H-Sci-Med-Tech: New posted content
Antúnez De Mayolo Kou on Nieborg and Foxman, 'Mainstreaming and Game Journalism' [Review]
Nieborg, David B.; Foxman, Maxwell. Mainstreaming and Game Journalism. : MIT Press, 2023. viii + 209 pp. $30.00 (paper), ISBN 9780262546287.
Reviewed by
Gabriel Antúnez De Mayolo Kou (University of Wisconsin-La Crosse)
Published on
H-Sci-Med-Tech (September, 2025)
Commissioned by
Penelope K. Hardy (University of Wisconsin-La Crosse)
Printable Version: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showpdf.php?id=62061
Mainstreaming and Game Journalism, written by David B. Nieborg and Maxwell Foxman and published by MIT Press as part of the Playful Thinking series, starts by analyzing an article about the popular video game Fortnite. This strategy puts readers in a position to understand how familiar yet distant they are from the topic of discussion. In cultural discussions, video games seem to be sitting in a corner, unintegrated into the conversations of contemporary culture, even with their visible popularity and success. Nieborg and Foxman recognize that this is not academic oversight but a symptom of the current state of media. By reflecting on how video games have been presented in journalism, from newspaper articles blaming them as a menace to game-focused websites, the authors analyze the tensions and limitations video games face in becoming a mainstream medium. This is a book that historicizes, analyzes, and even presents suggestions to understand the distance between readers and the video games suggested at the beginning of the introduction.
Because of the project’s novelty, the term game journalism can be generalized by specialized academics and even gamers familiar with the culture. Nieborg and Foxman do well in addressing definitions beginning in chapter 1, the introduction: “We will use it [game journalism] as an umbrella term that covers all those who engage in the professional practice of writing and publishing about games” (p. 12). They organize these professionals as institutional journalists, game reviewers, and game critics, whose occupations vary from newspaper writers to streamers. These categories overlap considerably, but it helps the authors to reinforce attention to how writers depict games according to their specific work conditions, or “daily personal battles” (p. 18). As a strategy, this helps explain a visible lack of structure in game journalism. The book also discusses how being “mainstream” requires literacy, ubiquity, and legitimacy, elements that video game journalism does not have. These two definitions of the terms in the title are reflected in the following chapters, to understand the role of the blurriness of the terms in the politics and ideologies of game journalism as a communication field.
The next part of the book is dedicated to historicizing game journalism, with the interest of showing the economic and cultural parameters these writers navigate in. Chapter 2 gives an excellent analysis of video games and media history since the print era. Nieborg and Foxman’s reading is that video game culture, with the passing of the decades, became a masculine subcultural niche: “‘Good’ games went from typically describing well-programmed software to instead referring to content that required adequate ‘gameplay.’ This amorphous concept could only be understood by a ‘real’ gamer, which had become a fixed, gendered identity” (p. 44). Discussions about games as a threat to society, or the cultural legitimacy of some games considered “run-of-the-mill titles,” reinforce this notion. The next chapter focuses on the game journalist’s role, which helps explain the tensions the writers find in breaking down the gaming subculture or even problematizing it. With the absence of specific job requirements, game journalists operate more like “cultural intermediates” or passionate experts of the products (p. 80). Nieborg and Foxman do not romanticize the job; on the contrary, they show how these journalists depend on the limits of consumers and producers for their work, which also affects their confidence as journalists.
The last three chapters focus on the current era, analyzing the trends, limitations, and objectives game journalists face in a society based on algorithms and media platforms. Precariousness is one of the key words in chapter 4, where the authors analyze the features of these new journalists. Since most of them are freelancers in a huge competitive market, which includes all types of digital entertainment, they have difficulty solidifying a stable work field. Chapter 5 reflects why the problems described in the previous chapters are barriers to game journalism becoming mainstream. It is a reflective conclusion in which the authors connect the dots of specialization, precariousness, and lack of sincerity from the media to understand the current state of the field. Finally, the book’s last chapter is a rare instance where the authors offer some solutions and possibilities for the future of game journalism. As they suggest, understanding the future of this work can help to recognize broader trends that affect a “fragmented and niche media environment” (p. 142).
In summary, Mainstreaming and Game Journalism is an introductory book in all senses of the term. It is well written for a general audience and would be an excellent read for anyone interested in the behind-the-scenes of video game culture. For academics and communication specialists, it is a pivotal book on the topic and a starting point for reflecting on mainstream media. It also helps to close the boundaries of video game culture with other cultural studies disciplines; games seem to be consumed but rarely studied academically. As Nieborg and Foxman point out, US academics were vital in constructing a Hollywood film canon with a shared vocabulary. Maybe video game studies will move differently, but it is essential to remember that we are at a starting point.
Citation:
Gabriel Antúnez De Mayolo Kou.
Review of
Nieborg, David B.; Foxman, Maxwell.
Mainstreaming and Game Journalism.
H-Sci-Med-Tech, H-Net Reviews.
September, 2025.
URL:
https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=62061
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
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