The Mainstreaming of US Games Journalism

This paper examines how mainstream American newspapers and lifestyle outlets have come to take video games seriously, a shift that was far from assured a decade ago. Its authors argue that the so-called mainstreaming of games coverage has been accompanied by ambivalence about the role of the reporter, particularly regarding the reporter's relationship to the games industry and the influence of traditional press practices. The paper positions itself as part of an ongoing inquiry into contemporary games journalism and builds on prior work showing that enthusiast press critics operate within structural tensions created by their dependence on, and combative stance toward, the industry.

The central hypothesis is that mainstream journalists confront the tensions among gamers, the industry, and the press differently from enthusiast writers, owing to distinct ideological, stylistic, and practical traditions. The authors draw on earlier scholarship, including a study of US magazine coverage from 1970 to 2000 that found oscillating utopian and dystopian framings of games, moving through phases of vilification and partial redemption. Because enthusiast writers have a tradition of self-reflection that appears largely absent from mainstream reporting, the study focuses on journalistic rather than critical coverage.

The empirical scope is limited to articles published in the most popular US online newspaper outlets between 2014 and 2015, a period dominated by the rise of the Gamergate movement and the development of the Oculus Rift virtual reality display. The authors combine a discourse analysis of these articles with a quantitative content analysis of the same publications. Their rationale is that these texts, shaped by the occupational routines of reporters, reveal the mainstream perspective on the industry and game culture. The paper concludes that as games grow more global and integrated into everyday life, understanding how journalists convey their significance to the public has become increasingly important.