Saying "they have missteps like this one example so that's why nobody cares" is disingenuous of
all the other stuff they produce, not to mention the strong and tight knit community they have on their forums, Twitch and Discord. Yeah, they don't resonate with the audience at large. Nobody ever expected them to. There's plenty of youtubers for the audience at large. Yet Waypoint's voice and takes are very much worth your time if you care about videogames in any level deeper than a hobby to kill time, and they have a LARGE catalog of opinions, essays and topics that aren't just "controversy for controversy's sake" like some ERA users like to parrot, nor "strange posturing about
stuff" like you are saying, not to mention a wider coverage of games than the flavor of the month AAA most gaming outlets have. In fact, most of the criticism and reactions towards Waypoint on ERA led me to believe people don't know their range of articles at all.
Look at Waypoint specials on Youtube.
Look at them speaking out against
THQN, continually,
Rousey in MK11.
At features about comm
At they asking companies about crunch at E3, or
highlighting co-op models.
The Postscript columns. I specially like the exchange about
slavery in Shadow of War.
Features about competitive communities for odd games.
The many, many podcasts about games, movies and books.
Their critiques on how political games handle politics and morality.
Here too.
Their podcasts about games from years past, Waypoint 101, that incentive the community to revisit the games with them.
Their highlights of free games with something unique and worth checking out.
Articles about people using games as means to
express feelings, new ways to roleplay and
post-modern auteurship.
Doom mods.
Of all kinds.
Insights on low end PC gaming.
Application of critique theory comparing the no cut vision of God of War with the editing of the This is America clip.
A lenghty talk with Far Cry 5 devs about religion and culture.
Essays on bad games.
Obscure strategy game reviews.
The emotional value of obscure indie games.
Interview on Prey's narrative and inclusion of queerness.
A love letter to Brutal Legend.
A love letter to Warcraft 3.
To Burnout Paradise.
and the list goes on
They slipped sometimes? Absolutely. There is no model to follow to do what they are trying to do. They also have open discussions about it in their forums. You think that here and there something comes out weird or forced? That's fine, there's literally everything else, and you are not supposed to agree, you are supposed to give this different point of view a chance.
But they don't publish 11 pieces on Fortnite every week, don't have Trophy guides, gameplay previews for Borderlands 3 or most of the saturated crap you can find in literally any other outlet, so they must be bad, I guess.
Sony let all your credit card info on easy to hack text files once and most people moved on and now are paying to use their online service. But Waypoint published something I don't agree with therefore everything they do is weird and has no place.
Gaming is fucking weird, I swear.
(And this is not directed at you, specifically)