Mainstream Outside – What’s this all about?

We’re problem-solvers armed with keyboards—not guns. Sounds cryptic? Let us explain.

• The problem: Most gaming magazines bury you in Netflix, Star Wars, and Marvel content.
  The solution: Us! As a dedicated video game magazine, we write exclusively about what we should be writing about, and that’s video games. (Wow, right?)

• The problem: “Big” outlets mostly report on Triple-A titles and games that generate clicks.
  The solution: Yep, still us! We focus on what players care about; not what boosts a publisher’s revenue. That means games with cool ideas, a love for the craft, and a strong sense of fun.

• The problem: Game journalism is increasingly written by AI.
  The solution: You guessed it—us! Here, you’ll only find human-written articles because we enjoy the writing process and intend to keep it that way. Besides, AI lacks the one thing great journalism needs: personality.

• The problem: Game journalism has a giant stick up its ass.
  The solution (yeah yeah, broken record): Still us. Our writing doesn’t read like corporate press releases polished through three rounds of legal edits. We understand that SEO corsets and rigid rules don’t fit a creative medium like gaming. Also, we don’t waste your time with publisher stock prices, because they don’t benefit you personally. Well, unless your name is Charlie Guillemot, that is. In that case, got a franc to spare? Maybe ten? Or a thousand?

But the coolest part is that we've worked professionally in games journalism for years, so we know the ropes. And if you're wondering who started Mainstream Outside: that would be Alex, a writer and game developer since the ’90s. But hey, let him tell you himself.

The Mainstream Outside Team

Alex Nitschke (Born name: Ney)

Founder
Responsible for: Articles, Website, Editorial work
Contact: alex/at/mainstream-outside.com

Links:

• Haunted Mouse (Game Studio)
• Knights of Bytes (Game Studio)

Hey there! I’ve been into video games since 1982, spending 12 of those years in professional games journalism. During that time, I wrote for major outlets like Yps (Egmont Ehapa), GameStar, GamePro (Webedia), and retro magazine RETURN. So yes, I’ve seen the world of mainstream journalism up close and didn’t exactly fall in love with it. The result? This site.

But writing isn’t my only domain. I’ve also been developing games since the early ’90s, starting with a humble C64. If you’re into the retro scene, you might know me from Knights of Bytes, the team behind the award-winning platformer Sam’s Journey (2017).

In 2024, I founded my own game studio, Haunted Mouse. We create modern horror titles for PC and quirky mobile games. Our current projects are The Tube (PC) and Fly Hard (Mobile).

Outside of code and keyboards, I’ve been a musician since 1989. I'm not exactly a virtous instrumentalist (bad keyboardist, mediocre guitarist), but I know my way around composition, synth hardware, and DAWs. At least enough to land a record deal with a U.S. label once.

Anna Nitschke

Responsible for: Marketing, Articles
Contact: anna/at/mainstream-outside.com

I was a gamer from the moment my tiny fingers could reach an Amiga 500—thanks largely to Lucasfilm Games. As an Indy fan, the Raiders March still gives me goosebumps, and Super Mario Bros. 3’s overworld theme lives rent-free in my head.

These days, Mario doesn’t thrill me as much. Modern strategy and (online) RPGs have kinda stolen the show. I enjoy games that let me build stuff—or that simply hit the right emotional vibe. And yeah, I’ve spent hundreds of hours playing The Sims (sorry-not-sorry). Alex says that’s a 5-euro fine for sacrilege, payable to the office jar in the hallway of Staff Surveillance.

When I’m not gaming, I’m out in nature or watching supernatural horror movies and thrillers. If I’m lucky, I fall asleep halfway through—my absolute favorite pastime. And if I claim to draw inspiration for articles in my sleep… I’m lying. My brain’s just switched off.

Small team, big impact

So yeah, Mainstream Outside isn’t powered by a giant team. Does that mean something? Absolutely. We believe only a small team can stay truly independent. It’s simple: more staff means more expenses, which means more pressure to monetize.

We want to avoid that trap. That’s why we keep the crew intentionally small, and why none of us are doing this for money at the moment. What truly drives us is the joy of covering great indie games with heart.

So, are we hiring? Kinda. We’d love to have more voices on board—but only if the vibe is right. Personality trumps experience here. Writing skills can be learned; passion and honesty can’t.

If you think you’d be a good fit, shoot us an email! The site’s still in its early stages, so we’re writing, as mentioned, out of pure passion. Anyone who contributes does so out of conviction, and we respect the hell out of that.

To wrap things up, here’s the short version of what we’re about:

• Mainstream Outside is an independent online magazine, which means: no corporate backing, no sponsored posts, no AI-written content.
• We only write about games that excite us or deserve more attention. Namely, titles with soul, away from monetization traps and mass-market trends.
• Ads will appear in the future, but only in reasonable volume. Also, no gambling garbage or weird stuff.
• We avoid heavy tracking because we don’t like it either. If you ever feel like supporting us (even with an adblocker), that’s amazing—and we’ll think about how to make that possible in a good way.