Breaking into Games Journalism and PR: Wesley LeBlanc's Journey and Career Advice | The Gamerheads Podcast

Games journalist and PR professional Wesley LeBlanc shares his fascinating journey on this episode of The Gamerheads Podcast. Listen to Wesley recount his beginnings, from landing his first freelancing gig at IGN to joining the esteemed team at Game Informer, and get ready to learn valuable lessons about perseverance and finding fulfillment in your work.

For those aspiring to break into the games industry, Wesley offers a treasure trove of advice. Emphasizing the importance of multifaceted skills, genuine passion, and resilience, he provides practical guidance for both budding journalists and PR professionals.

Tune in for an inspiring conversation that not only illuminates the path to a career in games journalism and PR but also speaks to the broader journey of following one's passion.

You can follow Wesley on social media: https://x.com/LeBlancWes

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Chapters

• 0:00 Journey Into Games Journalism and PR
• 11:42 Navigating Game Journalism and PR
• 17:15 Navigating Layoffs and Game Journalism
• 26:25 Advice for Aspiring Game Industry Professionals

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

This episode of the Gamer Heads Podcast is brought to you by Seven Bridges Premium Gourmet Yum Yum Sauce. Enhance every bite with our savory blends of flavors, perfect for meats, vegetables and crispy treats. Whether you're dipping, drizzling, marinating, grilling, roasting or snacking, seven Bridges Yum Yum Sauce takes your culinary experience to the next level. Get yours today and make every meal a gourmet delight. Hi, I'm Celia Schilling from Yacht Club Games.

Speaker 2: 0:28

Hey, this is James from Mega Cat Studios.

Speaker 1: 0:31

Hey folks, this is Matt aka Stormageddon from Reignite and the Fun and Games podcast.

Speaker 2: 0:36

This is Stephanie from the Boss Rush podcast and the Boss Rush.

Speaker 1: 0:39

Network. Hey, this is Mark and Kion from Bonta Affold. Hey, this is Sebastian with the pronerdreportcom and the Single Player Experience podcast.

Speaker 2: 0:48

Hi, this is Chris, mike and Garrett from Daylight Basement Studio.

Speaker 1: 0:52

Hey, this is BaronJ67 from Level One Gaming.

Speaker 2: 0:55

Hi, I'm Jacob.

Speaker 1: 0:55

McCourt from the Left Behind.

Speaker 2: 0:56

Game Club Crossplay Conversations and Video Game Trivia. Hey, this is Todd Mitchell from Code Right Play Salutations. This is Mike Carroll from Stroll Art. Hey, this is Jeff Moonen from Fun and Games Podcast.

Speaker 1: 1:08

What's good y'all. This is Adam from Respawn Aimfire. Hey, this is Patrick from the Backlog Odyssey.

Speaker 2: 1:13

Hey, this is Rune from Runic Codes. Hi, this is Andrew from Spaladobirds. Hi everyone, jill Grote, here from the Indie Informer. Hello, this is the Crypt Master and you're listening to Roger Reich Richier. You're listening to Roger on the Gamer Heads Podcast.

Speaker 1: 1:42

And welcome to another episode of the Gamer Heads Podcast. My name is Roger Along with me. This week I have a very special guest. I have Wesley LeBanc. He is a games journalist. Now PR right. Yes, working in PR. Your games journey is very interesting, so I wanted to have you on, wesley and talk about yeah, thanks for having me. Yeah, talk about it. So, yeah, tell, tell us about yourself, tell us about your journey in the game industry yeah, so I was in college from like 2013 to 2017, going after an engineering degree oh really, because after high school I was like I just want to make a lot of money because I don't know what else to do.

Speaker 2: 2:23

That's what I was good at math and science in high school. So I figured, um, yeah, I'd go be an engineer. That sounded fancy and I was about halfway. No, I was like probably three-fourths the way to that degree. I had about a year and a half left and there was a class where we had to work together with people and I remember seeing how excited everybody else was and I was just not having a good time and I was like I think this is going to be the rest of my life if I stay on this track and it's always been really important to me to and I don't want to love my work because, like, ideally nobody is in love with work, but it's something we all have to do and we spend eight hours of our day at the minimum doing it.

