Collusion

This is a page dedicated to listing instances of collusion in gaming journalism.

History
Following concerns over the revelations regarding Zoe Quinn's unethical behavior, many gamers found it odd that most gaming journalism outlets were outright refusing to discuss the issue. Instead, on August 28 Leigh Alexander posted an article on Gamasutra proclaiming that "'Gamers' don't have to be your audience. 'Gamers' are over." The purpose of the article was to decry gaming as male-orientated, sexist and non-inclusive towards women and minorities, coupled with insults calling gamers "obtuse shitslingers" and "wailing hyper-consumers." Furthermore, on that same day 9 other gaming journalism outlets, such as Kotaku and Ars Technica published articles with the exact same message of "Gamers are Dead". This prompted many to be suspicious that these articles were part of a coordinated attack, which ultimately sparked GamerGate.

Many opposed to #GamerGate were quick to argue that the reason the "Gamers Are Dead" articles were posted so close together was simply because the writers of these articles agreed with the core message and ran their own articles to raise awareness. However, Breitbart journalist Milo Yiannopoulos investigated the matter and revealed the articles were in fact a co-ordinate attack and that members of the gaming press have been colluding on a Google mailing list known as GameJournoPros.

Those implicated in the collusion argued against these accusations by claiming that members of the same industry being in contact with each other was not an uncommon practice. However, detractors quickly pointed out evidence that those within the list had been discussing pushing which topics and narratives to push, and which to avoid. One example was the fact that Warhorse Studios' game Kingdom Come: Deliverance had been largely ignored by the media due to the studio's pro-#GamerGate stance.

Suspicions of collusion were vindicated even further when it was revealed on the 18th of October that the 2013 firing of Allistair Pinsof, a writer for Destructoid, had been discussed by members of the gaming press elite on GameJournoPros. Allister's employment status was being commented on by editors from other publications who ultimately deemed Allister a "problem child" for the industry and were instructed to blacklist him.