Washington Post’s Launcher “Exceeded Traffic Expectations”, Yet Shutdown Followed: Nathan Grayson Shares Insight

The Washington Post’s gaming section, Launcher, was a surprising shutdown in January 2023. Despite exceeding traffic goals every quarter, Launcher got the axe. In a recent interview with Spiel Times, Aftermath’s Nathan Grayson, who previously wrote for Launcher, shed light on the possible reasons behind this baffling decision.

A Vertical Cut Short

Grayson believes that The Washington Post’s decision to discontinue Launcher was part of a larger “strategy” to close down any verticals or subsidiary websites that did not belong to the main publication. Grayson maintains that the decision was misguided. He argued that the Launcher had the youngest audience of all The Post’s sections—a demographic that the publication was making a concerted effort to reach.

“They are just like, (paraphrasing) “Well, we’re shutting that down then. Irrespective of performance, irrespective of how many people are reading these sub-sites, we’re just going to cut them.” And that’s what they did.

I still bet that someday The Washington Post is going to be like, “Yeah, we’re covering video games!” Like it’s not a thing they already tried. It’ll be really funny when that day comes.”
– Nathan Grayson, Aftermath Co-Founder

“It was, in my opinion, a very bad decision,” Grayson stated, emphasizing that Launcher consistently surpassed traffic targets every quarter. The closure and “buyouts” or layoffs, suggest financial woes at The Post, but Grayson says they weren’t transparent.

“They never said anything publicly, but they didn’t even say anything directly to us. The reason, at least as I understand, why The Washington Post closed Launcher is because they decided they didn’t want to have any more verticals.”
– Nathan Grayson, Aftermath Co-Founder

The Washington Post has had a few instances of layoffs and buyouts in recent years:

• January 2023: The Post closed its kidsPost section and games vertical Launcher, dismissed 20 newsroom jobs, and left 30 available positions unfilled.
• October 2023: The Post declared it would implement ‘voluntary buyouts’ to relieve 240 positions.
  
• December 2023: Through voluntary buyouts, The Post reportedly successfully reduced its staff and prevented further layoffs for the time being.

The Aftermath

Although Launcher’s closure created a gap in gaming journalism, it opened doors for smaller and up-and-coming companies. Grayson, along with other former gaming journalists, founded Aftermath, a subscription-based website dedicated to in-depth reporting and analysis of the gaming industry.

With more than 3,400 subscribers, Aftermath demonstrates a demand for independent gaming journalism. Reaching 5,000 subscribers will enable the team to pay themselves with comfortable full-time incomes, which is Grayson’s target. The popularity of Aftermath shows that, despite the difficulties faced by traditional media, there is still a sizable market for excellent gaming journalism—especially when it is unaffiliated with large corporations.

“The sweet spot for real would be 5,000 subscribers. If we have that much, then we could pay ourselves such that we would not be worried about things like, “Oh, I can’t afford anything, or I have to live in a really tiny apartment.”
– Nathan Grayson, Aftermath Co-Founder

Independent Journalism

Although Aftermath is doing well, Grayson recognizes the difficulties of operating an independent media organization, especially in New York, where living expenses are very costly. To relieve some of the financial pressure, he intends to reduce the size of his living space.

“..my plan at that point is to massively downsize. So, move into either a small studio apartment or get a bunch of roommates and try to cut like $1,000 or $2,000 out of my monthly rent. Because right now, I’m just draining my savings.”
– Nathan Grayson, Aftermath Co-Founder

Despite the hurdles, Grayson remains optimistic about independent game journalism’s future. He envisions a thriving Aftermath that can support new talent and ensure quality game reporting continues to thrive.

Nathan Grayson has more than ten years of experience covering video games, and his passion for the field is clear from his work at the Washington Post, Kotaku, PC Gamer, and Rock Paper Shotgun.

For Nathan Grayson’s complete insights on journalism and the gaming industry, read the full interview here.

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