Speaker 2: 3:02

so I'm like, if I'm going to be working for the rest of my life, I hope I enjoy it a little bit. So I went home to my parents and sat them down and started crying and they thought I got my girlfriend pregnant or something at the time and I was like, no, I'm just switching majors from engineering to journalism and

Speaker 2: 3:20

they were like, oh, okay, that's fine's fine, cool. We thought it was something way worse, um which is funny and hilarious in hindsight and um, yeah, they were super supportive. So I switched, um majors and, uh, I around the same. So something that kind of led me to that decision was I'd already thought about games journalism, because I love games and I used to love writing before high school.

Speaker 2: 3:45

And Greg Miller now of Kind of Funny, was doing one of his last episodes of IGN's podcast, beyond, and him and Colin at the time were talking about how they were leaving IGN to start Kind of Funny and I don't remember which one of them said it, but at some point one of them said, like our best advice for getting in this industry is like just work your ass off. And I'm sorry, am I allowed to cuss? Yeah, oh, yeah, absolutely yeah, ok, um, yeah. Like work your ass off and at some point the door is going to creak open a little bit. It'll never be fully open for you and when that door creaks open, you have to kick the damn thing down. And I like pulled over after hearing that because I was like I just felt so motivated and I was like this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to go into games journalism. I'm going to that door is going to creak open and I'm going to kick it down and that kind of set me on the path of switching majors and getting a journalism degree, which, in hindsight, I don't necessarily think you need to have a journalism degree at all. I think for my journey it was helpful and I was already in college, so I was, I enjoyed college and I thought a degree would help, and it did help in some respects. But, like anyone listening, you don't need to go to college for games journalism. It is a trade you can learn through writing, because that's what you're just going to be doing.

Speaker 2: 4:57

But yeah, so I graduated with the journalism degree and I had already hit the ground running with freelancing and I kind of just started my freelancing path, which was starting at a small site writing for free, which again, I would not recommend, if you can help it. Like people are going to do what they want to do. I think there are some sites out there where people are not making money and they're all kind of working together to make a cool site and I think that's fine. But there are some sites where somebody is making money, but not the writers, and they're the ones who are making this site money, and I think it's very important to be careful with that. Um, that said, that's not a lesson I learned at the time. So I wrote for a couple sites that were making good money and I was not getting good money. But I I was doe-eyed about the industry and I was so excited just to have my name on something video game related that I did it anyway and, uh, you know, for all the faults of that, it did lead to me getting bylines at sites bigger than that, and then I kind of just every every site was a stepping stone and I eventually started freelancing at IGN, which I think is where I really started to break into this industry and make a name for myself as a writer.

Speaker 2: 6:01

Um, and at IGN, the gates just kind of opened. I I was like I'm going to put my everything into this. I was doing guides, I was doing news, I was doing video reviews, features. Anything I could do, I would do. And, um, I definitely burnt out because I also had a full-time newspaper reporter job and I was fooled and I was basically full-time writing for IGN as a freelancer and I was also doing videography for a local company, shooting videos and stuff at weddings and whatnot. So I definitely burnt the wick at both ends fast and I have a moment in my life where I remember being like I have really messed up, I am burnt out. But that eventually led to me.

Speaker 2: 6:42

I think all of the IGN stuff and kind of my entire you know, a portfolio of years of work landed me an interview at game informer.

Speaker 2: 6:50

I did not get it. I did not get the job, um, but they were very kind, yeah. And then a couple months later they reached out with an opening and they were like hey, we remember interviewing you. Uh, are you down? Like we just want to hire you now, like we can skip the interviews we just interviewed a few months ago down, like we just want to hire you now, like we can skip the interviews? We just interviewed a few months ago and, um, yeah, that was my, that was 2021, october 2021. And uh, I uh forcefully just ended my career with game informer in august of 2024 because we got shut down, yeah, and now I am in games pr because I didn't want to leave the games industry. I wasn't sure about going back into journalism because I'd already kind of been dumped twice and PR was something I was interested in, kind of look at this industry from a different angle and I'm enjoying it so far Still very new in that part of my career, but it's been fun. So that is my very long answer to how.

