Interview: Raiko Puust, CEO at VideoGamers.eu

We spoke to Raiko Puust, CEO of a VideoGamers. He loves fighting games and spends a lot of time organizing events for these games. Besides gaming he collects board games and write movie reviews for different outlets. Let’s hear what Raiko has to say about being part of the video game industry!

 

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

Raiko Puust: I try to keep this short. At the moment I am in my thirties, married and with three amazing kids. I started playing from the time I can remember anything. We had Atari at our childhood home, then Dendy (bootleg NES from Soviet era), Nintendo, Sega and it kept going. I first started as a serious gamer and collector, which then pushed me into other parts of the video gaming world. I volunteered for GameSpot and GameFAQs at the end of the nineties, which started to broaden my understanding of the world outside my own small country. Gaming journalism came way later.

In my mid-teens I started with board games and I went from casual enthusiast to a worldwide known collector. I started doing reviews for board games, then I did some casual gaming images and these things took off. That lead me to photography (PR images mostly). It all played into my interest of games.

I started writing in high school, which was a surprise for everyone. I was and still am all about math and science and I went to study math in university and abroad, but writing was still my weird passion. It helped me to deal with emotions and thought me to express myself. And weirdly enough, my first every review of anything was about a movie called “Sphere” (Dustin Hoffman, Samuel L. Jackson) and it was in English, not in my own native language. I did poetry, wrote some plays that won me few awards, then did other stuff and all that to get better at it. Right after my daughter was born, I was the one who stayed at home with the child, so I quit my quite successful career as project manager in one of the biggest construction companies in my country. So, I spent time with my first born and I had spare time to think and plan. So that started my blog about movies and TV shows. I started doing reviews and weirdly enough, it took off. Not very much after that I got a request to write for a local paper, then to some magazines and till to this moment I am known as a movie critic. And I love that.

With the huge steps in my personal life (house, kids), I knew that I possibly cannot juggle the huge board gaming collection (over 4k games), video games and other hobbies, I made a choice. I decided that I am a video gamer first, so I sold most of my board games, created my own company about video games. It started out as a used and retro games selling platform. It slowly transformed and this is how Videogamers got to be in my life.

 

NoobFeed: What are your duties at VideoGamers?

Raiko Puust: Well, I am CEO, but I mostly just manage and hold the role of Editor in Chief. I make sure that everybody knows what and when they are doing, what games they are playing and what content they should be creating. Making sure all embargos and dates are kept, schedule meetings and plan trips and events.

 

NoobFeed: We’ve heard about your passion for Fighting games and also how you love to organize events for these games? Tell us about that game that made you fall in love with this genre and how do you organize such gaming events?

Raiko Puust: Fighting games was my entry into more serious type of gaming and esports. Of course, back then there was no such thing as esports – no YouTube, no Twitch, so it was mostly random forums and tournaments wherever you could find. Nothing was really organized and most tournaments were world championships, because no one really knew what was going on in other places. Near my school we had a mini arcade in front of the cinema, were they had a Tekken machine. I started with Street Fighter II, Killer Instinct, Turtles Tournament Fighters and Mortal Kombat, but the serious part began with Tekken. When I finally begged myself into a PlayStation home console and Tekken II, I learned everything about that game. I even created a frame data notebook, where I used my VCR to go frame by frame on the move list recordings, I made to see what move is how fast and how negative on block. I was lucky enough to have friends with the same passion and talent for these games, so we constantly held each other at our best. In the end I was the best and it kept me wanting more. By chance my father discovered one local Tekken 3 tournament, which I won with no problems what so ever. So, I wanted more. We then went to Finland, where I won another tournament and it kept going like this for years.

Sadly, back then there were no real prizes. It was mostly diplomas, handshakes and occasional items, so the traveling money got to be a problem, so by the time of high school I mostly dropped the idea of esports as a real thing. During my time at university I also spent time in US, working and studying. There I got a chance to visit some tournaments and it left me with two things – I am super good at fighting games and I want to make these kinds of events where I live. I wasn’t really familiar with the local scene at my county at that time. I had spent all this time international, that I kind of forgot locals. I then went to local events and of course dominated in many fighting games. That slowly grew into small community and after I had made the commitment to go into the video gaming, I created my own team VGE, drafted the best players I knew and we started creating more professional looking tournaments, offline and online. Now we are doing leagues on several countries and one of the incomes for the company is producing events for everyone who wants to hire us. Today I consider myself more like a coach. I do still play, but mostly casual basis in the sense of the world. Esports nowadays is tighter and takes more time and preparations than I can commit to, so behind the scenes is where I belong.

