We continue to summarize the results of 2021 together with top managers and experts of the gaming industry (and related ones). Next up is an interview with Vitaly Kazunov, editor-in-chief of the iXBT portal.games.
How did 2021 go for the publication?
There is something to brag about. iXBT audience.games has more than doubled in a year. We changed the design and engine, gathered talented guys for articles and news, moved to a new domain (a couple of months ago the site was linked to gametech.ru ), we have finalized and are finalizing the comment system.
The indicators for us as a gaming publication are amazing. The gaming industry in 2021 got bogged down in a crisis, there were almost no major games. There are no topics for articles — there is nothing to write about. I had to go deeper, go to analytics, track the processes in gaming companies.
On the one hand, the games are not coming out. On the other hand, companies are trying to “maximize profits” with the help of effective managers and sticks. So we followed how human resources flowed from company to company, what it led to. It turned out that readers like it when the main source of news and articles are not games, but the people who make them. Holy Trinity — scandals, intrigues and investigations.
Special thanks should be said to the managers of gaming companies. The year began with failed decisions, and ended with them. At times there was a feeling that this was not a news feed about games, but a talk show “Let them talk” about the adventures of the companies Elecronic Arts, Activision Blizzard, Take-Two and Ubisoft. We didn’t get any good games from them, but we wrote hundreds of hot news and dozens of articles. Thanks again!
We did about the same thing on YouTube. Despite the fact that we did not specifically promote the iXBT games channel in any way (we did not buy advertising, we did not arrange collaborations, we did not wind up subscribers through sweepstakes), but over the past 3 years the channel’s audience has grown from four thousand to 250 thousand people. The videos are released almost every day and almost every one collects over 100 thousand views.
What event or trend of 2021 do you consider central within your niche?
Despite the fact that we have a website about games, the main topics were:
- Sexual harassment in the gaming industry. The largest gaming companies have plunged headlong into this swamp, and the circus with the proceedings continues to this day.
- Miners and the shortage of semiconductors. Everyone wants to mine cryptocurrency, video cards cannot be found at recommended prices, resellers have them, but at exorbitant prices. At the same time, there is a shortage of game consoles due to the global crisis in the electronics market. The rapidly developing gaming industry, instead of mastering new technologies, seemed to fly into a pillar. It seems that it is possible to develop technological games, but who will see them. Therefore, there are few games coming out, and they mostly look … out of date, so to speak.
- Blockchain and NFT. This infection has also penetrated the gaming industry, financial pyramids are growing one after another under the guise of computer and mobile games. Large companies have already started to get involved in this. The concept of “play and earn” attracts people. Digital universes with their own economies are emerging. We are enthusiastically looking at what this will lead to, and how many billions of dollars scammers will eventually earn on trusting “not freeloaders, but partners.”
What will be the stake in the development of the publication in 2022?
Polishing the process of releasing materials and finalizing the site is a matter of course. An important stage is to attract users to writing materials. We already have an iXBT Live service where people can write on any topics related to technology and games. There are already good authors there, we need more.
By the way, we found almost all of our new authors among the enthusiasts who wrote articles for iXBT Live. People try, find readers, develop a portfolio. If we fail to gain a foothold, we can try elsewhere. Good authors are worth their weight in gold everywhere.
Another problem. More precisely, the hole is interaction with social networks. There are a lot of them, we are few, and it is necessary to work with them. It’s annoying. Close half of them… Where is Roskomnadzor when it is so needed? Joke.
If it is more convenient for readers to discuss our news and articles in VK, then this is our flaw. We need to improve.
As for not the goal, but even the dream, I really want to advise officials on the gaming industry. To advise before they start telling fairy tales about the connection between games and violence. Scientists refuted this 20 years ago and continue to refute it in new studies.
It is necessary to pay attention to such important topics as obvious fraudulent schemes that are promoted through children’s games. Here you will find money lotteries, online casinos, and financial pyramids. No one pays attention to this. But it should be.