The GD/WTP Deal – Explained
I’ve gotten a flurry of email from friends, colleagues, a VIP or two, PR reps, and readers over the preceding announcement. Here’s the gist: What They Like Inc. bought the bulk of the GamerDad review archive and are going to repurpose it for their more sober format. I “sold out” for two reasons but let me tell you the story – from my perspective – first. Let me start by saying, after a near-death experience and on the 5 year anniversary, I can’t tell you how happy I am to be writing about all of this!
Before launching GamerDad in 2003 the concept was rejected by pretty much every review magazine/website on the net. Even the handful who for whatever reason saw things clearly, like I did, that gaming was going to go mainstream very soon and that the world needed accurate reports about video game violence and content – and parents needed help – still didn’t see any money in it. ‘
1320 reviews and five years later most of what I predicted came true, and I was no longer alone. I proved a lot, but the consequences were competition. Moneyed competition (the worst kind!)
First of all, GamerDad is only “first” from the following perspectives:
1. We’re the first to review games for content and critical value
2. We were the first to do it without moralizing. We report, parents decide.
3. My ONLY agenda is helping parents and making sure gaming gets a fair shake.
4. GamerParents should review games. Not non-gamers.
In 2005 or so, CommonSense Media came along and started doing something similar to what I do. I disagree with a lot of their conclusions, but was happy to work for them and I started pitching GamerDad to them then.
In 2006 Disney tapped me to create a review format similar to mine that they could own. I then managed all review content (movies, DVD, video games) for FamilyFun and Disney Family for the year 2007.
By 2008 it was clear that GamerDad was outperforming CommonSense Media – no mean feat… see, they have money. We’d published over 1000 reviews over 5 years to their 250 game reviews in 3 years. In November WhatTheyLike Inc launched WhatTheyPlay.com. I like the site, I like working for the site, and I like the people who work for the site mainly because the site is so much like my site.
In 2008 I had a near fatal heart attack and quadruple bypass.
That last bit made me come to a difficult decision. As GamerDad my crew and I kept knocking our brains out reviewing everything game companies sent. The pressure was enormous, the stress severe, because every PR rep seems to believe their game is the only one we’re reviewing – and that I have a staff of people like a regular magazine that can make timely requests or notify them of coverage. Add to that the constant requests from parents looking for specific game reviews or kids hoping against hope that I’m going to break with the ESRB and recommend something violent to teenagers.
I began shopping around 1000 of our reviews (why 1000? Because the other 300 are owned by their authors (in one case Disney, in another USA Today). I began negotiating with CommonSense Media and WhatTheyPlay for these reviews and WhatTheyPlay won out with a generous offer.
GamerDad is not going away!
As you’ve recently seen, I’m focussing more on spokesman work, helping groups like the National PTA, ESRB, and American Library Association with gaming, helping parents as best I can, building this community, and helping radio, TV, and newspaper journalists do their jobs more accurately.
We’ll still be reviewing, but we’ll leave the grind part to better equipped/financed websites. Our reviews will focus more on the family fun aspect of games. This site will be more of a community.
The press release brags about me. Quotes me too. But it leaves out something crucial to our success. Here they are:
Jeff Bogumil – He built the 2nd GD site, the more useful one. He handled our often stupid webhosts and did a lot of troubleshooting. He did some reviewing and he put up with a lot of crap. His company Red Bird Solutions gets my hightest recommendation and endorsement.
Mike Anderson – How did a late comer to the site manage to out review everybody? If you know Mike, you know that’s more than possible. The man is a parenting machine!
Cary Woodham – Cary isn’t a parent but he’s still very much a kid at heart. He reminds us what pure enthusiasm feels, looks, and sounds like but he’s no mere fanboy. Cary is an accomplished critic and watching him grow here has been very satisfying.
Simon Windmill – a terrific writer and game reviewer, Simon also programs and is trying to make indie games while being a stay-at-home dad. I keep him busy managing this site and making any logo or graphic that flits across my fevered brain.
Colleen Hannon (MomGamer) – I came across Momgamer right after I launched the site. She quickly accepted my offer and she’s given us a lot of funny family stories, reviews, and expert analysis of how mainstream groups bungle video game coverage.
