A weird thought after giving out more than a thousand free copies of one of our titles to reviewers recently, a retail value of $20,000 gross. If food critics pay for their meals, why don't game reviewers pay for their games? Obviously not talking about micro-outlets here.
@matthewmwhite Generally everything except AAA reviews, ESPECIALLY indie reviews, are loss leaders. If you start charging for games, nobody would review them.
@dashiellwood I am learning this from the replies - legitimately had no idea it's as bad as it is.
@matthewmwhite Understandable! I know very little about game dev, so had no idea how the analytic angle works for you. Glad you're seeing the other side :)
@dashiellwood Yea wild! I'm hearing like pennies per word in the replies and DMs. Absolutely gross.
@matthewmwhite @dashiellwood I'm actually happy with the pennies per word deal I have now. Beats getting a single payment of a few hundred bucks for dozens of articles per year. It's a hobby for me though, not my main income.
@Bloodyspasm @dashiellwood Both situations don't sound great. I wish it wasn't like this.
@matthewmwhite @dashiellwood I'm always very open about what I'm getting paid, because the majority of reviewers isn't getting paid at all. But that's ok. Experience is valuable as well and building a list of reference articles goes a long way. But only a handful of people worldwide can write for a living.
@matthewmwhite @dashiellwood And that's a crying shame. Being a fulltime game reviewer has always been my childhood dream. Getting a nice monthly extra now, is already a blessing.