Mike Futter
As seen in:
Virtual Economy,
CorranCast,
Mashable,
Variety,
Yahoo Finance,
Polygon,
VentureBeat,
Game Informer,
Unreal Engine,
GamesIndustry.biz,
GameDaily.biz
and
You can find me on Discord (Futter), Bsky (futterish.fsquared.biz), or via email at mike@fsquared.biz.
Interview
Have you ever used a typewriter?
Yes.
How is social media changing news?
Tons of misinformation because people are too fast on the trigger.
Who's your favorite fictional journalist?
Will McAvoy (The Newsroom)
What does it mean to be a journalist?
A fanatical devotion to ferreting out the truth. Hopefully, it also means doing so as fairly as possible.
What tools and software do you use to do your job?
Slack, Trello, and a healthy dose of Google Docs.
What's your favorite social network?
I use Twitter the most, but "favorite" implies that I like the platform and its policies.
Why did you become a journalist?
A life-long love of interactive entertainment, an MBA, and a need to change career paths that led me to meld them.
What story are you most proud of writing or working on?
The explainers I've written have helped people participate in conversations about complex topics.
What advice can you offer to aspiring journalists?
Write every day. It doesn't have to be a lot, but take the time to write something every day.
When's the best time to pitch you?
About a year ago, since I'm doing something else right now. :)
What's the best pitch you ever got?
I've received lots of great pitches, but the ones that are genuinely tailored to my past coverage and interests make me smile.
What's the worst pitch you ever got?
The worst pitch I ever got involved a PR agency refusing to take no for an answer and then asking my colleagues to harass me for a mtg.
What's your favorite drink?
Coffee.
When you're not at a computer, where are you most likely to be?
In the kitchen cooking.
What's the most common misperception about your beat?
That video game writers get to play games all day long. We're lucky if we play them in our off hours.
Would you like to take the Muck Rack Interview?
Create a Muck Rack profile.