Do people really only care about checking out the “exclusives,” “reveals,” and “first looks,” about games? I often find myself wondering why people care so much if IGN gets the first preview of a game out, ignoring the others that follow shortly thereafter (IGN is just an example, as it could be any major gaming site). I think a lot of the enthusiast press assumes that people come to a particular site because they care about that site’s opinion — and more specifically, a particular writer’s opinion.
More and more, though, I find myself wondering if this is, or was ever, true. I see far too many well constructed, and thought provoking pieces of text on 1up that get ignored, just because they weren’t the first to cover the subject.
So my question is, do people even care anymore about the quality of writing about the games they want to know about, or do they simply want a list of details, regardless of how creatively they are delivered?
Personally, I’m not interested at all in ‘first look’ or ‘exclusive’ game coverage. What I loved about GFW (and 1UP in general) was that it had people who were genuinely interested in giving games more thought than the number of weapons and the release date.
But hell, man, I don’t even own a console from the current generation. I don’t think I’m representative of the market in general.
I haven’t been interested in first looks since the Nintendo 64 days. Even then, I wouldn’t go to the bookstore and pick up the first cover I saw with Zelda. I’d just eagerly await my Nintendo Power news.
Which basically means that, yes, I read magazines/sites that I enjoy. It’s about the content, not the exclusives, for me.
With that said, I know my roommate is of the “I want to know everything, right now!” mentality. Which is why he trolls Kotaku instead of reading the EGM and Edge magazines I drop not-so-subtly on the coffee table.
But I have a theory. At any given time, most people want the up-to-date news. This means that the town crier, radio, television, and Internet are all taking turns getting “mass market” attention. Regardless of where the mass market is, however, a certain number of people will always watch certain media. Some people listen to radio because they like radio; or television; or magazines and books (like me).
It’s all about expectations. I think the time is coming when print media will be written for readers and not the mass market. Someday the same will happen to the Internet too. If you want everyone to read your shit, yeah, you need the exclusives, the top content. If you understand your audience, though…
I guess my point is, if IGN shut down, its readers would seamlessly, almost ignorantly, shift to Gamespot. You won’t see Steam dropping its usage numbers for mass market media.
In short, no, your audience doesn’t care about exclusives. We’re good that way.
I was just thinking I should follow up my last bit. It’s a little presumptuous of me to assume everyone here doesn’t care about exclusives. Of course, some people might, or maybe most will for some games. What I meant was that the people who are here reading this site are probably the kind of people who pursue personalities, styles, unique voices, and quality work in addition to (if not a total replacement for) a desire for the newest thing.
I could be wrong on that too. I know I like quality anyway. That’s why I’m following the 1UP casualties like a bloodhound. I subscribe to voices, not URLs.
I personally prefer the CGW/GFW and Gamers with Jobs way of doing things. None of these guys have ever given me reason to believe they buy the hype that comes along with appeasing publishers.
Let your opinions flow naturally in a blog or a podcast over time and many gamers will find their way to you.