How a passion for video games helped Marc Saltzman do what he loves

July 19, 2026 · Toronto Sun

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Marc Saltzman didn’t aspire to a career reviewing tech products and video games.

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“I didn’t know I was going to be a journalist or (write about) technology so I didn’t study either of those,” Saltzman said in an interview over email. “I quite literally fell into it.”

The Toronto-based technology and video game evangelist, who is marking three decades as a freelance journalist covering the latest trends in the industry, was a drummer and manager of an upstart hard rock band called Remedy in his younger years.

The group opened for The Tragically Hip for a show at the University of Toronto and also played with the Goo Goo Dolls and Our Lady Peace at places like Lee’s Palace and The Opera House in the city.

After graduating from U of T Scarborough with a Bachelor of Science Honours in Psychology in 1993, Saltzman held various odd jobs before finding full-time work as a bill collector while still playing drums.

But the collection agency gig was tough work.

“I knew it was a job and not my career, but it was all horrible,” he said. “You can imagine the things I heard on the phone every day — lots of verbal abuse, racist/antisemitic verbal attacks, and many threats.”

Started reviewing computer games

A year after he graduated, Saltzman began reviewing computer games part-time for Toronto Computes! as a way to receive them for free. He eventually expanded further by covering the emerging internet and consumer electronics.

In early 1996, he started a radio segment on alternative rock radio station 102.1 the Edge called “Marc’s Web Watch” every Monday with musicologist and music historian Alan Cross.

Big break came from U.S. book publisher

But his big break came exactly 30 years ago this month when a book publisher in Indianapolis asked him to co-author the Internet Games Directory .

“They somehow knew of my game reviews in Canada,” he said. “I quit my day job … on July 31, 1996 to co-write the book.”

Saltzman was now a budding freelance journalist. He began to write for the Toronto Star and then the National Post . He now contributes a weekly tech column for the Toronto Sun .

“I was hungry for work,” Satlzman said about his early freelance career. “I went to Chapters/Coles and opened up every magazine I wanted to write for, looked at the masthead and contacted dozens of editors per day until I was really busy. I started getting invited to press events in the U.S., including video game junkets, and networked so I could pitch editors to write for them.”

Freelance writing soon took off

And after completing his first book, Saltzman’s freelance writing took off.

He broke into the U.S., writing for CNN.com, Yahoo, CNET, PC Gamer, AARP, Reader’s Digest , and USA TODAY , the latter for 25 years, and has contributed to more than 20 publications.

In 2000, the now 17-time author started Tech Talk on radio station News Talk 1010 for one hour every week, which he still hosts today. It can now be heard nationally and also via iHeartRadio, which makes it Canada’s longest-running tech radio show.

“I still pinch myself every day,” he said about turning his passion into a career. “This is a dream job. I’m my own boss, doing what I love. It doesn’t get much better than that.”

The following is an edited and condensed Q&A with Saltzman:

What was the breaking point when you had enough working for the collection agency?

When the offer came to co-write my first book, I felt like I won the lottery. It was my golden ticket to get out of that tough job and I fell into this tech career much by accident.

Were you worried about leaving the job to begin a new career as a writer and freelance journalist?

No, but my parents were. I was 26, still living at home, and figured it was the right time to give it a shot. When the book was finished a couple months after I quit my day job, my parents urged me to go back to being a bill collector, but I held my ground. Naturally, they were concerned about a freelance job, as they were concerned about being self-employed as it could be unpredictable.

When did you first become interested in technology?

I liked video games like any other teenager but was not really into tech at all. I think it was the birth of the world wide web in the early 1990s that blew me away as I saw its potential and how it was going to change everything. Not growing up a geek also helps me in my mission to demystify tech for the masses.

What is it about technology that keeps you interested decades later?

I love how tech enhances and enriches whatever you’re into — and not just for technology’s sake. Love reading books? You can store thousands of books on something thinner than most magazines, you can change the font and margins, turn on a light, tap a word to get a definition, and even play audiobooks on them. Into music? It’s mind blowing that you access more than 100 million songs for $20/month, all accessible with your voice on a smart speaker.

Tech can be invisible but it’s so powerful. It’s not necessarily the tech itself but how it enhances whatever you’re into. With video games you are the star of an interactive adventure and your decisions shape the narrative. I also love how technology adds accessibility to those who could take advantage of it, like swiping on your smartphone to have the words read to you, enabling closed captioning on streaming video services (in several languages), glasses that tell a blind or visually-impaired person what they’re looking at or obstacles to avoid while walking down the street, fall detectors and heart rate monitors in your smartwatch, or an exoskeleton now that helps people walk. Tech can be an enabler and even the playing field.

What advice would you give to people who are considering not only becoming a writer or journalist, but working for oneself successfully?

I chose to focus on something I was super passionate about — computer games — and then it morphed into other ancillary topics. I also chose to expand the medium as well.

My advice to someone starting out is to figure out what it is you’re very passionate about and work to establish yourself as an expert in that space — it could be hockey, fashion, gardening, whatever. It was always my goal to be a trusted, respected voice in the gaming and tech space, and be everywhere people consume content.

And while this might not be what budding freelance journalists want to hear, I also believe you need to spend a lot of time finding more work. It could be a grind, and so a general rule of thumb is for every one hour you spend writing, you’ll likely need to spend three to four hours finding work. Yes, it could be a grind. But the world is your oyster, and there’s no shortage of publications and mediums. In fact, with social media, it’s never been easier.