My Latest: On Crimson Desert vs. The Gaming Press
An update, a cross-post, and a promise
Hey everyone,
First off, I owe you all an apology. It’s been a minute since the last longform Game & Word piece, and I truly appreciate your patience more than you know. But why has it taken so long? Well, the short version is that I’ve been heads-down getting Spawn Point Marketing (my fractional CMO consultancy for game studios) off the ground, and it’s been eating most of my writing bandwidth.
But the good news is that through this work, I’m still creating content you’ll find interesting… just in a slightly different venue.
Case in point: my latest article just went live on the Spawn Point Marketing Substack, and I wanted to share it here because it sits right at the intersection of both publications.
Crimson Desert Mogged the Gaming Press is a deep dive into what Crimson Desert’s launch (+4 million copies sold, 276K concurrent players on Steam, 82% positive rating) tells us about the widening gulf between the mainstream gaming press and the players they’re supposed to serve.
In the article, I break down the double standards in how critics scored Crimson Desert versus games with identical issues, lay out the case for and against the press as a meaningful driver of game sales in 2026, and close with actionable marketing lessons for indie and AA studios trying to figure out where to invest their limited resources.
If that kind of analysis sounds like your thing, consider subscribing to the Spawn Point Marketing Substack for more game marketing strategy, case studies, and industry breakdowns like this one. It’s a sister publication to Game & Word — the same voice and the same rigor you’ve come to love, just aimed at the business side of making games.
Read the full piece here:
As for Game & Word proper, my next piece will be on divinity and apotheosis in video games, and it’s in the final stretch. I’m applying some finishing touches as we speak. It’ll be worth the wait! (…I hope)
Thank you, sincerely, for sticking around. This newsletter’s readership means a lot to me, and I don’t take your patience for granted.
More soon!
GG,
~Jay