#putoutyourcontrollers

OFFICIAL STATEMENT

Sad news. After the program’s summer break, two of the key presenters of Good Game announced they were leaving to pursue other opportunities.

In light of this major setback, and changes in the way audiences are choosing to get their information about gaming, the ABC has decided to end the long and successful run of the show. We plan to continue Spawn Point in a new format.

We expect to retain all the remaining Good Game team.

The ABC would like to acknowledge the wonderful work of Janet Carr and all of the Good Gamers. Any show that makes it to a 10th birthday is something to be proud of. Good Game pioneered video game TV. Its commitment and innovation has been repeatedly and appropriately awarded. The show has had a tremendous run and plenty of adventures, none of which would have happened without the ongoing love and support of you, the GG community.

Thank you.

 Those two “key presenters” were Hex (co-host of Good Game and Good Game Spawn Point) and Nichboy (host of the daily online show, Good Game Pocket). Neither host had shown any indication about leaving prior to today. All online messaging prior to this sounded like Good Game was looking forward to a big year ahead in 2017. This calls into question the PR statement as to what has really happened. If hosts did leave on their own accord, they can be replaced. There’s no reason to axe 3 shows because of it. There are some indicators that there could be more to this story than we know at this point.

Around the 3rd quarter of 2016 saw the host of Good Game Well Played, Hingers leave. He did have multiple other things on the go though such as stand up comedy, doing fill in shifts on Triple J radio and SBS’s The Feed TV show. The trigger for this leaving however was taking up a job commentating at Riot, creators of the popular eSports game, League of Legends. So at that point there did not seem to be reasons for concern.

Unfortunately though there were more high profile departures from the Good Game team by the end of 2016. Series creator and Executive Producer Janet Carr left. Director of the main Good Game show Ben Shackleford also left, as did production co-ordinator Sam Gordon. Tobias Venus whom had only just started with the team in 2016 was also reportedly let go. It’s hard to tell at this stage but there may be more of the team whom have left or not had contracts renewed.

With all these key staff leaving last year, perhaps that should have been a sign that something was up. The PR statement makes it sound like they just randomly decided to axe 3 shows because two presenters left, which just doesn’t add up. It’s makes more sense that it’s something more to do with the new direction of the ABC is going.

When the Coalition Government took power in 2013, there had been sustained attacks from the Government on the ABC, both culturally, claiming left wing bias and also on a funding front, cutting budget of the national broadcaster. Even when Malcolm Turnbull took over as Prime Minister, whom had previously been a regular friend of the ABC, the pressure against the ABC did not seem to subside much.

The key moment however was when ABC Managing Director Mark Scott was replaced by Michelle Guthrie in mid 2016. Guthrie had formerly worked for Google and the Rupert Murdoch owned News Corp. It is argued that News Corp had much influence in the election of the Coalition Government in 2013 with anti Labor Party newspaper covers such as the infamous “Kick This Mob Out” article. It has been suggested by some that the Coalition would like to privatise the ABC. This caused a lot of backlash and protest from the community, but perhaps recent decisions under Guthrie’s leadership suggests another way of attacking the ABC. Good Game is far from the only show affected. Science show Catalyst was heavily stripped back for 2017, from a regular show to occasional special reports, seeing many staff given the chop. Radio National had a heap of music shows cancelled and conservative commentators taking their place. The ABC also closed down The Drum website, which regularly featured opinion articles. ABC’s chief operating officer, David Pendelton and director of television, Richard Finlayson also recently announced they were leaving the ABC.

One of the reasons supposedly behind changes is the evolving media landscape, reiterated by the line in the official statement “changes in the way audiences are choosing to get their information”. It’s easy to get caught up in buzzwords like “innovation” and “agile”. However if it was true that the new digital media landscape is the reason behind these changes, then why these specific changes? If there’s a show that’s going to understand technology, surely it’s a science show like Catalyst? And coming back to Good Game, it’s literally a show dedicated to technology.

Good Game already had all of it’s shows available on youtube and iView. Good Game Pocket in particular took the similar approach that modern youtubers and twitch streamers take, by providing current daily news and let’s play videos, regularly interacting with it’s audience. So if it’s all about moving with the times, why would you cancel the most innovative show on the ABC?

Good Game originally started in 2006. I would guess I probably started watching around 2008, as at the time the hosts were Bajo and Junglist. Junglist was replaced by Hex under controversial circumstances in 2009. There is of course varying stories behind the reasoning behind this, but the official line from the ABC was that Junglist had been underperforming. Fans of Junglist still to this day, 7 years later suggest Good Game lost it’s hardcore gaming edge with dumping Junglist. Fans of Hex on the other hand praised her presence in helping create a more inclusive gaming community in Australia, with a well known female role model within the industry.

