Adam Kovic is a creative director and co-founder of Null+Void Creative. He spent a decade producing video content and brand campaigns for companies mostly owned or devoured by WarnerMedia.
Special thanks to Dominic Allen for suggesting this story.
I wrote a review without playing the game to prove that game reviews and coloring books have more in common than anyone wants to admit.
Late February, a Resident Evil Requiem review showed up on Metacritic from the site Videogamer.com. The reviewer, Brian Merrygold — described on the site as an “experienced iGaming(?) and sports betting analyst” — gave the game a 9/10 and produced 543 words of breathless, generalized hype that read like a bad press release. Readers noticed. A little digging revealed that Brian Merrygold does not exist. His profile filename was literally “ChatGPT-Image-Oct-20-2025-11_57_34-AM.”
"Make me an image of a hobbit who reviews games or whatever."
Metacritic pulled the review. Issued a statement. Banned Videogamer. Sent a strongly worded email to other outlets. Everyone clapped.
But I don't think I'm upset the same way others are. Yes, I see the issue here. It's similar to the current state of media consolidation, the ruining of every fast-food chain and the inevitable pump-n-dump we know as Red Lobster.
Videogamer was purchased by a company called Clickout Media, a gambling SEO operation that describes itself as a “PR and marketing agency” and has spent the last few years quietly acquiring legacy gaming outlets, gutting the staff, filling the pages with crypto casino content, and using the sites’ established domain authority to rank for competitive keywords. They bought a reputation. They didn’t earn it.
In February they laid off what remained of Videogamer’s human editorial team, forced them to sign NDAs to receive their severance, and replaced them with a skeleton crew of what they called “AI Editors.” They did the same thing to The Escapist and Esports Insider. The only reason Videogamer got caught was greed, laziness or that Resident Evil fans just have better eyesight than your average internet user.
A shady business doing shady things. Nothing really new to see here. I'm not apathetic about it — if anything, I'm surprised it took this long to happen. And honestly, I'm more disappointed in how few fucks were given in making an army of make-believe staff writers. These guys could take a lesson from our Campaign of Terror playbook.
I’ve spent years working in and around games media, and I just can’t muster the same kind of outrage I see online. Because here’s the thing: that AI review and an IGN launch-day score are functionally the same thing to me. One was written by a machine. The other was written by a human who operates inside a machine. A machine that punishes independent thought and rewards access. If you squint just right, the results kind of look the same.
From where I see things, game reviews fall into roughly three categories. There’s the industry review — cookie cutter, paint by numbers, the kind of thing any intern with CapCut and a press kit could assemble.
There’s the YouTuber/influencer review — messier, more personal, occasionally repeating the same talking points three or four times, but at least the core is human and there's usually some passion in there.
And then there's the long review — the nostalgic-drenched retrospective written years later with the benefit of hindsight and an audience that already has feelings about the game. That one tends to be the most honest, because by that point nobody has anything to lose. The volcanic PR manager has moved on to another publisher. The developers are three live-service games deep and don't remember you exist.
The first one, the industry review is the one that ends up on Metacritic. It’s the one that gets written under embargo, delivered on a schedule the publisher controls, and sent alongside forty other reviews that somehow all reached the same-ish conclusion. I was always taught that you don’t bite the hand that overnights you a review copy and flies you out for a press junket.
That truth has been an open secret for as long as video game journalism has existed. The game industry owns the press. Not formally. Not with a contract. With access, with ad buys, with the quiet understanding that if you want to keep getting early review copies, you play ball. The more credentialed you are, the more organized, the more embedded in the industry, the more you have to lose by saying the wrong thing. That's why a publisher-approved AI review and the last remaining big gaming media write-up might as well be the same thing. Don't believe me? I'll prove it.
Adam Kovic is a creative director and co-founder of Null+Void Creative. He spent a decade producing video content and brand campaigns for companies mostly owned or devoured by WarnerMedia.
