, you expand my mind, and expose me to new things that I end up falling in love with!

[@thepews1511]

1:08:40 how can you in one breath say yeah exclusivity was good for Remake but bad for Rebirth? The install base is smaller and SE has historically over estimated sales. Historically. Why are we acting like this is new?