Speaker 1: 7:40

I got into games. No, I appreciate that and and I'm sorry about the Game Informer thing, is that that? Was heartbreaking so yeah, it's a.

Speaker 2: 7:50

I'm past the personal morning stage. I've kind of I've landed on my feet. I've got a new job now, but now I'm at the morning. Thirty three years of history just gone in an instant. It's just a travesty, I mean, and I so many people loved the idea of getting their name in a print magazine. There's something really special about it. I mean, getting working for sites is really cool, but having an issue delivered to your mailbox and seeing your name on an article and knowing it's going to be there forever is it's a really cool feeling and I'm sad that there were so many great writers who wanted that and didn't get to do it.

Speaker 1: 8:25

Now they won't, at least with game informer, yeah, yeah, and it feels like with game informer. It felt like I mean up to the first time where they started cutting staff at the lighthouse and we'll talk a little bit about that too but it really felt like that was the magazine. That was like the, the flagship, that like that, they're a staple. They're a staple in the industry. And uh, when, when it closed and just so suddenly, without any kind of anything, just not even letting people say goodbye, like that was just weird and made me stop and pause about this industry.

Speaker 2: 9:01

So it's yeah it's um, it's unfortunately like not the most I mean it sucks a lot, but like it's par for the course for what the games industry is going with across all aspects, not just like journalism, but I mean at game informer. This entire year it felt like every other day I was writing a story about a game studio experiencing layoffs. It's, it's a rough period. I'm hopeful that I still think this year has some rough hits coming, but I'm hopeful that 2025 is going to be kind of a recovery point.

Speaker 2: 9:31

I hope so at least, cause I don't know. I don't know if this industry survives another 2024 in terms of cuts.

Speaker 1: 9:38

It's. This was not something that I had on on our list here, but I mean, just look at Concord and in the fact that it was out for two weeks and then they're now. They didn't say completely they're shutting down, they said we're taking it off and we'll maybe come back.

Speaker 2: 9:51

We're not really sure what that means, but it's a tough I don't know it's a tough sell, it's really. It's been interesting watching from the outside. I mean, I probably would have been writing all kinds of news and think pieces about this, but like, yeah, I think ultimately it's just so heartbreaking. These people put so much of their life into a game and it didn't even live for more than 14 days and theoretically outside of their decision, like it's I imagine that's a PlayStation idea to pull the plug. Um, and it's just heartbreaking. I can't, I can't imagine putting years of my life into something and then it just disappearing after two weeks. Two weeks, yeah, that's brutal insane, yeah, um.

Speaker 1: 10:33

So I mean let's, let's, let's talk about some positive stuff sorry to start the show.

Speaker 2: 10:38

No, no, that's all right.

Speaker 1: 10:39

That's all right uh, you're looking back. What were some of your key moments that shaped your career, would you say.

Speaker 2: 10:47

Yeah, I think. I think I mean getting a journalism degree was a big moment that like shaped me, because the final year, especially, was I was just a journalist. I was working for the college newspaper. I was interning at a newspaper that I would later go on to write full time for. I was freelancing with some papers downtown covering, like, local Florida business. I was really sharpening my teeth on an industry I didn't care about, to be honest, like it's. I wanted to cover games and I had to go. Do you know? I was going to government meetings and talking to realtors and all this stuff. But it taught me to find the interesting part of a story that I might otherwise find to be boring and write for an audience that is looking for that kind of story, and I think that really helped a lot. It's lessons I learned that I carried with me throughout my career.

Speaker 2: 11:42

I think landing my first freelance gig at IGN was a big one. I remember it. I remember getting the email to this day. It was a guides pitch, for they wanted me to do tips and tricks for call of duty modern warfare 2019. It was a beta and they asked me to do like 20 to 30 tips and tricks. But I it wasn't a test, but in my head I'm like this is my first impression with them. I need to go hard. So I turned in a piece with 100 tips and tricks. Um, yeah, and they were super impressed and I immediately got more work and I kind of, uh, yeah, that's what kick-started my journey into freelancing with ign, which I think was a big part of it's kind of where I sharpened my teeth with games journalism before going, you know, full time at Game Informer.

