Press X to Skip Bad Journalism: How Gaming Media Lost the Plot
Skipping Boss Fights: The Final Boss of Gaming Journalism Is Gaming Itself
Remember when beating a tough boss felt like an achievement instead of a hate crime?
Well, according to Kotaku’s John Walker, that feeling is sooo 2008. In his latest piece of “I swear I like games, guys,” titled “Could We Be About to Enter a Skippable Boss Fight Utopia”, he excitedly reports that South of Midnight will include a boss skip button.
Yes, a literal “Skip Boss” option, for those who apparently bought the game by accident and are just here for the vibes.
Image Source: imgflip.com
Let that sink in: imagine paying full price for a game, then opting to not actually play the game.
We’ve reached a point where journalists want a “Press X to Not Try” feature—and they’re celebrating it like it’s the Second Coming of Accessibility Jesus.
Spoiler: it’s not about accessibility, it’s about validation for people who want to write about games without actually engaging with them.
John Walker’s celebration of this feature isn’t new either.
Back in 2017, he so boldly penned a real gem titled “Now Ubi’s Opened the Door, Can We Have Our ‘Skip Boss Fight’ Button?”, where he essentially announced to the world that boss fights are scary and mean, and shouldn’t be allowed.
Seven years later, he’s still bravely taking on the final boss of gaming: games that require effort.
So, it struck me, why not just let me skip past them?
Who loses out?
This isn’t just a Kotaku problem—it’s a media-wide disease.
Gaming publications are increasingly staffed by people who have more disdain for gamers than love for gaming.
Why?
Because to them, games are just a platform to push narratives. Not a hobby. Not an art form. Just a stepping stone for clout and social activism.
When Gaming Media Hates Gamers
It’s no conspiracy theory to say a lot of modern games media genuinely hates gamers. Need proof? Here are a few greatest hits:
“‘Gamers’ don’t have to be your audience. Gamers are over,” a 2014 Gamasutra (now Game Developer) piece that basically declared war on its own audience.
“The Disturbing Online Mysogyny of Gamergate has Returned,” from The Guardian, where gamers are lumped in with toxicity by default.
“Gaming’s Toxic Men, Explained” from Polygon, where the entire hobby is treated as a breeding ground for evil.
And then let’s just sprinkle in a little dash of “mad with power” from IGN to go along with it, just for funsies, in the video below from Geeks & Gamers.
Video Source: IGN Exposed – Woke Journo Will Penalize Games for Having Gulf of America | Geeks & Gamers
All of this adds up to a press corps that no longer plays games—they cover them like you’d cover politics or sports you don’t watch.
No wonder Polygon is being gutted, Alyssa Mercante was yeeted out of gaming media (or “left of her own volition” depending on if she’s trying to sue someone or not), and G/O Media is running Kotaku on life support.
You can’t run a media empire when your core demographic is people you despise.
Ouroboros Media: The Snake Eats Its Own Hype
Let’s not pretend these publications are organic, scrappy little blogs anymore.
Kotaku, The Verge, IGN—they’re all mouthpieces for massive corporations like Ziff Davis, G/O Media, and Vox. These conglomerates treat gaming like a commodity, not a culture.
And because they all recycle each other’s takes, it’s one big media ouroboros: an echo chamber that links back to itself endlessly, screaming about imaginary issues like “games are too hard” and “gamers are problematic.”
Here’s the kicker: the gaming industry is expected to hit $330 billion by 2028 according to PwC. That’s a lot of money to be made—so of course corporations want in. But what happens when the loudest voices representing gamers are the ones who hate them?
By 2028, the global video game market will exceed $330 billion
We get what 2024 gave us: flop after flop, infused with messaging that gamers never asked for, shoved into games that should’ve just been fun.
Gamers Woke Up From Woke
Let’s talk about 2024—the year gamers finally said, “No thanks, I’ll take fun over lectures.”
Games like Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, Dustborn, and Concord weren’t just flops; they were flaming disasters.
Why?
Because nobody wants to play propaganda thinly disguised as games. Gamers woke up from woke—and once that happened, the market corrected hard.
Image Source: imgflip.com
Even seemingly small things like the Oblivion Remastered “body type” switch were met with pushback. Instead of male/female character options, we got “Body Type A and B.” Hours later, gamers had already modded the nonsense out.
Because we’re not just sitting back anymore—we’re actively rejecting forced ideology.
Meanwhile, the actual games that respected players? Black Myth: Wukong. Marvel Rivals. Monster Hunter Wilds.
These games weren’t trying to lecture you. They were trying to entertain you.
What a concept.
DEI Games Are Dead On Arrival
The journalists can feel it.
They bet the farm on diversity checkboxes and social justice warrior brownie points, and now they’re watching the house burn. One by one, these mouthpieces are getting laid off, or they’re jumping ship before they’re pushed. And instead of reflecting, they double down—blaming gamers, crying bigotry, and begging for handouts on Ko-fi.
But it’s too late.
The audience is tired of being insulted. Tired of being told they’re the problem for wanting male/female characters. Tired of being called toxic for wanting challenge. Tired of being scolded by people who can’t beat the tutorial.
Image Source: imgflip.com
We’re not going back.
Not to the days when game journalism was a pulpit for moral scolding. Not to the era where criticizing a game’s mechanics was seen as punching down. Not to a time where skipping boss fights was framed as revolutionary instead of ridiculous.
We’re entering a new era—one where the games matter again. Where fun wins. Where woke gets dropkicked into the hellfires of irrelevance, and the only safe space is one where the final boss actually fights back.
Press F to Pay Respects to Bad Journalism
Let them skip their boss fights. Let them write 800-word thinkpieces about accessibility while playing on God Mode (and still probably losing). Let them cry into their pink and blue haired avatars about how hard Cuphead was.
Meanwhile, the rest of us will be gaming.
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ROCKY
May 7, 2025
Imagine being a gaming website that doesnt want to play games