Interview: Jason Stettner, Founder of Gamerheadquarters

We had a chat with Jason Stettner Founder of Gamerheadquarters, a site dedicated mostly to reviews, previews, articles, opinions and videos about the gaming industry. Aside from purely gaming, the site has grown with a look at the current culture surrounding the industry with various events across North American. Additional growth went towards film-based content from theatrical to streamed releases along with some small coverage for technology-based products. It was fun speaking with Jason and let’s hear what he has to say about the video game industry.

 

NoobFeed: Tell us a little about yourself and your background.

Jason Stettner: I’m Canadian, a freelance web developer and mostly nowadays a game and movie critic. This is through my site Gamerheadquarters, and I also create video content on YouTube under Skycaptin5lol. 

 

NoobFeed: Tell us why you decided to establish Gamerheadquartersand how is it going for you so far?

Jason Stettner: I was always interested in games, and rating them. I decided I wanted to create a site based around the idea as it would be good for learning about web development and to get more into the overall gaming space in general. It is going well. I get many opportunities through it and am able to work on multiple industries for coverage. It continues to grow, with some substantial view jumps month over month in the past year which has been exciting to witness and work towards.

 

NoobFeed: What in gaming excites you the most? Outside of work, how much time do you spend playing video games in an average week?

Jason Stettner: At this point, experiencing something bizarre and different. I’ve played so many games that some titles feel stale right from the get go. They’re all different, but it can feel generally repetitive after you’ve played so many similar games. Outside of general work on games and such, I allocate about two hours a night for casual gaming as a cool down from playing other games.

 

NoobFeed: What experiences would you personally like video games to deliver in the future?

Jason Stettner: More dynamic, realistic worlds that contain deeper narratives. I’m really into narrative driven experiences, and I find that games can be a great way to tell story if it’s done correctly. The Telltale titles were particularly appealing to me as they were a different way to present a story, and I thought it was a nice break from other gaming titles. This was built upon even further with the Life is Strange seasons and I’d like to see more from that type of game. Going past that, with the extra power coming in the next generation we should be seeing increased realism, and that goes back to my first note. I don’t necessarily want ridiculously large worlds, but ones that carry more depth and interaction within them. A hand crafted style, unless the procedural generation systems become more dynamic.

 

NoobFeed: As theManaging Editor of a gaming website andYouTube personality, what trends have you noticed in the gaming industry recently? Do you support where it’s heading?

Jason Stettner: The battle royale genre is still hot right now, I do see that cooling off over the next couple years as it’s definitely saturated at this point. You can look at the popular “horde” mode from the last generation as an example. It seems like we’re going to continue to see shorter console upgrade iterations going forward. Not necessarily short generations, but just bumps every couple years. The mobile space feels about the same, it continues its growth towards parity with consoles/PC in terms of features and cross-play options which is good. Basically, the idea that titles such as Fortnite or Minecraft, feel the same there as they do on other platforms. There are of course typical creations for just mobile devices, and that will likely continue. When it comes to the professional side of things it seems like livestream events from publishers will grow more over time. The companies are finding that large scale events are less important, and you’re seeing that with the smaller E3 as publishers host things around the show instead of being right there. That is also present at other similar events. E3 2020 will be a big deal for that show, as to whether it is practical to continue media wise instead of just being a fan event. Press attendance is down for the show greatly from what I’ve heard and after the list leaking of media it’ll likely shrink further going forward press/influencer wise.

 

NoobFeed: Esports focuses on its social aspect a lot these days. Do you think there’s a lot more potential in terms of the social aspect of Esports than there currently is?

Jason Stettner: eSports will continue to grow and become more popular over time. The younger generations will find that it becomes more important in their social circles and I see that only growing. We’re already seeing eSports gaining visibility in terms of its presence. Whether that’s being streamed online, showcased in sports traditional environments such as bars or even on old school TV. I could see eSports becoming more local in most cities, and circuits growing in their scale.

 

NoobFeed: What is the most challenging part of writing, especially when it comes to editorials and reviews?

Jason Stettner: Spending time, it’s time consuming to write content and a good mood helps a lot. It really comes down to there being finite time and trying to find a right balance. There are so many games being released constantly and there’s always something new to be playing. Mix that with regular lively activities, and it can be difficult to balance in a healthy way.

 

NoobFeed: Have you ever gone above and beyond the "call of duty" for publishing any piece?

Jason Stettner: Not quite sure on this one, sometimes I inquire with my contacts in regards to confirming certain stories. I’ve never really had to go out of my way to get any piece published. The most investigative I’ve gotten is when I chat with developers casually at events. It’s a good way to get interesting details. 

 

NoobFeed: Have you ever received negative feedback on a piece of writing? What was your response?

Jason Stettner: When you’re creating any sort of content for online distribution there will always be negative reactions. Not everything will be positively received, and that’s part of the business. It’s best to just ignore it and maybe reflect upon it later if it really bothers you. After working on content on YouTube for years I see fairly hostile comments everyday so I’m somewhat numb to any of it. Just an eye roll, and a delete mostly. That is, if it’s bad enough to need to be deleted. Sometimes a witty comment is a good response, or just to ignore it.

 

NoobFeed: Can you tell us about a time when you developed your own way of doing things other than following others?

Jason Stettner: I suppose in regards to article topics, or even video titling. When you’re in such a saturated market you need to develop new ways to showcase content. Different ways to present it as you’re competing for views. Whether that’s finding just the right naming system for videos so that they perform better with SEO. Perhaps that’s also finding things to cover in gaming that other sites are neglecting. Just some general ideas around that.

 

NoobFeed: As a Journalist, you get a lot of developers trying to get your attention and to play their games, but they may not know the best ways. Do you have any tips that you can impart to make their pitches towards you and other journalists more effective?

Jason Stettner: I’m quite fortunate to be at a point where I have access to almost any of the game releases. Again going back to the point where I have finite time, games need to stand out or be presented to me in an interesting way. Something that’s different, or new. In general, emails should be to the point right away with additional information below it. Is your game available to review now? Where’s the presskit so I can see what it looks like? What platforms is it on/will be on? I may not be a massive name industry wise, but I still have to sort through hundreds of emails daily if that gives an idea of the competition one would have sending me something.

 

NoobFeed: Why is it important for gamers to maintain a healthy lifestyle? What advice would you have for a gamer looking to take the first steps towards a healthier lifestyle?

Jason Stettner: A healthy lifestyle is important because you’ll likely last longer in terms of being alive. It also makes you more enticing to others, and allows you to do more things in life. It can be hard to find a right balance, but it’s easy to do. I’d suggest joining a gym and just work out (most importantly cardio). On top of that, or if you can’t go to the gym just go out more. Look online and find local walking or hiking areas. Start easy, and just be active. You can also play sports, or various other active things to be healthier. I’d say for an overall great life style improvement if you don’t care for activities is just to eat better. You’d be shocked at how much what you eat factors into your health. Just eating less (or the right amount) in general is fantastic, or finding more nutritious options. For context I’ve spent years in special hockey, soccer, lacrosse type camps as well as spending time in advanced sports education classes. There’s more to it then what I’ve mentioned, but you can get the just of what I mean.

 

NoobFeed: What are the future plans for Jason Stettner?

Jason Stettner: Keep on, keep’n on. Mostly just to continue working and growing my overall influence going forward. It seems to be going well, hopefully it becomes even more successful or otherwise I’ll just become a senior web developer in some office I suppose. Will have to wait and see I guess; life is never stable so anything could happen.

 

Many thanks to Jason for doing the interview with us. We wish him all the very best with all of his ventures. Keep up with Jason Stettner by following him on twitter.

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