In 2016 Vice launched an internet site known as Waypoint, which the corporate hoped can be an “immersive dive into the tradition, ardour and politics of gaming”. It did that, after which some, after which kicked even extra ass, and in June 2023 it is going to be gone.
As anybody who learn the location (or listened to its podcasts) would inform you, Waypoint was completely different. In contrast to virtually every other main gaming website, this one you’re studying proper now included, Waypoint wasn’t excited about always updating, in writing weblog after weblog about launch date postponements or business shenanigans or the newest scandal. It was an internet site (and podcasts, and different associated neighborhood stuff) designed round treating video video games with the respect they deserve (and sometimes don’t), and a house for writing, dialogue and criticism that was at all times good, at all times considerate, at all times truthful.
“There are a ton of locations inside gaming media that do an important job protecting whether or not a sport is price your cash,” Waypoint’s unique editor in chief Austin Walker mentioned on the time of the location’s announcement. “Gamers on the lookout for that protection are properly served.”
“As an alternative, we wish to deal with telling tales about why folks play, and investigating how the video games we love and spend a lot time with come to be. Whether or not a sport was a industrial success or has a small, devoted neighborhood, we wish to elevate the dialog and take an in-depth have a look at the fervour, folks, and politics that underpin these worlds.”
It employed excellent writers and reporters—I’ve to acknowledge right here that lots of them, from Patrick Klepek to Gita Jackson to Renata Worth, had additionally labored at Kotaku—but additionally gave a voice to journalists and critics you hadn’t heard of, offering their distinctive items with a significant platform they may not have in any other case had in an business the place large websites are normally dominated by previews and developer interviews.
But it was additionally a part of Vice, an absolute shitshow of an organization whose demise and monetary woes have been extensively documented. And so it feels as inevitable as it’s unhappy that we discovered right now that Waypoint was being closed, with the curtain coming down on June 2.
“I’m unsure the place to start, besides to say, with equal components fury and unhappiness, that Waypoint is over”, Waypoint’s Patrick Klepek wrote on Twitter earlier right now. “The crew, myself included, have been terminated by VICE, and our ultimate day operating the web site, the podcasts, and streams, will come to an finish on June 2nd.”
This sucks in the identical manner it at all times sucks when a very good outlet doing good work that’s performing properly and entertaining readers is closed down, not as a result of it was “unsuccessful”, however as a result of the Adults In The Room have as soon as once more confirmed themselves incapable of working a media firm, and their employees—doing good and vital work—will endure in consequence.
Waypoint’s closure, scorching on the heels of Launcher’s shutdown earlier this 12 months, is yet one more blow for critical video video games protection and criticism, and leaves all the area weaker than it was a 12 months in the past (when it was weaker than it was a 12 months earlier than that, and many others and many others). As the entire idea of an ad-supported web begins to creak and pop and present indicators of imminent structural collapse, each web site you at the moment learn without spending a dime is prone to ending up precisely like Waypoint, and precisely like Launcher, and precisely like every other numerous examples of web sites that may and do carry out good work (and sometimes financially profitable work), however are on the mercy of householders and a relentless financial framework that can crush us all to mud.
I want nothing however the most effective for everybody affected, and wish to thank them for all of the wonderful work they did over time.