Topic: Will DF survive?

I hope they do but I don't know how many of you have a paid subscription but I sure don't. Looking at their views in general and taking into account they are now required to be self sustaining do you see these guys last?

Hi there - well, let's just say I really hope so bearing that the vast majority of my life savings have gone into buying out IGN and taking Digital Foundry fully independent!

That's not a decision we took lightly, but it was the right one, as full control of the business means that we can more easily navigate the challenges the games media faces and it also means that the immense potential we see in DF can finally be realised.

The basis of the decision to go independent was that Digital Foundry was fundamentally a profitable business based on YouTube revenue and stable Patreon support. In going independent, our Patreon support increased significantly, meaning we could invest in the things we talked about in the announcement video - so if we were in a bad way, we wouldn't be launching a retro podcast and neither would we be creating a new website! On top of that, we are now fully in control of commercial opportunities, an area where we didn't do well at all previously and where we are already making big progress.

So I do appreciate the concern, but right now at least, things are going well and we're still looking to expand and do more. Inevitably though, I would recommend supporting us via Patreon and here's why:

1. This website is entirely ad-free when you log in as a paid supporter
2. You gain access to high quality, ad-free video downloads of everything we do
3. You get an exclusive news update from the team every week based on our Monday morning editorial meeting
4. On higher tiers, there's early access to videos
5. All tiers get early access to DF Direct Weekly
6. Ultimately, yes, even $5 a month on the lowest tier not only offers a lot of value for you, but does help DF immensely

Hope that clears up the situation!

The monthly Patreon subscription is totally worth it. I'm really happy to see the DF Retro podcast taking off and the great Ad free experience here by being a member. I'd argue that if anything DF will become more and more important in the years to come.

I wouldn't bet against Rich, that's for sure. He and the team clearly know the challenges they are facing, and I'm glad to support this, even if not directly for now since I'm not able to subscribe to the patreon yet, but I do not miss a single video and have been using the website a lot too.

Yes, there's something else we need to talk about - the fact that big games media is in a dire place at the moment. Big advertisers are pulling out, while AI search results are killing search traffic for game guides. Meanwhile, things like Google Discover are strongly favouring stories tailored to your reading and viewing habits - so the more DF's website establishes itself, the more traffic we should get from that. We are already gaining traction here!

But the whole point of the website really is good, original content that isn't reliant on SEO hacks, that (hopefully!) won't be killed off by AI search results. All of these developments favour smaller, independent outlets vs big media. We've already seen influencers "take over" YouTube and the same thing may well happen with the web.

Or alternatively, it might wipe us all out!

I'm quietly optimistic?

@Rich_Leadbetter As someone who works full-time in SEO, I agree with you, Rich.

The brand authority you’ve built in technical analysis over the years has made DF the go-to source for gaming tech insights. Now that you have your own independently owned site to host your content, I’d fully expect to see DF cited more often by AI in the coming years, further strengthening your visibility and authority at a time when traditional gaming media is struggling.

Your measured approach to expanding the team and scaling projects only when it makes financial sense, combined with a growing audience, will help secure DF’s future. It’s also clear that most traditional gaming journalists lack either the expertise or the time to provide proper technical analysis in reviews, so having DF run its own site with full editorial control should pay dividends for years to come.

With all this in place, DF will remain the go-to linkable and cited source for technical analysis.

You're very kind!

I appreciate DF's approach of avoiding clickbait and focusing on genuine quality content. I'm glad they're not 100% dependent on Google rankings or the YouTube algorithm, since AI is changing people's Google behavior and YouTube can be so unpredictable. I think it makes sense to be optimistic for DF's future!

I'm genuinely optimistic that Digital Foundry will make it. Why? Because they're the first and only Patreon-supported outlet I've felt compelled to back. They’ve built real trust and value with their audience, and I believe that will carry them through.

Isn't sponsored videos the biggest source of income for Digital Foundry? For example the Nvidia videos

Personally, I quite like these.
They should do more, yes it's an advertisement, but it's a really cool advertisement.

I guess it’s a careful balance between maintaining what the core audience loves, avoiding accusations of selling out through sponsored videos, but at the same time (Rich’s fave line) growing revenue to allow the channel, the team and breadth of projects to grow. I don’t envy the amount of work that goes into these decisions.

I hope so! I sometimes, run hypothetical numbers in my head based on the Patreon and what I presume the YouTube revenue is like and well, put it this way, I see why sponsored ads and the like are also necessarily to keep the ship running smoothly.

However, no one else does this content better, so if DF can't make it independent, that would be a truly damning statement on the modern internet.

That's very good to hear. I'm 52 this year and have been passionate about gaming and related hardware since the C64 days. For me, as I'm sure for a lot of others, DF is a top tier initiative that I just want to see do well. It's a most welcome alternative to the screaming influencer culture we find ourselves in these days. All the best to the team and thanks for the elaborate answer.

Considering, as Rich mentions above, the broader games media landscape (and indeed, the media landscape outside of games as well!), fully independent, reader-supported sites seem to be the only ones with somewhat tenable futures. As Emmanuel of 404 Media (independent) mentioned on a recent Remap (also independent) HOA podcast, in a lot of ways reader-supported operations are more reliable in terms of calculating income, because in order to dramatically change it you'd have to simultaneously piss off thousands of individual people - not impossible, but statistically unlikely! And significantly less likely than running afoul of faceless corporate higher-ups chasing profits and cutting personnel just to make numbers look nicer on a spreadsheet.

I also "hope," as Rich humbly states, but even from a coldly rational perspective I think DF being independent is a far more stable foundation for survival - and hopefully, thrive-al(?).

@Rich_Leadbetter Thank you very much Rich for creating this website and bringing back digital print to DF. Although I watch your videos, I do like to read the articles as well, and I sorely missed them those last few months during the transition.

Without knowing the numbers involved it is hard to catagorically say either way.

But, DF do brilliant work across the board and have carved themselves out a really good area of the market which is seemingly very loyal but also expanding. I, for one, love the fact there's a website here which will ever expand as time goes on. Also, they have built a really well deserved level of trust in the industry. That carries a bunch of weight when you see all these mainline sites going after the next clickbaity crap to drive revenue. DF's quality shows.

The fact they can control their own commercial opporunities is a massive factor too - they can really go in a direction they want with sponsored content, ads and more. I can easily see alot of companies reaching out to them to get some paid work.

The Patreon now having a yearly option is great as well. I went staright for it after being monthly for a while. I like the idea of chucking 1 year up front so I can enjoy everything and rest assured I'm sorted for 12 months. Also, from what Rich said in a discord reply it may well drive some more memberships on top of their already increased memberships since going independent.

That'll hopefully take care of a bunch of costs along with the YT revenue. I'm lucky with our site people do things as a hobby so we don't have massive overheads. Web hosting of the mainsite + 3 others and our media section on a dedicated server isn't a mad amount of money. But paying people, getting games, hardware etc has a huge amount of cost. So, that is a risk, but one I think DF will be able to navigate.

Join the club, the DF discord is some of the most fun I had in years

Seems viable — the lowest Patreon tier is very affordable (was never even inflation-adjusted), more video content thanks to hiring Oliver, and DF finally has their website and this forum.

The Youtube channel could generate far more revenue with carefully selected sponsorship deals (adverts embedded into the video), which have been rarely used from what I know. On certain larger tech channels the promotions seem to appear in every video.