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This week on Post Games: How did Xbox get here?

Former VP of Xbox Game Studios Shannon Loftis takes us on a guided tour of Microsoft's gaming ambitions, from the days before Windows 95 to Xbox's ambitious bet on the future of entertainment.

• Patreon bonus prologue: The case for having fun
• Act 1: Microsoft’s first tiny team of game makers
• Act 2: Xbox before the acquisitions
• Act 3: News of the week

Art by James Bareham

Theme by Mark Sparling

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What's it like to pursue a degree in video games? And what's life like as a video game professor?

This week, my guest is Aaron Trammell, a professor at the University of California, Irvine, who teaches undergraduate and graduate students about games, ranging from video games to tabletop games, the craft of design to the critique of play.

• Act 1: Life as a video game student
• Act 2: Life as a video game professor
• Patreon bonus: 5 new video game books to read this fall
• Act 3: The news of the week

(Audio note: There's a little bit of audio level imbalance with my guest's recording in this episode. I was able to fix most of the issues, but it sounds just a little strange, that's why. This should be a one-off issue. Thanks for your patience!)

Find episode notes and more at www.post.games. Subscribe to the Patreon for early access to episodes, additional segments, and bonus materials at patreon.com/postgames.

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This week on Post Game: Late-night comedy writer Mike Drucker and Tactical Breach Wizards director Tom Francis explain how they make video games funny and find the humor in loving video games.

Patreon bonus prologue: What it's like to write jokes for Nintendo

Act 1: Adapting a life of video games into a comedic memoir

Act 2: The cheats to make your video game funny

Act 3: The news of the week

Bonus book excerpt: Good Game, No Rematch - "The StarCraft Conspiracy"

Find episode notes and more at www.post.games. Subscribe to the Patreon for early access to episodes, additional segments, and bonus materials at patreon.com/postgames.

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This week on Post Games, Atari CEO Wade Rosen joins me to discuss gaming’s ship of Theseus. While everyone remembers Atari at its height, most folks ignored the company's struggles following the games industry crash of 1983. Understandably! For forty years, Atari has been a brand in search of a purpose.

Rosen is determined to change that, making Atari relevant for the first time in forty years. And he wants to do so while having a sense of humor and respect for the brand's long, long journey. Who doesn't love a comeback story?

• Patreon bonus prologue: A history of Atari and its lost decades
• Act 1: Why Atari can’t die, an extended conversation with Atari CEO Wade Rosen
• Act 2: What is a “modern” Atari game
• Act 3: The news of the week

Find episode notes and more at www.post.games. Subscribe to the Patreon for early access to episodes, additional segments, and bonus materials at patreon.com/postgames.

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Welcome to Post Game’s first annual physical, in which a special guest joins me to assess the health and stability of gaming, from the creators to the players, the industry to the culture. I’ve invited one of the smartest, analytical, and forward-thinking minds in video – writer, developer, publisher, critic, analyst, and occasional voice actor Xalavier Nelson Jr. – to give video games a thorough workup

Bonus Patreon Prologue: The state of games 10, 20, and 30 years ago

Act 1: The best of times - Why 2025 could be the golden age of video games

Act 2: The worst of times - Why video games feel doomed

Bonus Patreon interview segment: Xalavier on gaming’s past, present, and future

Act 3: The news of the week, including the ghoulish mass layoffs at Xbox

Today's episode's act-interstitials feature music from the games of Strange Scaffold!

Find episode notes and more at www.post.games. Subscribe to the Patreon for early access to episodes, additional segments, and bonus materials at patreon.com/postgames.

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Before we get started...

If you have a moment and don't mind, please leave a review of Post Games on Apple Podcasts. I know, it's silly, but it's also a humongous help in these early days.

This week on Post Games

Act 1: Dunkey on his love/hate relationship with Death Stranding, life as YouTube game critic, and the power of changing your mind

A bonus act for Patreon subscribers: Dunkey on video game critics and criticism

Act 2: A "guide" to Death Stranding 2’s big, weird ideas

Act 3: The news of the week

Find episode notes and more at www.post.games. Subscribe to the Patreon for early access to episodes, additional segments, and bonus materials at patreon.com/postgames.

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Act 1: The five-year AI timeline that blew up my plans for the future

Act 2: What if AI is dumb, but we’re dumber

Bonus act: The year-long strike to protect video game voice actors from AI

An interview with Sarah Elmaleh, the chair of the SAG-AFTRA Interactive Media Agreement Negotiating Committee

Act 3: The news of the week

And another bonus act: An excerpt from the audiobook of Everything Must Go, Dorian Lynskey's non-fiction history of apocalyptic storytelling. The chapter: apocalyptic AI!

Get full episode notes at www.post.games

Subscribe to Post Games on Patreon. For $5, subscribers get bonus segments in every episode — and none of the ads! They also have access to a monthly video series, receive new episodes days before the ad-supported feed, and ensure the show stays alive! Now available: the first video in the Video Game Journalism 101 series!

Find episode notes and more at www.post.games. Subscribe to the Patreon for early access to episodes, additional segments, and bonus materials at patreon.com/postgames.