Dr. Matt Carlson – Matt’s boardgame coverage is a real feather in the site’s cape. He’s also an enthusiastic guy, an asset to our team, and he’s a science teacher!
“Sparky” – Sparky created all of our old logos and then gave them to me free of charge. She’s awesome… and hilarious.
David J. Long – a professional freelancer, David also did all of our copy-editing for about 3 years. He left us about 15 months ago, but he was a founder and his contribution will never be forgotten.
Marc Saltzman – writes for USA Today and pretty much everyone else. He donated over 200 of his professional reviews to us free of charge – why? Because he believes in what we’re doing here. Thanks Marc!
Doug Hanna, Wayne Belton, Stacy Tate, Bernie Dy, Steve Fulton – wonderful people I’ve lost touch with over the years. Thanks for your contributions guys!
Anyone I Might Have Forgotten – come on, aw, come on! You know I’ll miss you most of all, right?
We made it!
Now, we’re going to use the power/credibility/trust and reach we’ve developed here to help parents more than ever. Thanks for reading GamerDad.
May 14th, 2008 at 10:31 am
Mike already touched on this in a previous comment, but readers should know that this truly is the natural progression for GamerDad-the-website, as the site you’re reading now is much closer to what we as contributors have been trying to achieve.
Congratulations again, Andrew!
May 14th, 2008 at 10:41 am
Thanks Simon – pssst! I added a bunch more with an edit. So, um, re-read if you want to be thanked.
And it’s not only the natural progression, it’s the ideal outcome. I wanted to get our of reviewing as a #1 priority anyway and this lets me do that with some style.
May 14th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
It’s been a great five years, and I only see more great things coming up down the road.
Congratulations, Andrew.
May 14th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
I am 39 yrs old, a dad of 2 (Dylan who is 6 and Marissa who is 1) and a lifelong gamer. I came across GamerDad a little over a year ago, not to long after I got my Wii. I was looking for informaion on which games would be good for me to get and play with Dylanon the Wii. Ever since then I have been visiting regularly think you guys have done a bang up job of trying to educate parents and the “mainstream media” about the real deal when it comes to gaming, kids, and violence. If more parents were like you, or at least listened to what you and the GamerDad crew had to say, well, let’s just say things would be better. 🙂
Anyway, congrats on making the next step and keep up the great work.
May 14th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
Congratulations, for *exactly* the reasons you listed above. It’s been quite a ride, and I’m glad you’re still with us to keep moving things forward!
May 14th, 2008 at 7:14 pm
Hmmm… someone should be saying something bad about selling out about now, shouldn’t they? 😉
I think it’s wonderful that you brought attention within such an inattentive industry and then spawned copycats (flattery IS the most sincere form of flattery, right?). It’s great that your reviews will now be backed by a little more money and hopefully stronger publicity! This is a nice progression for GamerDad.
I’m a little confused about the future, though: Are you going pure blog (no reviews, just comments on the world around us), or reviews when you feel like it, or ‘amateur reviews’ (meaning you have to wait until the game hits the shelves and you buy it yourself), or, or, or??? Did I mention I was confused? 😉
BTW, @Simon: If you haven’t checked out Garagegames.com, then you should. LOTS of resources for indie game developers and seem like a great bunch of GamerDudes. Even if they didn’t give me an interview :-/.
I’m sure you’re all over it, but since I just came across them I thought I’d share.
May 15th, 2008 at 4:07 am
Andrew has been working so hard for so long to get his message out to parents everywhere in a manner that does not stress him out so much at home. He has worked so hard behind the scenes despite health problems. He has a great message and understanding of the needs of parents. He can live on both sides of the argument and is able to have a level headed commentary on the industry. This is helping him to this in a sane manner with paid sites out there. Finally, it is recognition that he and the many fine folks that worked for him did good work. Thanks to all of you for your kind words. Linda (GamerMom)
May 15th, 2008 at 6:56 am
Icarus – I’m not sure what the ratio would be of ‘self-bought’ to ‘publisher supplied’ reviews would have been at GamerDad … but I know personally the overwhelming majority of my reviews came out of my pocket.