 

NoobFeed: As a journalist, what trends have you noticed in the gaming industry recently? Do you support where it’s heading?

Raiko Puust: There are many trends, some good and some bad. One trend of course is the constant remakes and remasters of older classics. That trend I support with two hands. Those games are classics for a reason and in times where original ideas are fading or are hard to come by, this is always a breath of fresh air.

Next trend is the constant abuse of anything that is a little bit of successful. This of course is not just video games, but entertainment in general. The endless games with Battle Royale, the MOBA craze, then sandbox gaming rise. Weirdly enough I am against these games and when Apex Legends or other games like that comes out, I don’t really want to play them. These games are designed from start to be a copy of something else with only one purpose – to take away fans from someone else. Instead of creating something new or something they actually feel passionate about, they spend all that energy and money to pretty much crush someone else.

In overall I see the trend of nerfing games. When was the last time you actually had a challenging game? Skill caps are constantly brought down and everything needs to be beaten fast, because some new game comes out in a week. Fighting games do this a lot – execution barriers don’t even exist anymore, combo creativity is taken away and things, that used to be skills, are now built into system and characters (I am looking at you MK11). There are many reasons behind this of course, but this trend is continuing and I don’t see how this can be good for games. Only reason Dark Souls is hard is because people rush the game like they rush everything else. The moment you slowdown in Dark Souls – can you really die in that game? Think about it.

 

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?

Raiko Puust: People like to follow and learn more about their favorite players. I can understand that, but social interactions are not the strongest traits for most esports players and to add to this the current toxic internet culture, where hating everyone and everything is normal, then there just can be no winners here. Twitter itself is just full of negativity. Whenever I go there, it is just people pissing on each other and I don’t really understand that. Not everything belongs on the internet and I firmly believe, that everyone should stick to what they know. If you are esports player, then stick to that. Don’t talk politics or take word on things that happen around not related to why you are known for. There just cannot be a good outcome on this. There is a reason why all other famous people use PR agencies to do the talking for them. Esports at the moment is too infant to have any kind of strong social aspect. At the moment it brings more negative than positive.

 

NoobFeed: What is an effective approach to prepare, rewrite and edit copy to improve readability? Have supervised others in doing this?

Raiko Puust: Every text needs to have a structure – that is given. But it never can be too strict, or you kill creativity. Each person has their own ideas and style, even if they don’t know it. I usually take a text and read it. Just to see if it flows. If there is a flow, a clear beginning and end, then I just fix the errors and trim some sentences if needed, but if the flow is missing, I try to pinpoint the styling, so I could fit everything into it, when editing the text. Feedback is very important, so whenever I edit some text or someone edits my texts, I want to make sure, that people involved are learning. I am nowhere near perfect, so it is constant process by me and others. I know, that when I want a good writer, I need to teach them by myself, because reviewing is different on each occasion. Game reviews cannot be done like movie reviews or board game ones. In the end it just needs to feel personal (because the writers’ point is subjective and reader wants to know that) and it must be like a complete work, small journey if you will, that not just gives the reader a overview, but atmosphere as well. There is nothing easy about it and I know people think there is. It just looks easy by the people who know how to do it.

 

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

Raiko Puust: At this point in my life the only hard part is finding the time. I love writing reviews, but to complete a video game you need time. It is not like a movie, that you spend 2 hours on. It can be 10 hours to even hundreds and that is demanding. I really got angry at Dragon Quest XI, because the game was just too long and I still find it hard to believe, that most major international sites were able to complete the game by the time of release (same thing with Persona 5). So the schedule is tight and sometimes you spend most of the night just trying to complete game to be ready on time, but that takes away the fun and kinda the point. It is a grind and with that tempo, something has to give. That is usually the quality of game play and this is where the myth about gaming journalist not knowing how to play comes from.