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This week on Post Games, “What we have in common with world-ending AI.”

Act 1: Why every AI superfan and skeptic should play Universal Paperclips. A review conversation with AJ Fillari, co-host of dotzip and producer of Into the Aether

For Patreon subscribers, an intermission: 5 "clicker" games to play after Universal Paperclips

Act 2: An extended interview with Frank Lantz, the creator of Universal Paperclips about designing a game from the AI's POV

Act 3: The news of the week, including cool game art for a good cause

Also for Patreon subscribers: a recording of Frank Lantz’s famous speech about the trouble with modern video games

This episode is part one of a two-part series on what we can learn about AI and ourselves through video games. Next week, we'll continue with "How I AI-proofed my career after imagining the apocalypse."

(Image: Chris Plante via Team Asobi/SIE)

Click this link to try a free month of Post Games on Patreon. Offer expires Tuesday night!

If you enjoy the free month, please consider leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or recommending the show to your favorite gaming Discord or other group chats

Or, if you want to support the show A.S.A.P. and keep the Post Games ship afloat….

Subscribe to Post Games on Patreon. Subscribers get bonus segments in every episode — and none of the ads! They also have access to a monthly video series, receive new episodes days before the ad-supported feed, and ensure the show stays alive! Now available: the first video in the Video Game Journalism 101 series! 

Find episode notes and more at www.post.games. Subscribe to the Patreon for early access to episodes, additional segments, and bonus materials at patreon.com/postgames.

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This week on Post Games, “What is a video game console launch in 2025?”

Act 1: What’s it like to run a video game shop when a console launches? An interview with Kelsey Lewin, the co-owner of Pink Gorilla Games

Act 2: Nintendo’s history of console launches. An interview with Chris Kohler, Editorial Director of Digital Eclipse

Act 3: The news of the week, including big announcements leading into Summer Game Fest

And for Patreon subscribers, a bonus act: What it was like to be parents scrambling for new consoles and games in the 1990s. An interview with my parents.

Find episode notes and more at www.post.games. Subscribe to the Patreon for early access to episodes, additional segments, and bonus materials at patreon.com/postgames.

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This week on Post Games, “Why you can’t escape porn, sex, and lewd games.”

Act 1: How NSFW games went from the backrooms to the front page

Act 2: An interview with Hot Pink, a successful lewd game developer

Act 3: The news of the week, including the definitive answer to the most important question in America in this troubling moment: Is parrying in games good or bad?

For Patreon subscribers: The long, successful history of sex games in Japan. Want to know how the Western market went from decades of porn game prohibition to the modern lewd game free-for-all? The answer can be found in the decades of Japanese “eroge.” Plus, a reading from The Joy of Cybersex.

Like the show? Consider subscribing to Post Games on Patreon! Subscribers keep the show alive, get tons of cool stuff, and can listen to new episodes early! This Monday, I’m publishing the first video in the Video Game Journalism 101 series! Next Friday: the Switch 2 launch special with Nintendo historians Kelsey Lewin and Chris Kohler!

Logo by James Bareham

Theme by Mark Sparling

Special thanks to guest Hot Pink

Find episode notes and more at www.post.games. Subscribe to the Patreon for early access to episodes, additional segments, and bonus materials at patreon.com/postgames.

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This week on Post Games, “You won the biggest award in indie games. Now what?”

Act 1: The history of indie games and its biggest award, The Independent Games Festival’s Seamus McNally Grand Prize

Act 2: An interview with Jenny Jiao Hsia and AP Thomson, the latest IGF Grand Prize winners, about how post-award life changes – and stays the same

Act 3: The news of the week, including incredible and rare games you can now play in English

Plus: For Patreon subscribers, a bonus interview: The story of the high school kids who won the first-ever IGF Grand Prize in 1999 for Fire and Darkness. One of the game’s creators actually hopped on a call and shared what became of the team and their lost game

Subscribe to Post Games on Patreon. Keep the show alive, get tons of cool stuff, and listen to new episodes early! Next Friday: why you can't escape porn/sex/lewd games! And on Monday, June 2, the first video in the Video Game Journalism 101 series!

Logo by James Bareham

Theme by Mark Sparling

Special thanks to guests Jenny Jiao Hsia, AP Thomson, and Mark Feghali

Find episode notes and more at www.post.games. Subscribe to the Patreon for early access to episodes, additional segments, and bonus materials at patreon.com/postgames.

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Want to know more about what’s happening behind the scenes at Post Games? Curious where the show is heading in its first year? Post Games: Episode 0 serves as an audio FAQ. Structured like a traditional episode, this prequel features an interview with Platformer founder and Hard Fork co-host Casey Newton about independent journalism's history, function, and value.

Find episode notes and more at www.post.games. Subscribe to the Patreon for early access to episodes, additional segments, and bonus materials at patreon.com/postgames.

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This week on Post Games:

• Act 1: The story of a video game studio in 2025
• Act 2: Behind-the-scenes of A Life Well Wasted
• Patreon Bonus: Games and perverts
• Act 3: The news of the Week

Find episode notes and more at www.post.games. Subscribe to the Patreon for early access to episodes, additional segments, and bonus materials at patreon.com/postgames.

