Alanah Pearce

Last updated

Alanah Pearce
Alanah Pearce, GDCA 2024 (cropped).jpg
Pearce at the Game Developers Conference in 2024
Born (1993-08-24) 24 August 1993 (age 31)
Cairns, Queensland, Australia
Education Queensland University of Technology
Occupation(s)Video game writer, journalist
Years active2012–present
Employers

Alanah Pearce (born 24 August 1993) is an Australian video game writer and former journalist. Since 2020, Pearce has worked for American game developer Santa Monica Studio.

Contents

Pearce has reported on video games for various news outlets including entertainment news website IGN . She worked at production company Rooster Teeth from 2018 to 2020, during which she hosted the Inside Gaming news program and was involved with its Funhaus division, which produces videos focused on video games.

Early life and education

Alanah Pearce was born in Cairns, Queensland, Australia, on 24 August 1993. [1] [2] Pearce was raised in Cairns, and later spent nine years in Brisbane. [1] From a young age, she was interested in writing and video games, doing reviews of video games in her diaries. While working at a call center, she found a job listing for a volunteer games journalist position that inspired a career in journalism. [3] She earned a bachelor's degree studying mass communication at the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane. [4]

Career

Journalism

From 2012 to 2015, Pearce wrote gaming news for around a dozen news outlets, including Impulse Gamer, Zelda Universe, the BBC, [4] and worked stints at Australian radio and television stations. [5] She launched a YouTube channel in 2012, where she publishes game reviews and personal videos. [4] [6]

Feeling the Australian video game industry was too small, Pearce moved to the United States in 2015. She began work as an editor and writer for IGN later that year. [4] [7] In 2017, she replaced Naomi Kyle as host of IGN's Daily Fix gaming news program. [4] Later that year, she was involved in a staff walkout until the company issued a statement addressing sexual harassment allegations made by former editor Kallie Plagge. [8] [9] Pearce cohosted the SXSW Gaming Awards alongside Rich Campbell in 2018. [10]

After departing IGN in 2018, Pearce joined production company Rooster Teeth. She regularly appeared in videos for Funhaus, a division of Rooster Teeth which produces videos focused on video games, and cohosted the company's Inside Gaming news program starting in 2019. [11] She left Rooster Teeth in October 2020. [12]

Game development

In November 2020, Pearce joined Sony's Santa Monica Studio as a video game writer. [13] She provided consulting on three video games and completed other work on two video games prior to joining the studio. [14] She faced harassment on social media following the studio's decision to delay the release of God of War Ragnarök . [15] [16] In September 2021, Pearce revealed that she was part of the development team behind Ragnarök. [17] In November, she was selected among the Forbes 30 Under 30 for gaming. [18] [19]

Pearce did voice acting for Gears 5 (2019) [13] and Afterparty (2019). [20] She also lent her voice and likeness to a character in Cyberpunk 2077 (2020). [21] [22]

Podcasting

Pearce is the host of the Play, Watch, Listen podcast, along with Troy Baker, Mike Bithell, and Austin Wintory. [23] She also hosts the podcasts Red Lips, Orange Car, Video Game Writing 101, and Voice Acting 101, and formerly hosted Idiots and a Broad. [24] She was a founding host of the Kinda Funny Xcast, but left the show several months after its premiere due to scheduling conflicts with her new job at Santa Monica Studio. [25]

Other activities

Pearce participated in the Creator Clash 2 boxing event in April 2023, [26] beating content creator RIPmika by split decision. [27]

Pearce was briefly banned from Twitch following a DMCA takedown notice sent by Nintendo after she live-streamed herself reacting to already-published preview footage of its game, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom , five days before its release. [28]

Pearce appears as Halley in the 2024 film V/H/S/Beyond , in the final segment "Stowaway", directed by Kate Siegel and written by Mike Flanagan. [29]

Personal life

Pearce co-hosts the Video Game Accessibility Awards with Steven Spohn. Alanah Pearce and Steven Spohn, GDCA 2022 (cropped).jpg
Pearce co-hosts the Video Game Accessibility Awards with Steven Spohn.