Once Good Game got past that turbulent time, it went from strength to strength. Good Game the main show was for adult gamers. Good Game Spawn Point was created children. In more recent times Good Game Pocket was created to provide regular current content and Good Game Well Played to cover the specialist nature of eSports. Good Game has always had a great mix of quality reviews that could completely change my mind about a game, insightful reports about the game industry and serious issues that affect the culture, all while maintaining a sense of fun and comedy. In the 90s there was a gaming TV show on channel 9 I watched as a kid called The Zone. My rose tinted glasses would tell me that it was great show, but that was so long ago, it’s hard to judge now. Any other gaming show that has featured on mainstream television in Australia has usually been nothing more than an advertorial for games publishers wanted to push.

Not Good Game though. Due to it being produced at the government funded ABC, it was literally part of it’s charter to not be commercial and instead provide unbiased reviews. This no doubt has garnered much respect both from fans and the industry alike. Yes you can not deny the popularity of youtubers and streamers. When people like Pewdiepie have over 50 million subscribers, you can not ignore the fact that at the very least, young people are moving away from traditional TV and getting their fix online instead. But I will argue a few points.

The ABC isn’t a station for young people. It’s for all ages. So even if the younger audience is moving on (though lines at conventions to meet the hosts of Good Game would say otherwise), what about older gamers? The average age of a gamer is 36 nowadays. Gaming isn’t just for kids, but this move by the ABC makes it look like is by only retained the kids version of Good Game. And wasn’t it the kids that are consuming their entertainment online? So why keep the kids show, but ditch the adult show? What about the adult gamers. Perhaps they haven’t moved to online for their quality gaming entertainment fix. So wouldn’t it make sense for the nation’s broadcaster to keep the show that is aimed at them? I’ve seen comments by older gamers saying they will miss the show as they don’t have much time in their lives to seek quality gaming information, and Good Game provided it in a short burst of 30 minutes once a week. I have to agree with this to an extent. Good Game (the main show) is the only TV show I can think of, that I always went out of my way to watch each week when it was broadcasted live. Now this ritual is gone and even less reason to continue to watch free to air TV and Australian content. If you are ditching shows because you are competing with online, then what happens to the ABC in the future?

I would also argue that you can’t compare content created for the internet versus a traditional TV production. There’s a reason there’s a team involved in the production of Good Game as opposed to one person with an internet connection and a webcam. It’s because Good Game had more depth than most video content you find on the internet. Most gaming video content online is people spewing their freestyled opinions on subjects (check out The Geeklee unboxing videos for example!), or simply just playing through a game (sometimes to the detriment of game developers).

You wouldn’t find an in-depth report on mental illness and gaming. Or visiting school kids to discuss the games they developing. This takes research. It tells stories about Australia. It tells stories about gamers. It tells stories about people, which is what the ABC is supposed to be about. This is part of what Good Game provided, which I feel you would rarely find elsewhere. Online has been great for democratizing discussion (I mean hey, look at this very blog), however it has also caused the cheapening of journalism and critiquing, due to the lack of money and the 24/7 news cycle. Now it’s more about whether you can get a great click bait title to get hits rather that quality reporting (as is evidenced by many media organizations downsizing).

So what can I say, it doesn’t make sense logically, but I also have decent suspicions as to why it has happened. All I can say for sure is how much of a positive influence Good Game has on me over the years, and how much I’ve enjoyed it. The Good Game presenters felt like good friends I didn’t personally know. 10 years is a long run in the TV world, especially these days. I just can’t see in this instance, why it had to be the end. Maybe one day it may return if Good Game Spawn Point continues to prosper.

I want to thank all of those involved in Good Game, both past and present for your passion and dedication to gaming and this TV show. It really showed through everything you did. You changed the Australian gaming culture and industry. You provided endless hours of quality content which not only respected the intelligence of gamers of all ages, but created a welcoming, inclusive and accessible environment whether you were a “noob” or a core gamer. It feels ironic that Good Game was at the peak of it’s game, celebrating 10 years and now this happens. I hope those leaving go onto good things, and those remaining can at least keep providing a quality gaming show for the kids of Australia. They deserve it. I just hope adult gamers can have this gap filled by something else of a similar quality in the future.

#putoutyourcontrollers

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