Valnet’s website “TheGamer” was recently revealed to be implementing a new “pay-per-click” system. If the traffic of the article is not high enough, the author may not even get paid! After the news was exposed, not only the game journalist circle was in an uproar, but also the player community began to worry whether game news in the future would accelerate towards “farm culture”.
According to the new contract, which leaked out, writers will be paid per article, roughly $5 per 1,000 clicks, and editors will be paid $3. The point is, if the article does not reach the minimum traffic threshold, the author may not receive payment directly.
Gaming news may look more like YouTube thumbnails in the future
When income is directly tied to clicks, the media will naturally begin to pursue more exaggerated and emotional content. Players have complained on Reddit, and we may see more news in the future that only turns out to be nothing at all. What’s more, gaming media has been having a hard time in recent years, with layoffs, site closures, and plummeting advertising revenue. Many established media have either collapsed or turned into SEO factory models. Now adding “no traffic, no salary” is tantamount to forcing reporters to go in the direction of traffic garbage.
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To some extent, this incident is also a microcosm of the entire Internet ecosystem. When platforms, ads, and algorithms all reward high-click content, the media will eventually begin to transform. But if every piece of news relies on emotional blackmail and exaggerated headlines to survive, then the entire game news circle may really turn into a large-scale mental pollution zone.