Pearce credits video games with helping her deal with the effects of myalgic encephalomyelitis and tendinitis. [32] She has helped fundraise for AbleGamers, a charity dedicated to improving accessibility in video games. [33] [34] She co-hosted the inaugural Video Game Accessibility Awards with AbleGamers's chief operating officer Steven Spohn in November 2020, [35] [30] and returned to present the second event in March 2022. [31] [36]

In 2014, Pearce became the focus of news media after she wrote to the mothers of internet trolls who had sent her rape threats. [5] [37] [38] In 2019, she was subject to harassment after the Entertainment Software Association, the organiser of the E3 gaming expo, leaked the personal information of E3 2019 media attendees to the public. [39]

Pearce came out in June 2020; while she does not feel an attachment to any label, she felt best defined by the term pansexual. In July 2024, she made a video where she reflected and discussed her previous post. In the video she described herself as both pansexual and demisexual. [40]

Awards and nominations

Pearce was nominated for Content Creator of the Year at the Game Awards 2020. [41]

Related Research Articles

Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC was an American entertainment company headquartered in Austin, Texas. Founded in 2003 by Burnie Burns, Matt Hullum, Geoff Ramsey, Jason Saldaña, Gus Sorola, and Joel Heyman, Rooster Teeth was a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery Global Streaming & Interactive Entertainment, which is a division of Warner Bros. Discovery.

Marvel Games is the licensing and publishing brand for video games based on Marvel properties, and is also the video game division of Disney Interactive. Before the incorporation of Marvel Games, video games based on Marvel properties released between 1982 and 1985 were handled by Marvel Comics Group, with Marvel video games from 1986 to 1998 being handled by Marvel Entertainment Group, while video games based on Marvel properties prior to the incorporation of Marvel Games were handled directly by Marvel Enterprises.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Burnie Burns</span> American actor (born 1973)

Michael Justin "Burnie" Burns is an American actor, writer, producer, comedian, host, and director previously based in Austin, Texas. He was a co-founder, former chief executive officer, and former chief creative officer of Rooster Teeth. He is noted for his contributions in machinima, a form of film-making that uses video game technology in its production, and also works with animation and live action. Burns is also known for his work in the hosting and podcasting field.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geoff Ramsey</span> American internet personality

Geoffrey Lazer Ramsey is an American voice actor, film producer and internet personality. He co-founded the production company Rooster Teeth and is known for voicing Dexter Grif in the web series Red vs. Blue. He also co-founded Achievement Hunter, a now defunct gaming division of Rooster Teeth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nolan North</span> American actor (born 1970)

Nolan North is an American actor best known for his voice acting roles.

God of War is an action-adventure game franchise created by David Jaffe and developed by Sony's Santa Monica Studio. It began in 2005 on the PlayStation 2 (PS2) video game console and has become a flagship series for PlayStation, consisting of nine installments across multiple platforms. Based on ancient mythologies, the series' plot follows Kratos, a Spartan warrior who becomes the God of War and comes into conflict with various mythological pantheons. The earlier games in the series are based on Greek mythology and see Kratos follow a path of vengeance against the Olympian gods; the later games are based on Norse mythology and see Kratos go on a path of redemption while also introducing his son Atreus as a secondary protagonist.

<i>Cyberpunk 2077</i> 2020 video game

Cyberpunk 2077 is a 2020 action role-playing game developed by the Polish studio CD Projekt Red, and published by CD Projekt, and based on Mike Pondsmith's Cyberpunk tabletop game series. The plot is set in the fictional metropolis of Night City, California, within the dystopian Cyberpunk universe. The player assumes the role of V, a mercenary who accidentally gets imbued with a cybernetic "bio-chip" containing an engram of legendary rockstar and terrorist Johnny Silverhand. As Johnny’s behaviour and memories begin overwriting V’s own, the two must work together to separate from each other and save V's life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meg Turney</span> American adult model, internet personality, and cosplayer (born 1987)

Megan LeeAnn Turney is an American Twitch streamer, internet personality, cosplayer, glamour model, Onlyfans model and vlogger. She became an internet personality through her hosting work, formerly with SourceFed and Rooster Teeth's The Know. She also maintains a personal YouTube channel where she posts vlogs and Let's Play videos and live streams. In addition to her work with online media, Turney also cosplays at various conventions, such as Comic-Con.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CD Projekt</span> Polish video game company

CD Projekt S.A. is a Polish video game developer, publisher and distributor based in Warsaw, founded in May 1994 by Marcin Iwiński and Michał Kiciński. Iwiński and Kiciński were video game retailers before they founded the company, which initially acted as a distributor of foreign video games for the domestic market. The department responsible for developing original games, CD Projekt Red, best known for The Witcher series, was formed in 2002. In 2008, CD Projekt launched the digital distribution service Good Old Games, now known as GOG.com.

