• Want full show notes for free, including links to everything we mention? Visit www.post.games
• Get weekly bonus segments, video episodes, monthly exclusive episodes, and more at patreon.com/postgames for only $5

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

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

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

Get weekly bonus segments, video episodes, monthly exclusive episodes, and more at patreon.com/postgames for only $5

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.

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

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.

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

Get weekly bonus segments, video episodes, monthly exclusive episodes, and more at patreon.com/postgames for only $5

Want full show notes? Visit www.post.games

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!

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

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.

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

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

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

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

Get video versions of every episode, bonus segments, and monthly exclusives for $5 at patreon.com/postgames

Get free show notes at post.games

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

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

Get full show notes for free at post.games

Get bonus and video episodes, extra segments, and more for $5 at patreon.com/postgames

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!

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

Get extra segments, video episodes, bonus episodes, and early access at patreon.com/postgames

Get full episode notes for free at post.games

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

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

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

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