The Return of the "Club": Inside the Launch of Respec and the Fight for Independent Games Media

The landscape of video game journalism is currently enduring a period of profound turbulence. For the past two decades, the industry has seen a steady erosion of its traditional foundations. Where there were once dozens of print magazines and hundreds of independent websites serving as the primary gatekeepers of gaming culture, the modern era is defined by extreme consolidation and the overwhelming influence of algorithmic-driven content.

Against this backdrop of shuttered outlets and corporate layoffs, a new venture has emerged, intentionally bucking the industry’s trend toward mass-scale, SEO-driven content. Respec, a new gaming website, has officially launched under the leadership of veteran industry figures Tom Orry and Alex Donaldson. The site represents a "lean operation" that seeks to recapture the spirit of the early 2000s games media while operating with a sustainable, modern financial model.

The State of Play: A Shrinking Landscape

To understand why Respec is considered a "novelty" in the current climate, one must look at the trajectory of the last twenty years. The early 2000s were a golden age for digital games journalism—a time when dedicated websites and print magazines flourished by fostering deep, community-driven discourse.

However, the industry has faced a series of existential threats:

• The Rise of Influencer Culture: Marketing budgets have shifted aggressively toward YouTube and TikTok personalities, often at the expense of traditional editorial outlets.
• Corporate Consolidation: The media space is now dominated by a handful of massive conglomerates, often leading to homogenized content and frequent staff reductions.
• The AI Crisis: The degradation of trust has been accelerated by the rise of AI-generated content. Recent scandals, such as the removal of outlets from major aggregation sites like Metacritic due to AI-written reviews, have cast a shadow over the credibility of online journalism.

It is into this fragile ecosystem that Orry and Donaldson have stepped, banking on the idea that readers are tired of the "race to the bottom" and are ready to return to a more curated, personality-driven experience.

Chronology: A Proven Pedigree

The founders of Respec are not industry newcomers; they bring a combined 40 years of experience to the table. Their backgrounds provide the operational blueprint for the new site:

• The Eurogamer Connection: Both founders recently worked at Eurogamer, one of the most respected outlets in the industry. This tenure provided them with a front-row seat to the challenges of modern, large-scale publishing.
• The RPG Site Foundation: Alex Donaldson’s work with RPG Site serves as the technical and financial bedrock for Respec. RPG Site has long operated as a high-quality, niche-focused site that understands how to monetize its audience without sacrificing editorial integrity.
• The VideoGamer Experience: Tom Orry’s history as the founder of VideoGamer offers a different perspective. VideoGamer was an early pioneer in alternative funding models, such as Patreon, though it later fell victim to the turbulence of ownership changes—a cautionary tale that has informed the "independent-first" philosophy of Respec.

The Philosophy of "The Club"

At its heart, Respec is a reaction against the cold, metric-obsessed nature of modern digital publishing. According to Tom Orry, the goal is to foster a sense of belonging.

"The best video game magazines felt like clubs, and the early websites and fansites felt like clubs," Orry explains. The editorial strategy is deliberately retro-modern: text remains the priority for long-form, thoughtful criticism, while video content is reserved for the "playful, fun, and silly" aspects of gaming culture.

Crucially, the site is positioning itself as "unapologetically British." In an era where the vast majority of gaming media is filtered through the lens of US corporate ownership, Orry and Donaldson aim to preserve the specific, irreverent, and localized tone that once defined the UK games press. While some might argue this approach is "provincial," the founders are confident that this distinctive voice is exactly what is missing from the global market.

Financial Sustainability: The "Sibling" Strategy

Respec is not launching into a vacuum; it is being supported by Double Black, the parent company of RPG Site. This backing is essential for the site’s long-term survival.

Advertising vs. Subscription

The financial model is a hybrid. The bulk of the site’s content will remain free, supported by advertising revenue managed with a focus on "respecting the user." This means avoiding the intrusive, performance-killing ad-tech that plagues many larger competitors.

To supplement this, Respec is utilizing Patreon to offer exclusive perks, such as weekly podcasts and special features. While Donaldson admits that building a business on direct user subscriptions is "tremendously difficult" in the short term, it remains the ultimate goal. The philosophy is simple: keep the overhead low, the team small, and the goals aligned with the community rather than with shareholders who demand infinite, year-over-year growth.

The Metrics of Success

In an industry where "page views" are often inflated by search engine manipulation, the team behind Respec is defining success differently.

"In the first months, the most important thing I’m going to be looking at is actually penetration within that audience," Donaldson notes. For Respec, the KPIs are:

1. Dwell Time: Are readers staying to engage with the text?
2. Sessions Per User: Is the audience returning for the personality of the writers?
3. Sentiment: Is the tone in the comment sections and on social media reflective of a healthy, trusting community?

By focusing on these metrics, the founders hope to build a sustainable business that does not rely on the "suckling support" of its sibling site, RPG Site, within the next year.

Implications for the Industry

The launch of Respec poses an interesting question: Can a "small, fast-moving ship" survive in an ocean of corporate behemoths?

The implications for the broader games media industry are significant. If Respec succeeds, it provides a replicable model for other veteran journalists looking to escape the "big machine" of corporate media. It suggests that there is still a market for high-quality, human-centric writing that values tone and community over mass-market SEO keywords.

"We’ve experienced life inside bigger machines," Donaldson says, reflecting on his time in larger organizations. "One thing my experience has gradually bequeathed me is an understanding that a small, fast-moving ship can be wildly successful on its own terms—and more fun to work on to boot."

Looking Ahead: A Roadmap for 2027

The timing of the launch is not accidental. The founders are particularly optimistic about the gaming calendar for 2027, specifically regarding the role-playing genre. By aligning their growth with the release cycles of major titles and maintaining a lean, agile operation, they believe they can weather the initial startup phase.

Respec is not attempting to become the next IGN or GameSpot. Its ambition is far more specific: to build a brand that people feel invested in and to keep that brand strictly independent. In an industry that often feels as though it has lost its soul to the algorithm, Respec is betting that the audience is ready to return to the "club"—a space where the writers are playing the games because they love them, and the readers are sticking around because they trust the voice on the other side of the screen.

As the media landscape continues to consolidate, the success of independent, enthusiast-led sites like Respec may well determine whether games journalism remains a vibrant, human endeavor or eventually fades into a purely automated, corporate-controlled echo chamber. For now, the "lean operation" is open for business, and its founders are ready to prove that there is still plenty of life left in the old-school editorial model.