| People Make Games | |
|---|---|
| YouTube information | |
| Channel | |
| Years active | 2018—present |
| Subscribers | 401 thousand[1] |
| Total views | 22 million[1] |
Updated: June 8, 2022 | |
People Make Games (PMG) is a British investigative video game journalism YouTube channel.[2] The channel focuses on the developers and people who make video games. People Make Games has reported on topics like video game crunch,[3][4] outsourcing,[5] and worker exploitation.
The group was created by Chris Bratt and Anni Sayers in 2018, who were previously both journalists who had worked for Eurogamer. Sayers creates the graphics. Quinton Smith, a journalist from Rock Paper Shotgun joined in 2020.[6] The channel is viewer-funded with Patreon;[7] in June 2022, the Patreon made US$17,409 per month.[6]
| External videos | |
|---|---|
 Roblox investigations on YouTube | |
 Investigation: How Roblox Is Exploiting Young Game Developers. | |
| Roblox Pressured Us to Delete Our Video. So We Dug Deeper. |
In an August 2021 video titled "Investigation: How Roblox Is Exploiting Young Game Developers", People Makes Games' Smith accused Roblox's parent company, Roblox Corporation, of exploiting young game developers.[8][9] Smith argues the revenue split is significantly higher than other video game marketplaces,[10][11][12] and players are encouraged to keep all ingame currency on Roblox by having high exchange fees and likening it to scrip.[13][14][2] Roblox tells users that they can make money, which Kotaku later calls "shady."[15] In a followup video released in December 2021 titled "Roblox Pressured Us to Delete Our Video. So We Dug Deeper.", he accused the platform of having child safety issues,[16][17][18]criticized its "collectibles stock market", and revealed that Roblox attempted to convince People Make Games to remove the first video discussing Roblox.[19]
In March 2022 video titled "Investigating Three Indie Superstars Accused of Emotional Abuse" People Make Games detailed allegations of Workplace Abuse of independent development studios who had games published by Annapurna Interactive including at the studios Fullbright and Mountains whose allegations where previously reported on. As well as new allegations from about the studio Funomena. Bratt went on to say that he viewed the incidents as part of a greater pattern of auteur culture that can be found across the independent film and video game industry.[20][21] Following the video Robin Hunicke one of the heads of Funomena issued a Twitter apology, before stating to staff alongside Funomena co-founder Martin Middleton that there would be layoffs at Funomena and that the studio would likely close due to video and it's impact on the studio's ability to secure outside funding.[22]
