Does Anyone Genuinely LIKE or ENJOY Reading Kotaku?

[Brock2621]

So I'm not coming at this thread with venom or malice, just a genuine curiosity from a singular person's personal perspective...

But does anyone actually ENJOY & LIKE Kotaku? I've found myself taking them off my whitelisted websites as they've (in my opinion) slowly devolved into ja-baiting clicks more often compared to deep-dive articles, breaking stories presented with equal time/attention given to both sides of a story and reviews that are actually thoughtful. I feel like they are shifting gears towards hate-clicks/clickbait and I don't actually enjoy visiting much anymore. Curious what the temperature of the room is in here...

(In before, "well then don't visit, you're obviously not their target audience.")

 

[antitrop]

If it's from Tim Rogers or Jason Schreier, yeah, usually.

Totilo's Kotaku has always been a huge step up from Crecente's Kotaku. 10 years ago was when I really didn't pay attention to them.

 

[Wamb0wneD]

I genereally don't go there, but articles like Jason's about Anthem were some of the best reads I had when it came to insights of the gaming industry so...

Also Tim Rogers is my spirit animal.

 

[JustJosh]

"Hello...I'm Tim Rogers"

That's a yes from me.

 

[fracas]

I enjoy most of Jason Schreier's work, but that's it. I don't ever visit the site (or any gaming site other than here, honestly) though of course, that's nothing personal.

I get that they're essentially a hybrid news/blog outlet, but most of their writers' work just doesn't interest me.

edit: I should probably add that I support their writing about social justice — I know there are a lot of shitty folks that root against them solely because of this.

 

[Ada]

Shouldn't your title read, "Does anyone genuinely like or enjoy reading Kotaku?"

 

[HammerOfThor]

I haven't bothered with Kotaku for years now. Theres much better out there IMHO.

 

[Lego Killer Moth]

Yes

 

[ReliableMerman]

Tim Rogers is a maniac. He's the best.

 

[Deleted member 59245]

Yes

 

[Mobyduck]

Yes? They are one of the big outlets to report on social issues in gaming. You should give some examples of what you find wrong with them.

 

[Deleted member 4494]

Thought this thread was about Kotaku asking the question of if anyone liked reading Stephen King's IT.

 

[Landford]

I was born stupid HOWEVER
I will not
Die hungry

Video games forever

Kotaku dot com

 

[LavaBadger]

Kotaku has always been a scatter-shot approach to articles and news. Not all of it is created equally.

Kotaku's Schreier and a few others though are some of the few gaming journalists in the industry, and it would be a significant loss to not have a platform for that work.

Splitscreen (With the exception of off-topic) is also generally very good, and one of the few places (Like Waypoint) where you can listen to people reliably attempt to tackle current events in a thoughtful manner.

 

[BrucCLea13k87]

I love Tim Rogers and I wish I could talk to him besides a fire for hours about games and his life in Japan.

 

[kirbyfan407]

Yes. I follow them on Twitter, and I read the articles that appeal to me. They've had some pretty major stories over the past couple years, and I really like insights we occasionally into game development and the industry. I also read for their commentary on certain headlines and news. I rarely encounter anything I find that puts me off, but I also pick and choose what I want to read.

The question in the thread title seems a little oddly phrased (at least, in my opinion) because I'd say they wouldn't exist anymore if NO ONE liked/enjoyed the website.

 

[qatak]

it's just about the only site i read regularly these days. Schreier and Rogers are obviously stars, but others such as Gita Jackson, Paul Tamayo, and Luke Plunket regularly put out fantastic stuff. Maddy Myers from the Splitscreen podcast is also awesome. I miss Kirk Hamilton's writing there frequently, though.

edit: should also add that cecilia d'anastasio's reporting on Riot has been some of the most important work in gaming journalism in recent history

 

[Inspector Detector]

Yes, especially anything by Tim Rogers.

 

[Yoss]

Yes. Can you give some examples of articles that were hate-clicks?

 

[nsilvias]

i stopped going when it became a blog

 

[jschreier]

I think a couple of our 15 million monthly readers do.

 

[ghibli99]

Yes. I find them to be quite well-researched and knowledgeable about the topics they cover.

 

[Landford]

I love Tim Rogers and I wish I could talk to him besides a fire for hours about games and his life in Japan.

Click to shrink...

Dude made Kojima read the books by Kobo Abe, from which Kojima said inspired Death Stranding.

Tim Rogers literally created Death Stranding

 

[Zeranium]

I mostly read stuff by Chris Kohler (ever since his days at Wired)
but yeah, I usually like the work they put out

 

[Man Called Aerodynamics]

Sure?

I mean for 90% of game news all you need is the headline. I get more news from looking at thread titles here than from dedicated news sites.