Speaker 2: 12:27

And then, obviously, uh, getting a job at Game Informer was a big deal, um, the biggest deal. I look, I mean, that's the best job I've ever had. It's, um, it was a blast. I loved everyone there. I got to do so many amazing things.

Speaker 2: 12:41

Um, if I had to pick one moment in Game Informer that probably I'll never forget that kind of shaped, not even shaped, it's just the coolest. It was just a cool ass moment was our Final Fantasy 16 cover, because I got to go to Japan for the first time. I was solo on that trip, which was very scary because we usually send multiple people, but for whatever reason, I'd go solo. I was talking to industry legends like Naoki Yoshida. It was a brand new Final Fantasy. It's my probably my favorite game franchise of all time. It was just so many amazing things and I was allowed to. I took some personal time and flew out there early to explore Japan for a couple days and, yeah, it was just like. That was the moment where I was like this is this feels so right, this is what I've been trying to do for so long, and it really felt like a breakthrough moment. Um, and yeah, that's, it was one of my fondest memories of life, honestly, wow that's awesome.

Speaker 1: 13:37

How did your time at Game Informer influence your perspective on the industry?

Speaker 2: 13:42

um, so it like two ways. I I really focused on news there because that's kind of my background, um, so I was doing a lot of online news. I would start my shift a couple hours before most of them, because I was on the east coast and a lot of them were in central um, and so in my mornings I would just, you know, populate the site with news, and so I was writing a lot of stuff, often good, often bad, especially this last year. Kind of my plan B after journalism was always like game dev or PR, and after like a couple of months of this year I was like I think PR is my, my next move. I don't think I'm going into game dev. I'm a little, I'm a little scared of what game dev has become. Yeah, just having written story after story of these talented teams just disappearing because an executive was like I need, I need our shareholder interests to look, I need that. I got, I got to make them happy and so we're going to cut hundreds of people's jobs and ruin their lives. And so I got really jaded there for a bit, but every time I would visit a studio and talk to devs. It was very motivating and just to see that kind of passion and the amount of work and teamwork that goes into making a game, big and small. It's, it's really inspiring. It's like I do want to go do something with game dev one day, maybe after this industry gets a little more stable.

Speaker 2: 15:02

Um, yeah, it's a, uh, it's, it's just incredible to see people, masters of their crafts, build these games. Um, I remember I was at bioware, uh, earlier this summer to check out dragon age, the veil garden. I was the first person outside the studio to see it and, just talking with the team leads, they were so excited and it's like infectious. It's hard not to be excited. Um, and, you know, we look at things the critical lens in the journalism side. But, um, the the video game lover in me is just so, it's just so cool. It's like magic. I don't. I don't understand how they do it and I'm watching something and now it's one of my most anticipated games this year. It's, it's. Those are like, those are the. That's the magic of games.

Speaker 2: 15:43

Journalism, I think, is getting a behind the scenes look at games in a way you might not otherwise. So, yeah, I think it's, it's easy to get a little jaded of games if you really focus on the news, because there's been a lot of bad news this year, but over my three years at Game Informer it's, I think, more, more than anything, I've just been inspired by the people making these games. I love it's art, it's, it's craft, it's technical, it's all kinds of things rolled into one and somehow it creates these experiences that you know touch us in in ways people might not even imagine. Like it's. I love video games and watching the people make them. It was a, it was a treat of Game Informer yeah, that's awesome, um speaking of game informer.

Speaker 1: 16:28

So I it's it.

Speaker 1: 16:29

It's crazy to me that you said you've been there for three years, because it feels like you've been there forever, because, like just just, because you just you know, I mean and I've heard this from other people but just like it's part of a family and you just you just I don't know, I've been a fan of what you write.

Speaker 1: 16:43

I'm a fan of, like, when you're on podcasts as well, like you just do really good work. Thank you, appreciate it, you're welcome. And it's just weird to me when you say three years, cause it just feels like you just were part of the family for a long time but you unfortunately, were part of a neutral situation where you were laid off from Game Informer, right and then, and then you were laid off from Game Informer, right, and then you were brought back and unfortunately then, of course, when the closure happened, the layoff happened again. But can you talk a little bit about that? When you decided to go back, like how did you handle that decision, going back, knowing that you know you just got laid off? Like that must have been really scary.

