Video Chums

A.J. Maciejewski, Founder

Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

2025

Video Chums is building a positive, inclusive community for gamers

Since 2014, A.J. Maciejewski has translated their love of gaming into Video Chums — a site packed with reviews, guides, and opinion pieces for all types of gamers. Since embracing an ad-supported model, they’ve turned their passion project into a full-time job.

For gamers, by gamers

By the end of 2024, the global video game market is expected to generate over $187 billion in revenue [1]. And on the heels of the gaming industry’s major growth, a rising group of streamers and game journalists are amassing larger and larger followings.

In 2014, A.J. Maciejewski decided to join their ranks with the launch of Video Chums, a name inspired by those laidback moments when you’re just hanging with friends, playing video games. A.J. had seen firsthand how video games can bring people together. After all, they met their partner, Mary, through a video game forum.

“At Video Chums, the goal is to foster a positive and inclusive community around video games while providing the best content and experience that we possibly can,” says Maciejewski.

For over a decade now, gaming enthusiasts have flocked to the site for honest reviews, detailed guides, amusing trivia and personality quizzes, and fan-friendly opinion pieces — like this popular article comparing Final Fantasy villains.

From the beginning, A.J.’s reviews resonated with their fellow gamers, and the site’s readership steadily grew. But a few months after launching the site, A.J. published a quiz titled "Which Super Smash Bros. Character Are You?" Though they didn’t expect much at the time, the quiz soon went viral, with hundreds of thousands of gamers taking it, including some gaming industry celebs.

That’s when A.J. knew they had a hit on their hands. With their audience growing quickly, it was time to think of ways to monetize their content.

Leveling up

Looking around the gaming content industry, A.J. saw plenty of creators raising money through crowdfunding. And while the strategy was effective for some, the idea of approaching readers for money made them slightly uncomfortable. So A.J. instead opted for an ad-supported model, which would give them a simple, hands-off approach to monetization.

A.J. was already posting on YouTube — so they were no novice when it came to Google products. As they considered ad programs, choosing Google AdSense seemed like the logical choice.

“I decided to use AdSense because the customizability it offers was really important to me,” says A.J. “Today, ads are still our only source of revenue, and have allowed me to remain independent and self-reliant. It’s the only model that works for me.”

In recent years, A.J. and their team have moved to Raptive, a Google Certified Publishing Partner that handles their ad strategy for them. A.J. says they “sincerely love” the platform and all the support they receive from the Raptive team.

With their ad strategy working, A.J. is able to run Video Chums on their own terms. This means keeping things small and independent. A.J. and their partner Mary run the site, while their friends Alex and Martijn contribute content.

“I like keeping a small team because it's important to me that our content is focused and that we have a generally unified voice,” says A.J. “Also, I'd rather publish one unique and super-helpful story than a dozen bits of news that you could find elsewhere on the internet.”

A spirit of self-reliance infuses A.J.’s entire operation. The team takes every screenshot themselves while writing up original pieces, without using any references or tools. Visitors can even watch Video Chums’ reviewers play the games themselves through attached YouTube videos, giving their content an extra layer of validity.

And on the technical side, A.J. is using Google Cloud, Google Workspace, and Google Analytics on a daily basis to make their life easier and improve site performance. And to take things to the next level, A.J. has created their own CMS and coded Video Chums themselves using nothing but Notepad.

“I'm proud of this because every little bit of the site was carefully created by me to be super-fast, user-friendly, and attractive,” says A.J.

“I decided to use AdSense because the customizability it offers was really important to me. Today, ads are still our only source of revenue, and have allowed me to remain independent and self-reliant. It’s the only model that works for me.”

An open world of creativity

When A.J. quit their office job to start Video Chums, they could not have imagined how impactful that decision would come to be.

“Being autistic, I never felt like I fit in at any office job,” says A.J. “So the fact that I quit the workforce to create Video Chums after saving up enough money is the best decision I ever made.”

In fact, A.J. finds the day-to-day tasks that come with running a site to be a good match for their brain.

“The constant juggling of tasks makes my brain light up and I can't get enough,” A.J. says. “At the same time, prioritizing what I should do at any given moment can be challenging but I try my best and for that, I'm proud of myself.”

Of course, A.J. still has to deal with the “final boss” of internet publishing: rude commenters. But even that’s a task that they’ve come to enjoy.

“It might sound weird but when it comes to folks who don't agree; I love hearing them out, addressing their concerns, and learning from them,” says A.J. “I've made some good friends with this approach. I'm always willing to put a ton of effort in so we can understand each other. Sometimes, that effort isn't reciprocated, but I've learned to accept that.”

Like a video game hero gradually leveling up their skills, A.J. has learned a lot in their decade at the helm of Video Chums. From coming up with new ideas to communicating with industry professionals to all the writing and editing, there’s never a dull moment as an independent publisher.

“I love everything about this job I’ve created for myself,” says A.J. “I do more in a day than I ever did at any office job — and I love every second of it.”

About the Publisher

A.J. Maciejewski started playing video games at age 3 and connected with them immediately as a way to escape. After learning how to make websites as a teen, moving to the city at age 18, and then graduating from the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology with top grades in Computer Systems Technology, they worked for various companies building websites and applications. Eventually becoming too frustrated with office politics and stifling work, they decided to create the unique gaming website, Video Chums. A.J. lives with their long-time partner Mary and their guinea pig friends in a 27th-floor corner condo with an awesome view, especially during winter! When not working or playing games, A.J. loves mixing underground electronic music and going to the cinema to watch Canadian indie films.