Like most business ideas on the internet, it all began as a chat thread.
Former Kotaku Australia editor Mark Serrels and fellow journalist Jackson Ryan were discussing the dismal fate of gaming journalism in Australia, spurred on by the closure of Kotaku Australia in 2024. The pair both contributed to the website — Serrels at one point served as its editor — and later worked together directly at CNET Australia. They were well aware of the gaping hole the closure left in Australia’s already receding games journalism industry.
They tossed around ideas for a new platform. Something they could operate within the constraints of their current roles. Serrels runs consumer advocacy group Choice’s editorial division, meanwhile Ryan freelances across both science and videogames journalism. A newsletter? A TikTok channel? A YouTube show? Nothing stuck until the most retro variant of media around came into the conversation: a print magazine.
Over a catch up at a cafe in Western Sydney in January this year, the pair made plans, and more importantly, set deadlines, to launch a new magazine called CONTINUE. It resulted in one of the most explosive media Kickstarter campaigns in Australia to date.
Within a week, CONTINUE had raised over $70,000, well beyond its initial launch goal of $25,000, generating global headlines in the process. Both were shocked and surprised when it initially hit $10,000 within the campaign’s first few hours. The majority — around 60 per cent — of its backers are Australian.
“Watching the numbers go up, the big thing for me was: man, we have a good shot at making the magazine of our dreams here. And that’s what I’m really excited about,” Serrels said.
“Beyond the dollar figure rising, the response from people online; actual developers reaching out, journalists reaching out, random people I haven’t spoken to in ages. Everyone’s really excited about it.”
Ryan, on the other hand, didn’t want to tempt fate. He launched the campaign and went for a jog. It wasn’t until his partner pointed out how quickly the figure was climbing that he took a peek.
“I just started sobbing. I was like, this rules, man. People actually want this. It was really overwhelming,” he said.
“We are literally using the title to ask people: do you want us to continue?” Ryan said.
“Do you want these types of stories told? Do you want this kind of journalism? To have people answer a resounding yes after the last five years of pain is just soul-warming.”
This was not your ordinary gaming journalism moonshot. It has capitalised on the quiet global resurgence in gaming magazines, mainly buoyed by 90s nostalgia and most recently seen by the revival of Game Informer as a print magazine.
In CONTINUE’s instance, Serrels and Ryan’s deep contact books have gone into pulling in some of the local industry’s best and brightest for the first edition, featuring this prominently on the magazine’s Kickstarter page. The crown jewel of this campaign: Jack Kirby Crosby’s artwork, combining elements of Hollow Knight: Silksong, Untitled Goose Game and other key Australian titles, presented as the first magazine’s cover.
Serrels added: “It really illustrates what we’re trying to do here: celebrate Australian games, elevate them, and bring them to a broader audience.”
Magazines aren’t without their challenges
Yet, while their initial excitement persists, the reality of the task is starting to set in, even for two industry veterans who somewhat knew what they were in for.
While the fundraising continues till mid April, the pair’s thoughts have already shifted towards execution of the first magazine. And even with the campaign’s outright headline success, the more Serrels and Ryan interrogate their costs, the more they believe they will need every cent.
They confirmed to Infinite Lives that as it stands at time of interview, with over $60,000 raised, they will still be broadly volunteering their time to get the first product out the door. Several initial contributors have also offered to forgo their fees out of a drive to simply see the product make it to launch ahead of Melbourne International Games Week in October.
In retrospect, the pair agreed the initial $25,000 target was too conservative, due to production costs and a drive to pay contributors fairly — a longstanding pain point in all work relating to games journalism. An initial target of closer to $40,000 would have made more sense.
Beyond this, around $10,000 has been raised directly for the magazine’s second issue, ruling out its use for the first edition. Kickstarter’s 8 per cent platform fee will also reduce the available working capital.
As first mentioned by AdNews, advertising has been ruled out from the first edition too, following a broader trend across gaming journalism upstarts that tend to focus their efforts on reader-supported monetisation.
Though, in a nod to the demand for cut-through for Australian games amongst an ever growing sea of indies released every year, five local studios (Studio Folly, Fuzzy Ghost, Paper House, Ghoulish, Powerhoof) have been granted pro bono slots for 90s-style feature ads for their games in the first magazine.
Other unforeseen costs brought on by contributors to the Kickstarter are now starting to add up too. Shipping was promised as part of several tiers of support for the campaign, and with global oil prices climbing and the lingering prospects of an ongoing war, that may start to balloon.
Some supporters, as part of their donation, made requests for a digital PDF version of the magazine, which also has additional costs and complications. Ryan didn’t rule this out, but insisted: “First and foremost, this is a printed physical magazine. That’s always going to be the goal.”
And given they well exceeded their funding target, a pledged new website is also now part of the equation. Though the pair confirmed that this is more likely set to be a home for longer-form investigative or feature-length gaming content that promotes any future magazines, as opposed to daily news articles.
Open for story pitches
Yet, despite the challenges ahead, the publication is promising to not only champion the local industry, but also surface new writing talent. In addition to launching the Kickstarter, CONTINUE also posted a form for writers to pitch their ideas for consideration, especially for its second magazine.
Serrels confirmed that despite its Australian focus, the site is open to writers from abroad. “We’re trying to revive Australian games media from a printed perspective. If we had a theme, I think it would be something like revival. So that fits nicely with having Australian writers,” he said.
“But definitely, if you have a strong pitch that is Australian-focused or can be made Australian, we’d hear it.”
Several editors contacted by Infinite Lives across the Australian gaming journalism ecosystem welcomed CONTINUE’s success so far; some adding they personally contributed to the Kickstarter too.
Interestingly, its significant success — and inferred demand — hasn’t triggered any broad introspection regarding gaming journalism business models. For those who are reader-supported, such as This Week In Videogames (TWIV), it reaffirmed their current direction.
“CONTINUE and This Week in Videogames share the same ethos in that both shirk the commercial approach and the baggage that comes with it to instead focus on the quality of the work, topics, and product,” TWIV managing editor Edmond Tran said.
“Their swift and well-deserved success shows that there is absolutely an audience for this kind of approach — especially in this day and age, especially with the talent they have on board — and that this audience doesn’t need to be massive to make magic happen.”
Others, however, plan to stay on their course, running their sites as a means to champion under-represented communities in gaming, as a passion project, or working towards a reader-supported cooperative.
Serrels and Ryan, meanwhile, have a huge year ahead of them. Not only working other roles, but also coordinating a massive magazine, putting supporter funds to use. All with the ultimate goal of making CONTINUE a sustainable platform for ongoing long-form games journalism.
Their thesis from that original chat thread — that there’s still a genuine paying demand for high quality games journalism and magazines — proved correct. To an extent that perhaps nobody could have guessed.
A brief disclaimer: I personally have supported CONTINUE financially, and support both Mark and Jackson in what they are pulling together here. It’s fantastic and I’m very excited for it. However, I’ve tried to come at this article journalistically. In that spirit, I’m disclosing my support here so you as the reader can decide whether that’s influenced my ability to tell this story in a balanced way.
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