Earlier this year, the future of Can I Play That? was looking somewhat bleak. We were struggling financially, we only had three people on the team, and we were burned out. Courtney ended up getting a full-time role at Epic Games, and that left only two. After months of internal discussions and an understanding of the core values and importance of CIPT, DAGERSystem took ownership of CIPT. We now have a team of six people.
However, today I’m announcing that that number is slipping down to five as I am heading to pastures new. I am pleased to announce I’m moving to a full-time role at a video game studio to work on accessibility. This decision wasn’t easy as running CIPT successfully has been inherently important to me.
I joined the team in 2020 after various mainstream outlets turned me down for a freelance pitch about accessibility. Courtney welcomed the pitch, and following my submission, invited me to be an editor. I joined at a time just before we received a review code for The Last of Us Part 2. By this point, we had already started to make internal changes to improve the website.
I’ve overseen substantial achievements as the website evolved to be more journalistic. We saw an increase in readership by 11,000%. We’ve had the biggest studios and platform holders in the industry respect, read, and share our accessibility content. We received review products of the Xbox Series X and PS5. We’ve had the site talked about at large corporations such as BBC and CNN. We’ve helped normalize accessibility coverage across the journalism scene. We’ve also released the CIPT Games Codex, a fantastic resource crafted by Marijn ActiveB1t.
I’ve adored reviewing games, sharing experiences of developers and players alike, and sharing information. I’ve also loved entertaining readers with my coverage and rants about happenings. It’s been a journey.
So what’s next for CIPT?
I cannot speak for what’s next for CIPT, but over the last few months, I’ve been working with the “DAGERS Crew” who were absorbed when the acquisition was finalized — like a Kirby effect. We’ve been training on how CIPT handles content and getting things in place for hopeful expansions in the future. I’ve also drawn up internal documentation to help whoever takes over my position with running the site, keeping what makes CIPT the trustworthy resource it is.
I hope to see the website continue to grow, and I wish the team all the best! I thank DAGERSystem for seeing CIPT in a time of need and helping to stop us from sinking. Additionally, should you wish to support the site financially, you can donate to the DAGERSystem non-profit by hitting the buttons below.
