Classic Game Room has moved to Patreon

[Kintor]

For those you unfamiliar with Classic Game Room, it's an internet TV show run by Mark Bussler that focuses on playing retro games and consoles. I've been a fan of Classic Game Room for years, as Mark expresses a genuine passion for the video games as a medium. He doesn't play games wanting to hate them, so that he could make a video where he rants about how bad the game is. Rather, Classic Game Room celebrates the entire history of gaming, where Mark can usually find something interesting and enjoyable in just about any retro game he plays.

In fact not so long ago Classic Game Room posted this excellent review of Shenmue:

phpBB [video]

Anyway, after nearly a decade on YouTube it looked like Mark was going to have to shut Classic Game Room down. Since internet ad revenue has outright collapsed recently, making shows like Classic Game room too expensive to produce as a full-time job on ad revenue alone. However, after listening to many suggestions from fans Mark has decided to relaunch Classic Game Room on Patreon. If the Patreon page reaches its goal of $10,000 a month Mark will be able to continue creating more episodes of Classic Game room as a full-time job. Individually it doesn't have to cost much to contribute to this Patreon. The lowest tier starts at $2 a month. I'm personally chipping in $5 month, to help keep Classic Game Room going.

So, watch Mark's Shenmue review then check out a few more of his videos if you're still interested. I think you'll find that Classic Game Room has shown a lot of love towards Sega games over the years, with everything from the Dreamcast all the way back to obscure Sega SG-1000 games. With a bit of luck Classic Game will continue as a full-time show. After just a few hours the Patreon is already half-way towards its $10,000 a month target.

[Thief]

$10,000? His reviews are usually some gameplay footage and him casually talking about nothing for 5 minutes. I like them, but wow. Yeah right.

Maybe he should just find other work. There's no way he's going to make that much money.

[Kintor]

$10,000? His reviews are usually some gameplay footage and him casually talking about nothing for 5 minutes. I like them, but wow. Yeah right.

Maybe he should just find other work. There's no way he's going to make that much money.

Well, don't look now but it's been less than a day and the total (at the time of posting) is already at $6,039 a month. I think that that Classic Game Room will quite handily reach its $10,000 goal.

As for why he needs that much, Classic Game Room is actually quite an expensive show to make. I mean, Mark isn't doing this thing out of his basement. Classic Game Room rents commercial office space, both as a way for Mark to store his massive collection of arcade cabinets and game consoles but also to ensure high production values. Suffice to say, the rent on that kind of floor space, plus the electricity to run all those machines, is a big part of the cost. Mark is already planning to cut-back on the floor space he uses but the successful Patreon campaign will allow him to keep the core of Classic Game Room going.

[Thief]

Seems like people are paying for him to house his personal collection.

[Kintor]

Seems like people are paying for him to house his personal collection.

Nope, people are paying him to play with his personal collection of games and post the results on the internet!

Seriously though, I have great respect for Mark as a games reviewer. His passion for retro games is always great to watch whenever he finds some new obscure game, even if that game is close to 40 years old. Just watching his channel has helped me greatly in expanding my own collection of retro Sega games and hardware.

[OL]

I haven't watched in a while, but if I remember correctly, he does put up new content very, very regularly (like once or twice a week). And as someone who's made a number of gaming-based videos, I can tell you that recording gameplay footage, trying to create entertaining material to say about it, then cutting it together is a pretty time-consuming process, and doing it regularly really would require that it pretty much be done as a full-time job.
Seriously, when I was making videos, the work on them would suck up all my free time. Granted, I tend to be a little more selective and picky with my footage (I don't just show continuous gameplay footage and talk about stuff unrelated to what's going on on-screen, while his videos are basically that), but the point still stands. If a person wants to put out content regularly, it doesn't leave a lot of time for "work" otherwise (apparently he works on and off as a video editor for years now anyway). Doing things that quickly might actually require that he work with other people as well (which he does), which might require that they be paid too.

I'm not a rabid fan of his or anything, though I do love his older work, but I can see how the money might be justified. Besides, if his fans see fit to fund it, who's to tell them they shouldn't? It's entertainment. People have paid for weaker things than this, that's for damn sure.
And I do have to say, Mark is one of the rare breed of gamer nowadays who doesn't hate games for stupid reasons (hell, he barely ever "hates" anything anyway) and always has entertaining, fun things to say about them. The flamethrower jokes got old quick, but he is one of the few that I've seen who has genuine passion for the medium, is funny, is actually intelligent, and has a great outlook on the medium as a whole. Weirdly, it's rare to find all those traits in a videogame reviewer/youtube entertainer. So I say all the luck to him. I like the guy. His old MUSHA review/playthrough was pretty fun.