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Post Games will be available to everyone on May 26. Patreon subscribers will get early access to Episode 1 (and Episode 0) on Friday, May 23. Here’s a link.

Find episode notes and more at www.post.games. Subscribe to the Patreon for early access to episodes, additional segments, and bonus materials at patreon.com/postgames.

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This September, following a successful run on the experimental gaming handheld Playdate, Blippo+ will release on Nintendo Switch and Steam. The game, created in collaboration with an iconic indie band, attempts to reproduce the feeling of channel surfing in the early days of cable television.

Its graphics aren’t graphics at all, but full-motion video. Actors bounced around shows that resemble episodes of Pee-wee Herman, the concerts of Klaus Nomi, and the “I can’t believe they made this for kids” programming of early Nickelodeon and MTV.

As I played Blippo+, flipping through the channels, I felt a deep nostalgia for something I'd nearly forgotten. And then I wondered: what inspires artists to try to recreate not just a show or a TV channel’s slate, but the entire TV experience. To find out, I spoke with rockstar, journalist, and Blippo+ writer Claire Evans!

• Act 1: From Rockstar to Game Maker
• Act 2: The Birth of Blippo
• Patreon Bonus: A Guide to Metal Gear Solid: Delta
• Act 3: News of the Week

Find episode notes and more at www.post.games. Subscribe to the Patreon for early access to episodes, additional segments, and bonus materials at patreon.com/postgames.

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Video game adaptations threaten to replace superhero movies as Hollywood's favorite fad. How did Mario and friends evolve from box office poison into some of the most valuable IPS in movie history? Today on Post Games: an extended interview with filmmaker and video essayist Patrick H. Willems, in which we make sense of 30 years and five distinct eras of video game adaptations.

• Act 1: The Doomed Decades
• Act 2: The Hollywood Hits
• A Patreon bonus: The Future of Video Game Movies. Patrick sticks around to speculate on the future of video game adaptations – including no fewer than 46 movies in active development
• Act 3: The News of the Week

You can now watch Post Games shorts on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok. Like the show? Leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify!

Find episode notes and more at www.post.games. Subscribe to the Patreon for early access to episodes, additional segments, and bonus materials at patreon.com/postgames.

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Heads up! You can now watch Post Games shorts on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok.

Today's guest is musical composer, orchestrator, lyricist, conductor, and musician Mike Pettry, who climbed the rungs of the theater world and now performs in the orchestras of award-winning Broadway shows. His performances have accompanied artists like Ben Platt and Idina Menzel.

But as his Broadway career blossomed, Pettry began to fantasize about something else entirely: making a musical… video game.

A murder mystery musical video game, to be precise. Murder at the Birch Tree Theater is a deduction game, in the style of Return of the Obra Dinn and The Case of the Golden Idol. Set across many years at a small community theater, it tells a story of intrigue, small-time fame, and, as the title promises, murder.

I talk with Pettry about juggling his two dreams on the world's biggest stage. Or under it. He plays in the orchestra after all.

• Act 1: A gamer in the Broadway pit
• Act 2: Fine-tuning a musical murder mystery game
• Patreon-bonus: Three original songs based on retro gaming classics, created by Mike Pettry and his longtime collaborator Eli Bolin
• The two previously wrote and orchestrated songs for John Mulaney’s Sack Lunch Bunch and Documentary Now!
• Act 3: The news of the week

Like the show? Leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify!

Find episode notes and more at www.post.games. Subscribe to the Patreon for early access to episodes, additional segments, and bonus materials at patreon.com/postgames.

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This week on Post Games, I'm answering your questions about the future of games. Plus, an extended conversation with video game podcaster, YouTuber, and content creator Brendon Bigley about his long-running series Into the Aether and his new gaming news publication, Wavelengths.

•  Act 1: A Q&A about the future of video games
• Bonus for Patreon: The nitty-gritty bits of gaming’s future, from AI to
• Act 2: How to launch a new video games media brand w/ Brendon Bigley
• Bonus for Patreon: The trick to creating a successful podcast
• Act 3: The news of the week

You can now watch Post Games shorts on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok.

Like the show? Leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify!

Find episode notes and more at www.post.games. Subscribe to the Patreon for early access to episodes, additional segments, and bonus materials at patreon.com/postgames.

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Two options for full show notes, including links to stories, games, and related topics!

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• Subscribe to the free newsletter at www.post.games

Next week: For the mailbag, send voice notes to postgamesmailbag (at) gmail. Please keep them under 90 seconds and include your name and pronouns.

Countless video games depict death, but few ask us to contemplate our mortality. Thank goodness. Mario wouldn’t be nearly as fun if we had to attend every goomba’s funeral.

And yet, as I approach 40 and my death anxieties find new ways to keep me awake, I wonder if video games could be uniquely equipped to help us emotionally grapple with the big question that has no answer: what comes next?

So, I called an expert. Video game writer and narrative director Kaitlin Tremblay has written three games exploring the many sides of death: A Mortician’s Tale, Seasonala Cemetery, and the upcoming Ambrosia Sky.

