This blog’s creator was just a regular guy with interests in gaming and tech when he started running the blog. With time, interest in what he had to say spiked, leading top companies to create deals with him. Although he now regrets the blog’s name, he doesn’t regret sticking with it. Check it out to learn something new about gaming every day.
Main topics covered: Xbox, PlayStation, PC games, VR, reviews, interviews
Built with: WordPress
The main source of income: collaborations, donations, advertising
For anyone with a passion for games getting them for free sounds like a dream, and for myself getting to write about them as well was doubly so. The good news is that anyone can start talking about video games, and in this article, I’ll give you a simple overview of how you can do that and what the process is behind getting review keys for new games! The bad news is that anyone can talk about games. And by that, I mean you face an incredible amount of competition. With the barrier to entry so low, anyone and their grandma’s dog can hurl their opinions into the great void known as the internet.
This may sound obvious but a passion for games is a must. I’m not just talking about playing games for a few hours a day. No, I’m talking about searching through every level of a game for every hidden secret. I mean reading about every new title coming and having a vast knowledge of the old as well. For a reviewer, games are a fundamental part of life, it’s that simple. This comes with an inherent danger, though: it’s very easy to put too much time into playing, writing and talking about videogames. When you take a hobby and try to grow it into something more, the work-life balance becomes a very slippery slope indeed.
And that brings me to one of the most important things to consider: don’t give up your day job. In the early days of writing about games, blogging and Youtube there were people who quit their jobs and jumped headfirst into the new age, and it worked out great for them! These days, though, things are very different and actually making any reasonable sum of money is the exception, not the rule. While it’s tempting to throw everything aside and leap headfirst into talking about games, it’s good to be realistic and realise that you probably won’t make a career out of it. That doesn’t mean you can dream big and chase the goal of quitting your regular job, but be careful. Keep that safe income until you’re confident that you can make it work.
The next is to have the right mentality. Don’t go into the game reviewing business with the single-minded goal of scoring free games, because then you’re writing for the wrong reasons and your work will suffer for it. Far too many gamers get into talking about their hobby because they want free games, instead of doing it because they enjoy it. In the end, review keys are something that can make life easier because you won’t have to spend as much money buying the latest and greatest titles, but they shouldn’t be expected and they certainly are not owed to you.
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