Speaker 2: 17:24

Yeah, it was definitely tough. Um, it was. It was a lot of thoughts, I think. Um, and this is uh, me and jill grow to. Uh, now runs indian former, which is an awesome site covering indie games. Uh, love her, she's amazing.

Speaker 2: 17:38

Um, she ended up quitting shortly after the layoffs because she was like I, she wasn't laid off, but she was like I don't want my time at this site, I love to end in a layoff. It's was like I, she wasn't laid off, but she was like I don't want my time at this site, I love to end in a layoff. It's heartbreaking. So I'm gonna leave now on good terms, empowered, on my own, and that opened up a position for me and it was kind of just like a handoff, a situation where, you know, the position was open and my former boss hit me up and was like hey, we've got a new position open, do you want it? And I didn't even really think about it too hard. It was just yes, because you know, a week before I was happy, loving that job and I didn't want it to be over and it sucked the way that that went down. I mean, I got laid off on my birthday, which is just brutal, yeah, but like I still had stories I wanted to write, I still had things I wanted to do. I was in the middle of my first ever cover story, like literally like halfway through writing it, when I got laid off, like I still had so much I wanted to do with gaming. I was only nine months in and so when the opportunity came to come back, it was a very easy yes for me to like tell my boss yes, I my boss, yes, I'm coming back.

Speaker 2: 18:42

The hard part, I think, was like the optics of it all. Um, there's like one aspect of it embarrassment's not the right word but it's like I was publicly dumped, you know, by a girlfriend. And then I'm like crawling back to her a couple days later and I don't have an ego in the way that like I was like, oh, I just I can't do that. It was just, it was an. It's weird seeing people write about you like write about game informer layoffs and and my colleagues who were also laid off and be on podcasts and listen to some of my favorite podcasts and they're talking about the layoffs and then I'm like, yeah, I'm agreeing with all their points. It is scary, it sucks. I was laid off and then I'm going to go back to that site a week later. It was really strange, um, but I but I didn't care, I just I love that team so much I still do. I think it's we were a power horse of creativity and amazing work.

Speaker 2: 19:34

Um, and there was also, like the to be frank aspect of it, like I needed a job because I needed to pay bills and when, when the option is like hey, do you just want your old job back? It was an easy yes. So I think returning was easy. It was more so. Just like, the optics of it were very weird. Most people well, not most people, but outside of games, like you know, people get laid off and it happens. It's a private and personal affair and it sucks a lot, but, like in games, when people are laid off, it's being covered by sites and people are tweeting about it and and all kind of things. So it's a really weird situation to go through.

Speaker 2: 20:11

I I spent many therapy sessions talking to my therapist about it and, um, we talked about how I would handle the second time, because the first time broke my heart.

Speaker 2: 20:21

I was crying on the phone with my boss.

Speaker 2: 20:22

He was was crying with me, like it was. It was a devastating situation, um, and I was like I can't let work, ultimately work, have this much power over, like, my emotions, and I loved what I did, but I needed to, like, reassess where work was placed in my life and I that's what I worked on in therapy was you know when this happens again? If it happens again, I need to be able to handle it better in stride, and I think I did this past time. It was still heartbreaking, but it wasn't like I wasn't like bawling my eyes out. I wanted to internally, but I needed to, like you know, I had to go get another job and I had to get my bills paid and I wanted to focus on the positive memories of everything and not let the terrible situation kind of ruin what I'd worked so hard on for three years. Um, but yeah, it was. It was an easy decision to go back. Just a weird, just a weird decision like a weird easy decision, weird situation, yeah yeah, do you think?

Speaker 1: 21:25

I mean, you kind of alluded to this already, but do you think that because you went through it the first time, just your shift of mindset was a little bit easier the second time?

Speaker 2: 21:32

Yeah, I think so. You know, after getting laid off once, it kind of it's like a system shock, like, oh, this, you can get laid off at jobs. Even if it's a job you love and pour your everything into, you can still get laid off. And so it kind of reworked my brain to understand that, moving forward, any job I have, um, the, the people you know, my bosses at game, informer that, my colleagues, they all loved me as much as I loved them. But like the work will never love you as much as you might love it. And so I had to reassess that relationship because you know, one day I mean at the end of the day you're just a number at any company you work for and like they'll do what they got to do.