<i>RWBY</i> American animated web series

RWBY is an American anime-influenced 3D computer-animated web series created by Monty Oum for Rooster Teeth. It is set in the fictional world of Remnant, where young people train to become warriors to protect their world from monsters called Grimm. The name RWBY is derived from the four main protagonists' forenames: Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiao Long, and their respective thematic colors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barbara Dunkelman</span> Canadian actress

Barbara Julie Dunkelman (born July 2, 1989) is a Canadian actress and internet personality. She is known for her work with the former production company Rooster Teeth, where she served as a Creative Director and was formerly the Director of Social and Community Marketing and a Program Director for RTX. She also provides the voice of Yang Xiao Long in the web series RWBY and Nerris in Camp Camp, and is a partial owner of the FCF Wild Aces Indoor Football Team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Achievement Hunter</span> Entertainment company (2008–2023)

Achievement Hunter was an American video gaming division of Rooster Teeth Productions. Founded by Geoff Ramsey and Jack Pattillo on July 6, 2008, the website was originally based on the achievement mechanic in video games but grew to become a core component of Rooster Teeth, hosting a wide variety of videos related to video games. Achievement Hunter dissolved after publishing its final video on October 1, 2023, with all members having moved elsewhere within Rooster Teeth, which itself closed in May 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Jones (actor)</span> American actor

Michael Vincent Jones is an American actor, podcast host and internet personality who is known for his work with Rooster Teeth's gameplay division Achievement Hunter. He also co-hosted three-time Podcast Award winner Internet Box.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rahul Kohli</span> British actor

Rahul Kohli is an English actor. He is best known for his television roles as Dr. Ravi Chakrabarti in iZombie (2015–19), Owen Sharma in The Haunting of Bly Manor (2020), Sheriff Hassan in Midnight Mass (2021), Napoleon Usher in The Fall of the House of Usher (2023), and Sunil Bhandari in Death and Other Details (2024).

<i>Rooster Teeth Podcast</i> American comedy podcast

The Rooster Teeth Podcast, formerly known as the Drunk Tank, is a podcast produced by Rooster Teeth that aired weekly from December 9, 2008 to April 22, 2024 and featured various members of Rooster Teeth's staff discussing different topics each week. Throughout its run, main hosts included Rooster Teeth founders Gus Sorola, Burnie Burns, Geoff Ramsey and Joel Heyman as well as Gavin Free, Jack Pattillo and Barbara Dunkelman while Armando Torres, Griff Milton and Andrew Rosas acted as its final hosts. It is sometimes advertised as simply The RT Podcast. It was named Best Gaming Podcast by the Podcast Awards in 2012 and 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lindsay Jones (actor)</span> American actor

Lindsay Elise Jones is an American actress, director, gamer and host. They are known for their work with Rooster Teeth, and have provided the voices of Ruby Rose in RWBY and Kimball in Red vs. Blue from 2013–2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ashley Jenkins</span> American actress

Ashley Burns is an American voice actress and internet personality. She is a founding member of Ubisoft's all-female professional gaming group, the Frag Dolls. She founded Rooster Teeth's news division, The Know. She was a contestant on the 28th season of The Amazing Race. Outside of the gaming industry, she voices Coco Adel in RWBY.

Let's Play Live, named Achievement Hunter Live during its last two tours, was a touring Let's Play show that featured video games and internet personalities. Let's Play Live grew out of Rooster Teeth's gaming division, Achievement Hunter, and became a collaboration with multiple channels including members of the Let's Play family: Funhaus, ScrewAttack, Kinda Funny, Cow Chop, and The Creatures.

<i>Cyberpunk: Edgerunners</i> 2022 anime web series

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is a cyberpunk original net animation (ONA) miniseries based on the video game Cyberpunk 2077 by Polish studio CD Projekt Red. The series was animated by Japanese animation studio Trigger under the supervision of CD Projekt and premiered on Netflix in September 2022. Set in the Cyberpunk universe created by Mike Pondsmith, the anime serves as a prequel to the game and takes place about a year before the events of Cyberpunk 2077.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elyse Willems</span> Canadian internet personality, comedian, and writer.

Elyse Willems is a Canadian internet personality, comedian, and writer. She is best known for her work as a cast member and producer at Funhaus, a division of Rooster Teeth Productions, since November 2015. Since then, Willems has appeared and been involved in numerous productions by Rooster Teeth.

