A season centered around a miraculous birth is in full swing, so it’s only fitting that a couple weeks ago, something verging on impossible happened: A company announced a new video game website. No, that’s not a typo; no, the company did not shutter the website, as tends to be the case with alarming frequency these days. But there’s a catch: Restart, a publication that billed itself as “independent,” is sponsored by Walmart.
When a critical mass of video game journalists and industry figures took notice of Restart last week, they immediately voiced opposition to that label. Walmart, after all, is about as far from independent as one can get. This seeming contradiction suffused the site’s identity. Initially, a banner at the top of the site read “Independent gaming news powered by Walmart,” but it was later changed to “Triple-I gaming news powered by Walmart.” (This, editor-in-chief Brandy Berthelson told Aftermath, was both an acknowledgement of the criticism and a nod to Dave The Diver, which similarly took flack for embracing an indie aesthetic while owing its existence to a corporate benefactor.)
Despite that bit of front-and-center branding, Restart staff attempted to distance themselves from Walmart’s influence out the gate.
“Restart is powered by Walmart, but Restart operates as an independent site,” editor-in-chief Brandy Berthelson wrote in a post introducing the site. “When we mention a game, we'll provide purchase links that will take you to Walmart using a partner tracking code. This link provides us with 0% of the sale if you decide to buy the product, but it does help Walmart see exactly how customers arrived at the product. Walmart doesn't influence our editorial direction. We hope you can see this gives us zero incentive to provide biased review scores or other information about a game.”
I'd just rather them position themselves as that explicitly – an entertainment venture that might get some access because they're a marketing arm – rather than something 'independent.'
This disclaimer only led to more questions: Why stress that you’re not getting affiliate dollars from Walmart when the company is still ultimately footing the bills? How do you avoid a conflict of interest when, as stated, Restart is at its most beneficial to Walmart when people are clicking affiliate links and generating data? What, with that in mind, would incentivize you to ever publish negative reviews? And above all else, why suggest to prospective readers that you are “the video game industry’s latest (and in our humble opinion, greatest) independent source for gaming analysis and entertainment” when your corporate connection is clear as day?
John Warren, who headed up Tencent-owned gaming publication Fanbyte until the mega-corporation laid off nearly all its staff in 2022, can’t help but feel skeptical.
"While [Restart's] arrangement is different than Fanbyte's, in which Tencent directly owned and ultimately controlled the fate of the site, I still see parallels that tell me the positioning of Restart as ‘independent’ is extremely odd,” Warren told Aftermath. “Independent how? I'm not going to go to Restart for hard-hitting investigations or opinions because they've essentially stated we shouldn't expect it. ... That's actually totally fine! I'd just rather them position themselves as that explicitly – an entertainment venture that might get some access because they're a marketing arm – rather than something 'independent.'"
Waters were further muddied by the discovery that Restart is the product of Moonrock, a strategy and content marketing agency – something which, at first blush, would not seem to share the same goals as a more traditional news publisher. But those who run Restart – Berthelson and two other full-time writers, as well as editorial director John Benyamine and managing editor John Gaudiosi – have deep roots in games journalism, and they want to build a publication that serves readers, not just Walmart.
“When I left Gamer Network (which I loved), I went into content marketing with another company and, eventually, my partner and I started Moonrock. We wanted to use our now-50+ years of collective experience to help connect brands to gamers, and we decided we wanted to do that for brands that already understood the importance of gaming," Benyamine, who got his start at Nintendojo and went on to work at places like GameDaily, AOL Games, Joystiq, and the Gamer Network, told Aftermath. "There was also serendipity, as the same layoffs that prompted Moonrock’s creation also meant some amazing writers lost their jobs. We worked our asses off to make this natural connection happen. Talented, passionate writers who can create great content for an audience who will hopefully buy and preorder their games from the retailer funding the effort.”
As for why Benyamine chose not to go the wholly independent route, he’s seen – and worked at – too many sites that have crashed and burned while charting their own course.
“While launching Restart without a sponsor may be looked at as preferable, there’s the danger of getting into the trap of chasing traffic, making a poor user experience through more and more ads, and giving more work to fewer staff to make ends meet,” he said. “We weren’t interested in following the same path that has proven very difficult and sometimes fatal to some amazing publications."
But big money backers – even those who “get it,” as Benyamine insists Walmart does – don’t always make for lasting foundations. Restart’s closest well-known analog, Game Informer, recently folded despite a decades-long lifeline from GameStop, and major publications like The Washington Post (disclosure: I worked there) and Rolling Stone have abandoned gaming verticals at various points.
We weren’t interested in following the same path that has proven very difficult and sometimes fatal to some amazing publications.
Restart’s staff isn’t harboring any delusions that Walmart will provide unconditional support.
“We would be naïve to think Restart can last forever if it underperforms, but thus far, through the building of the site and our few months in soft-launch, Walmart has been nothing but a supportive partner,” Berthelson told Aftermath. “‘Why would Walmart continue to fund Restart if the site underperforms?’ is a bridge we would cross if and when we had to cross it, but it helps that we – the Restart team at Moonrock – have our own standards and metrics for success we hold ourselves to, rather than being beholden to a list of [key performance indicators] from Walmart. The editorial team isn’t even aware of how poor the numbers would have to be before Walmart would consider pulling its funding.”