Speaker 2: 22:15

And some companies aren't that way necessarily. I mean, I don't want to paint like such a grim picture of companies, but and that's what it is they have to make money and, um, sometimes layoffs happen so that companies can make money and it sucks that people are at the end of that Um. So it was really about reassessing. I loved, I loved my work, I loved my colleagues, I loved the team I worked with, I loved what we put out every month. But I needed to love the actual job less so that when the job decided to stop loving me as much, I could handle it better, and I think I did this past time.

Speaker 1: 22:50

Yeah, how do you see games journalism evolving then over the next few years, with what we're seeing?

Speaker 2: 23:01

Yeah, it's weird. I think it's kind of the same thing I would have said years ago, but just even more so now. I mean going into this industry, I could see that it's really just a bunch of key players like not keys, not the right word massive players. You've got your igns, your game spots, kataku, polygon. They're at the top and they're massive and you're like, basically, we're never going to be able to build something to compete with them. Um, and even game informer. But we were up there. Obviously we had a magazine and stuff, so we were a little different.

Speaker 2: 23:29

But, um, part of like the old guard, I guess, is what you might call, like the sites that have been around a long time. Like, if you start a new site, you're probably not going to be able to compete with ign, you just can't. They're, they're acquiring new companies, they have massive, amazing teams of talented writers and video editors and all kind of stuff, um, and that's been the case for a while. So I think the gap between these sites at the top and then smaller sites, um, is just going to get bigger, which is why I think smaller sites really need to focus on, like, what makes them unique instead of I don't think any small site should be trying to be an ign. You shouldn't be trying to be a game spot or Kotaku. You need to find what makes you unique from those sites, what makes you unique in this industry where there's hundreds of sites. You can go, read and focus in on that and I think, like Jill, for example, at Indian former, she's she kind of you know he's using the name Indie Informer, which calls back to Game Informer, but she focuses exclusively on indies and I think she's found a really good niche with that and indies love her and PR wants to talk to her because she is highlighting indies in a unique way and doing great work. And I think it's a really good example of finding a part of games journalism that you enjoy and focusing on that as opposed to, like trying to be this all encompassing force.

Speaker 2: 24:47

And I think that applies to anyone breaking in. Like, I think, find those sites and work for those sites. Or or start a YouTube channel and focus on your video editing skills or focus on your like hosting and prompt skills on a screen. Yeah, I think. I think it's just about you can't. No one can compete with those massive sites like they have.

Speaker 2: 25:09

There's just so much that they put into their sites and that so much that comes out like so don't try, like, do do your own thing, find your niche in this industry, um, and I think that was the case seven years ago when I joined games journalism, and I think that's the case even more so now as sites like Game Informer continue to disappear and sites like IGN still exist and yeah, and I love IGN, I think I mean IGN is great. I obviously work with a lot of people there. They put out some amazing work. They just have so many people doing I mean, not even so many people you would think for a site as big as ig, and they have thousands, but it's not the case in games journalism but like, comparatively, they just they're doing so much. Um, and I think it'd be silly to try to try to be the next ig and try to be the next, you, the next, whatever you want to be. That's what you got to try to be, I think yeah yeah that's good advice.

Speaker 1: 26:02

Uh, also congratulations too, because you're also going to be contributing to the indian former as well.

Speaker 2: 26:08

So yes, yeah, yeah. I'm very excited to be doing that um with some of my former colleagues from game performer like marcus and charles and um, yeah, it's going to be really cool yeah, jill's been on this podcast like a hundred times.

Speaker 1: 26:21

I don't know we lost track, but yeah, yeah, but she's awesome. Yeah, because my last question here for you what advice would you give someone that is looking to get into the game as an industry, whether it be PR or journalism, what? What advice would you give to them?

Speaker 2: 26:38

um, I think so kind of what I just said, where you need to find, like, your niche, and I think that's a good place to start and to find something that makes you stand out. Um, I do still think all the things you've probably heard before apply where, like, you can't just be a good writer. You need to know how to talk on a microphone, you need to know how to be in front of a camera, you need to know how to edit video. Um, you got to know how to do it all and you know how to do interviews with developers and people and you can't just be good at one thing anymore. It's not. That's not what um sites are looking for. They're looking for multimedia journalists is the term that?

