The present is gaming’s golden age.
Never before have gamers had access to so many interactive experiences, new and old, on a wider variety of platforms, through a more convenient collection of distribution channels.
The playing field has never been as level for independent developers, and gaming’s heavyweights have never been able to offer experiences so extraordinary in scope and quality.
There are so many compelling stories to be told at this juncture in gaming’s evolution. We believe that too many of these go untold. Most sources for games journalism feel beholden to a 24 hour news cycle and the homogenized cycle of previews and reviews in which the majority of games are scored on a three point scale from 8 to 10.
With The Industry, we set out to create a place where serious discussion of broader issues in gaming could take place. A place where strategic analysis, insightful retrospectives, discussions with gaming’s luminaries and other serious content could instruct and entertain gamers and game makers alike.
The Industry’s Mission:
The most insightful reporting, from gaming’s best authors. A print-like presentation, free from the distraction of advertising.
The Industry was released twice monthly. Each issue was composed of four feature-length articles by some of game journalism’s greatest authors. The Industry was available exclusively on leading digital reading platforms, including iPad and Kindle tablets, with support for both high-resolution Retina and standard displays in both portrait and landscape orientations, as well as Kindle eReaders. Subscriptions were offered for $2.99 per month following a free trial period.
The Industry’s Unique Business Model
We believed that offering The Industry exclusively on these devices allowed for a better, higher-quality reading experience and afforded a print-like versatility that allowed us to help writers better convey their stories.
The Industry was a paid publication because it was the model that most easily allowed us to attract the best writers in gaming and to compensate them the way they deserve. Our goal was to attain a level of subscription large enough to compensate writers at a level commensurate with printed publications. The Industry also published its content free from the distractions of advertising, ensuring nothing came between the writer and the reader.
Regrettably, The Industry was unable to meet aggressive readership targets after its first three issues despite positive coverage from media sources including VentureBeat. As such, we made the difficult decision to place the magazine on hiatus after its initial run.
The Industry’s Legacy
The first few issues of The Industry featured an in-depth look at the bankruptcy and auction of THQ’s assets, a retrospective on Nintendo Power, the history of pinball, a way the launch of Sim City could have gone more smoothly while making its publisher more money, the unlikely success of the Dark Souls franchise, the state of LGBT relations in gaming and much more. We succeeded in our goal of offering an unrivaled reading experience, and were featured as New and Noteworthy by Apple’s App Store editorial team for several weeks.
I’m extremely proud of our work on The Industry and in the new skills I developed on the project, including strong working knowledge of Adobe InDesign and the various tools and services available today for digital publishing. Here’s a video look at all three published issues of The Industry: