How video games helped Tamoor Hussain beat depression and escape poverty

Tamoor Hussain grew up in a one-bedroom apartment in East London, alongside his parents, sister, two brothers, grandparents, and uncles. After arriving from Pakistan, they were all stuffed into a small building inside a complex by the UK government’s housing association. At night, the family would share two beds between them – pushed together, allowing nine family members to sleep horizontally while his little brother slept in the cot. Hussain is best known today as the managing editor of GameSpot, one of the largest video game websites in the world. He’s also the creative director of GiantBomb and a fully-fledged BAFTA member. Not bad for a kid from the UK’s council estates. “It was a weird upbringing,” Hussain says. “It was a rough council estate. Whenever you went outside, there was a 90% chance that some lads would beat the s**t out of you for no reason. I was scared most of the time. That's where my love of video games came from – it was escapism. As a kid without the agency to walk around alone, I’d im