Speaker 2: 27:15

we were called in college, um. But I think I think also like joining games journalism specifically like you really need to take a hard look at the industry and determine, like, if you're willing to do it. I think a big you know there's a lot of heartbreak in it. I've been through two layoffs and I wasn't like naive to the fact that could happen. I think you need to go in knowing what this industry's been through and where it might be going and the ups and downs, and be prepared for that and truly, truly, truly. Like you gotta love this, you gotta love what it is, because, I mean, no one's we're not getting rich on games journalism at all like it's not about you don't get paid for for the reviews?

Speaker 2: 28:00

what what? Yeah, no, believe it or not, in my three years of gaming, for not even an offer for a paid review literally does not happen. I don't. I know people think it does, but like, yeah, I would just get, I would review a game and then I would say this is what I think about it and it was just all me shock. Yeah, it's a wild thought in this day. Somehow it's it's becoming a wilder thought in 2024. I sometimes I'm like, oh, we're moving past that, people are starting to understand that that doesn't happen. And then I see like people complaining that astrobot has a 94 on metacritic instead of a 90 and it's like I don't know, yeah, yeah the amount of kind of a tangent, but something I always enjoyed was the amount of arguing that happens over scores.

Speaker 2: 28:45

When I wrote reviews, the score was like literally never on my mind. I would write my review, I would write my thoughts and then I would just go look at Game Informer's review scale and find out where my written thoughts match best. It wasn't even like, oh, I'm going to write a nine out of ten review. I would just write what I thought and then when I was happy and this is all my thoughts out on the page I'm like, okay, this fits the nine out of ten or this fits the three out of ten. Like I, I put so little thought into these scores. Um, in that regard, I mean, I know scores are important, but it was never like, whatever people think scores are and when I say people, it's like you know the, the people that are asshats about scores, not not the majority of gamers who are cool and chill, yeah, um, but yeah, I think some. I think like if you're going and this is kind of back to what, uh, greg and them said on podcast beyond like the door is never going to be fully open, you have to kick it down. The second somebody opens it a little bit, and that's something I really carried with me, um was that you're never going to be just like handed the opportunity. You really have to go out and get it and work hard for it. And unfortunately, there's probably a little bit of luck involved too, um, which sucks to say, but like I don't know, I'm not going to say that I 100 am the reason why I got to where I was. I think it's time and place. There's all kinds of things that go into it, and Lux one of them. But you really got to love it because if you don't, there are so many people out there who are going to love it more than you, who are going to put their everything into it. That will that will get ahead of you. That will be noticed before you because they are going to, they're putting more into this. Um. Now I think there's a there's a balance to be made there.

Speaker 2: 30:27

I definitely had I remember a specific year of my life where I um was just going way too hard. I had a full-time newspaper job, I had a video editor job, I was freelancing, I would. I probably had 16 hour work days daily, like, like even on weekends. I don't recommend doing that. It's not necessary. Your editors don't want that, especially these days. Like editors are so great and like, just talk with them, tell them you need more time. Don't don't, you know, kill yourself to get a review done.

Speaker 2: 31:00

But yeah, I think, truly, as more and more time goes by, you really have to love this industry because it is. It's brutal and it's going to take a lot of dedication and a lot of your mind share and a lot of your effort to be what you wanted to be. And I think, like I think it's OK to recognize what's going on in the industry and see layoffs and stuff and be like I think it's okay to recognize what's going on in the industry and see layoffs and stuff and be like I don't, it's not for me. I think that's you can love.

Speaker 2: 31:30

I could be as passionate as I am about games journalism and even I've decided, like I think I need to step away from games journalism. It's just, uh, you don't. If you don't want to put yourself through the possibility of layoffs or something like, don't, it's okay. If you don't want to put yourself through the possibility of layoffs or something like, don't it's okay. Just cover games as a hobby or write about it on your own site or with some buddies and and do podcasts with your friends and and and just make it enjoyable. I think that's when games journalism is at its best is when you're enjoying it, and games are too fun to uh, you know, ruin your 10 hours of day, 10 hours a day with their sons out, like, have a good time with it. And yeah, I think I've rambled enough about advice getting in.

