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How Dumb Corporations Killed Traditional Games Media | Unpacked (Patreon)

Published:
2025-05-09 15:02:31
Imported:
2026-06

Content

This week's episode of Unpacked is now available!

Files

How Dumb Corporations Killed Traditional Games Media | Unpacked

The traditional games media has been systematically ripped apart by corporations run by people who don't understand the business. Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/SecondWindGroup Second Wind Merch: https://store.dftba.com/collections/second-wind https://sharkrobot.com/collections/second-wind

Comments

jahr

Thx so much Nick for covering why the community loses to corporate greed. We have seen the same happen to traditional media over the years and sad to see it extending to gaming. The corp ownership topic appeared on my RADAR while researching Recurrent Ventures re: Donut (auto) and Task & Purpose (military).

Pyrkagemon

Love this analysis and am inspired by the way everyone at Second Wind has refuted the abusive, greedy business model that fuels just about everything, even outside video games.

William Alexander

Great, resonant, and urgent essay. I like Nick's essays best when his voice comes out, and it certainly does here. I don't know how much this must fucking suck for you, but I can tell you it sucks plenty for me. TY for the recommendations. I didn't know them but could use a non-SW fix since Polygon is Poly-gone.

Pete3.141

Nick you knocked that one outta the Park! - that will resonate with a lot of folks. And nobody can contest you on it as you have literally been there got the T-shirt (and last W2) and then done it your way… Congrats agin you and the team should be proud 👍

Ryallen

It's hard to express how I feel about this issue. I dislike that games journalism outlets are looked down on by other journalism outlets, gamers, and sometimes even journalists themselves. I hate that so many news websites rely on subscriptions to sustain themselves now so I can't read the articles they write and have to rely on headlines. I'm annoyed that content mills work in any capacity because people just choose the easiest option when trying to solve a problem, even if the option is outright incorrect. But I also know that this has been the way it's been going for a while, people have favored faces and names over news brands and that gives influencers more power than I think they should have. Most influencers aren't journalists so they aren't trained or knowledgeable about how to report the news. The only person most people would agree is a real journalist is Jason Schrier and he's not immune to screwing up as a person or being petty. Is this really the way it has to be? People have to stick close to charismatic faces with editing skills to tell them the news rather than having dedicated outlets to reporting the news. Everyone has to be Siskel and Ebert to survive. It just doesn't sit right with me. I've never been a fan of populist reporting, feeding people the same narrative over and over again with no actual sources for any information and only offering opinion. I don't like people who just react to news, who offer simple and easy to digest opinions because they're more convenient. I can't help but groan when people cheer for the downfall of whatever large company because they brought it on themselves but don't support the smaller guy unless they're wildly successful. It seems like the little guy gets crushed underneath the heel of news like this and people don't seem to realize that they're part of the problem, that they only consume sensationalist news every single day. That's why I appreciate the videos you guys make about indie games that are coming out, drawing attention to those who don't shake up the news world but exist in spite of it.

dateariane

The problem I see is that there hasn't been any real growth in the economy for some time now. It's impossible for "line go up" for everybody, because for every "line go up" there's another "line go down". Three forces that can make growth happen is 1. new knowledge, 2. new creativity, and 3. new trade. All of which are under attack by the current regime. Might want to check out "The Death of Affordable Computing" by Gamers Nexus on YT to see how bad it will get.

Tristan

I looked up what happened to Escapist, and now they have a whole section for Roblox. Yikes. Good thing you got out.

Jadedrakerider

And that's why we need media outlets like Second Wind. Thank you for being a bastion of loving of gaming. I don't always agree, or even like what you guys say - but you put effort and thought into your work, so here I am supporting you.

Second Wind

I mean, we were forced out lol. But yea, even if I'm not the one running it I'm sad to see what it got turned into after we left / were fired. Kind of ironic seeing our videos on the front page still juxtaposed with the heartless stuff above it now.

Lil' Cass (CJ)

I'm happy to see respect like that, even when disagreeing or not liking❤😄

LookItsChefEric

This is becoming the "Last Week Tonight" of games coverage I hope there's a long form version of Unpacked in the works, I would pay more than I do now for a deep dive into systemic issues, business news and good ol fashioned investigative journalism, and Nick I think you have the voice to do it... So find time in between everything else you do... Go on... Do it

Second Wind

Ha, just saw this comment. The documentaries are my long-form works haha, I don't have much brain space to do more than that these days! If a topic came up that I was super interested in though, never say never.

JDINCINERATOR

I think these corporations are as corrupt and sludgy as the culture we're embroiled in. There was a time when the pressure for results wasn't so unreasonably fiendish, and I think as the industry has grown exponentially the demand for bigger and better increases to unreasonable degrees too. This might sound absurd, but before the PS4 and Xbox One came out, the industry was doing fine and we got the games we wanted, and there were many corporate-owned media outlets that managed to do what they do without getting axed. Gradually they disappeared, and I think the 2010s started that trend. One of my favourite videogame websites GameTrailers were shut down in 2016 and they were corporately owned as well, so when the guys started Easy Allies, that was an extraordinary relief. It's not only corporate websites either, but entities that own magazines. Future Publishing in the UK has shut down numerous games magazines from GamesMaster, PSM3, Xbox World, Nintendo Gamer, Official Nintendo Magazine, Official Xbox Magazine, PLAY and more because the results weren't pleasing enough. Of course magazines aren't popular anymore, but seeing these mags shut down is awful.