Welcome to VGC: A message from the editor

Welcome to VGC, a new platform for authoritative games industry news, insight and critique from a team of  experienced games journalists.

In my final article as editor of ComputerandVideoGames.com, before its sad closure, I lamented a changing media landscape that our team ultimately wasn’t afforded the chance to adapt to. In a world of service games, influencers and social media, I wrote, “the way in which games content is delivered online ultimately needs to change”.

Read our E3 2019 dates schedule for every conference and live stream date.

But in 2019, I don’t think CVG’s tenets of responsible reporting and strong journalism have ever held more value.

VGC is our challenge to a wider media landscape increasingly obsessed with clickbait over quality, fun over facts. There are some fantastic news reporters in the games space, of course, but we believe there is plenty of room for the field to grow, to the benefit of everyone who loves games.

Our launch is intended to provide an authoritative platform for games industry news, insight and critique from experienced, professional games journalists.

We don’t do rumours or empty rhetoric: our journalists have spent years accumulating contacts, and we’re committed to using our experience to cover the stories that people need to hear, through expert reporting around the clock.

And if you look closely, you’ll notice the fingerprints of a summer break in game development (I recently worked on Banjo-Kazooie spin-off, Yooka-Laylee and other projects), with better perspectives and coverage of development issues, as well as creators put front-and-centre in our site design.

“We don’t do rumours or empty rhetoric: our journalists have spent years accumulating contacts, and we’re committed to using our experience to cover the stories that people need to hear, through expert reporting around the clock.”

VGC, as our marketers keep telling us, is where the experts go to know what’s going on in the fast-moving world of video games.

Kicking us off are a series of articles born from exclusive access to Japan’s independent development scene. Today in our Platinum Games interview, studio head Atsushi Inaba shares fascinating insight into a company wrestling for its independence, and there’s plenty more to come from the likes of Game Freak, Inti Creates and more.

Breaking, exclusive games industry news is something you should get used to associating with a big, orange logo.

Fully aware we couldn’t arrive with an empty reviews cupboard, we’ve recruited some of the games media’s absolute best critics to offer their verdicts on the latest releases, including VGC’s first 5-star games Devil May Cry 5 and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.

On the feature front, Doc Burford provides cutting analysis of Google’s recent Stadia demos, and games historian Chris Scullion lists the Essential games for a number of platforms, new and old.

I could not be more proud to house the bylines of some of my favourite journalists (with the likes of Paul Davies and Tim Ingham to come).

As with any new launch, there are bound to be a few gremlins in the system during our early days, so please forgive any issues you spot across the site. Similarly, we’re still very much a building site, so don’t be surprised if you see features added or changed in the coming weeks.

If you have any suggestions or requests regarding the direction of VGC, please lets us know in the comments field or even better, direct them to us on Twitter or Facebook.

Launching VGC is a proud achievement for all of us behind the scenes. It will take a while before the site achieves all of our lofty ambitions, of course, but we could not be more excited to be back working towards them.