Let me tell you the best of being an editor-in-chief Kotaku.
There is a writer or producer on the team. They have an idea. It’s a real thing, something they need to explain to people, something worth knowing. They write it. They publish it. And readers show up. Maybe I helped create this space for them, but really, it’s them. They did. And I am encouraging them.
And that’s it.
You can probably tell where it’s going, right?
Since May 2009, first as deputy editor of Kotaku and since 2012 as editor in chief, I have tried, more than anything I have done here, to get these successes to take place. During good and bad times, in the midst of the escalation of chaos that the different versions of our company carried perpetually, I put my energy into maintaining Kotaku go and keep Kotaku cert. As I did this, I kept in mind what I was doing Kotaku wonderful in 2009, 2012, 2014, 2019, to name a few, has been its staff: its writers, editors and producers, all of them past and present, putting their journalism, their criticism and the rest of ideas on the page. And my main job was to make sure they could and support them as they did.
I’m leaving Kotaku. Today is my last day, as I prepare for a glorious holiday month. Maybe I can go on long runs, teach my kids to ride a bike, and actually finish Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (never ends?). Then I’ll start my new topic, still video game journalism and one more return to a time when I was writing and reporting on my stuff. I’ve found myself missing a lot in recent years. No, I still don’t say where. Follow my Twitter, folks.
Kotaku, like all Gawker Media sites, was born in rebellion. Deadspin was designed to paint ESPN, Jezebel to counter retrograde women’s magazines, Gawker beat everyone and Kotaku to challenge the establishment of Gamespot i IGN (or, finally, take care of one of them — keep kicking ass, Tina!).
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The goal of all our places was to get closer to the truth. A Kotaku the truth involved games and game culture. We had to offer the ideal, as articulated in Gawker founder Nick Denton, of real history. He hoped that we would show the public the reality that the journalists in the establishment’s press did not publish in the newspaper, but told each other after hours at the bar or that we would get as close as possible. I liked that Nick directive, no doubt, more than the one in which he suggested I take pictures every day of people making faces playing games (eh, thanks for the suggestion, none!). This journalistic value was not exclusive to Gawker Media, but the fervor to pursue it will motivate me forever. I hope you continue to push the staff of Kotaku, current and ancient, to always deepen, always avoid artifice, always work harder to bring to the reader what he knows, always find ways to be more real.
Over the years, I had high hopes Kotaku, so that our reports reach the necessary details that otherwise would not see the light of day, that our criticisms improve our recognition and we think of a medium still little known.
My main goal was to challenge people’s expectations about what a great gaming site would write about and who would write it. I was inspired by small places and brave voices, especially those from the innovative place The border house, which recognized the need to cover politics and people, and to reach out and address a diverse reading audience, at a time when large outlets were not doing so. Year after year, I was motivated by bold staff dealing with taboo topics because they mattered. I wanted one Kotaku that it felt bold and inclusive, that it would make a more diverse set of readers feel welcome and seen by the site. I hope we have made progress. There is still much more work to be done.
This has been a dream job, but for sure, every now and then it’s a nightmare. It was worth it. I am grateful Kotaku exists, that there has been a place where readers will show if the EIC is interviewing the head of Nintendo or some random “boring” comment. So thank you readers for that. Seriously, thanks to the millions of people who read this site every month. And thank you to everyone who spoke to me for a story and put up with my five more questions.
Thanks to Brian Crecente, Nick Denton and all the Gawker Media leaders and their permutations who believed in me and my team and / or just got out of the damn way. (And, speaking of power runners, thank you The New York Times per current Kotaku reviews on its pages for a couple of years. It was also pretty cool.)
Thanks to everyone I’ve worked with: all the reporters, critics, bloggers, producers, artists, social media editor, financial worker, salesperson, office manager, event coordinator, and anyone else who was part of Kotaku or provided assistance. Some of you are still in this business, others have continued. I am rooting for all of you to prosper. I also want to greet the employees of our sister places, who embody that rebellious animating spirit.
I want to thank our current staff — Alexandra, Ari, Ash, Brian, Ethan, Ian, Lisa Marie, Luke, Mike, Nathan, Zack, Tim, and our frequent companion John — for their incredible strength in recent years and the most hard. What you have all done on the site during which we have had to live and work together is amazing. You are so great Kotaku team like never before.
I also want to make a special gesture to Riley MacLeod, an editor she has been managing for some time and, more recently, editor in general. He’s a fantastic team fighter, lead critic and trusted friend. He has worked so hard to keep this place together through so many storms and it has been my indispensable, De facto deputy of this challenging last year.
It has been an honor to serve this team and the readers of our site. To the staff of Kotaku, just one last request: please do not reread my comments in grays.