{"id":433,"date":"2024-09-17T23:02:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-17T21:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/heavenstone.net\/jesse\/?p=433"},"modified":"2025-09-17T23:20:57","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T21:20:57","slug":"news-sites-are-betting-on-games-but-are-they-missing-the-bigger-opportunity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/heavenstone.net\/jesse\/news-sites-are-betting-on-games-but-are-they-missing-the-bigger-opportunity\/","title":{"rendered":"News Sites Are Betting on Games\u2014But Are They Missing the Bigger Opportunity?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

American news sites are betting big on video games. But are they just the same old ideas?

The New York Times had an article early in the summer about how news websites are turning to video games to gain subscribers and entice them to come back regularly. They mention newspapers such as The Washington Post, Vox Media, Apple News, as well as tech sites like LinkedIn.

Of course, newspapers have had games as far back as I remember, such as crosswords and puzzles for chess and bridge (apparently the first dates to 1913). Then, as now, the games are predominately word and logic puzzles, which likely fits the desire of readers to have fun while staying in a \u201cbrainy\u201d mode of thinking. The evolution from paper-and-pencil to web-based mobile-friendly video games is pretty straightforward.

From a game designer\u2019s perspective, I see a bigger opportunity here- to create games that intersect with the content of the sites themselves. For me, newspapers are all about learning about what\u2019s happening in the world, as well as the history that lead up to it. Why not lean into that desire to learn, and leverage the journalistic skills of the organizations in the process?

For instance, the dates for the NYTime\u2019s game Flashback are related to the week\u2019s events, which should give avid readers an edge. But that\u2019s an exception- there\u2019s nothing \u201cnewsy\u201d about Wordle or Sudoko. Where are the games about geography, about politics, about film and books and art?

The contrast is clear when you compare the investment these same sites make into podcasts. Each organization offers multiple podcasts to recap the news, dive deeper into certain stories, or expand on \u201clifestyle\u201d topics like cooking or travel. They could do the same with games!

In short, I\u2019d like to see these organizations take games seriously, both as a medium to tell their stories and as a way for players to test their knowledge and participate in a deeper way with the news.

PS: We\u2019ve developed a game called Mixstory that I find more interesting than Flashback, as it is more focused on a particular subject rather than loosely related to the week\u2019s events. But I\u2019m obviously biased 🙂

PPS: Image taken from the NYTimes article, by Igor Bastidas<\/p>\n\n\n\n