Jason Schreier (born May 10, 1987) is a journalist and author who primarily covers the
video game industry
The video game industry encompasses the development, marketing, and monetization of video games. The industry encompasses dozens of job disciplines and thousands of jobs worldwide.
The video game industry has grown from niches to mainstream. , ...
. He worked as a news reporter for ''
Kotaku
''Kotaku'' is a video game website and blog that was originally launched in 2004 as part of the Gawker Media network. Notable former contributors to the site include Luke Smith, Cecilia D'Anastasio, Tim Rogers, and Jason Schreier.
History
...
'' from 2011 to 2020 and was recognized for several
investigative stories, particularly on the
crunch culture within the industry. In April 2020, Schreier joined the technology focus team at ''
Bloomberg News
Bloomberg News (originally Bloomberg Business News) is an international news agency headquartered in New York City and a division of Bloomberg L.P. Content produced by Bloomberg News is disseminated through Bloomberg Terminals, Bloomberg Televi ...
''.
Early life
Schreier attended the
Gallatin School of Individualized Study
The Gallatin School of Individualized Study (commonly referred to as Gallatin) is a small interdisciplinary college within New York University (NYU). Students at Gallatin design an interdisciplinary program that meets their specific interests a ...
at
NYU
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, the ...
, graduating with a degree in writing in 2009.
Career
Early career
Schreier initially worked as a freelance journalist covering local news stories. He worked for ''
Wired
''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San Fra ...
'' from 2010 to 2012, covering video games and related technology.
Other freelance work included a weekly column at ''
Joystiq
''Joystiq'' was a video gaming blog founded in June 2004 as part of the Weblogs, Inc. family of weblogs, now owned by AOL. It was AOL's primary video game blog, with sister blogs dealing with MMORPG gaming in general and the popular MMORPG ''W ...
'' on
Japanese role-playing games
While the early history and distinctive traits of role-playing video games (RPGs) in East Asia come Video games in Japan, from Japan, many have also been Video games in South Korea, developed in South Korea and Video games in China, in China. ...
, and works published at ''
Kill Screen
''Kill Screen'' (stylized as ''KILL SCREEN'') was a print and online magazine founded in 2009 by Jamin Warren and Chris Dahlen and owned by Kill Screen Media, Inc. It focused on video games and culture, but also included articles based on ent ...
'', ''
Edge
Edge or EDGE may refer to:
Technology Computing
* Edge computing, a network load-balancing system
* Edge device, an entry point to a computer network
* Adobe Edge, a graphical development application
* Microsoft Edge, a web browser developed by ...
'', ''
Eurogamer
''Eurogamer'' is a British video game journalism website launched in 1999 and owned by alongside formed company Gamer Network. Its editor-in-chief is Martin Robinson.
Since 2008, it is known for the formerly eponymous games trade fair EGX ...
'', ''
G4TV
G4 (also known as G4TV) was an American pay television and digital network owned by Comcast Spectacor that primarily focused on video games.
The network was originally owned by G4 Media, a joint venture between the NBCUniversal Cable division ...
'', ''
GamesRadar
''GamesRadar+'' (formerly ''GamesRadar'') is an entertainment website for video game-related news, previews, and reviews. It is owned by Future plc. In late 2014, Future Publishing-owned sites ''Total Film'', '' SFX'', ''Edge'' and '' Computer ...
'', and ''
Paste''.
At ''Kotaku''
Around 2011, Schreier was contacted by Stephen Totilo, the editor-in-chief for the website ''
Kotaku
''Kotaku'' is a video game website and blog that was originally launched in 2004 as part of the Gawker Media network. Notable former contributors to the site include Luke Smith, Cecilia D'Anastasio, Tim Rogers, and Jason Schreier.
History
...
'', offering him a position as a full-time news reporter. ''Kotaku'' had been founded in 2004 as the video game front under
Gawker Media
Gawker Media LLC (formerly Blogwire, Inc. and Gawker Media, Inc.) was an American Online and offline, online Mass media, media company and Link farm#Blog network, blog network. It was founded by Nick Denton in October 2003 as Blogwire, and was ba ...
.
Schreier accepted the position, which he started around the same time.
He was promoted to news editor for the site prior to his departure.
Besides standard reporting on video game news, Schreier gained an early reputation at ''Kotaku'' for getting stories from developers about their inside processes for various titles. Schreier found common stories of excessive use of "
crunch time" by some developers and the use of excessive overtime over multiple weeks and months to make sure a video game was completed by a target date. While crunch time had been identified before in larger firms from other sources, such as at
Rockstar Games
Rockstar Games, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in New York City. The company was established in December 1998 as a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive, using the assets Take-Two had previously acquired from BMG Interactive. Foun ...
, Schreier's reporting identified crunch also tended to persist at smaller studios.
In 2017, Schreier wrote a book about the video game creation process titled ''Blood, Sweat, and Pixels: The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories Behind How Video Games Are Made''.
In addition to working conditions, Schreier wrote stories on the development histories of troubled or canceled video games, typically through reporting from anonymized workers. His articles included the stumbling blocks that
Bungie
Bungie, Inc. is an American video game company based in Bellevue, Washington. It is a studio owned by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The company was established in May 1991 by Alex Seropian, who later brought in programmer Jason Jones (progr ...
overcame for ''
Destiny
Destiny, sometimes referred to as fate (from Latin ''fatum'' "decree, prediction, destiny, fate"), is a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual.
Fate
Although often ...
'', for the planned ''
Star Wars
''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...
'' game ''
Project Ragtag
''Project Ragtag'' was a codename for an untitled third-person action-adventure video game set within the '' Star Wars'' universe. It had been under development by Visceral Games since around 2013 and set to be published by Electronic Arts befor ...
