{"id":662039,"date":"2026-05-24T09:29:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T09:29:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/662039\/"},"modified":"2026-05-24T09:29:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T09:29:09","slug":"video-game-website-has-controversial-plan-to-only-pay-per-click","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/662039\/","title":{"rendered":"Video Game Website Has Controversial Plan To Only Pay Per Click"},"content":{"rendered":"

Valnet, the self-proclaimed \u201cleading digital media investment company\u201d<\/a> behind the likes of Polygon, GameRant, OpenCritic, Collider, and over a dozen more gaming, technology, and lifestyle websites, isn\u2019t known for paying its freelance writers well. But new \u201cPay Per Session\u201d contracts issued to writers and editors at TheGamer on May 21 threaten to break new ground when it comes to click-mill-style exploitation. <\/p>\n

According to details outlined in TheGamer\u2019s Slack, these new terms, mandated by Valnet management, would \u201creward top-performing articles.\u201d However, Kotaku last learned, based on the details outlined in the newly issued contracts, that the proposed \u201cperformance structure\u201d would also result in writers not being paid at all if their articles do not exceed a minimum threshold of views.<\/p>\n

Valnet was founded by Hassan Youssef and Sam Youssef, who were previously the owners of Canadian pornographic production company Brazzers and the \u201csilent partners<\/a>\u201d of Pornhub, in 2012. The company has since earned a negative reputation over the years for the way it treats staff and freelance writers, with one former <\/a>Collider e<\/a>mployee<\/a> describing it as \u201ca content mill, borderline like almost sweatshop-level\u201d during an interview with TheWrap in 2025 (I briefly freelanced for TheGamer from 2022 to 2023).<\/p>\n

Despite the rise of Valnet\u2019s reach and prominence, you\u2019d be hard-pressed to find a positive word about the company from those who work in its newsrooms. Valnet has previously been accused of copyright striking YouTube videos<\/a> that include negative statements about it and blacklisting writers<\/a> who complain about how little they\u2019re paid.<\/p>\n

One of those writers is Lex Luddy, the editor in chief of Startmenu<\/a> and a former junior editor at TheGamer, who stated earlier today in a post on Bluesky that \u201cpermalance\u201d staff at the site were recently issued new contracts. The revised agreements require \u201ca minimum article viewership threshold for payment,\u201d and some staff at the site are accusing these new contracts of being a form of \u201csoft-layoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPay per view bonuses in the previous contracts were additive to base pay,\u201d stated Luddy\u2019s post<\/a>. \u201cNew contacts would see pay based solely on viewership with a minimum amount of clicks needed before any pay was granted[\u2026]Details of these contracts were not flagged to anyone on [TheGamer] management before being sent out. After a day-long revolt in the company Slack, many of TG\u2019s permalance *staff* believe that the issuing of these contracts are a form of \u201csoft-layoffs\u201d, as most would rather leave than sign.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Thursday evening Valnet issued new contracts to writers at TheGamer instituting a minimum article viewership threshold for payment.<\/p>\n

Most writers already have pay tied to article performance, but this new system would mean that if a piece didn’t get X number of clicks you wouldn’t be paid for it.<\/p>\n

\u2014 lex luddy (ichiban appreciator) (@lexluddy.xyz)<\/a> 2026-05-23T14:37:06.470Z<\/a><\/p>\n

Kotaku was able to view a copy of the newly outlined contracts issued to staff in TheGamer\u2019s official Slack. The \u201cnew and exciting, performance-based bonus system\u201d was revealed to staff on May 21, but immediately went into effect the next day on May 22. Writers will now earn $5 per 1,000 \u201csessions\u201d (clicks) and editors will earn $3 per 1,000 sessions. This rate also only applies to the first \u201c15 days per post,\u201d which means that any views accumulated after the fact will not earn the staff any extra money.<\/p>\n

Of course, the real issue here is the \u201cper 1k sessions\u201d part. While TheGamer\u2019s upper management has tried to spin this as a way for \u201cstrong-performing content\u201d to earn extra money, it also means that, should an article get fewer than 1,000 sessions, staff at the site will not be paid for them.<\/p>\n

It gets worse when you take into account exactly how many of TheGamer\u2019s writers and editors are actually on permalance-style contracts. Kotaku spoke to Lex Luddy, who stated that \u201calmost everyone,\u201d from listicle writers to senior editors, is technically classified as a freelancer at TheGamer, and therefore could be subject to the newly issued contracts. \u201cAlmost everyone is a contract \u2018freelancer,’\u201d they said. \u201cOne or two might be employees. Not all of the editors received these contracts on Thursday, but it was shared in Slack and discussed openly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Luddy also confirmed to me that half of the writers at TheGamer are currently in \u201copen revolt\u201d with the site\u2019s upper management, while others are instead desperately trying \u201cto make contact with Valnet representatives\u201d in search of a justification for the newly issued contracts.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of games media written word sites are hemorrhaging hits right now, and that is a combined factor of Google SEO changes, which I understand hit TheGamer quite hard,\u201d Luddy said. \u201cThe prevalence of AI search engines, and the fact that Google just this week announced it was shifting its search engine to an AI chatbot-type interface, further decimating click-through rates.\u201d<\/p>\n

Effective freelancing rates under these new agreements would be unlivable for some at TheGamer, leading to speculation that this is a way by Valent to \u201cvoluntarily\u201d reduce headcount and have freelancers bail rather than be cut. \u201cWhether it be because they can\u2019t afford to work in a system where eight hours of work might not gain traction and result in zero pay, or because of their ethical objections to such a model,\u201d Luddy said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Valent did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Valnet, the self-proclaimed \u201cleading digital media investment company\u201d behind the likes of Polygon, GameRant, OpenCritic, Collider, and over…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":662040,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[28,289731,49128,289732],"class_list":["post-662039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-game-journalism","tag-games-media","tag-valent"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=662039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662039\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/662040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=662039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=662039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=662039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}