For those who don't know me, I am a huge fan of video games; ever since I was a kid I've been in love with them. But for the past three or four years I've been setting my sights on video game journalism. A lot of people don't know such a thing exists, but trust me when I say it does. News outlets like Game Informer, IGN, and Polygon are highly respectable journalism sites; in fact, Game Informer is ranked as one of the top most subscribed magazines in the U.S.
A lot of attention in the gaming world has been centered around independent (or indie) game developers. Just like the film and music industries, gaming has its fair share of independent creators that don't operate under the budget of publishers and have limited resources. Just like indie movies and bands, indie games have a unique style that separate themselves from big-budget titles, and for whatever reason they have been extremely popular.
While I was browsing the web I found a website called Indie Statik, a video game journalism website that only reports on indie video games. This might not seem like a big deal, but in the gaming world it is. The video game industry may be popular but it's still small. I'm sure it's no easy task to operate news outlets like Game Informer and IGN, but it must be even harder to operate a site based solely on the small indie developer beat.
Video game sites report on indie games when the news is relevant, but this is the first time i've ever seen one focus entirely on them. Considering their popularity now it's surprising, and it seems like Indie Statik is the first journalism site to take advantage of their popularity and report on them.
The whole idea makes sense. If people are interested in indie games, they are going to read about them more. But I'm curious to know what running such a specified beat of journalism is like. I've reached out to the site's founder, Josh Mattingly, to see if he'd be willing to do an interview. I'll post what I found out if I hear back.
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