 

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

Raiko Puust: No, not really. I have had some pieces, that went unpublished for various reasons, but I personally believed in those, so I pushed them through on other places, which in return gave me some trouble in the places that didn’t want to publish it. Trying to get interviews and faces times are hard, especially if you are small compared in the world wide sense, so whenever I score some seat in limited space or I get to interview some star, known people, then I consider this fruit of my hard work and success and in almost all cases it has been my personal stubbornness, more than the untold regulations in this profession.

 

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

Raiko Puust: Of course. Quite a lot. Especially when I started. That was needed, because it shows me what was wrong or where I needed to be better. In the beginning it is hard to tell between critics and haters – they kinda sound similar, yet they are known. Constructive feedback is always welcomed, but just random hate is something you need to brush off – it means nothing. Locally the most negative feedback was a piece about legal age to enter tournaments for games, that has 18+ rating (Call of Duty, CSGO etc). There was a petition for lowering the age limit, but it was really sloppy and lacked research, so I didn’t support it. Like I said – I am a man of math and rationality, so all arguments should have facts and/or reasoning.

 

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

Raiko Puust: Well, this has always been me. I was drawn to numbers from super early age and it is most likely from my mother, who was a Olympic soviet chess player. I had trouble of understanding irony and sarcasm (still do actually), so I had to rely on other ways to understand these things, including the world. So I appreciate my mind as my only tool against the world, so I drink no alcohol nor I use anything, that messes with it.

I understood early on, that there is no point to fight any system to change it, because the best results are always made from inside. Create new waves while being carried by old ones, not swim against the current and drown. This has been one of my philosophies through the life. And I know how easy it would be to just follow or copy others, especially on things that seem to work. Well, there is usually more behind everything than we see, so I just go with what I like. If I like it, then someone else does as well. If I find this interesting, then someone else does. If I cannot find this information, then someone else cannot either, so I just do things what I would want to see done myself. Quite easy. Sadly, enough it comes from something my father said long time ago – none of us are as special as we think we are, so use it for your advantage. So, I do as I am told by my father.

 

NoobFeed: We all have experienced this at least once. Will you share an experience when your ethics and patience were tested? How did you keep your emotions in check?

Raiko Puust: My wife calls me classical Estonian man, that shows emotions only when his favorite football team has just lost. My patience is constantly tested. I mean, we live in a world, where people actually think vaccines cause autism and that the world is flat. So, having a peaceful mindset helps a lot. I always keep things separate. Just because someone is not smart enough to understand how vaccines work, doesn’t mean they cannot be amazing artist or even an amazing story teller. We cannot judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, so I go back to what I said earlier – for everyone their own thing. I have had run ins with many people and some of them of course just are not any good. There have been attempts to use my kindness or to just cheat. People have used my name to get things or used my brand and company to cheat partners out of merchandise. This creates problems and sometimes I even need to spend money and I have not been able to save all those contacts. I still trust people though – not going to lose faith in people because some are just bad or don’t know any better.

The one time I am talking here was when I was looking for new writers. I want them to first write a review for any game they want, using everything they know, so I could have a look of what I am dealing here. People write better, if it is a game what they like – easy to sell something you love. So, this one guy made a pretty good piece about one game, a little too good in hindsight, but I still published. He then used that article as proof, that he is part of the team and went around companies to get free stuff, with a promise of articles and videos. And he got quite a few things, which lead to angry letters to me about not fulfilling out part of deals. It all ended the day I got a call from local PlayStation guy, who said some random guy is claiming to be the head of Videogamers and wants to get some consoles and stuff. Since we were friends, he called me and I then sorted it all out. Also, it turned out the article he sent me was translated from English, takes from known site. That experience taught me a lot (and cost quite a bit)

 

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

Raiko Puust: Well, fighting games excite me the most. And remakes of old games. I really like active VR games as well. I loved playing remakes of Spyro and Crash, but now with my own kids. Amazing times to be alive. I make combo videos for YouTube as well, so new fighting games always makes me happy. So, any kind of creative approach makes the time fly. Outside of work I mostly only play Tekken 7 (and older Tekken games to have some fresh air from the nerfed mechanics). I play on average about 40-50 hours each week (that includes recoding and everything).

 

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

Raiko Puust: I don’t think we need to go more AR and VR. Couch co-op should be more common that it is. Online gaming is fun, but nothing beats couch playing on a big screen with friends. I hope video gaming slows down for a second to find some balance. No need to nerf games, because people actually can play if you give them a chance. It is not like we were better back then – we just didn’t have a choice.