Don't let the topic fool you. This is an uplifting conversation. And hey, if you're listening to this episode, then I can guarantee one thing: you're alive.

Act 1: A life of making games about death

Act 2: How death in games can help us

Patreon Bonus: Why I keep playing this tiny game about dying

Act 3: News of the Week

Find episode notes and more at www.post.games. Subscribe to the Patreon for early access to episodes, additional segments, and bonus materials at patreon.com/postgames.

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Gaming historian Jeremy Parish joins me for the entire episode to tell the story of gaming’s most famous primate.

Act 1: How Donkey Kong saved Nintendo

Act 2: Donkey Kong’s long journey back to the top

Patreon Bonus: The Top 5 Donkey Kong games – and the #1 strangest

Act 3: The news of the week

Find episode notes and more at www.post.games. Subscribe to the Patreon for early access to episodes, additional segments, and bonus materials at patreon.com/postgames.

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A few months ago, NSFW games appeared to be thriving. Then came the censorship campaign. To help us understand what shifted in the culture over the summer, and where NSFW games go from here, I needed an expert on media censorship, video games, pornography, feminism, and the history of sex labor activism.

Today’s guest is that unicorn. Jean Ketterling is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Studies – Women’s and Gender Studies Program at the University of Saskatchewan.

• Act 1: The summer sexy games got banned
• Act 2: The future fight against game censorship
• Patreon Bonus: The gooner contingency and NSFW game recs
• Act 3: News of the week
• Patreon Bonus: What I saw at SEGA

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This week, you get two podcasts for the price of one.

First: the Nintendo mailbag. Listeners sent in a U-Haul's worth of questions about Nintendo. What's up with the unusually "usual" approach to the Switch 2 release? Why can the publisher do whatever it likes without the fandom going into revolt?

Second: I complete our NSFW video game interviews. In previous episodes, we spoke with an NSFW game designer and an NSFW game academic. Today, you’ll meet Annie, the host of Sex Positive Gaming, an NSFW gaming YouTube channel. How does a YouTube channel dedicated to games that break the YouTube terms of service exist? You’ll get the answer to that question and many more!

This week on Post Games, a double-episode I'm dubbing "Mario's Nipples."

Act 1: Making sense of modern Nintendo

Patreon bonus: Why Nintendo ignores some of its biggest franchises

Act 2: Life as an NSFW game YouTuber

Act 3: News of the Week

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Last week, Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier explained how the too many games problem came to be. This week, we hear how game creators are adapting to make sure the best games reach you – rather than get lost at the bottom of an ever-growing pile. 

Today’s guest, Simon Carless, is an expert in helping game creators strike this balance between the artist’s vision and the audience's interests. Carless is a pioneer in the exponentially important research of “game discoverability."

• Act 1: The art of Game Discovery
• Act 2: Do endless sales help or hurt gaming?
• Patreon bonus: The strangest tricks and “hacks” to get a game seen 
• Act 3: The news of the week

Art by James Bareham - Happicamp.com

Theme by Mark Sparling

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At an unknowable point in the past five years, gamers were granted three wishes:

1. I want more games to play than I could ever have time for.
2. I want them to be cheap, if not free.
3. And I want to be able to play them whenever and however I want.

The result has been great for fans of the hobby, but a radiating headache for game creators. Over the next two episodes, we’ll learn why we’re suddenly drowning in video games (more than we could play in a lifetime) and what both players and game creators are doing to adapt.

Today, we'll focus on how "too many games" became gaming's unusual dilemma. Bloomberg reporter and Triple Click host Jason Schreier joins me to explain how the video game business is battling with its own abundance.

Act 1: Heaven for gamers

Act 2: Hell for game makers

Patreon bonus: A big chat about mainstream media and gaming

Act 3: News of the week

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Few video games achieve mainstream cultural relevance. Fewer still get labeled as "art." And only a handful of games that get through the culling manage to retain their relevance across decades. Shadow of the Colossus is the exception to the rules of video games.

What makes it so unique? How has its place in gaming culture evolved? And why does it play a special part in the life of today's guest, video essayist and author Jacob Geller?

• Act 1: Why Shadow of the Colossus never lost its relevance
• Act 2: How Shadow of the Colossus launched a critic’s career
• Patreon bonus: The future of video essays about video games
• Act 3: News of the Week

Art by James Bareham

Theme by Mark Sparling

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I was stunned when I first saw Cave Crave, a VR game in which the player squeezes through dark tunnels, the gaps so tight that the character must hold their breath, causing red light to pulse. As your virtual lungs empty, you see the blood vessels in your eyes

To my surprise, the dark, suffocating caves of Cave Crave were just the beginning of both its terror and its depth.

This week on Post Games: A trip into a real cave that became a tomb

• Act 1: The game that traps you in a dark, tight hole
• Act 2: Recreating the infamous Nutty Putty Cave
• Patreon Bonus: A history of the Steam Machine and the “living room” PC
• Act 3: News of the week

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Post Games for $1!! - The Early Bird, Not-Quite-Black Friday Sale

Rather than compete with Black Friday and Cyber Monday, I’m running my holiday deal early. Subscribe to the Patreon before 11/14 and get your first month for $1. Yes, you read that right. A buck gets you...

