Publisher Valnet Receives Massive Backlash After Switching Journalists to a Pay-Per-Click System

Valnet, a Canada-based digital media company reaching large audiences through popular culture and gaming publishing platforms, has sparked a major controversy with its new payment model for freelance journalists. The company informed about 30 freelance writers working for the popular gaming website The Gamer that their compensation would be entirely based on the number of clicks. Previously receiving a fixed fee per text, employees will now be paid solely based on the number of visitors their own written content brings in. This situation has caused anger, confusion, and deep disappointment among the employees. Many workers took to social media to call for help, stating that this new system does not even leave them with a living wage.

It is known that Valnet is a massive company housing world-renowned media brands such as Polygon, GameRant, Screenrant, and Movieweb under its umbrella. The company claims to reach over 300 million visitors monthly with 27 different media brands and to shape the industry with these figures. For instance, The Gamer alone attracts nine million visitors per month according to data from the search engine and web analytics platform Similarweb, with each visitor viewing an average of 1.8 pages. However, under the new "Pay-Per-Click" model, writers who upload their own content can reportedly earn only 8 dollars per one thousand clicks. The situation is even more dire for editors, as their pay can drop to as low as 3 dollars per one thousand clicks, and they can only receive different payments for extra tasks.

The new contracts sent by the company to the employees arrived at a very late hour, at 23.00 UK time, with no prior notice. Neither the employees nor even the editor-in-chief of The Gamer's office in the UK were aware of this contract change in advance. Lex Laddy, who previously served as an editor for The Gamer, described the move as deliberate and hostile. According to Laddy, this system was designed to cut employees' earnings in half compared to the previous period, and the company aims to quietly reduce its headcount this way.

One of the most criticized clauses of the new contract is that the click revenue for articles is limited only to the first 15 days after publication. Gaming industry media typically relies on permanent (evergreen) content, such as strategy guides, which draws valuable traffic from search engines for many years. However, Valnet's 15-day payment limit prevents writers from earning any long-term revenue from such content that will be successful in the long run. Former editor Laddy emphasized that this restriction is a malicious design that completely undermines the company's claimed motivation and reward system, robbing employees of their rights.

Valnet's anti-worker stance towards the industry is not limited to this incident; the company has frequently made headlines with the decisions it has made in recent years. In 2025, at least 25 employees were laid off at Polygon, which was acquired by Valnet, while the entire staff of the UK-based technology website Pocket-Lint was laid off and the site was shut down. Although all of the approximately 30 journalists working at The Gamer are officially classified as "freelance," they work without personalized worker rights and social security. Following the heavy layoffs and site closures witnessed in the industry over the last two years, Valnet's latest move has created a wave of outrage that puts competitors and job seekers to shame, causing a severe storm of resentment and criticism towards the company within the media community.