[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.]

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

INCOGNI Deal: To get an exclusive 60% off an annual Incogni plan, go to incogni.com/postgames

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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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

INCOGNI Deal: To get an exclusive 60% off an annual Incogni plan, go to incogni.com/postgames

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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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

INCOGNI Deal: To get an exclusive 60% off an annual Incogni plan, go to incogni.com/postgames

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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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 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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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: 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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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: 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: 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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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: 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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• 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

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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.

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