Waypoint, the gaming division at VICE, is getting shuttered in a little over a month. What a bummer.
Partially due to the fact I was already familiar with most of their original staff (it was largely comprised of ex-Giant Bomb folks and people I recognized from Idle Thumbs), it's something I've kept an eye on ever since it launched back in 2016. While a number of people have come in and out over the years it's managed to maintain its hold on a small corner of games media and it's sad to see it go.
It's been a few years since I've had my finger on the pulse of games criticism and news so I haven't kept up with Waypoint incredibly closely these last two or three years, but I was a big fan of their podcast and some of their video output when they launched and I'd still check out articles when one would make the rounds on Twitter because I could count on it to be saying something, at the very least.
At Waypoint there was an emphasis on personal accounts, interviews with game developers and, overall, a general feeling that it was trying to be more than just another mouthpiece for some marketing copy. They'd put out calls to freelancers to try to solicit stories from people who might otherwise not have had a voice and yes, while other places like Polygon and Kotaku had dabbled with similar editorial outreach in the past, this place seemed to be designed from the ground up with that diversity of opinion in mind.
Sadly, it's now just one more "restructuring" or "consolidation" to add to the pile. I haven't loved everything Waypoint has put out but their variety was a large reason I found them so interesting. I'd be able to find stuff there that I couldn't find elsewhere but now that they're closing up shop, there'll be one fewer voice out there.
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| I used to love the way this site looked |
One of the reasons I started this blog was to gain some experience writing on a regular basis because I'd theoretically like to make a living doing some sort of writing. I'm fully aware that I stumble over my words and I haven't exactly tried to say anything particularly insightful in the six or so months I've been running this, but when corporations like VICE are getting stripped for parts and CNET seems to want to replace human writers altogether, what prospects are even left for an inexperienced hack like me?
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