NEW YORK — A new headline on the video game website Kotaku about an upcoming video game delay is reportedly trying a little too hard to be friendly with its reader, according to those familiar with the situation.
“I saw people on Twitter saying that Flight Night 3 got delayed, so I googled it and got this Kotaku headline about it: ‘Uh Oh, Big Yikes Alert, It’s Lookin Like the Flight Night Devs Did an Oopsie and Delayed Their Game’ and it’s like… I’m sorry, do I know you?” said video game fan Cassidy Vickers. “I just feel like this Kotaku headline has a level of familiarity with me that I don’t understand. It would have been cool if it just told me the news without trying to act like we’re buddies.”
“And it’s extra weird because I know that Kotaku had some unfair shit go down with that whole GamerGate controversy back in the day, so I’m not trying to shit-talk it too much, but just because you have past trauma doesn’t mean that I have to be your friend,” Vickers added. “I already have a bunch of friends. Polygon and I have been tight since college, so if their Flight Night delay headline wants to call me ‘amigo’ or some shit, that’s because there’s an established relationship there. But you can’t do that if we just met each other.”
According to new Kotaku editor in chief Patricia Hernandez, the headline style is part of an effort to draw in more readers.
“There are so many places where you can get identical video game news these days, that it’s hard to stand out. Hell, if you’re looking to see if Flight Night 3 got delayed, you’re most likely to find out from a screenshot of an article in a tweet, which was then screenshotted and posted to Reddit,” Hernandez explained. “So in an attempt to stand out, we’ve been trying to make our headlines a little bit friendlier. Instead of simply saying ‘this new game is coming out tomorrow,’ we try to make our headlines a little more ‘hey dawg did ya know this new game is coming out… wait for it… tomorrow?!’”
“We want people to read our headlines and be reminded of their funny friend who took two improv classes before realizing he wasn’t that good at it. We want people to read our video game news and think about how it might ask them to crash on their couch for just a few weeks while it’s in town for a concert,” Hernandez added. “Is it ultimately the exact same story? Sure. But is it a little more fun? Not really, it’s still just video game news. But is it going to drive more clicks? Who knows! The internet is dead.”
As of press time, Kotaku, IGN, Polygon, Escapist, TechRaptor, Niche Gamer, Destructoid, PC Gamer, GameSpot, Rock, Paper, Shotgun, Game Informer, Fanbyte, Digital Trends, Waypoint, 1up, Joystiq, Screw Attack, and many other websites were all vying for your ad view on identical stories stating the new Flight Night 3 release date.