But the focus of what GamerDad has wanted to do for quite some time is not to provide critical reviews of every release, but rather provide contextual information about the most pertinent and important releases to help gamerparents make informed choices.
May 15th, 2008 at 7:06 am
Well put Mike,
to simplify even further:
We’re now letting the people with money do the grunt review work. I’ll keep doing Ask GamerDad and hopefully you’ll start seeing me elsewhere.
I’m working on a book.
I still accept review product from companies – welcome it in fact – but I no longer promise to review everything and most of what I do review is going to be: “My kids and I played SSBM and here’s what we thought. So, in that way, we’ll still be reviewing games here.
The main change is our ability now to more spryly react to the controversies, etc.,
This will soon be home to a primer called GamerDad 101.
So, we’re focusing fully on community, editorial content, and representing the GamerParent world.
May 15th, 2008 at 7:32 am
Gratz dude. I met ya at PAX and before that hadn’t heard of you at all. Loved your speeches so I looked you up and there you were – at death’s door! Anyway, I’ve been a fan ever since.
MIKE WROTE
“… but I know personally the overwhelming majority of my reviews came out of my pocket.”
Sounds a little bitter man. Is GD not giving you a fair shake?
May 15th, 2008 at 8:28 am
DormOnkey wrote: “Sounds a little bitter man. Is GD not giving you a fair shake?”
Not bitter in the least – I got support, advice and editorial help from two experienced reviewers (Andrew and Dave) that has helped me not only with reviews and articles and blogs in general, but has also helped me in communications for my work life. GamerDad provided a forum for me to write about games I loved – or ones I didn’t in genres I did love. I got to jump into the new handhelds with gusto and do lots of stuff I wouldn’t otherwise have done. And remember – in almost every case I would have bought the game anyway.
May 15th, 2008 at 8:53 am
DormOnkey – Mike’s comments were just an attempt to answer Icarus about how his own reviewing was done at GamerDad.com, nothing sinister or bitter. I’m sure if Mike was less into mediocre European shooters and RPGs he’d have reviewed less of his own games 😉
Icarus – yeah, I know GarageGames. I’m a Torque licensee from way back and they’ve certainly done a lot for the community.
May 15th, 2008 at 9:04 am
Congrats guys. I’m excited for you and so very thankful for all the work you’ve been doing over the years.
I was recently interviewed for a “Parents Summer Guide” and heavily plugged GamerDad and What They Play as the best place for parents with questions about games to go.
Thank you all.
Paul
May 15th, 2008 at 10:14 am
I get it now! 🙂 Also, the “Hire GamerDad” link actually has a great summary:
“GamerDad is planning on spending as much time as a stay-at-home dad as he can and loves playing games with his kids. GamerDad.com has become a blog designed to continue this conversation, give gamer parents a place to hang out, and review things that come across our desks. The site will also keep readers abreast of GamerDad’s outside opportunities. We were first, the world is catching up, it’s time to give GamerDad your microphone. It’s time to help parents rather than scare them.”
@Mike: I understand the ‘out of pocket’ bit… I’m just so far behind that they may as well be Beta copies if they haven’t been out for at least 6 months ;-).
Once again (and more clearly now that I’m more clear on what’s going on) Congratulations, Andrew. It’s a great next step for you and definitely another large feather in your cap!
May 15th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
For those not in the know, Icarus was in my wedding party and is an Internet friend dating back to the days just before I started this crazy job. He knew me when, and he knew me when I was named after my cat.
Dante.
May 17th, 2008 at 12:01 am
And you don’t know how many times I’ve had to go back and edit something I’ve posted to Dante instead of to GamerDad or Andrew 😉 (in fact, I just had to do it again!).
And for those looking for dirt… you’ll have to dig deeper because he’s pretty much the same now as he was then. Except for, you know, the whole becoming a father, starting GamerDad and turning it into a household name, and then that heart attack thing. Yep, other than that, he’s the same!
And cheers one more time to the memory of Dante! In the immortal words of Indiana Jones: “He was a great [cat].”
June 1st, 2008 at 10:35 am
can we still find the review archive over there? Because there’s some games I want to look up in it.