[streetwaves]

Mark creates new content with solid production value on an incredibly consistent and regular basis, all for stuff that's usually older/more obscure. Obviously the ad model of funding the show has ceased to work for him at this point, but that doesn't mean that if he has a dedicated following that values his work enough to chip in $5-10 a month it shouldn't continue. In fact, it was his viewership's idea.

He's already at about $7000, so it's certainly possible he could hit the $10K mark, but we'll have to see. If he handles the Patreon campaign well it could certainly grow over time.

[MiTT3NZ]

$10k a month? He needs $120k/year? Seriously? I'd understand if he had a small production team, but if it's just him then I'm struggling to get my head round how people are fallin for it...

[streetwaves]

$10k a month? He needs $120k/year? Seriously? I'd understand if he had a small production team, but if it's just him then I'm struggling to get my head round how people are fallin for it...

He only needs $5K a month. $10K is a stretch goal. Keep in mind that he has a studio and space for his set, which I don't imagine is cheap. I've got no real idea what his expenses are, but I'm imagining they're in the thousands per month, just for the show. And if people want to see him make this his full-time job, what do you expect him to need every month?

Your monthly contribution pays for software, fees, equipment upkeep, wear and tear on games and gear, insurance, taxes, Internet service, studio rent, scheduling and travel time and other miscellaneous expenses. The biggest expense is my time required to make the show and podcast, which consumes the overwhelming majority of a week and is a full time job if it hits the full time tier.

People really are odd about this sort of thing. If you don't want to support CGR, don't - but don't complain about the idea that other people would. It's not as if Mark is being shady about this at all.

[reptile]

I love CGR his content is so clear and entertaining, I find the guy to be so humble and chill. Sure he can ask for money like that and I'm confident he'd get what he is asking for. There are many people that like him.

[MiTT3NZ]

He hires studio space for a YouTube channel? I'll have to see it to be able to judge this properly, but it sounds fucking ridiculous.

[OL]

The main Classic Game Room stuff is all him, but he also has CGR Undertow, which has other people reviewing games as well. So yeah, he is working with other people. The expenses are certainly covering more than just one guy.

[MiTT3NZ]

Ah, thought it was just one of those "guy sits in front of his game collection n chats bollocks for forty minutes" type channels.

[Kintor]

Yes! I've just received an automatic email from Patreon; the Classic Game Room Patreon campaign has just crossed the $10,000 line: https://www.patreon.com/ClassicGameRoom?ty=h

At the time of this post the total amount pledged each month is $10,042. This means that Mark will be able to continue Classic Game Room as a full time job. I imagine that Mark will want to make some sort of celebratory video ASAP.

Screw YouTube and its diminishing ad revenue, Classic Game Room is here to stay!

Edit:

Here's what Mark has to say to about reaching this important funding goal:

Business as Usual & Macross!!

We did it! We smashed another goal, it's business as usual! What a pleasant Friday night. Also, there's a brand new Macross: Do You Remember Love review for the Sega Saturn! Robotech and Macross fans rejoice, it's really cool that this game exists. It's not the best space ship shooter in the world, but it does a great job retelling the events in the Macross movie as a 2D shoot 'em up!

The next year will bring you lots of Classic Game Room. I've already been preparing my schedule for this and plan to start recording the first CGR 2085 podcast on Monday. That should completed by the end of January.

Lots of new reviews are being planned. I spent some time today playing through Top Gun: Fire at Will which has 90s live action cut scenes. YES. You know I loves me some 90s live action cut scenes. I recorded the commentary track for Top Gun on Famicom, you'll see that tomorrow.

It's going to be a great year of CGR Mk3. It's so rewarding to see how much people enjoy the show. It's funded at a level where I can spend my time working on it, and I hope that it continues to grow for future sustainability and increased production values.

I've been doing this for a long time. While I cracked a beer in celebration, it's back to work on Monday morning because I've gotta keep it growing and plan to make every review better in the process. No matter how good things look, you've always got to be prepared for the next thing... Assuming the next thing is giant robots and brain people in the year 2084!!!

The next goal is TRUXTON v TRUXTON v TRUXTON II! That's a lot of Truxton. Now, I'm going to drink my beer and play EDF.

Thank you again, Mark!