• Video episodes!
• Weekly bonus segments!
• 5 deep dives on storytelling, reviews, and media!
• 1 oral history of Street Fighter: The Movie!
• 25 incredible interviews with the most fascinating people in video games!
• Expanded newsletters:
• Free game of the week
• The best video game stories of the week
• What else I’m enjoying
• Access to community group chats!

This episode is a bit unusual. I’m chatting with a talented game developer who also happens to be a friend. I’ve known Joel Burgess for many years, dating back to his time helping to design open-world RPGs for AAA studios.

He currently serves as the Studio Head of the indie studio Soft Rains, which has been busy preparing the debut of its first game. Ambrosia Sky is a sci-fi immersive sim in which you play as a death cleaner. Picture Powerwash Simulator spliced with BioShock, and then add the NYTimes obituaries, and you’re not far off. This week, Ambrosia Sky: Act 1 hits Steam.

What does it feel like to launch a video game, particularly as the head of a studio, responsible for not just the success of the game but the business? The stress. The joy. The mixed sense of finishing one race, and in the current age of DLC, updates, and additional acts, starting another marathon.

This week on Post Games: what it’s actually like to release a video game in 2025.

• Act 1: The chaos of making a video game in the 2020s
• Act 2: The moments before pressing publish
• Patreon bonus: How Joel’s dog inspired the look and soul of Dogmeat in Fallout 4
• Act 3: News of the week

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Sure, spooky season is over. But listeners, the scary season has just begun at Post Games. To prepare you, I have invited one of my favorite horror critics, Ashley Bardhan, to explain the appeal of playing horror games – and how they might make your life less scary.

This is one of my favorite (and most surprising) conversations yet!

• Act 1: The case for playing more horror games
• Act 2: Horror as therapy
• Patreon bonus: 5 horror games for the holiday season
• Act 3: The news of the week

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This week on Post Games, “Life Before and After Releasing Blue Prince”:

• Act 1: The Days Before Blue Prince
• Patreon bonus: The Magic site that made Blue Prince possible
• Act 2: The Days Before The Game Awards
• Patreon bonus: Blue Prince: The Movie? Blue Prince 2?
• Act 3: News of the Week

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Get full show notes for free at post.games

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Welcome to The Inaugural Post Games Thanksgiving Special!

I’ve invited 19 people from across video games to share what they’re thankful for. They could celebrate a game, a person, a place, a trend, an idea, or whatever else inspires them. Our guests come from across the entertainment and media industries, including award-winning indie game designers, a former executive from a AAA publisher, brilliant text-based critics, beloved audio-only hosts, a contract-securing union leader, and a good ol' fashioned movie star.

 Here's the party's guest list!

• Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon
• Kirk Hamilton
• Christian Donlan
• Jenny Jiao-Hsia
• Lucy James
• Austin Walker
• Chris Novak
• Tina Sanchez O’Hara
• Blessing Adeoye Jr.
• Sarah Elmahleh
• Giovanni Colantonio
• Najay Greenidge
• Chris Bratt
• Nina Freeman
• Frank Lantz
• Kitty Calis and Jan Willem Nijman
• Evan Narcisse

Because this episode is a holiday special, and because we have so many guests, there are no acts and no news of the week. Instead, what follows are nearly twenty notes of gratitude from our brilliant guests. And Patreon subscribers get an extra-long personal note from me, in which I talk about what I’m grateful for this year: the games, the movies, the books, the music, the people, and most importantly, the opportunity to do this show.

We have so many delicious dishes to plop on your plate, so let’s work our way around the buffet!

This week on Post Games: The Thanksgiving Special

• 19 guests share what part of video game culture they’re thankful for
• Why I’m grateful for change and how you can create your own

On the Patreon - Only $5!!!

• Bonus segment: Why I’m thankful for change (and how you can create your own)
• Plus, the films, movies, books, ideas, and other things I’m thankful for
• Early access to ad-free episodes
• Video versions of new episodes!
• Five hour-long episodes of Video Game Journalism 101, including the new episode on storytelling
• Free game of the week
• This week in video game links
• What else I’m enjoying
• All of that and more for only $5 a month!

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Visit post.games to get full episodes for free, including links to all games and stories referenced in today's show

UPDATES

Before we get to this week’s episode, I have two important updates!

• Post Games mailbag returns: I’m collecting listener voice notes for my final mailbag episode of 2025. I’d love questions reflecting on 2025 or looking forward to 2026. But you’re welcome to ask anything related to games! Here’s how to email me audio using a smartphone and any voice notes app.
• The First Official Post Games Movie Screening: This Friday, I’ll be hosting a screening of Mortal Kombat (1995) at The Frida in Santa Ana, CA. I’ll have some rare Post Games shirts and hats on sale. I’d love to see you there, so if you come, please say hello!

THIS WEEK ON POST GAMES

The Game Awards isn’t the Oscars. It’s not the Tonys. If we’re being generous, it shares the same pop cultural status as the modern MTV Music Video Awards. But even if the show is a bit embarrassing and largely serves as an advertisement for future games, it matters.

