Flow Games: Amateurism Disguised as Journalism and Constant Hostility Toward XBOX

Flow Games sells itself as the biggest gaming ecosystem in Brazil. News portal, YouTube channel with hundreds of thousands of subscribers, podcasts, and event coverage. They have the resources of Grupo Flow, massive visibility, and claim to be one of the main references for video game information in the country. That is exactly why what just happened is even more serious.

In one of their most recent broadcasts, several members of the show demonstrated that they do not understand what a shared engine is. They were discussing an official Bethesda statement about Creation Engine 3, the shared technological platform on which both The Elder Scrolls VI and Fallout 5 are being developed.

Shared engine? Apparently not so clear for Brazil’s leading gaming portal

To be clear: a shared engine is simply the same technological foundation (the game engine) that a studio uses across multiple projects at the same time. It allows teams to share tools, rendering systems, physics, artificial intelligence, and other technologies so they can work on several games simultaneously, reuse code, and move faster. It is a basic industry concept that has existed for decades. A channel that has been delivering news and opinions about video games for more than ten years should not stumble over something so elementary. The fact that they did not understand it live says a lot about their real level of knowledge. And right now this controversy is at peak hype.

The official definition of a shared engine that Brazil’s biggest gaming channel couldn’t grasp

More examples of amateurism

Beyond the shared engine case, in topics completely unrelated to XBOX they also repeatedly show a basic lack of rigor:

• In discussions about the size of GTA 6 they publicly confused Xbox’s pre-download file. Clear example: While the Microsoft Store clearly showed “Approximate size: 328.76 MB” (the typical pre-download placeholder), they commented on that figure in a confusing way, mixing up megabytes with the actual final size the game will have (hundreds of GB). The community ridiculed them with videos and reels accusing them of being unable to distinguish a reservation file from the real size of GTA 6.

They call themselves the biggest… and still can’t distinguish a reservation file from the real game size

• There are multiple reaction clips and videos centered on the idea that “Flow Games understands nothing about games” or “understands nothing about retrogames.” Clear example: In several of those clips they can be heard making superficial statements about mechanics, story, or the historical value of classic titles that any moderately informed fan immediately recognizes as incorrect or incomplete.
• The Brazilian gaming community itself repeatedly criticizes them for replacing professional news coverage with a “manos da praça” style (casual street-corner conversation). Clear example: They prioritize easy banter, bar-table tone, and engagement over rigor. The result is shows where spectacle and one-liners matter more than accurate information.
• They have been called out on multiple occasions for talking about games and the industry at such a low level of depth that it constantly gives the impression they do not actually play what they comment on, or that they improvise technical opinions without doing the minimum research. Clear example: It is common to see them speak with complete confidence about the state of a game, its performance, or its place in the industry, only to later be corrected by the community because they clearly had not played it enough or had not checked basic information.

When a media outlet that presents itself as the main reference repeatedly makes these elementary mistakes — failing to understand what a shared engine is, confusing a 328 MB pre-download with the real size of a game, and prioritizing bar-table tone — it becomes clear that the core problem is a lack of knowledge and professionalism.

But the problem is not only amateurism. It goes much deeper.

This is not about isolated criticisms. It is open, constant, and deliberate hostility toward XBOX. Flow Games has turned attacks on XBOX into a central part of its content identity. Any move by Microsoft — announcement, delay, strategy change, pricing, or hardware — is immediately framed as a “crisis,” a “failure,” or “proof that XBOX is dead.” The negative is magnified; the positive is ignored or downplayed until it disappears. Other platforms receive a clearly softer, more contextualized, and more forgiving treatment. With XBOX there is no forgiveness. No context. No balance. Only disdain.

“I regret it… XBOX is over” – Classic Flow Games tone

The tone that is repeated over and over with XBOX

Just look at their own thumbnails:

• “O GAMEPASS AFUNDOU A XBOX” (Game Pass sank XBOX)
• “ACABOU A ILUSÃO” (The illusion is over)
• O GAMEPASS PODE SER PREJUDICIAL PRA A INDÚSTRIA” (Game Pass can be harmful to the industry)
• “UM DOS PIORES ANOS DA XBOX” (One of the worst years for XBOX)
• “ENTÃO, O XBOX ESTÁ DERRETENDO” (So, XBOX is melting)
• “A SITUAÇÃO É DRAMÁTICA” (The situation is dramatic)
• “EU LAMENTO A XBOX ACABOU” (I regret it – XBOX is over)
• “É UM PC PORTÁTIL NÃO É UM XBOX” (It’s a portable PC, it’s not an XBOX)

This is what Brazil’s biggest gaming portal produces when the topic is XBOX

This is not analysis.

It is systematic disdain turned into content.

They do not seek to understand, contextualize, or inform with balance. They look for the angle that always puts XBOX in the worst possible light, because that approach generates views, reactions, and engagement. They have turned constant, predictable criticism of a single brand into their main product. When disdain becomes a formula and is repeated over and over without nuance, it stops being journalistic opinion and becomes a deliberate editorial line.

The situation reaches the point where many Brazilian XBOX fans openly ask why the company itself continues to invite and send products to a media outlet that clearly has zero respect for the brand or its games. Flow Games has become one of the main anti-XBOX voices in Brazil, and yet it still receives invitations and review units. That not only shows their editorial bias. It also shows a concerning lack of judgment on XBOX’s part.

Friendly photo with the former Xbox boss they constantly attacked.

This photo says more about their credibility than any of their videos.

The result is content that too often sounds amateur, predictable, and cheap. Quick comments, conclusions written in advance, and a bar-table tone that, for a media outlet of this size, is embarrassing. Being the biggest does not give the right to be the most biased, the most hostile, or the most superficial.

Flow Games has the infrastructure and the platform to do serious work. Instead, it has chosen the easy path: discrediting, exaggerating, and turning disdain (and improvisation) into content. The Brazilian gaming community deserves far better than this.

If they truly want to be the most respected gaming space in Brazil, they should stop using XBOX as a permanent enemy, raise their basic level of knowledge, and apply the same standard to every brand. Until then, they will remain the clearest example of how reach does not guarantee quality, rigor, or respect. They never give XBOX a break. And the worst part is that they do it on purpose.

It is regrettable that a significant part of the Brazilian audience gets its information from a media outlet that calls itself the biggest video game portal in Brazil, when the level of rigor and professionalism it demonstrates is so far from that claim.

Written by

@XBrassa