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VSG was built to help you find your next favorite game

Stop being aggravated over what to play next. Distilling reviews from hundreds of professional critics, VSG tells you whether to Play It or Skip It, giving you the tools to spend less time searching, and more time playing.

Our Story

Video games are more than entertainment. They are a force for good, one of the most powerful communication and collaboration resources we have ever seen. Games embody some of humanity’s deepest hopes and desires – a venue for charity, shared community, smiles, and friendship. Over the last few years, we’ve seen this promise fulfilled in many ways.

Prologue

VSG was started to solve a big problem: figuring out what to play next. Founder Josh Lurie developed a love of video games at a young age, cherishing the memories and relationships that formed while playing them. At the time, the internet was still in its infancy, and finding clear, unbiased information about new and upcoming games was needlessly difficult. Josh knew he could make a better service. One that was completely independent of corporate interests, uncompromising in its coverage, and actually useful to consumers. One built by a gamer, for gamers.

Chapter One

So, in 2018, Josh started to bring VSG to life. What was originally conceived as a news outlet quickly transformed into a review aggregator, something that could do what existing aggregators couldn’t – cut through the brush and identify games truly worth playing. The MetaMeter was born as a measurement of critic consensus, taking inspiration from a popular film aggregator and producing a Score reflecting the percentage of positive reviews. The website started to get noticed, and a community sprung up around a shared love for games.

Chapter Two

At the end of 2019, the original framework upon which VSG was built became unmanageable. So the website, as well as our underlying databases, were torn down and rebuilt from scratch. While the website was rebuilt, a renewed focus on social media emerged. The site re-launched in the fall of 2020, but what you see now is more than just a redesign. We’ve used this transitional period to make structural changes to how VSG operates, and set it on a path to grow for many years to come. 

Welcome to the new face of VSG. Thanks for being along for the ride.

Chapter Three

VSG will release our first Substack newsletter, Early Access, at the beginning of August 2022. Now . . . bring me that horizon.

Want to know what VSG is working on? View our Feature Roadmap on Trello.

Our Metrics

550+

Games covered

39,000+

Reviews aggregated

Love for gamers

Do you want to know more?

View even MORE stats about VSG

Our Commitments

As gamers, we have a responsibility to explicitly set forth our aspirations for the communities we belong to and create. Vertical Slice Games does so now, and invites all others who support these principles to join with us, and to find new ways to make this vision of the gaming community a reality.

No Ads / Paywalls

VSG is committed to building a presence that isn’t tethered to the collapsing digital ad economy. Our user interface isn’t clogged with pop-up ads, banner ads, video ads, or spammy headlines on purpose. And it never will be.

Inclusivity

VSG is committed to building an inclusive community – where a person’s characteristics and qualities do not determine the quality of their gaming experience.

Civility

VSG is committed to building a gaming community that promotes civil discourse, human dignity, and individual expression – a safe space that prioritizes the safety and well-being of its members.

Transparency

VSG is committed to being radically transparent – catalyzing collaboration where shared knowledge and verifiable facts are elevated above hype and misdirection.

Togetherness

VSG is committed to bringing people together around games, and making Vertical Slice Games representative of the world we want to live in and play in.