Why I’m dropping my paywall

TL;DR: You can still pay, I just can’t offer you much more than goodwill for it right now.

In this economy?!?

Around this time last year, I ventured out into the great unknown of asking the internet to pay for journalism. Hold up, I’m understating that: videogame journalism. You know, the kind that’s oversaturated on the internet, and chronically undervalued.

I set up an experimental model: New articles would be free to read for all existing subscribers. After a week, they would go behind the paywall. To access my archive, you need to pay. The theory was: This would reward older subscribers, and incentivise new signups. But, that’s not quite how it panned out.

Despite the effort I put into them, interviews, research and, at time, a lot of deep thinking in the shower, older articles now don’t really have a shelf-life as they are gated. I constantly feel the need to unlock them.

As for new paid subscribers who do not know, I did get a few subscribers (typically lawyers and a few game devs) who signed up to read my Explainers (I’m one of the few reporters digging into gaming-related policy issues in Australia). But, most of my backers are family and friends. Or other journalists who believe in my mission of using the funds I raise to support more games journalism at a sustainable rate.

But, there isn’t any real momentum here, and I know why.

The biggest motivator paying for any form of media is (sadly) fear of missing out. Feeling like you are out of the loop, or tangibly worse off, for not being in the know or part of a community. The only reason I’ve got any paying subscribers at all is I’ve primarily tapped into a second motivator: Wanting to support someone because you believe in what they are doing.

There are writers on here that I totally support for that reason as opposed to the first. But you can’t really build something sustainable off the back of that. It’s basically building off philanthropy, and it’s fickle. It’s the first thing to be cut when your circumstances change. And personally: Asking for charity is exhausting. An exchange of equals is so much more satisfying.

Moreover, Substack kind of expects newer writers without or existing following to monetise off those they’ve met here. It feels incredibly icky asking some of this platform’s most prolific games writers, many of whom support my work with likes, comments and shares that I wholly appreciate, to engage in a paid-subscription-go-round, where the only real beneficiary is the Substack itself. Perhaps if Substack did more to support videogames writing, I’d have a different view.

So for Infinite Lives to build to something that does sustain the kind of change I want to see in the videogame media, I need to rethink it. I need to create a separate additional part of it that is tightly gated and valuable. That creates a sense of community. That really serves an audience well, that you would miss if it was cut. Right now, while travelling, I’m not in the position to sustain anything I come up with. Even filing just one story a week can be a challenge.

But here’s the thing: I am in a position to meet others and learn. So that’s what I’ll be doing. Talking to others, hearing their stories about what’s worked and what hasn’t. Asking people who could pay, who want to, what’s actually valuable. Talking to others about what’s worked, what hasn’t and revising from there.

Before you cancel your payment…

So I will be dropping my paywall on my older articles, which erodes the value paid subscribers see. But before you hit unsubscribe, this is what I’ve done with the funds I’ve already received:

• Commissioned three articles from three writers so far. (Slight spoiler, Substack’s gaming community will recognise one of them).

• Paying each $1 AUD per word, for 600 words. This is in a world where writers can be paid as little as $50 USD per article -- some spanning over thousands of words for SEO purposes. As Infinite Lives grows, I want to place upward pressure on this trend and help move games writing towards a living wage.

• I also value writer’s legwork. Unlike many other publications in Australia, I’m paying an advance (50% upfront) and also paying the remainder on acceptance of the finished story, rather than publication. The latter can see writers go months unpaid with some mainstream outlets.

The good news: I have enough to continue doing this, and publishing articles this year. So these practices won’t stop despite not driving for paid subscriber growth. I will keep my paywall running, but it will largely be there for those who want to pay, as opposed to keeping people out of any of my content.

Lastly, I just want to thank everyone who reads me, and single out those who do pay — around 18 of you over the past year. Thank you so much for putting a value to my words, and in turn, making my deeds for other writers possible.

I cannot understate how much penning Infinite Lives has enriched my personal and professional life. I’ve said this to family and friends, but my stint abroad this year would be so much poorer without it. Being an Australian games writer has led to so many opportunities I wouldn’t have otherwise, and I’ve met so many incredible people in the process. It’s rekindled what I loved about journalism in the first place: Being privy to interesting ideas and interesting people.

So where to from here? I’ll keep meeting others, and supporting others however I can. I’ll put my brain to work and come up with a product that will scale, that will be worth something. Despite the name of my stack, there are no cheat codes for genuine growth.

But for now, you can expect continuing regular columns, full unfettered access to my backlog and paid contributions from others where I can manage it.

Thank you for continuing to read Infinite Lives. Don’t worry, it won’t die. It can’t.

True to form, Substack allows you to paywall your content really easily. Removing the paywall from them however, is a manual process that I need to go in and do for each of my 130+ articles. So I’ll be unlocking them gradually over the next month or so. If there’s an article you desperately want to read, reply to this email and I’ll unlock it sooner.

Any thoughts? Let me know in the comments.