Welcome to Jank

I've been writing about PC games professionally since 2005, a time when popular opinion was that the platform was dying. The popular opinion was wrong, of course. Then and now, PC gaming is where the future is. It's where indie developers and modders are free to experiment, where experimental browser games can rub shoulders with mega-budget blockbusters, and where new genres are born.

Welcome to Jank, a new reader-supported website about PC games.

We're starting this site because we want to do the kind of work that's hard to maintain on a traditional ad-funded games website.

We should know. Jank is founded by Jon Hicks, Brendan Caldwell and me, Graham Smith. Between us, we have nearly 60 years experience writing about games, from running magazines like PC Gamer and Official Xbox Magazine to websites like Rock Paper Shotgun and Eurogamer. We know first-hand that even ad-funded websites with the best of intentions need to constantly chase traffic growth just to maintain stasis. 

You know half of this story already. Browsing the modern web means wrasslin' with notification popups, adverts that cover the articles and follow you down the page, auto-playing videos, affiliate links, sponsored content, and more. 

Perhaps less obvious is the kind of writing that disappears in the process. Articles about new games, niche games, and experimental work don't get traffic, so off they go. Deeply researched columns from subject matter experts don't get traffic, so they’re cut. Not many people read interviews, unless you can get someone to say something controversial and pull it out as a news story, so it’s rarely worth talking to developers about their work. Articles designed purely to entertain with daft jokes, such as diary series, don't deliver numbers at scale no matter how much their readers adore them. 

Even reviews, the traditional bread-and-butter of games journalism, are increasingly squeezed. It would be impossible for even the mightiest of games outlets to review every stone in the quarry, but as the number of games released has climbed into the thousands, some major websites now only manage to review two or three a month. 

We all have friends still working at major websites, and they all do fine work every day, but Jank is our attempt to make space for something more. If you've enjoyed a website like Rock Paper Shotgun over the past twenty years, enough to remember its name, then I think Jank is for you.

This also means we literally can't do it without you.

For the first month, everything we post will be free for everyone. Signing up as a paid member will help to support:

• Ad-free browsing for everyone, forever. (Also no AI, no affiliate links, no auto-playing video...)
• Daily posts, including reviews, features, interviews and some news.
• Regular coverage of indie games, free games and mods from all corners of PC gaming.
• A weekly newsletter.
• Entertaining writing by experts.
• Podcast episodes from our friends Total Playtime, with a Jank podcast launch to come later.
• Access to a private Discord server to talk about PC games with cool pals.

After the first month, some articles will be paywalled. Our aim is to make Jank sustainable for the long-term, while still being open enough that our evangelism of great games can reach as wide an audience as possible.

You can sign-up for free to start commenting and find information on pricing here.

Why is it called Jank?

Being on the cutting edge of videogames means sometimes tumbling over the side into the abyss, then having to reload an old save. We have a soft spot for those kinds of games, from eurojank classics like Boiling Point to the endlessly shareable GIFs of Oblivion NPCs going wrong. Even when jank isn't the cost of developer ambition meeting reality, it's an aesthetic and an experience entirely unique to videogames. If you know games, you know jank.

Who are we?

Jon Hicks is Editorial Director of GamesIndustry.biz. He previously oversaw Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer and the other consumer websites and YouTube channels at Gamer Network, worked on a lot of live events, launched an indie game merchandise line and was global Editor-in-Chief of Official Xbox Magazine. He contributes to Jank in his spare time and doesn't cover anything here that he's covered at work, not least because it would be awkward to make jokes about.

Brendan Caldwell is a former features editor at Rock Paper Shotgun, a sometimes narrative designer, and once even a level designer. He was the host and producer of Hey Lesson, and a former sub-editor on the Guardian's tablet edition. He has written about games for over 15 years and sees no reason to stop now.

Graham Smith is the former editorial director of Rock Paper Shotgun and former editor-in-chief of PC Gamer. He grew up playing Amstrad and Amiga games before becoming obsessed with Half-Life and its community of map makers, modders and fan sites. He hasn’t stopped tinkering with games and computers since and has now been a games journalist for over twenty years.

You can read more about us and about Jank on our About Us page. Or maybe start your journey with us by reading our picks for the best games of the decade so far.