Niche Gamer has been rising up in the ranks and skyrocketing in popularity in recent times. They’ve been publishing more content and even landing some significant interviews at E3 this year, including talking to Yakuza creator and studio director Toshihiro Nagoshi, where they praised him for making a fun game that real gamers enjoy. However, game journalists and developers who align with the Social Justice orthodoxy took offense to this, and plotted to cut the budding outlet off at the knees.
It started with the interview that was published on June 18th, 2019 over on Niche Gamer. In the interview the gaming outlet praised the developer for making fun games, which was a key indicator that the developer and the rest of the studio is representing gaming culture properly.
Various journalists took offense to this.
And I thought my interview was a bit cringe
— Kirk McKeand (@MckKirk) June 19, 2019
VG 24/7 editor Kirk McKeand takes digs at Niche Gamer because their own interview with Nagoshi didn’t go over so well, as outlined in an article titled “An extremely bad interview with Yakuza creator Toshihiro Nagoshi” published on June 18th, 2019.
Various anti-gaming journalists and blue checkmarks hopped into the thread to mock Niche Gamer.
Love me some ethics. More ethic and less politic pls
— Kirk McKeand (@MckKirk) June 19, 2019
Very cool in a game where a main character had his face changed because an actor did a drug. Nothing to do with Japan’s draconian views on recreational drug use, no sir
— Kirk McKeand (@MckKirk) June 19, 2019
GG site
— Kirk McKeand (@MckKirk) June 19, 2019
(my sides, clearly bashful)
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) June 19, 2019
(laughs again, clearly bashful)
— Joe Fourhman (@fourhman) June 19, 2019
NG is a reactionary rag that fetishizes a nonexistent, racist idea of another country’s culture, and it isn’t worth the bytes used to house it on a server. That’s what I’m “on about,” friend.
— Jennifer Unkle (@jbu3) June 19, 2019
After the Left-wing media and anti-gaming agitators roasted Niche Gamer, the owner, Brandon Orselli, fired back with a series of tweets on June 19th, 2019, saying…
“Lol @MckKirk @jasonschreier @MikeDrucker @KyleOrl and so on, the dinosaurs of gaming journalism, are so assblasted over our Nagoshi interview they’re all sitting together in a circle jerk farting on each other over it.
“this is literally gatekeeping, folks.
“So, TL;DR and just in case you guys can’t view their tweets because they probably have most of you blocked
“Lots of big names in old games media are all hating on us for simply enjoying video games and telling a gamedev we enjoy their games.
“This is why they’re dying.
“My jab at the awful VG247 interview clearly worked, I poked the bees nest, they likely all are currently talking about it in wherever their new secret chat is.
“I promise you that we will never become as jaded, nasty, and spiteful as these losers.
“They do not like enthusiast gaming press returning and us growing, becoming successful. They are literally trying to smear us and make us look bad for literally saying “we like your video game.
“Imagine that.
“These are games “journalists” and “critics” that are brow beating us.
“Seeing awful, jaded responses from the yellow journalism clowns is hilarious.
“Clearly I had to ask things like “why are there no female protagonists?” or “will Japan finally address its xenophobia?” or whatever.
“We can’t just -enjoy- a video game and ask -gameplay- questions”
This angered the SJWs even more.
Instead of calling a truce and going their separate ways, some used this as an opportunity to take things to the next level, as noted by Ian Miles Cheong.
Seeing a move by SJWs in the game industry to get @nichegamer blacklisted industry-wide for not being part of the woke mob. Wild stuff.
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) June 21, 2019
On the afternoon of June 20th, 2019, a game developer who worked at Radial Games and Gaslamp Games called for an open blacklisting of Niche Gamer.
Reminder that nichegamer was founded as a gamergater website
if you’re afraid of blacklisting them because you need press coverage, consider the impact of filling your fanbase with ppl who harrass everyone else out of the space
— Aura✨Moom (@MOOMANiBE) June 20, 2019
Lol the guy who runs nichegamer QRTed this to his fanbase, ensuring I’ll have to block assholes all day
Yall are so tediously predictable
— Aura✨Moom (@MOOMANiBE) June 20, 2019
Various developers actually supported the tweet, including those from Manticore Games, Star Owl Games, a co-host from RPG Grinders, and a contributor to JRPG Moe.
These kind of calls for blacklisting can have wide-reaching effects. It was used some time ago via the GameJournoPros list to boot journalist Allistor Pinsof out of the industry.
So far Niche Gamer is continuing to make headway up the industry ladder, and isn’t letting all of naysayers, trolls, and journalists get them down.
If they can keep moving down the highway of success and manage to avoid any of the SJW-led blacklists, it’ll just be a matter of time before they’re toppling Kotaku.
(Thanks for the news tip Lyle)
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