Well this is a post I didn’t think I’d be writing anytime soon, but something has happened in the last week that means I’ve reached the end of an era. Let’s talk about it, and how it affects things going forward.
Great timing Mark!
First off, the big news. The day this post goes live sees me finish my last day at Racing Games. After three years, hundreds of videos, many hundreds of articles, and plenty of memories made, the decision has been made to reduce the size of the site.
This is definitely not something I was expecting, so to call it a shock is one hell of an understatement! Of course, the site downsizing means I’m now out of a job, with my usual perfect timing once again rearing its ugly head.
It was only two weeks ago that I talked in a video about juggling a full-time job with running a YouTube channel. Now that work-YouTube balance has been shifted significantly, in both a good way and a bad way.
First, let’s talk about the good. At least for the first week or so of unemployment, I’ll have a lot more time to produce content. This means possibly more videos coming soon, but I’ll talk about that shortly.
The bad side of all this is I’ve now lost my main source of income. This means I’ll have to pick up extra freelance work to make up the deficit, which could actually end up eating into video production time.
As they say, beggars can’t be choosers, so I’ll be looking for any and all work that suits my skill set. This means working all hours, picking up any additional work I can get my hands on.
For anyone who is considering becoming a Patreon supporter or YouTube Member, I’ll be honest in saying now’s a really good time for me. Any additional income from the channel would be really appreciated, especially given the circumstances.
Feel free to check out the Patreon and YouTube info to see if anything takes your fancy. Once again, I’m all ears when it comes to feedback, so by all means leave any suggestions in the comments here or over on my Discord and I’ll take them on board.
Nose to the grindstone
Now as I said above, for at least the first week of the job hunt, I’ll be able to create a lot more content. This includes increasing video output to three videos a week, along with possibly streaming for a couple of hours a week too.
How long this will actually last for, I can’t say for sure. In an ideal world, I’ll have a new job lined up in no time and things on the channel will return to normal. In reality, it could be weeks if not months before I find a new full-time role.
Therefore I’ll also be pushing the channel a lot more in order to drive up views. That’s also where I’d be grateful for any help from the M4J community. Please do share the videos, hit that like button, and try out new series on the channel, even if you think you may not like them.
Views and interaction grab the YouTube algorithm more than anything else, so my aim is to increase both of those as much as I possibly can. I’m still really pleased with how the channel is growing this year, so I want to keep that ball rolling for as long as I can.
As I said in my YouTube Membership video, the goal is to reach 2,500 subscribers by the end of the year. If you haven’t already subscribed to the channel, I ask that you please do so to help out.
Speaking of goals, my new view target for videos is 200 within the first week. As it happens, this has been a lot easier to achieve recently than I thought, so thank you all for watching and driving up that view count.
Ok, enough about the analytics, let’s talk about how individual series will be affected moving forward.
More time, more videos
First up let’s talk about the regulars. From Steam to Electricity and M4J Buses are basically unaffected by the changes coming. They’ll continue to go out in the usual slots, possibly moving to full-on weekly rather than skipping some weeks each month. There’s also the Cinders Cup, where you’ll next see me hopefully continuing my road to recovery in the second test match.
As for Summerset MTR, I have good news. With the east side of the loop now complete, and the central station edging closer to construction, I’ll be attempting to produce an episode at least every other week. That might not sound like much, but that’s double the current output so it’s a big upgrade.
Each video will likely be its own construction project. Starting with track laying, before moving on to detailing and eventually station construction and fitting out. The aim is to finish each project within a single video before moving on to the next.
I’m also going to try to do the same for The New M4J Network. Right now I have the next two episodes planned out, with each bringing even more trains back to the network. Despite being part of a series, I’m planning to make each episode standalone from the others to help attract new viewers to the channel.
The new M4JVelocity Racing series will be remaining at least once a week, with some races still being skipped to keep things moving forward. I really do want to complete at least a season this time out, so expect things to move as fast as the cars on that one. F1 Manager 2024 is also the last game I covered for Racing Games, so it means a lot to me personally.
Finally, new series! Well ok, one is technically a returning one, but the rest will be new. I won’t go into these too much for now, but I can say expect new games and returning titles to make their way to the channel in the not-too-distant future, at least until my time gets taken up by work again.
End of an era
Like I said right at the top, I really wasn't expecting to have to write this post. The Racing Games news came as a real shock for me, and I’ll genuinely miss working there every day. I’ve met some great people along the way, who hopefully will stay friends even beyond this.
From starting as an amateur video editor who needed a lot of training just to keep up, to ending as a senior writer trusted with some of the biggest game reviews of the year, I can honestly say working in the games industry for the last three years has greatly changed me as a person.
Some of what I’ve learned along the way will be making its way to M4J. I’ll be writing a lot more on here during the week, whether that’s my thoughts on recent gaming news or even providing quick guides to help people struggling with certain parts of games.
This will be across a range of gaming genres. Despite specialising in racing games for the last few years, I actually have more interest in business management and simulation games so I will be covering those more.
I also want to make more content for my social media. Rather than just letting the upload bot handle my Facebook and X pages, I want to post more there myself. This could be just links to articles here, or maybe reactions to announcements too.
This could also involve short-form video content as well, but we’ll see on that one.
To wrap things up then, this has been an unexpected turn of events that hopefully is just a small bump in the road. Having more time for M4J again does feel exciting, but once again it highlights that the channel definitely needs to start paying for itself more going forward.
As for me personally, it’s a big blow but I’ve got nothing but great things to say about working for both Racing Games and Gfinity. From the people I’ve worked with to the games I’ve gotten to talk about, I genuinely wouldn’t change a single thing from the last three years.
Exciting times are ahead, even if getting there might take some doing. As always, I hugely appreciate every single one of you for reading this, watching my content, and especially contributing financially to those who do.
This is the start of a new era for me and the channel, and I can’t wait for you all to see it. Thanks for reading, and until next time I will see you soon!