Adam Kovic is a creative director and co-founder of Null+Void Creative. He spent a decade producing video content and brand campaigns for companies mostly owned or devoured by WarnerMedia.
Writer, filmmaker, and co-founder of Null+Void Creative. Aaron's work covers culture, economics, and the occasional vintage Volkswagen. Digital media veteran and purpose-driven creative since 2021.
Adam Kovic is a creative director and co-founder of Null+Void Creative. He spent a decade producing video content and brand campaigns for companies mostly owned or devoured by WarnerMedia.
Adam Kovic is a creative director and co-founder of Null+Void Creative. He spent a decade producing video content and brand campaigns for companies mostly owned or devoured by WarnerMedia.
Adam Kovic is a creative director and co-founder of Null+Void Creative. He spent a decade producing video content and brand campaigns for companies mostly owned or devoured by WarnerMedia.
Adam Kovic is a creative director and co-founder of Null+Void Creative. He spent a decade producing video content and brand campaigns for companies mostly owned or devoured by WarnerMedia.
Adam Kovic is a creative director and co-founder of Null+Void Creative. He spent a decade producing video content and brand campaigns for companies mostly owned or devoured by WarnerMedia.
Writer, filmmaker, and co-founder of Null+Void Creative. Aaron's work covers culture, economics, and the occasional vintage Volkswagen. Digital media veteran and purpose-driven creative since 2021.
Writer, filmmaker, and co-founder of Null+Void Creative. Aaron's work covers culture, economics, and the occasional vintage Volkswagen. Digital media veteran and purpose-driven creative since 2021.
Adam Kovic is a creative director and co-founder of Null+Void Creative. He spent a decade producing video content and brand campaigns for companies mostly owned or devoured by WarnerMedia.
Writer, filmmaker, and co-founder of Null+Void Creative. Aaron's work covers culture, economics, and the occasional vintage Volkswagen. Digital media veteran and purpose-driven creative since 2021.
Adam Kovic is a creative director and co-founder of Null+Void Creative. He spent a decade producing video content and brand campaigns for companies mostly owned or devoured by WarnerMedia.
Writer, filmmaker, and co-founder of Null+Void Creative. Aaron's work covers culture, economics, and the occasional vintage Volkswagen. Digital media veteran and purpose-driven creative since 2021.
Writer, filmmaker, and co-founder of Null+Void Creative. Aaron's work covers culture, economics, and the occasional vintage Volkswagen. Digital media veteran and purpose-driven creative since 2021.
Adam Kovic is a creative director and co-founder of Null+Void Creative. He spent a decade producing video content and brand campaigns for companies mostly owned or devoured by WarnerMedia.
Adam Kovic is a creative director and co-founder of Null+Void Creative. He spent a decade producing video content and brand campaigns for companies mostly owned or devoured by WarnerMedia.
Adam Kovic is a creative director and co-founder of Null+Void Creative. He spent a decade producing video content and brand campaigns for companies mostly owned or devoured by WarnerMedia.
Writer, filmmaker, and co-founder of Null+Void Creative. Aaron's work covers culture, economics, and the occasional vintage Volkswagen. Digital media veteran and purpose-driven creative since 2021.
Adam Kovic is a creative director and co-founder of Null+Void Creative. He spent a decade producing video content and brand campaigns for companies mostly owned or devoured by WarnerMedia.
Adam Kovic is a creative director and co-founder of Null+Void Creative. He spent a decade producing video content and brand campaigns for companies mostly owned or devoured by WarnerMedia.
Adam Kovic is a creative director and co-founder of Null+Void Creative. He spent a decade producing video content and brand campaigns for companies mostly owned or devoured by WarnerMedia.
Writer, filmmaker, and co-founder of Null+Void Creative. Aaron's work covers culture, economics, and the occasional vintage Volkswagen. Digital media veteran and purpose-driven creative since 2021.
Writer, filmmaker, and co-founder of Null+Void Creative. Aaron's work covers culture, economics, and the occasional vintage Volkswagen. Digital media veteran and purpose-driven creative since 2021.