References

  1. 1 2 Pearce, Alanah [@Charalanahzard] (15 November 2017). "I honestly never got that impression, but I don't know. I was born in/grew up in Cairns, then spent nine years in Brisbane" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 8 October 2020. Retrieved 26 May 2021 via Twitter.
  2. Pearce, Alanah [@Charalanahzard] (4 August 2014). "My 21st birthday is on the 24th of August but I'll be in Germany for GamesCom until the 17th and then..." (Tweet). Archived from the original on 30 November 2014. Retrieved 26 May 2021 via Twitter.
  3. Eggen, Lukas (5 August 2020). "Alanah Pearce paves her own path to success". Las Vegas Review-Journal . Archived from the original on 26 May 2021. Retrieved 24 May 2021.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Farner, Shawn (29 December 2020). "The Stunning Transformation Of Alanah Pearce". SVG.com . Archived from the original on 26 May 2021. Retrieved 24 May 2021.
  5. 1 2 True, Everett (28 November 2014). "The gaming journalist who tells on her internet trolls – to their mothers". The Guardian . Archived from the original on 20 May 2021. Retrieved 21 May 2021.
  6. Lee, Helen A. (10 December 2020). "The YouTube Star You Didn't Realize Was In Cyberpunk 2077". Looper . Archived from the original on 26 May 2021. Retrieved 25 May 2021.
  7. Forde, Matthew (2 March 2020). "Women in Gaming: Rooster Teeth's Alanah Pearce on making the leap from Australian to US games media". Pocket Gamer . Archived from the original on 9 March 2020. Retrieved 12 August 2021. The other enormous difficulty for me was knowing that I needed to move to the US to fully be ingrained in the industry, just because I felt the Australian industry was a little too small.
  8. Klepek, Patrick (13 November 2017). "Sexual Harassment Allegations at IGN Prompt Some Employees to Stop Working". Waypoint . Vice Media. Archived from the original on 17 July 2021. Retrieved 17 July 2021.
  9. "IGN issues sexual assault statement after staff walkout". MCV . 14 November 2017. Archived from the original on 17 July 2021. Retrieved 17 July 2021.
  10. "2018 SXSW Gaming Awards Winners Revealed". IGN . 26 April 2018. Archived from the original on 18 March 2018. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  11. Spangler, Todd (14 February 2019). "After Machinima Shutdown, Rooster Teeth Revives 'Inside Gaming' and Rescues Other Machinima Shows". Variety. Archived from the original on 15 February 2019. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
  12. Tamburro, Paul (29 October 2020). "Alanah Pearce announces she's leaving Funhaus and Rooster Teeth". GameRevolution . Archived from the original on 26 May 2021. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
  13. 1 2 Williams, Demi (17 November 2020). "Alanah Pearce joins God of War developer Sony Santa Monica". GamesRadar+ . Archived from the original on 26 May 2021. Retrieved 21 May 2021.
  14. Calvin, Alex (17 November 2020). "IGN vet Alanah Pearce joins God of War studio Sony Santa Monica". VG247 . Archived from the original on 17 July 2021. Retrieved 17 July 2021.
  15. Capel, Chris (4 June 2021). "God of War 2's Alanah Pearce highlights abuse women in gaming receive with 'useless wh***' tweet". GameRevolution . Archived from the original on 4 June 2021. Retrieved 17 July 2021.
  16. Leston, Ryan (4 June 2021). "'God Of War: Ragnarok' staff harassed after delay announcement". NME . Archived from the original on 17 July 2021. Retrieved 17 July 2021.
  17. Pearce, Alanah [@Charalanahzard] (9 September 2021). "This is my first ever Dev Team shirt and I am *very* proud. HAPPY GOD OF WAR: RAGNAROK TRAILER DAY, EVERYONE!" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 10 November 2022. Retrieved 10 September 2021 via Twitter.
  18. "Alanah Pearce". Forbes . November 2021. Archived from the original on 2 December 2021. Retrieved 1 September 2023.
  19. "Please welcome Alanah Pearce as your GDC 2022 host". Game Developer . 1 February 2022. Archived from the original on 1 February 2022. Retrieved 1 September 2023.
