[1][5][4] After The Hard Times' popularity grew, Saincome wanted to start a dedicated gaming vertical in the same style.

A spokesperson of The Onion responded to Newsweek, saying that the vertical was a "new creative venture" and that they believed there was "plenty of room" for multiple gaming satire publications to grow.

[9][10] Watkins' proposed reforms were expressed through video game-related analogies,[11] and his policies included letting every American have access to a Nintendo Switch.

The idea originated from a joke by the editors at the 2018 New York Comic Con, where they successfully petitioned for an American 'gamer president' and later ran a Hard Drive article about it.

[9] On May 30, 2022, American business magnate Elon Musk retweeted a Hard Drive article with the site and byline cropped out.