It matters to big game publishers and tiny developers alike. All nominees stand to not only get a healthy dose of public praise, but a burst of press and a spike in sales. Especially if they win.

With more games released in 2025 than in any other year, awareness is invaluable. The Game Awards claimed a 2024 audience of 154 million streams, which would mean more people watched it than the Super Bowl. Even if the audience is actually half that number, then The Game Awards remains one of the most widely seen annual broadcasts in the world.

So this week on Post Games, we take The Game Awards seriously. My guest is the only year-round Game Awards beat reporter and analyst, Polyon’s Oli Welsh.

Act 1: The history of The Game Awards

Act 2: How The Game Awards actually work

Patreon bonus: What The Game Awards got right… and very wrong

Act 3: The news of the week

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Visit patreon.com/postgames to get bonus segments, early access, and exclusive monthly episodes like "The birth of Pokémon: 30 years ago, a young game critic imagined the biggest franchise on the planet" for $5

Visit post.games to get full episodes for free, including links to all games and stories referenced in today's show

This week on Post Games: How video games and anime took over pop culture together.

• Act 1: Anime in your video games
• Act 2: Video games in your anime
• Patreon bonus: The anime every gamer should watch
• Act 3: News of the Week

Last year, I helped oversee the first major national survey of anime consumption in the United States. Before the survey, I knew anime had achieved pop culture status, with characters from Dragon Ball appearing in Fortnite and musicians like Megan Thee Stallion wearing over a dozen anime cosplays. Even still, the numbers surprised me.

Nearly half of Gen Z watches anime once a week. And a quarter of millennials. 44% of anime viewers have had a crush on an anime character. And 65% of anime viewers find the form more emotionally compelling than other forms of media. Anime fans claimed to watch for escape and comfort. But also for strength, a tool to prepare them for a big test or a challenging day at work.

We ran this survey at Polygon, a site broadly focused on video games, because while games and anime are two different mediums, they have for decades influenced and elevated one another. And the line between the two is blurrier and blurrier, with shows inspiring games that inspire more shows.

How did we get here?

To find out, I reached out to Geoff Thew, the founder and host of the hit anime YouTube channel, Mother’s Basement.

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This week on Post Games: the final listener mailbag of 2025!

• Act 1: Questions about video games
• Act 2: Questions about the industry and the culture
• Patreon bonus: Questions about the nitty-gritty of gaming
• Act 3: The news of the week

This week, I emptied the Post Games mailbag and tried to answer as many questions as I could muster. The result is one of the longest episodes to date, with the AMA spanning three acts and over 60 minutes!

Plus, a very special extended news of the week: I chatted with Phil Salvador from the Video Game History Foundation. The VGHF has preserved the Sega Channel, the 1990s predecessor to PlayStation Now and Xbox Game Pass. How the hell do archivists preserve such a thing? Listen to find out!

Now, I’d say this is the final episode of 2025, but that’s not entirely true. Next week, I’ll be sharing a special Patreon-exclusive mini-episode, reflecting on my personal favorite games of the year, along with a few small surprises. But I’m getting ahead of myself!

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Editor's Note: Hey Post Games listeners. To give myself a lighter load this holiday, I’m posting one of the monthly Patreon-exclusive episodes. The patrons selected the origin story of Pokémon. They think you’ll enjoy it, and I do, too!

If you like this episode and want access to a backlog of bonus episodes and future bonuses, subscribe to Patreon.com/PostGames for $5. Next Monday, I’ll be posting the latest exclusive, “1996: The Most Important Year in Games,” featuring the co-hosts of My Life in Gaming!

Get full show notes for free at www.post.games

Before Game Freak created Pokémon, it was a hand-stapled video game zine written by a crew of arcade-loving teenagers.

Welcome to the debut episode of Past Games, the new Patreon-exclusive series dedicated to revisiting the stories behind classic games and gaming moments. Over the next few months, we’ll be flipping through dusty periodicals and dog-eared history books to learn more about 2026’s big gaming anniversaries.

For this episode, I invited my buddy Brendon Bigley (Wavelengths, Into the Aether) to talk pocket monsters. I share the history of the biggest children’s entertainment icon since Mickey Mouse, and Brendon shares his experience of growing up alongside the rise of Pokémania.

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Guest: Ash Parrish, reporter and critic at The Verge

• Act 1: The Industry
• Act 2: The Games and Trends
• Patreon Bonus: The Best and Worst Case Scenarios for 2026
• Act 3: The News of the Week

2026 has only just begun, but already I’m certain it’ll be (at least for gaming culture) historic.

Yes, it’s the year of GTA 6. It’s also the year of no fewer than ten thousand other games. Barring a cataclysmic event, more games will be released in 2026 than in any year prior.

This avalanche of competition will continue to be bad news for game makers, who must not only will they battle for attention with their contemporaries, but also the tens of thousands of “new” and now steeply discounted games released since the pandemic, the free-to-play time drains, and the entirety of retro gaming playable on ever cheaper handheld emulators.