'' at
Visceral Games
Visceral Games (formerly EA Redwood Shores) was an American video game developer studio owned by Electronic Arts. The studio is known for the ''Dead Space'' series.
History EA Redwood Shores (1998–2009)
In 1998, Electronic Arts (EA) moved fr ...
that eventually led to the studio's closure, and the difficulties behind
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the d ...
's and
BioWare
BioWare is a Canadian video game developer based in Edmonton, Alberta. It was founded in 1995 by newly graduated Doctor of Medicine, medical doctors Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk and Augustine Yip, alongside Trent Oster, Brent Oster, and Marcel Zes ...
's ''
Anthem
An anthem is a musical composition of celebration, usually used as a symbol for a distinct group, particularly the national anthems of countries. Originally, and in music theory and religious contexts, it also refers more particularly to short ...
''.
Schreier's reporting on
Bethesda Softworks
Bethesda Softworks LLC is an American video game publisher based in Rockville, Maryland. The company was founded by Christopher Weaver in 1986 as a division of Media Technology Limited, and in 1999 became a subsidiary of ZeniMax Media. In its ...
, such his 2013 story on the cancellation of ''
Prey 2
''Prey 2'' was a cancelled first-person shooter video game to be published by Bethesda Softworks and planned as a sequel to the 2006 video game ''Prey''.
Though ''Prey 2'' was announced by 3D Realms in 2006, a few months after release of the fir ...
'' that relayed internal communications he had been provided, is believed to have led Bethesda to "blacklist" ''Kotaku'', denying the site any pre-release copies of their games or interviews at trade events since 2015.
Schreier and
Hello Games
Hello Games Ltd is a British video game company based in Guildford, Surrey. The company was founded by Sean Murray, Grant Duncan, Ryan Doyle and David Ream in February 2008 and has developed the ''Joe Danger'' series, ''No Man's Sky'', and '' T ...
founder Sean Murray received death threats after Schreier reported on inside news that the highly anticipated ''
No Man's Sky
''No Man's Sky'' is an action-adventure survival game developed and published by Hello Games. It was released worldwide for the PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Windows in August 2016, for Xbox One in July 2018, for the PlayStation 5 and Xb ...
'' from Hello Games would be delayed by a few months.
As a result of the ''
Bollea v. Gawker
''Bollea v. Gawker'' was a lawsuit filed in 2013 in the Circuit Court of the Sixth Judicial Circuit in and for Pinellas County, Florida, delivering a verdict on March 18, 2016. In the suit, Terry Gene Bollea, known professionally as Hulk Hoga ...
'' lawsuit, the Gawker Network including ''Kotaku'' underwent a series of ownership changes after 2016, eventually falling under the
G/O Media
G/O Media Inc. is an American media holding company that runs ''Gizmodo'', '' Kotaku'', ''Jalopnik'', ''Deadspin'', '' Lifehacker'', ''Jezebel'', ''The Root'', ''The A.V. Club'', ''The Takeout'', ''The Onion'', and ''The Inventory''.
History ...
family in 2019. The new G/O management was more demanding of what content the sites carried, which resulted in a major incident at ''
Deadspin
''Deadspin'' is a sports blog founded by Will Leitch in 2005 and based in Chicago. Previously owned by Gawker Media and Univision Communications, it is currently owned by G/O Media.
''Deadspin'' posted daily previews, recaps, and commentaries o ...
'', the network's sports-oriented site, in October 2019 leading to the firing of its editor in chief and subsequent quitting of most of the remaining editorial staff.
This propagated across the other former Gawker sites, including ''Kotaku''. Schreier left Kotaku in April 2020, specifically identifying issues with G/O Media management and the October 2019 ''Deadspin'' issue as his reasons for leaving.
Schreier said of his reason for departure, "I’ve been through a lot of cataclysmic shifts because it always felt like, through it all, we were guided by people who always cared about journalism, and unfortunately, I'm not sure that’s the case anymore."
At ''Bloomberg News''
Shortly after leaving ''Kotaku'', Schreier took a position as reporter at ''
Bloomberg News
Bloomberg News (originally Bloomberg Business News) is an international news agency headquartered in New York City and a division of Bloomberg L.P. Content produced by Bloomberg News is disseminated through Bloomberg Terminals, Bloomberg Televi ...
'' in April 2020. He still focuses on the video game industry and coverage of game development.
While at ''Bloomberg'', Schreier wrote his second book, ''Press Reset: Ruin and Recovery in the Video Game Industry'', related to the volatility of the video game industry, which was released in May 2021. The book was a ''New York Times'' bestseller for non-fiction during the week of May 30.
Podcasts
Schreier is one of the co-hosts of the
podcast
A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...
''Triple Click'' with former ''Kotaku'' co-workers Kirk Hamilton and Maddy Myers. It is hosted on the
Maximum Fun
Maximum Fun is an independent podcast and radio show production organization founded and run by Jesse Thorn. The organization originated with Thorn's college radio show '' The Sound of Young America'' which continued in an adapted format and wit ...
network.
Personal life
Schreier lives in the New York City area.
He is
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
.
On June 24, 2018, Schreier married Amanda Coleman, a litigation associate at
Cravath, Swaine & Moore
Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP (known as Cravath) is an American white-shoe law firm with its headquarters in New York City, and an additional office in London. The firm is known for its complex and high profile litigation and mergers & acquisiti ...
, whom he had met at NYU.
Bibliography
*
*
References
External links
Personal home page*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schreier, Jason
1987 births
21st-century American Jews
American critics
American male journalists
Jewish American journalists
Living people
New York University alumni
Video game critics