When it comes to affiliate links, Walmart’s main horse in this race, the matter is a little more complicated. In short, readers don’t have to click them, but it would be good if they did, and that would almost certainly please Walmart. Still, Berthelson believes that if she and her team create something worthwhile, the rest will come.
“If we can build a community of passionate gamers by sharing our opinions and recommendations, then of course we hope those readers will look to support our work by clicking the affiliate links we offer, and they will always have a choice regarding whether or not to do so,” Bertheleson said. “We can’t and would never force people to click our affiliate links or make a purchase after clicking them, but we will have those links there if they’re interested. Restart doesn’t receive any money when someone uses an affiliate link and buys a product on Walmart’s website. The links will simply tell Walmart where the shopper came from and will help Walmart see whether or not the site is achieving its goal of community building and outreach."
Berthelson added that Restart won’t shy away from negative reviews. Though the site’s review system only includes three badges – Required, Recommended, and Respectable – games that miss the mark won’t be awarded with any badge. She offered a (gently) critical review of Funko Fusion as an example.
“The three review badges are an alternative to having a 5- or 10-point scale, or a star-based scale, and is similar to how other sites may use word-based quality descriptors,” she said. “We took some inspiration from Eurogamer’s previous scoring system for that. If a game receives a negative review, it simply doesn’t receive a badge."
We would be naïve to think Restart can last forever if it underperforms, but thus far ... Walmart has been nothing but a supportive partner.
If you’ve made it this far and have come to the conclusion that Restart isn’t especially well equipped to challenge an industry prone to exploiting workers and audiences alike, you are correct. But as with spiritual forebears like Game Informer – or Walmart’s own in-store magazine, GameCenter, which ran until 2023 – that’s not really the goal.
“We know sites like Aftermath are better equipped for hard-hitting journalism,” said Benyamine. “Our focus is a bit simpler in covering and celebrating this passion of ours from a consumer perspective.”
Freelancers like Jason Fanelli also understand the assignment.
“From my experience, they have news pieces handled in-house for the most part, so whenever I pitch them, it would be for a review or preview opportunity. The occasional feature might play there too, but admittedly I pitch elsewhere for pieces like that,” Fanelli, who’s been writing about video games for 16 years and who has contributed to Restart, told Aftermath. “I'd agree that Restart isn't looking to do what [Jason] Schreier is doing, and that their content is more focused on the games themselves: news, reviews, previews, etc. I could be wrong, of course, and they could be working on the biggest exposé the industry has ever seen as we speak, but I wouldn't hold my breath.”
This gets to the core of the conflict around Restart: On one hand, a publication like this is far from unprecedented; just speaking from a personal standpoint, I grew up obsessively poring over Game Informer and its lesser-known Electronics Boutique equivalent GMR while, especially as I got older, recognizing that they existed in part to help sell video games. But while video game magazines and websites have always ridden various cascading waves of marketing hype, there used to be alternatives. Now publications fold on what feels like a regular basis, and traffic/SEO mandates have big sites cozying up more and more closely to corporate interests.
With a growing number of journalists out of work, companies like Epic, Ubisoft, and Sony have also launched their own editorial efforts that use a similar voice and draw on some of the same talent primarily to sell games. Independent sites are few and far between because – per the object lesson we’ve provided – it’s really hard to do this kind of thing in the current landscape. That tension, perhaps more than Restart’s existence in a vacuum, has left a bad taste in the mouths of some industry figures.
Walmart money could fund valuable journalism, but it never will. That's the truth that's so frustrating for me and many others as it relates to Restart.
"My issue is, no one seems to want to fund investigations, reporting, and criticism,” said Warren. “Journalism is obviously in a terrible place everywhere, but games journalism is especially anemic right now. With all respect to the staff of Restart, I didn't recognize any of them as established journalists known for the kind of reporting that is being underfunded right now. Walmart money could fund valuable journalism, but it never will. That's the truth that's so frustrating for me and many others as it relates to Restart."
Does the video game industry at large need another Restart-shaped publication when the internet is already inundated with enthusiast sites, sludge farms, and content creators? No, probably not. But with walls closing in on writers of all stripes, the site offers a fresh source of income for those still trying to hack it atop a rapidly-melting ice floe. That’s not nothing, especially considering the state of things elsewhere.
"As a freelancer, my options for pitching features is a very small list – and most of the time I don’t even get a response. My options for pitching features that pay well? It’s like two places," writer, author, and friend of Aftermath Aidan Moher said on Bluesky. "So, honestly, Restart will go on my list and its turn-order placement will be dictated by pay rate."
“The funding from Walmart, coupled with Moonrock's other work, does scream corporate influence, and the skepticism is understandable. However, in my working with them, it seemed above board,” said Fanelli. “Working with them on the pieces they commissioned was a respectful experience where I was given the freedom to write however I want, Brandy's editing process was quick and simple, and the rates were solid. I never felt limited by them while I worked for them; they trusted me, and I wrote what I wanted to write. I enjoyed writing for them, and I'd do it again if the opportunity arose.”