Inversely, in 2026, this abundance will be a boon for most of you listening, at least in the short term. Where the glut of games that nearly killed the game industry in the 1980s was garbage, we are not wonting for high quality games serving nearly every imaginable niche.

Before 2025 ended, I had already played a dozen or so solid games that will be released in 2026. And two 2026 games would have made my 2025 Game of the Year list had they been released.

Add in some acquisitions, some closures, an uptick in unionization, a delinquent government oversight, and a nauseating economy, and you will be overwhelmed with existential questions about the medium.

Will video game players return to buying new games after years of gorging on forever games? Will Take Two and Grand Theft Auto deal the final blow to the once-powerful video game publishers? Will developers find new ways to get their games to their intended audience, or will more and more great games be commercial failures, leading some of the great game makers of our time to change careers?

The answers to those questions could alter the lives and fortunes of tens of thousands of game makers. And could influence what you do and don’t make time to play.

We’ll untangle those knots in today’s episode. Our guest is The Verge’s Ash Parrish, who has a uniquely broad and deep understanding of modern gaming, both in the industry as a reporter and the games as a critic.

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• Want full show notes for free, including links to everything we mention? Visit www.post.games
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This week on Post Games:

• Act 1: A History of Women in Games Media
• Act 2: Mothership Lands on Earth
• Patreon Bonus: Imagining a Better Future for Video Games
• Act 3: The News of the Week
• Patreon Bonus Mini-Episode: A Century of Women’s Media in 15-Minutes
• Guests: Maddy Myers and Zoë Hannah, founders of Mothership.blog

Editor's note: This episode went live at the same time as its Patreon version so everyone had access to news of Mothership.blog. The public Post Games feed will return to its Monday release time next week.

Say hello to your next favorite website.

Mothership is a site built at the intersection of gender and games. Today, I’ll be chatting with founders Maddy Myers and Zoë Hannah. They’ll provide a primer on the history of women in games media, dating back to the early 1980s. And they’ll share their months-long effort to make Mothership a reality.

To set the stage, here’s part of Mothership.blog‘s mission statement:

"Whenever we boot up an RPG character creator (or pick up a TTRPG character sheet), we can’t help but interrogate the choices that are available — and the ones that aren’t. We’ve noticed how many female video game characters, even our favorites, have hourglass figures and pale complexions. We can’t help but consider and interrogate the gender norms on display among male characters in games as well, whether we’re revving a Lancer as Marcus Fenix or swinging a sword as Link… or putting on a Gerudo disguise.

At Mothership, you’ll read writing from a diverse roster of contributors. You’ll find reviews, criticism, and opinion stories about games’ depiction of gender, as well as stories about how these games are marketed. You’ll get investigative reporting on the people who make games in an era when “DEI” is on the wane. You’ll read historical deep dives on the games and creators that paved the way, especially those that didn’t get due credit way back then."

This is a sprawling conversation about games, gender, media, and that deep urge we all share to connect and be seen

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This week on Post Games:

• Act 1: Turning Your Life into a Game
• Act 2: Recreating a Place and a Moment
• Patreon Bonus: The History of Memoir Games in 5 Titles
• Act 3: News of the Week

• Guest: Meredith Gran, creator of Perfect Tides: Station to Station
• Closing Music: Perfect Tides: Station to Station
• Upcoming Mini-Episode: An extra special bonus for Patreon subscribers. On the launch day of Station to Station, January 22nd, I’ll release an additional mini-episode in which Meredith and I talk about the game’s themes, twists, and ending. It was incredible to chat with a game creator without the fear of spoilers, to actually dig deep into the work and their intentions. You’ll love it!

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This week on Post Games:

• Act 1: How Nintendo Became a Game Company
• Act 2: Nintendo’s Present
• Patreon Bonus: The Future of Nintendo After Its Icons Depart
• Act 3: News of the Week

• Guest: Keza MacDonald, journalist and author of Super Nintendo: The Game-Changing Company That Unlocked the Power of Play
• Closing Song:  "Oubliette: from Ratcheteer DX (Matthew Grim)

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This week on Post Games:

• Act 1: Stealing What's Yours
• Act 2: The Need for Africanfuturism
• Patreon Bonus: What It's Actually Like Making Games in South Africa
• Act 3: The News of the Week

Guests:

• Ben Myres, CEO, Co-Founder, and Creative Director of Nyamakop
• Mohale Mashigo, Narrative Director of Relooted
• Nathan Grayson, Co-Founder of Aftermath

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This week on Post Games:

• Act 1: Dragon Quest’s Many False Starts in America
• Act 2: How Dragon Quest Became Inescapable
• Patreon Bonus: Tim Rogers on How to Savor a Dragon Quest Game
• Act 3: The News of the Week

• Guests: Andrew Webster, The Verge & Tim Rogers, Action Button
• Closing Song: “Haven” by Nicolas Gueguen (MIO: Memories in Orbit)

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This week on Post Games:

• Act 1: A Career Built on “A Cry for Help”
• Act 2: “This Is a Fuck You”
• Patreon Bonus: Tidepools, Pinball, and a Musical: The “Sunny Side” of Edmund McMillen

Guests:

• Edmund McMillen: Co-creator of Mewgenics
• Closing Song: “Fleas and Parasites” by Matthias Bossi and John Evans (Mewgenics)

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This week on Post Games:

• Act 1: What Is Fictophilia?
• Act 2: Fandom, Parasocial Relationships, and Big Tech
• Patreon Bonus: Post Games Hits Two Milestones
• Act 3: The News of the Week

Guests:

• Tanja Välisalo: Teacher, researcher, and project coordinator at the Department of Music, Art and Culture Studies at the University of Jyväskylä in Finland
• Nicole Carpenter: Reporter at publications like 404 Media, Vulture, Polygon, and more
• Closing Song: “Character Selection Theme “ by Vibe Avenue (Tears of Metal)

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This week on Post Games:

• Act 1: Mortal Kombat, Resident Evil, and the Birth of the Video Game Movie
• Act 2: Life of a Video Game Movie Auteur
• Patreon Bonus: How to Make a Hit Video Game Movie
• Act 3: The News of the Week

Guests:

• Paul W.S. Anderson: Director of Mortal Kombat, the Resident Evil film series, and more
• Kazuma Hashimoto: Video game critic, analyst, and consultant
• Closing Song: "Altar" by Jorge Flores (Desktop Explorer)

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[Editor’s note: This week, all subscribers will have access to the Patreon-exclusive bonus segment. If you enjoy this extra material, or would just like to support the long-term health of the show, please consider subscribing on Patreon or leaving a review on Apple Podcasts.]

Want full show notes for free, including links to everything we mention? Visit www.post.games

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This week on Post Games:

• Act 1: The 17-Year Fight to Protect Games from the Government
• Act 2: The ESA’s President on AI, Child Safety, and Calls for Unionization
• Patreon Bonus: Three Big Takeaways from the Interview

Guests:

• Stanley Pierre-Louis: President and CEO, ESA
• Closing Song: “Jumping Voices (Big Walk Theme)” by aksfx (Big Walk)

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This week on Post Games:

• Act 1: Games Teach Us to Break Free from Life’s Grind
• Act 2: Metrics Suck the Joy Out of Life
• Patreon Bonus: Have Metrics Infested Video Games?
• Act 3: The News of the Week

Guests:

• C. Thi Nguyen: a philosopher, educator, and author. His latest book is The Score: How to Stop Playing Somebody Else’s Game
• Gita Jackson: critic, editor, and co-founder of Aftermath
• Closing Song: “Ocarina of Time” by Sixth Station Trio (Zelda Classics album)

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Show Notes and Bonus Episodes

• Want full show notes for free, including links to everything we mention? Visit www.post.games
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This week on Post Games:

• Act 1: Dissecting Disco Elysium, Organ by Organ
• Act 2: Converting Tabletop RPGs into Video Game Nirvana
• Patreon Bonus: All You Have to Do Is Write a Million Words
• Act 3: The News of the Week

Guests:

• Christoffer Bodegård: writer and developer, Esoteric Ebb
• Nathan Grayson: co-founder and reporter, Aftermath.site
• Closing Song: “Battle Beneath the Crust” by Marskye (Dosa Divas)

Art & Music:

• Logo and show art by James Bareham
• Theme by Mark Sparling

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Show Notes and Bonus Episodes

• Want full show notes for free, including links to everything we mention? Visit www.post.games
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This Week on Post Games:

• Act 1: How Stern Survived the Pinball Apocalypse
• Act 2: What Makes a Pinball Table Special in 2026?
• Patreon Bonus: Adapting Pokémon into a Pinball Table
• Act 3: The News of the Week

Guests:

• Seth Davis: President and CEO, Stern Pinball
• Lewis Gordon: Reporter and Critic
• Closing Song: “A Musical Tale” by bermei.inazawa (Chicory: A Musical Tale)

Art & Music:

• Logo and show art by James Bareham
• Theme by Mark Sparling

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Show Notes and Bonus Episodes

• Want full show notes for free, including links to everything we mention? Visit www.post.games
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This week on Post Games:

• Act 1: Games Enter the Art World
• Act 2: How Games Help Us Through Tough Conversations
• Patreon Bonus: A Personal History of Games in Art and Art in Games

Guests:

• Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley: artist, game designer, and archivist
• Closing Song: “It’s Raining Inside Alo’s Home” by Prateek Saxena (Fishbowl)

Art & Music:

• Logo and show art by James Bareham
• Theme by Mark Sparling

All Post Games interviews are edited for concision and clarity.

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Show Notes and Bonus Episodes

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This Week on Post Games:

• Act 1: How to Tell Stories about Video Games
• Act 2: Where Video Games Go From Here
• Patreon Bonus: Getting into the Weeds of Video Game Culture
• Act 3: The News of the Week

Guests:

• Questions from listeners like you!
• Remy Siu: Creative director at Sunset Visitor
• Abby Howard: Co-founder of Black Tabby Games
• Tony Howard-Arias: Co-founder of Black Tabby Games
• Closing Song: “Blushin’” by James Currier (Rizz Dungeon: Skeleton Key to My Heart)

Art & Music:

• Logo and show art by James Bareham
• Theme by Mark Sparling

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.