Who we are 

IGN’s mission is to be the world leader in games and entertainment. Our focus is on news and critical content, fan culture, and in-depth game help targeted at enthusiasts and delivered via all major content channels and formats.

While we lean on the traditional formats for covering those industries (news, previews, reviews, and interviews), we’ve also adapted to the shifting culture of media and fan communities. We aim to answer the questions posed by our readers, to be their voice, and to responsibly leverage our access to the stars, creators, and information they crave. We follow the community and culture of fans and the entertainment they consume, while directing those ongoing conversations using our relationships, our expertise, and our responsibilities as journalists and representatives for our readers. 

We are passionate fans of games, TV, movies, comics, and consumer tech. We are social influencers/personalities in addition to being journalists. Not only do we serve our readers using our extensive knowledge of these entertainment worlds, but we do so with the same level of enthusiasm with which our audience consumes it. Through a diverse cast of hosts and panelists on various shows, we seek to both inform and entertain in the fields we cover. And we’d love to work with you to help contribute to the breadth of our coverage, expertise, and voice. 

How to work with us

We have regular freelance opportunities available across our departments depending on your expertise and our editors’ specific needs at any given time. These needs are often focused on upcoming releases and other topical subjects, so it’s always a good idea to keep up with the latest games, movies, and TV shows as well as the conversations around them if you’re looking to pitch us.

Every news outlet’s priorities and styles are different, and we always encourage our freelancers to keep pitching us angles for features or longform news reports, even if we turn some down. We’ll endeavor to give you feedback (including by keeping this page as up to date as possible) so that, even if we do turn a pitch down, you’ll know why, and you’ll know how to best pitch us in the future, too, based on general feedback about our voice as well as what our most up-to-date priorities are. And don’t worry -- we’ll pitch you directly, too.

But we also recognize that it’s helpful to have some information up front, and we’d like to provide as much insight, guidance, and transparency as possible to get you started and to help you make the right pitches we’re looking for. 

Games Features

The features team covers a huge amount of ground at IGN across written and video. We’re always on the lookout for original left of center stories with reporting - the history of the Resident Evil’s opening, for example, or the story behind chatterbox FM, as well as community-focused stories/op-eds on current or older games (with a base rate of $300, that can go up depending on complexity). We’re also after more straightforward explainers/op-eds on big tech moments and Xbox/Nintendo/PlayStation/games-as-service ecosystems ($300 base rate, flexible). For extremely experienced storytellers, we'd love more pitches for our prestige video series like Art of the Level and Inside Stories ($500+ and $1000+, respectively). On a more regular basis, we’re looking for writers to cover video scripts for series like The Story So Far ($350-$400 average with annotations, also flexible depending on the series), X Things You (Probably) Didn’t Know ($400 with annotations), and creative explainers like ending explained/weird characters explained/cool systems and lore explained ($300 base rate with flexibility). Features at IGN can take endless forms (profiles! Video game post-morts! Trailer breakdowns!), so if you have a cool idea outside of anything we’ve mentioned, please hit us up! 

Entertainment Features

As with games features, entertainment features include a wide variety of stories in both article and video form. Lore explainers (example: Tales of the Jedi Explained) are an approach we’re always looking for as fan-fave comics, books, characters, and stories are always being adapted to movies/TV ($300 base rate, flexible). That also includes Ending Explained and Burning Questions style articles around the latest movie and TV releases. Reported features outside the usual press junket beat are always of interest, like the time the four original Hobbits reconnected after more than 10 years and we were there for it (base rate of $300, can go up depending on complexity). For more extensive pieces that involve reporting and video scripting, we are always looking for pitches for Art of the Scene and Inside Stories ($500+ and $1000+, respectively). We’re also looking for pitches for The Story So Far, X Things You (Probably) Didn’t Know ($350-$400 average for scripts with annotations), as well as any unique and interesting takes on the latest movies and TV shows ($300 base rate, flexible for articles). As noted with our games features above, features can take many forms and we’d love to hear pitches on all of them.

