Newegg.com, a familiar e-shopping destination for PC gamers and tech enthusiasts, today launched a new gaming news site called GameCrate–Newegg’s foray into gaming journalism.
Newegg’s Gamecrate plans to join the likes of Gamespot, IGN, Polygon, etc. to run the gambit of gaming content, such as:
- News & reviews featuring the latest games, consoles, PCs and accessories
- Live coverage of e-Sports events, including editorial and video analysis
- Professional advice and opinions focused on the world of hardware and technology
- Original video content and trailers from the latest games
- Forums for discussion
“We want to be more than a shopping destination for our customers and GameCrate is an innovative addition to our community.”
–Soren Mills, Chief Marketing Officer for Newegg North America.
Also according to Newegg’s press release, “Editorial objectivity is a key component of GameCrate.”
I have to confess a little skepticism toward the notion. Let’s face it—a nasty, snarky review for a product that is sold through Newegg is almost assured to kill/harm sales for said product. That little fact right there tends to taint the reviews (and reviewers) somewhat, either consciously or subconsciously.
And even if reviews are parsed out to more objective freelancers, somewhere at Newegg/Gamecrate there’s probably an editor-type potentially on the hook or under scrutiny. “We just ordered 5000 of these CrapXL gaming mice! Now you want to publish a review that trashes them?!”
Regardless, Newegg is still a great e-commerce site for PC gamers, tech enthusiasts, or just careful shoppers. I’ll be curious to watch the GameCrate launch and see how the fans react.
Maybe I can cajole them into hiring me as a freelancer. I’ll work for motherboards (and CPUs, video cards, power supplies, SSDs…)
PC & Video Gaming Examiner 
It will be interesting to see how they do in the gaming news sphere. You’re right though, objectivity is going to be hard to prove when they stand to make a profit off of good reviews.