@Tamamo @Meemoo BTW, to answer your question, things are like this because ads.
8 minute video, IIRC, is the minimum time you need to get mid video ads.
In the case of written IGN articles, it happens both because they need the padding to justify having a whole page full of ads for the article, and also because the written article is literally the script they used for their 8 minute video that is linked somewhere in the page.

Simply put, Google ruined the internet in more than one way.