Introducing lookingfor.game — lookingfor.game

Hey!

Thank you for subscribing to lookingfor.game, I'm so thrilled you're here. If you're not familiar with me or my work, I’m Lucy James, co-host of the Friends Per Second podcast and former Lead Producer at GameSpot and Giant Bomb.

Yes, former.

I spent 12 years at GameSpot covering the ups and downs of the video game industry, working my way up from contract video producer to lead, all the while wearing more hats than one person should reasonably be able to balance. I loved the long days at E3, the excitement (and often panic) of covering console releases, and the opportunity to interview many of my developer heroes. I hosted panels, made documentaries, and, most importantly, made lifelong friends.

I did it all, and it was the best job in the world. So why did I leave?

12 years is a long time to be anywhere, even somewhere that you love. I didn’t leave because of some salacious drama, or because I was forbidden to cover indie games (quite the opposite! I had a huge amount of freedom to cover whatever interested me), I left because I realised I wanted to help solve a huge problem that many developers are facing right now.

Discoverability is broken.

Making a good game isn’t a guarantee for success anymore: now more than ever, success is determined by algorithms and sheer luck. Not only are more games releasing each year than ever, but we live in a world where everything is vying for attention. Games are competing against short-form video, social media, and doomscrolling: an entire attention economy designed to keep you locked to one screen or app. Breaking through that noise and getting in front of the right audience is tough. And that’s what I want to try and help fix.

So this is lookingfor.game: A human-led gaming curation and discovery newsletter curated by me and powered by player.gg. Each week, I’ll be sending handpicked PC gaming recommendations straight to your inbox, and you'll get to experience some of those recommendations for yourself. You'll get access to exclusive demos on Steam and the Epic Games Store, as well as invitations to upcoming playtests.

That’s it, that’s the pitch. Cool game recommendations sent straight to you.

The whole thing is powered by the incredible team at player.gg. I partnered with them over newsletter platforms like Substack and beehiiv because, frankly, those platforms don’t understand games. Substack still doesn’t have a video games category! The team at player.gg really, really does understand gaming, and they’ve been working with developers and publishers for a while to help get games in front of players. It’s been a tremendous collaboration so far, and we’re only just getting started!

My other partner is Geoff Keighley, who really needs no introduction. Geoff believed in the vision from the very beginning, and I’m so grateful for his unwavering support as we get it off the ground.

LFG has an exciting road ahead, and I’m thrilled to dedicate my time to it and help share some excellent games with you all.

For players: Thank you for being here. The newsletter with recommendations is free, but there is a $5 paid tier if you’d like to support financially, as well as the option to pay what you’d like. The paid tiers get you access to extra newsletters with more game recommendations, as well as the Discord, where I hope we’ll build a strong community of indie game enjoyers.

For developers: Send me your games! Even if it won’t be ready for a while, please reach out and put it on my radar. I’ve made a handy form to fill out and would love to see what you have cooking.

The first issue will be coming through tomorrow (June 5th), featuring my picks from Day of the Devs, which airs right after Summer Game Fest. I'm co-hosting with Geoff again this year, and I hope you'll tune in! It's going to be a fun show.

Lastly, I’m thrilled to announce that we’ll also have an exclusive extended demo for Wish Upon A Llama in tomorrow’s issue.

Huge thank you to Millionhare Studios and Whitethorn Games for being our first exclusive reveal for lookingforgame. This updated demo will be the first seven in-game days, so about 3-5 hours of playtime, more on that tomorrow!

It's time to find your next favorite game. LFG.

You can find LFG on social media here: