I think this is the real crux of the issue, and something that isn’t being discussed enough about this situation. Things that I would love to learn about this:
What actually went down during the hiring process?
What were the exact qualifications they were looking for in a candidate?
Was there really nobody from within IGN that could have been promoted into the job?
What attracted them to Filip in the first place? What was it about him and his content that made him appear to be competent?
And that’s not even the end of the story imo. There’s a few questions that should be asked about the industry as a whole.
Have a lot of sites like IGN prioritized being a “personality” too much? That is, does being a social influencer or a face for the camera take more of a priority over being a good writer and reporter.
What issues does game journalism have in terms of how games tend to be written about?
It’s no secret that game reviews often sound like PR bullshit, so did this inadvertently create an environment Filip could both thrive and remain undetected in due to the nature of how gaming content is usually written and how closely it tends to mirror PR talking points.
Is it even viable or feasible to continue to expect staff at gaming sites to be these multi-taskers who have to write, shoot, and produce their own content?
How many qualified writers were not given an opportunity because they lacked video editing skills, and vice versa? Wouldn’t it make more sense to just have really good writers, and keep your separate video and production team?
That’s just a few talking points I could think of off the top of my head. There’s a lot more to this story. I hope someone eventually tries to tackle this.
