24 Publishers that Pay for Writing About Games ($50 to $500)

For those who want to get paid to write about something fun — here’s a list of 24 magazines, blogs, and websites that publish writing about games. Topics include video games, board games, roleplaying games, and more. There’s even a publisher of “interactive text-based games” listed here.

Payment rates vary a lot. Some of these publishers have much larger budgets than others. Polygon, for example, has been known to pay $300 for an article, whereas many of these publishers pay $50.

Engadget is a source for technology news and reviews. They cover the intersection of gaming, technology, and entertainment. According to payment reports, they pay up to $0.25 per word. To contact them, refer to this page.
Screeps is an “open-source sandbox MMO RTS game for programmers, wherein the core mechanic is programming your units’ AI.” They are looking for articles for their documentation repository. They pay $50 per article. To learn more, refer to this page.
Raging Swan Press is a UK-based roleplaying game publisher that “specialises in producing products for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.” They want articles of 500 words. They pay 11 cents per word, up to a maximum of $55. For details, visit this page.
EN World offers news coverage of tabletop roleplaying games. They are looking for articles for their three publications named TRAILseeker, EN5ider, and EONS. The starting rate for their new writers is $0.03 per word, which comes out to be “$60 for a 2,000 word article, $150 for a 5,000 word adventure, and $210 for a 7,000 word adventure.” To learn more, refer to their writer’s guidelines.
Deorbital is a “videogame-aligned journal for insightful articles on games, culture, and society.” They prioritize writing from marginalized voices and young writers. They want articles of 1,000 to 1,500 words. They pay $200 per article. For details, read their pitch guidelines.
Geek Native is a blog for gamers that covers role-playing games (RPGs), computer games, comics, tech, sci-fi, anime, books, movies, and shiny gadgets. According to their website, “as an experiment a small monthly budget is being set aside to pay for written content.” They will pay for news, tips and tricks, and industry commentary. The rate is $0.08 per word for articles of 750 to 1,000 words. For details, refer to this page.
Ogrezine is a PDF magazine that is published by Steve Jackson Games (a game company) in Austin, Texas, United States. The magazine is “devoted to the game of Ogre in its many forms.” They are looking for anything related to Ogre that their readers might find interesting. They pay 6 cents per word. To learn more, read their writer’s guidelines.
Pyramid Magazine Pyramid Magazine is a PDF magazine published by Steve Jackson Games in Austin, TX. According to the guidelines, this publication is focused on “tabletop role-playing games (RPGs) with most articles devoted to either generic (systemless) gaming or GURPS.” Pyramid buys all rights to any original article editors publish. Payment is $0.04 per word for features (2,000-5,000 words). To learn more, read writers’ guidelines: http://www.sjgames.com/pyramid/writing.html.
Choice of Games is another unique publisher. They create interactive text-based games that allow the reader to choose their own path throughout the narrative arc. Authors can either host a game or publish under the Choice of Games label. Authors who host receive 25% of royalties, while authors who publish under the CoG have two payment options to choose from. To learn more, read our write-up on Choice of Games as well as their submission guidelines.
Worlds Without Master is an adventure fiction and gaming magazine, harking back to genre magazines of yore. They feature fiction, tabletop role-playing games, and non-fiction articles that may be of interest to sword and sorcery gamers. They pay $100 for non-fiction, $200 for stories. To learn more, read their submission guidelines.
Nebraskaland Magazine is published by Nebraska’s Game and Parks Commission. They cover “all varieties of outdoor recreation including camping, travel, canoeing, hunting, fishing, Nebraska’s state parks and recreation areas, wildlife, natural history, unique personalities, art, culture, history and personal reminiscence.” They pay 15 cents per word. Most stories are 2,500 words. To learn more, read their submission guidelines.
Anime Feminist is a blog focused on Japanese media and feminism, with a focus on Anime. They pay $50 per article. To learn more, read their submission guidelines.
Linode is a leader in cloud hosting. They’re seeking in-depth guides on a variety of topics, including Linux, game servers, NoSQL databases, and more. They pay up to $300 per guide (either in cash or Linode credit). To learn more, read their submission guidelines.
Polygon publishes engaging stories based on video game artists, fans, and culture. They previously listed pay as $0.25 per word, but now state that they pay both on effort and word count. They now say “Our rates are competitive and designed to allow freelancers leeway to sink their teeth into stories, sometimes spending months pursuing particular interviews or background information. ” They imply that they’ll be willing to pay a significant sum for the right kind of article. To learn more, read their submission guidelines.
Playopolis is a UK based blog that publishes reviews of classic boardgames, as well as articles “about board games, card games or the wider industry.” (Not RPGs.) They pay £50 to £200 for articles, and £25 to £40 for reviews of older titles. To learn more, read their submission guidelines.
Paste Magazine publishes articles about music, tv, video games, and comedy. They seem to have have a broad focus on popular culture. They pay $50 for articles. To learn more, read their submission guidelines.
ZEAL is a blog that publishes writing on comics, games, and pop culture. They also publish original comics. They are “interested in writing on games that are not generally the target of serious criticism; games that are too weird, too bad, too forgotten, and too anime. ” They even publish “revisionist fan-fiction.” They pay up to $100 per article, and up to $200 per comic. To learn more, read their submission guidelines.
Modern Rogue covers computer gaming, lifestyle, and pop culture. They pay $50+ per article. To learn more, read their submission guidelines.
Dorkly publishes articles about pop culture, covering topics such as anime, video games, movies, and television. They pay $75 per published article. Their aesthetic seems to be a bit “click-baity.” To learn more, read their submission guidelines.