Also, lets reduce the number of consoles and gaming platforms on PC.

 

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?

Raiko Puust: This is quite common thing to be asked, especially on events like E3. There are just too much games and to get attention to your game is challenging. I see many mistakes made by smaller developers and I can give some here.

First – stop thinking you or your game is special. Most likely it is not. Try to find out exactly what is that makes it different or better. Easiest way to find it through yourself – why did you make this game? Something was lacking and tried to fill it. Know your own game first. Might make sense to the point of obvious, but it seems that it is not.

Second – be personal. It is quite easy to find out the name of the person who you are talking to on a website/magazine. Use their name or even do some mini research. If you write to me like this “Dear, Mr. Raiko. I know you like fighting games very much and like to be challenged, so I want to offer you this new fighting game I have made that will challenge you”, it is very likely I will take that deal and will write and create other content in exchange a simple key.

Third – treat everyone equally. I see this so much. Smaller developers actually refuse to talk to you or refuse key requests, because “you are not big enough publication”, while bigger developers almost always treat you with utmost respect and no difference of the size. That creates trust and rises the chance of your products being spoken of and in better light as well. The danger of treating people not equally is not a bad review, but it is plain ignoring. And of course, you never know who is going to be big tomorrow.

Fourth – allow time for journalist to have exclusive content. Don’t try to hog everything for yourself. Don’t send me your game trailer that you yourself uploaded like 3 days ago. Instead upload it to cloud or unlisted on YouTube and send out the press release. Give press time to jump ahead on this and get that exclusive content. Let them fight, as they say. And after a week or so, upload to your own channel. Developers goal is to sell the game, not to get views for trailers and other footage.

Fifth – do the works yourself. If you are a smaller developer and want to get published with reviews or press releases, then you need to do the work. Press release must be like a fully written article, that it is easy to publish. Time is the most valuable resource, so if it is easy, it is more likely they will publish it. With reviews – you take the risk. Just send out the press release and add a key to it. With a note like “In hope for some coverage”. Trust me on this one – you will be surprised how much people will respond suddenly, when they are not forced or bought into it.

 

NoobFeed: With so many gaming websites and independent journalists trying to reach the same target audience segment, do you think the correct messages are being spread across?

Raiko Puust: This comes with no surprise to everyone, that there is too much information. That means it is hard to sort through it. So, people usually stick with what they like, so the most pointless thing to try is to please everyone, so I don’t think the same target audience is spread among all these sites, but certain types of genre-based sites. That means those specific messages are never spread. This is why different communities don’t really understand each other. Why fighting game player have almost no understanding of MOBA or FPS worlds and vice versa. Why esports communities fight over what is real and not and if Smash is actually a fighting game or a party game. Those inside messages, that makes people love those communities are lost to those sites that don’t cater to wider audience, in the overall video gaming news sites. At the moment is all to specified and to be honest here – I have no idea on how to fix this.

 

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?

Raiko Puust: Well, this affects me here a lot. I sit down most of the day, behind a TV or a monitor, and that creates problems. Blood circulation and weight gain are now an issue. As a father I am more concerned of course, so I stopped drinking Monster energy drink that I abused for years. Also, I don’t behind a screen anymore and now I take regular breaks, which is slowly making a turn for me. It helps in many aspects and of is productivity, which is very important for anyone working behind a PC. In esports you need reactions and best reactions are always for those who are in perfect weight and sleep/eat on very regular basis. Literally you need be healthier to be a better player.

 

NoobFeed: What are the future plans for Raiko Puust?

Raiko Puust: I get this one asked a lot. I have many plans, some I am willing to share, some I am not going to share. What I can share is my dream of creating my own fighting game. I have a name already, characters, main story, some concept art etv. I just don’t know how to make a game and I don’t have money for it, but it hasn’t stopped me before. I will expand my network and continue to fill caps in everything I see lacking, so I have no worries for being bored. Also, I want a bigger family – 3 kids is not enough.

 

 

Tons of thanks to Raiko for doing the interview with us. We wish him all the very best with all of his ventures. Keep up with Raiko Puust on his website.

Admin, NoobFeed