Het einde van een legende: Arena51

In extremis kregen we ook nog respons van Stany Massart, de huidige manager van Arena51 die bij Skynet werkt. Hij had de twijfelachtige 'eer' om het einde van Arena51 voor te bereiden. Aangezien Stany afkomstig is van Wallonië, zijn de antwoorden in het Engels en werd er niets vertaald om de eigenheid van de tekst te behouden.

Eurogamer: Hoe begon jouw geschiedenis bij Arena51?

Stany: I am involved in the Arena51 project for only one year, I integrated the crew when Gilles Ernoux (JackAttack) left. At this time we were only 2 of us : Emmanuel Van Hecke (Icemanu) and me. Manu already had a long story with spelletjesgarnaal and Arena51, and he felt quite early that the end was approaching. I think that's why he announced in February (less than 3 month after my arrival…) that he would leave in April. At this time there still was a chance for Arena51 to be revamped (in order to suppress the babes for example, and give the site a new look&feel). At least that's what I thought, but Manu probably already knew that it was over. So I can say that my story at Arena51 began on a very unstable basis, and eventually, it would only get worse…

Eurogamer: Wat was je specialiteit, waarom was je bekend/berucht?

Stany: I never truly had any. I began with a really short hand over from Gilles, and was directly responsible for the FR part of the site. And from April 2009, when Manu Left, I was also in charge of the NL part. It was really difficult for me to have a close look at everybody's work. I wrote my answers in English, because my Dutch is not that good, and it added a difficulty to my job. So I would say that my “specialty” was to try to prevent everything from tearing apart.

Eurogamer: Wat zorgde volgens jou ervoor dat de site een stapje hoger dan de rest stond?

Stany: I know that Arena51 once was a great gaming website, but to be honest, when I joined the crew, it was already seriously declining, and we didn't have the resources to save it.

Eurogamer: Kan een videogamesite zelfstandig overleven met een vast betaalde crew in België?

Stany: I think so, but the management has to believe in it, and even more : the management has to have the will to do it. I am not a specialist of the history of Arena51, but I think we had a “golden age”, when up to 6 people were working full time for Arena. We were present on the fairs, some festivals, all gaming conventions,… etc. Then I think some people believed that we could do the same with less people, and it didn't work. Then instead of re-hiring talents and speed up the machine again, people didn't believe in the project, so they decided to reduce the cost, hoping that, given stable incomes, it would “work” again. But evidently, the incomes decreased also, and the balance was lost. But everything is not lost. Before the end of the year, we will launch a gaming platform on Skynet (named Skynet Games), that will be more oriented towards casual gaming, but will also propose core content. And in addition to this, the entertainment/games channel of Skynet.be will be revamped, and we will still propose Editorial content to our readers.

Eurogamer: Is een moederbedrijf (zoals Skynet) een zegen of een vloek?

Stany: I think it is both. It is a big advantage because in order to finance bigger projects, buy stuff, it is a bit like having a bank at home. And that's definitely an advantage. But on the other hand, you sometimes have to deal with people who have absolutely no idea of what the “gaming world” can be. And it also means that sometimes, they don't realize how big the market is, how much people do actually play videogames, and as they have the money, they are in a position to ruin the project. I think that, step by step, that's what happened to Arena51.

Eurogamer: Wat was het meest memorabele moment voor jou bij A51?

Stany: My best moment at Arena51 ? The “survival” Games Convention 2009 in Cologne ! We had absolutely no budget to go there, but I borrowed a car from Belgacom, and we departed around 6 am with Arqus Zed and Odin… and we met Airborn and Alegis there. I was really stressed, because it was the first gaming convention of my life, and I was "the one in charge"… alone in the dark :-)… and as until the last moment, we didn't even know if we would go or not, the scheduling was quite chaotic. But we managed to have appointments, even if I some said many times that "it was not the same when Manu was there" ;). Then after a memorable GPS guided trip of Cologne, we went to the city camping, and I think we were the only journalists accredited to the GC to have to sleep in tents and queue for the shower in the morning. But still, it was fun, and fortunately, I think Odin and Arqus realized that it was not that easy to organize, and that I had made everything I could.

Eurogamer: Welke gamesites dienen als inspiratie voor jou en welke sites vind je zelf aangenaam om lezen?

Stany: Gamekult.com is quite inspiring for me (of course, it's in French…). They (p)review almost every game that's released, with high quality and often stylish articles. And they broadcast 2 emissions weekly: "l'émission" is around 20 minutes of interactive chat 2 games + news, business trends, …), and "le mag" (10 minutes) is more focused on the releases, and each week they have a deep interview with someone from the gaming world in France (or someone from Japan, USA, … coming to France). It is the best FR gaming website in my opinion.

Eurogamer: Waar gaat het naartoe met gaming in België, zowel qua gamers zelf als de journalistiek?

Stany: The hell if I know… I hope not in the same direction as we are going… :(

Stany: As a conclusion, I would like to thank all the freelances who worked for Arena51 and dedicated time to the site, even in difficult times. I wish the very best to all existing and future gaming sites over the web, because "it's a wonderful world"… Even if my answers may seem quite negative, I would like to add that this was the best job I ever had, and despite the difficult conditions, I really enjoyed it.