Former Game Developer Launches Vertical Slice, a New Commercial Publisher “Bold”

Chris Kerr is launching a new industry news investment for independent developers.

Chris Kerr is launching a new independent industry news venture designed for developers

As older gaming publications decline, disappear or stabilize, the steady rise of independent journalism is working hard to keep the fire burning.

Today, we have a brand new publication on the block. A trade publication to be precise. The game is called Vertical Slice and is run by longtime investigative games reporter Chris Kerr.

Kerr has been reporting on games for 15 years, about 13 years on Games and about 11 years at Game Developer, finishing as senior news editor. He left publishing at the end of last month, trading the (relative) stability of a full-time role for the great unknown of owning his own website.

As someone who currently enjoys the previous type of stability, I had to know... why?

"I feel I can do my best work outside the confines of a publication that is owned by a global business company with very different business interests," Kerr said. "Often those interests can overlap. They don't always. I suspect that's true of a lot of corporate-sponsored publications. And, you know, corporate ownership has a lot of positives, right? It gives you more security. I had a pension. That was great. . . . But I feel like you need to produce journalism that's as fearless as it can be. On your own, depending on your circumstances."

So how is it possible to avoid this stability? Kerr is funding it with his own savings and says he's been "very judicious" with his money over the past decade. He's also doing it on his own at first, so he only has to pay his own salary. But it is still a risky investment. He says: It is scary. "I believe in it. I don't know what else I want to do."

Kerr is deeply passionate about the state of gaming media and hopes to play a role in it with Vertical Slice. "I want to make something that's mine," he says. "I want to make something that I hope will stand the test of time, that people can rally behind, that will give workers a platform to speak out against mistreatment, injustice, all these things... I want to give these people a voice because ultimately they're the ones making the video games that we all play."

And it's also very important that most of the website will have a paywall, no ads. There will be a few free articles every week, and the site will also launch with a library of design documents and decks provided by developers like OuterSloth and Kitfox Games, which will also be free. Kerr was still working out the exact price when we spoke, but he compares his view of it to paying for a newspaper from a local newsstand every day.

"I think readers have to start choosing the path," he says. “And it's like looking at the whole stack of artificial intelligence. We are all because artificial intelligence is going after our jobs, thousands of people are going to die, people are going to be unemployed. People don't want to pay to report, you know what I mean? Like, we have to figure out how to do that. And I think there's a fairly simple equation, which is just that if you enjoy the work of a journalist, pay for it. Like it sounds simple and maybe a little reductive, but it kind of is, isn't it?

He's ambitious about eventually hiring more full-time writers, mentoring new journalists, contributing freelance columns, eventually getting developer-written articles on the website... his dream is to one day have a fully functioning newsroom of five to ten people, though he admits the years after that and now depends on a lot of success. "I want to create pathways for new talent," he tells me.

I would point out that while many excellent indie publications have sprung up in recent years, none have yet managed to do what he suggested, albeit not on the scale he wanted. What is Kerr doing differently that makes him think the vertical cut will go away?

"I think the reason I think I can make it is because I don't see anyone else doing it," he says. I mean, especially in the business space. I know for a fact that millions of people have read my articles over the past few years. And only a fraction of those people are willing to pay.

Not all, just like a super small percentage of me can make it and probably bring someone else along. "And once you're done, I want to reinvest from that point on just the site, whether that means hiring a regular freelancer as a full-time hire, starting a podcast, whatever."

Kerr tells me cheerfully that he's aware of the ways in which the venture could fail, but he's made peace with it. If Vertical Slice doesn't work out, he says he'll "melt into the sunset and maybe become a soccer journalist." But for now, he feels the most important thing is to at least try to build something for his future and the future of space.

I think we're all grateful to be doing what we do, but is it really working for us in terms of career prospects? In terms of our ambitions as, you know, healthy, functioning adults with our own personal lives where we want to go on vacations, maybe want to have kids, whatever? Like, how do you do that in an industry that doesn't give you any kind of bond? This is what I want to offer. And again, I know it's ambitious, but I feel like if it's not possible, I can't stay in this industry because I'm not going to carry myself for another 10 years."

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