But for longform articles and essays, I've got no problem with Kotaku.

 

[Death Penalty]

The title made me think this was a Kotaku article about Stephen King.

To answer, I hate their clickbait stuff and avoid it, but the articles that provide concrete news and insight are the best ones out there.

 

[Sinatar]

I haven't been to Kotaku in eons, it's always been awful.

 

[Qwark]

I don't seek out Kotaku articles, but I'll read the interesting ones when I see them here or on Reddit. They've had lots of stuff worth reading.

Shouldn't your title read, "Does anyone genuinely like or enjoy reading Kotaku?"

Click to shrink...

Yeah really. I thought this was a Kotaku article about people not liking the book It.

 

[dancingphlower]

Jason's articles are usually pretty good. I don't really bother with the other stuff.

 

[Scar]

I used to, but now I go to other sites for my rpg news.

 

[Pineapple Taco]

I love Jason's work. His pieces about crunch are great reads, and very much needed if any real change is going to come to the industry.

 

[sora87]

Only for Tim videos.

 

[Brock2621]

Kotaku has always been a scatter-shot approach to articles and news. Not all of it is created equally.

Kotaku's Schreier and a few others though are some of the few gaming journalists in the industry, and it would be a significant loss to not have a platform for that work.

Click to shrink...

I absolutely agree and I love Jason's work, it's unparalleled. However I do think he would just continue to work and post to jasonschreier.com and live successfully on the clicks. I feel like he's a giant buoy for them.

 

[darkside]

Tim Rogers is legit the funniest and most entertaining dude in gaming so yeah. Jason is also great

 

[HK-47]

I don't really have a problem with them outside of the continued devolution of Nathan Grayson's article quality

 

[Deleted member 8196]

No.

I only read Jason pieces on studios/games issues

 

[JaxiPup]

I enjoy quite a few of their staffers, like Mike and Gita. Its a site I frequently look forward to reading, though I do with they'd clean up the main feed a bit.

 

[Deleted member 1589]

Depends on the journalist.

 

[adumb]

Tim Rogers.

Jason Schreier has legit journalism chops too, even if the man himself seems a bit... ehhh?

Loved Laura Kate Dale on the UK site too, but she's moved on. I mean she's doing other stuff now, she's not dead.

So... yeah?

 

[Nairume]

Like just about every other gaming site, it just depends on what I'm going there for. I really like Schreier's investigative stuff and find that enough to give merit to the site due to how important his work has been, though I find his reviews to be lacking and inconsistent. I generally dislike Tim Rogers, though his localization stuff is actually interesting. The site is really hit or miss. No different from any other place.

 

[Damn Silly]

Yes. Some of the stuff ain't my thing, but the likes of Schreier and D'Anastasio (sp?) do terrific investigative reporting and the likes of Tim Rogers and Chris Kohler also make entertaining (and informative!) content about various gaming subjects.

 

[EllipsisBreak]

Regardless of how you feel about some of Kotaku's content, there's no denying that they also have some of the best journalism in the industry. It's a worthwhile site to keep an eye on.

 

[Cenauru]

I just follow people instead of entire sites. I don't browse, I just follow people and brands I like on social media and my feeds are fairly well curated from that alone.

 

[SageShinigami]

I enjoy reading actual journalism, so when they do deep dives into why a game failed or how a studio is treating their developers, I'm VERY interested yes. Do I visit them normally? No. But then I don't visit any site normally other than Gematsu.

 

[DeadMoonKing]

Depends on the editor: I generally like Jason, Cecilia, Mike and Luke's content.
Also, their sometimes weekend editor Peter Tieryas loves him the old JRPGs from my era, so I'm down with him.
I enjoyed Patrica's content a lot as well when she was there.

 

[Dragoon]

Jason is far and away one of the best writers in the business. They're awful otherwise.

 

[sredgrin]

Looking at the front page right now and this feels like a weird time to make the topic. If the articles aren't interesting, they are, at worst, inoffensive fluff about a Fallout corn maze.

I really struggle to throw "clickbait" at a site that currently features an article talking about architeture in Control and some of the real world inspirations. It might not be the BEST article about the topic, as I have little knowledge of architecture, but it's hardly a site that's doing "One easy trick to beat the hardest boss in Control!" articles.

 

[Fjordson]

Sure. Not all of their stuff is worth reading, but they have some good articles. Pretty solid for news.

I mean Tim Rogers is the best personality in all of gaming media. Period. And there are people like Jason Schreier doing some of the best reporting in games media.

 

[Murlin]

What is this, 2008? Kotaku has been great for longer than they were "terrible" at this point.

 

[RPGam3r]

I think a couple of our 15 million monthly readers do.

Click to shrink...

LOL! Scrolling down and seeing this brought a legit chuckle.