Speaker 2: 32:14

But I think one other thing too, because I mentioned earlier like I don't think you need to go to college, and you absolutely don't. But like, if you're not going to go to college for games journalism which for me was a good networking tool and a good way to like get stuff on my portfolio and intern at newspapers and stuff and work with editors if you're not going to do that, you've got to write your ass off. Like just write all the time and and and edit videos and host and do all the things. Like you won't just wake up one day good at it, you have to get good at it and you'll probably suck when you start. I know I was awful um, even looking back at some of my freelance pieces before game informer, I'm like oh my what is this dude writing about?

Speaker 2: 32:53

I thought I was. I was, it's so clear. I had like a thesaurus open. It was just trying to find like fancy, cool words and getting lost in that as opposed to like the story. Um, but yeah, like, just write, like, start a medium blog or start a site with your friends and don't worry about trying to make money or this or that. Like just focus on the craft and and look at what your favorite writers are doing. Don't you know? Obviously don't um plagiarize their work. But like, okay, how are they setting up leads? Why are their headlines interesting to me? What can I do to like what is in their stories that are that grabbed me, and how can I apply that to my own work? I think it's really important to do that.

Speaker 2: 33:34

And also, this is obvious, but I had to learn the lesson like read, read a lot of stories. If you want to be a reporter, read reporter stories. If you want to be a video editor, read a lot of stories. If you want to be a reporter, read reporter stories. If you want to be a video editor, watch a ton of videos. If you want to be a podcast host, listen to your favorite podcast and find out why those hosts are good. Like none of this just comes naturally. It's all. I don't know. Some people are probably great. Naturally. It wasn't me. I had to work for every aspect of my career and aspect of my career and I think, um, it's, it's an all-encompassing, holistic approach like read, write, edit video, do podcasts, talk to yourself out loud, read your stories out loud. There's so much to do and there's so many great resources to tap into.

Speaker 1: 34:15

Yeah, that's awesome, that's really good advice.

Speaker 2: 34:18

And uh, yeah, I mean, like gamer heads, we don't make money, uh so, but we do it for fun, right so, yeah, and you probably enjoy it a lot more than some sites who are making money because, like, sometimes money is not. You know, obviously we'd all love to make a lot of money, but, yeah, how awesome that you get to to write and talk and do videos about games and you don't have to worry about, um, maybe laying off people because you don't have money to support them anyway Otherwise.

Speaker 1: 34:48

Yeah, yeah, agreed. Well, wesley, before we head out, how can people follow you on social media?

Speaker 2: 34:55

Yeah, so you can follow me on Twitter at the Blanc West. It's at LEB, la, nc W S. Um, that's like my main social media site. I've been using it a little less cause Twitter has become, uh, obviously not great since Elon Musk purchased it, but it's still my main networking tool and, unfortunately, it's like the main heartbeat networking tool of of uh, games, of the games industry in general. Um, so, yeah, that's where I'm at. Mostly I'm on instagram at I underscore am underscore wesley. Uh, I used to post a lot about my travels because I traveled a lot for game informer, but that's not happening anymore. I'm looking forward to um, just kind of taking a chill at home and, um, yeah, if you're in games, media or anything, um, we can get in touch and I can start sending you like press releases and stuff, because now I'm on the PR side of things, which is fun.

Speaker 1: 35:48

Yeah, that's awesome. Well, wesley, thank you so much for taking time out of your schedule. I really enjoyed this chat and hearing your thoughts and your journey and it was really nice chatting with you, so thank you so much.

Speaker 2: 36:00

Yeah, of course. No, I'm glad I was able to um to be here. This is fun to talk about and I appreciate you letting me come on here and and ramble about games journalism. I'll probably be doing that till the day I die. I'm not in it anymore. I love games journalism, even though sometimes it doesn't love me back, uh and listeners and listeners.

Speaker 1: 36:19

if you like what you hear, leave us a review. We want to hear what you have to say about the show. Until next week, everyone stay safe and game on. Bye, bye.