  20. Dornbush, Jonathon (14 December 2018). "Afterparty's Voice Cast Includes Horizon Zero Dawn, The Walking Dead Actors". IGN . Archived from the original on 26 May 2021. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
  21. Jones, Ali (18 September 2020). "Another internet celebrity is getting a Cyberpunk 2077 cameo". GamesRadar+ . Archived from the original on 26 May 2021. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
  22. Brown, Ace (22 January 2021). "Every Celebrity Cameo In Cyberpunk 2077". Screen Rant . Archived from the original on 17 July 2021. Retrieved 17 July 2021.
  23. Bankhurst, Adam; Purslow, Matt (1 February 2022). "Voice Actor Troy Baker Pulls Out of NFT Partnership [Update]". IGN . Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on 3 February 2022. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  24. "Best Alanah Pearce Podcasts (2022)". Player FM. Archived from the original on 18 September 2022. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  25. Alanah Pearce's Last Episode! - Kinda Funny Xcast Ep. 16 on YouTube
  26. Falconer, Daniel (27 January 2023). "Creator Clash 2: How to Watch and Buy Tickets For the PPV". GameRevolution . Archived from the original on 17 April 2023.
  27. Miceli, Max; Snavely, Adam (15 April 2023). "Creator Clash 2: Scores, fights, and live results". Dot Esports . Gamurs. Archived from the original on 17 April 2023. Retrieved 17 April 2023.
  28. Borthwick, Ben (9 May 2023). "Alanah Pearce banned on Twitch for streaming Tears of the Kingdom preview footage". VideoGamer.com. Retrieved 26 October 2023.
  29. Earl, William (4 October 2024). "Kate Siegel on Her Trippy 'V/H/S/Beyond' Film, Real-Life Alien Theories and the Joy of Working With Husband Mike Flanagan". Variety . Retrieved 5 October 2024.
  30. 1 2 Partis, Danielle (16 November 2020). "Alanah Pearce and AbleGamers host inaugural Video Game Accessibility Awards". PocketGamer.biz . Archived from the original on 19 November 2020. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
  31. 1 2 Bakhurst, Adam (13 March 2022). "Video Game Accessibility Awards 2021 - All the Winners". IGN . Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on 13 March 2022. Retrieved 17 April 2023.
  32. Morris, Williesha (29 October 2020). "Gamers Forge Their Own Paths When It Comes to Accessibility". Wired . ISSN   1059-1028. Archived from the original on 27 May 2021. Retrieved 21 May 2021.
  33. Lyons, Ben (26 March 2021). "Brie Larson shares message of support for gaming charity AbleGamers". Gamereactor . Archived from the original on 26 May 2021. Retrieved 24 May 2021.
  34. Onder, Cade (23 April 2021). "Brie Larson Gives AbleGamers Charity a Shoutout On Twitter". Screen Rant . Archived from the original on 26 May 2021. Retrieved 21 May 2021.
  35. Hart, Aimee (16 November 2020). "Alanah Pearce hosts the Video Game Accessibility Awards". Gayming Magazine . Archived from the original on 26 May 2021. Retrieved 24 May 2021.
  36. Partis, Danielle (14 March 2022). "Halo Infinite and Forza win at 2022 Video Game Accessibility Awards". Gamesindustry.biz . Gamer Network. Archived from the original on 25 March 2023. Retrieved 17 April 2023.
  37. Nelson, Sara C (28 November 2014). "This Female Game Reviewer Has A Brilliant Way Of Addressing Online Rape Threats". Huffington Post UK . Archived from the original on 26 May 2021. Retrieved 21 May 2021.
  38. Bailey, John (18 December 2014). "Alanah Pearce threats opened a window into the political games gamers play". The Sydney Morning Herald . Archived from the original on 26 May 2021. Retrieved 24 May 2021.
  39. Tamburro, Paul (16 August 2019). "Alanah Pearce on being doxxed and harassed: 'You are scarier than publishers are'". GameRevolution . Archived from the original on 17 July 2021. Retrieved 17 July 2021.
  40. Schonter, Allison (3 July 2024). "Alanah Pearce Explains Her Sexuality in 'Coming Out' Video". PopCulture.com . Archived from the original on 3 July 2024. Retrieved 14 September 2024.
  41. Spangler, Todd (18 November 2020). "Game Awards 2020 Nominations: 'The Last of Us Part II,' 'Hades,' 'Ghost of Tsushima' Lead the Field". Variety . Archived from the original on 18 May 2021. Retrieved 18 May 2021.