News

IGN’s news coverage is hugely wide-ranging, both in form and subject. We write everything from daily quick-turnaround breaking news (with a base rate of $30 for a 20- to 30-minute turnaround story, rising based on complexity of story), to deeper dives on topical subjects (typically starting at $300 for a write-up supported by interviews or other extended research) to investigative reports (negotiated per-project, typically starting at $400). We cover gaming, movies, TV, tech, and science, and look for topics as diverse as games industry acquisitions or the latest scientific theories about dinosaurs. Our freelance team reflects those needs, and we’re always on the lookout for writers who can help with short, reactive stories in office hours, as well as those with the contacts and expertise to chase a lead and work up a complex piece of original reporting (or both!). Right now, we’re particularly keen for science writers, especially those able to find newly published studies in our areas of interest and recontextualize them for the IGN audience. We’re also interested in fan community angles, diving into cultural moments across gaming, movies and TV – think Elden Ring’s Let Me Solo Her.

Previews

IGN is always on the lookout for great writers who can take a critical but contextual look at upcoming games in preview coverage, scrutinizing what’s presented but within the context of the fact that, regardless of whether you state it to your reader, that the game is not yet finished and that it may change prior to when it’s finished and reviewed. While we are always looking to expand our pool of talent across many disciplines, IGN is currently especially eager to meet talented writers who are genre experts in 4X/strategy games, sports games, and competitive shooters. Furthermore, as in-person events continue to return to the fore, we are also looking for writers who are based out of the New York City area in order to attend Manhattan-based events. Freelance rates for preview coverage typically start at $300 for a 700-1000-word piece that can be adapted to a 700-word video script. Writers have the option to do their own voiceover for the video preview if they have the interest as well as a recording-quality microphone.

Reviews

If gamers, movie and TV fans, or tech enthusiasts are interested in something, IGN will very likely review it to give our audience the answers to the crucial questions of whether we think a given thing is worth their time and money, and why. That includes taking in-depth critical looks not just at the traditional video games, gaming hardware, and moving-picture shows that are our bread and butter but also occasional books, board games, toys like LEGO sets, and even theme park attractions. Because no one person can be an expert in all of these categories, it requires a small army of diverse critics with a broad range of backgrounds, tastes, technical knowledge, and passions to review them. In particular, we’re always looking for movie experts in the LA, San Francisco, and New York areas who can attend screenings, as well as gamers who specialize in sports games, competitive shooters, and JRPGs, among other genres.

For movies and TV our standard rates range from $150 to write up a review of a single half-hour or hour-long episode and $200 for a typical movie, all the way to $350 for a full season of television. For games – which typically require a much greater time investment – our rates begin at $450 for a written review (the sky’s the limit but generally these range from 1,500 to 3,000 words) and a roughly 1,400-word script with gameplay capture to match. (Reviewers have the option to record their own voiceover if their equipment is sufficient.) That rate can increase in special circumstances, such as extremely time-intensive games like an MMORPG. And finally for tech reviews, our rates range from $250 for the average mouse, controller, or headset up to $400 (and up, in certain situations) for more technically specialized or time-intensive items like GPUs.

Other general notes: 

  • While we have base-line rates to give you visibility and understanding into our payment scale, we will always work with you to determine the rate that feels most aligned with the level of work and time commitment you’re putting into any piece. Often features and other longform reports and stories are quite unique from one another, or a story may develop and change as you chase it down (requiring digging in further or setting up additional interviews, etc), in which case we would have that discussion together to determine whether more work (and therefore an increased rate) is necessary. If we ultimately need to turn your work down, we will offer you a kill fee and you are free to shop the pitch around to other media organizations as you like. 

  • While some of our regular freelancers have been entrusted with direct CMS access, we will still often help or lead with CMS building, including working on any additional links and imagery that might be required by our style guides.

  • We’re not precious or strict about word counts, but we do use them as helpful guides for those that like to work within guidelines. Ultimately we want to have an open and transparent discussion with you on what you feel is necessary to tell the specific story you’re telling or reporting on.

How to get in touch with us

We’ve set up a formstack for pitch submissions that will reach the right editor for what vertical you’re pitching for. We’ve set it up so that you’re free to attach or link any writing samples you wish, or any other materials you’d like to send over in addition to that, too.