We’ve worked with a ton of different freelance writers at Kotaku over the years. Maybe you want to be one of them! Here’s what you need to know before pitching us stories.
What kind of stories are we interested in?
The good ones. Especially if you have a unique angle or access to provide our readers with exclusive insights, information, or high-quality writing about something they never knew they wanted to read about before. This includes, but is not limited to, feature stories, opinion pieces, essays, reported scoops, sweeping investigations, and fascinating interviews.
Most of the pitches we get are for reviews and previews. These are also the easiest things to say no to because everyone else will be publishing them. What Kotaku is most interested in when it comes to freelance pitches are original stories that readers won’t be able to find anywhere else because of a unique angle you’ve crafted, insight you’ve unearthed, experience you’ve had, or information you’ve obtained.
This could be an interview with a developer that surfaces a fascinating insight about a game they worked on a decade ago. It could be a bizarre but intriguing drama that played out in a video game Discord community last month. It could be insights from a studio about why a troubled project still hasn’t shipped or a profile of a group of modders attempting something incredible in one of their favorite games.
The best stories inform and entertain. They have characters, conflict, and tension. Some stories have exciting conclusions. Others remain unresolved and are richer because of it. You don’t have to be pitching the next Pulitzer Prize-winning article to be thinking about these types of things.
What should you send us?
Send us your idea for what you want to write with a projected word count and timeline for when it would be filed. Suggest a sample headline and explain what makes the story interesting, why we have to have it, and why there’s no version of it that we’ll be able to find online within five minutes of Googling for it. This pitch should be brief, punchy, and as exciting as the final version of the article you’re going to turn in.
Please also share a link to relevant past work and any public profile you maintain. We don’t need to know your entire life’s story or everything you’ve ever written, just one or two strong samples, whether published at a mainstream website or your personal blog, that help demonstrate your ability to execute on the ambitious idea you just pitched us.
Send them to [email protected]. Or you can reach out to individual members of staff. Don’t hesitate to follow up if you don’t get a response right away. And while we can’t guarantee we’ll get back to every pitch, we definitely read them all. We do not accept work produced by AI agents or drafted with the help of them.
What do we pay?
Our rates start at $50 for short news posts (300-450 words). Our standard rate for short features (750-1,000 words) is $150. These include light research and some original sourcing (quotes or information revealed for the first time in this story), and often try to show a trend, convey a larger point, or make a broader argument about gaming and the world, although they certainly don’t have to. Sometimes hyper-detailed anecdotes or chains of events within niche communities make for the most interesting reads of all.
We pay up to $300 for more in-depth articles that require multiple interviews, more intensive research, or lots of hands-on time with a game. Rates for everything in-between and beyond are negotiable on a case-by-case basis. If you show up with a leaked build of Half-Life 3 or an exclusive interview with Shigeru Miyamoto, we can talk.
