A lot is being said at current about the state of games journalism. With the internet both increasing the number, and decreasing the experience levels of people writing about videogames coughMecough, now more than ever the cracks are showing.

In an interview with Crispy Gamer, Dan Hsu, ex EGM Editor and author of the (excellent) Sore Thumbs blog, talks about his departure from EGM as well as his opinion on the gaming press.

When asked about his reasoning for leaving EGM, Hsu cited the frustration felt towards the internet from the perspective of print media.

I guess you can also say the business itself burned me out. Working on a print magazine is hard, hard work. And a typical work scenario could look like this: I bust my ass trying to score a triple-A exclusive, I go and see the game, do interviews, spend hours writing up and polishing a story, work with the art team to design the cover and layout. Finally, I’m all beaming and proud of what we’ve done, and bam, people scan the contents and deliver that scoop to everywhere for free.

He also talked quite openly, as he does on Sore Thumbs, about the problems within the press world.

It could be the relationship the press has with the people and companies it’s covering. Everyone likes to play so nice that they forget what they’re supposed to be doing in the first place. So some writers are afraid to ask the tough questions, or to criticize what should be criticized, because they’re afraid of backlash from the companies from a support standpoint, from an advertising standpoint or worse, from their own editors who don’t want to piss anyone off. This may not be a blatant problem, but it’s there, unspoken, hanging over everything in the industry.

Make sure to give the full interview a read.

Via: Game Politics