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An estimated 21 million Australians play video games, so why is it so hard to find local journalism to provide advice about what is worth your time and money?
Some of the biggest names in the nation's online gaming coverage have shut down in recent years.
These include Good Game in 2016, ScreenPLAY in 2018, Hyper magazine and Game Informer Australia in 2019, and long-running gaming website Kotaku Australia in 2024.
Janet Gaeta, creator and former producer of ABC's Good Game and Good Game: Spawn Point, described the decline as "devastating".
"The global online gaming coverage is still there, but the local connection is just sort of pretty well evaporated, which is desperately sad," Ms Gaeta said.
Janet Gaeta is a creator and former producer of ABC's Good Game and Good Game: Spawn Point. (Supplied: Janet Gaeta)
Ms Gaeta also said independent reporting offered parents a different platform to find reviews about the games their children were playing.
"[The] information to help recognise that game developers use techniques to make their games addictive, understanding this can help manage and reduce problematic tendencies," she said.
"Video gaming is such an enormous area of entertainment, possibly bigger than movies and music combined, and it is worthy of serious analysis."
In June, trade body IGEA (Interactive Games and Entertainment Association) released a report showing Australians spent an estimated $4.4 billion on video games and video-game-related hardware in 2023, a five per cent increase on 2022.
Lack of advertising money affects reporting
A veteran TV producer, Ms Gaeta said time constraints were one of the potential deterrents in the mainstream media's pursuit of games journalism.
"They don't necessarily spend the hours," she said.
"We're talking about potentially 300 hours to get through to the end of a game to actually understand every mechanic in it."
Mark Serrell says YouTube is a competitor to traditional gaming websites. (Supplied: Mark Serrell)
Mark Serrell, editorial director at Choice and former editor of Kotaku Australia, said the landscape had "changed massively" from when he first began.
"Things have gotten more difficult on all fronts," Mr Serrell said
He said he also saw the impact of tech giants like Google and Meta dominating the advertising space.
"The advertising money is being sucked up by these tech duopolies, leaving less for traditional journalism," he said.
The winner of the IT Journalism Award for Game Coverage for five years running said with most traditional gaming websites and magazines now shuttered, the few remaining outlets were finding themselves up against increasing competition from platforms like YouTube.
"Moving online to platforms like YouTube, which creates its own set of problems, algorithm-driven, and the fact YouTubers are not disclosing relationships and that's a problem," he said.
Decline leaves cultural gap
Angharad Yeo is a technology journalist, broadcaster and a former host of ABC Listen's How Games Play Us and ABC TV's Good Game: Spawn Point.
"I think things have been pretty rough for Aussie games journalism for the last couple of years," she said.
"We've seen the shuttering of Kotaku, the juggernaut in Australia. And losing that is a really, really big deal."
Ms Yeo said the decline of Australian reporters telling the stories of local gaming was leaving a cultural gap.
"We have a lot of humour and irreverence in how we approach things, and that's really in line," she said.
"There are amazing games that come out of Australia, like Untitled Goose Game and Cult of the Lamb. If these games don't get coverage, they'll never get off the ground."
Hopes for revival of niche magazines
Ms Gaeta said she was confident new programs would be made.
"Someone will do it … and they'll get the numbers and then everyone will go," she said.
"It worked for us back in the day. Personally, I think it could work again."
Mr Serrell said he believed there would be a "revival" of niche magazines purchased through online subscriptions.
Ms Yeo said she remained hopeful for the future of Australian gaming journalism.
"There'll always continue to be coverage of games because it's something that people love to share," she said.
"And there's so much passion amongst the people that love them."