According to the Press Engine platform, the number of journalists writing about video games worldwide has decreased by 25% in two years.
The service, which publishers and developers use to send out press releases and codes to the media, reported that over 600 journalists who regularly covered the gaming industry have disappeared from the database in the last 12 months. Approximately the same number left the industry a year earlier and did not return to the media.
In the "first tier database" of Press Engine — that is, major gaming and news sites with an audience of over one million people — a reduction in the number of journalists by a quarter was recorded. Most of the layoffs occurred at specialized sites like IGN, Polygon, and GameSpot.
If freelancers and freelance authors are taken into account, then more than 4,000 people have left the industry since October 2023. The main reasons are professional burnout, change of profession, and mass layoffs that began after the pandemic.
According to Press Engine co-founder Gareth Williams, gaming journalism has lost many talented authors due to a combination of several factors: falling advertising revenue, the COVID "surge," and Google updates that have worsened site visibility. He noted that media focused on fans and direct reader support may be the only way to save the industry.
Veteran game press member Alex Donaldson (RPG Site) believes that the key problem is not only with Google, but also with changes in audience behavior, which is shifting to services like ChatGPT. He warns that the cuts will continue for at least another year, and calls for support for independent publications.
According to him, some of the losses could have been avoided with better management and realistic expectations from media owners.
"If readers don't support professional editorial offices, they will simply disappear", Donaldson concluded.
