The flagship podcast of Aftermath, a worker-owned, subscription-based website covering video games, the internet, and everything that comes after from journalists who previously worked at Kotaku, Vice, and The Washington Post. Each week, games journalism veterans Luke Plunkett, Nathan Grayson, Chris Person, Riley MacLeod, and Gita Jackson – though not always all at once, because that’s too many people for a podcast – break down video game news, Remember Some Games, and learn about Chris’ frankly incredible number of special interests. Sometimes we even bring on guests from both inside and outside the video game industry! I don’t know what else to tell you; it’s a great time. Simply by reading this description, you’re already wasting time that you could be spending listening to the show. Head to aftermath.site for more info.
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On this week’s episode, Nathan and Chris are joined by Keza MacDonald – currently of The Guardian and formerly of Kotaku UK way back in the day – to talk about her new book, Super Nintendo: The Game-Changing Company That Unlocked the Power of Play . We discuss Nintendo’s vast history, dating all the way back to 1889, as well as how its innovative past gave way to the Switch 2 era, perhaps its most iterative yet. Keza also tells us all sorts of stories about legendary figures like Mario creator S...
On this week’s episode, Nathan and Gita are joined by Maddy Myers and Zoë Hannah, both formerly of Polygon – you know, before all the bad stuff happened – and now of the newly announced Mothership , a site at the intersection of gender and games. Maddy and Zoë tell us about their plans for the site and what it means to launch a publication like this in an era when feminist media has been gutted, and even venerable institutions like Teen Vogue – a primary inspiration for Mothership – have fallen....
On our first episode of 2026, Nathan, Chris, and Riley start the year off with a bang, or at least the next best thing: a discussion about video games. We begin by reflecting on Nathan’s time attending Awesome Games Done Quick, the annual speedrunning marathon that raises money for charity and just generally rules. Gaming communities can be forces for good – at least, when they don’t allow their ranks to be overwhelmed by shitheads. Who knew? Then we move on to less positive happenings: Ubisoft ...
On this week’s episode, Nathan, Chris, and Riley convene one last time to close out 2025, a notably horrible year for the world but a pretty solid one for Aftermath. We begin by talking about a controversy that was unexpected, to say the least: Larian, riding a wave of goodwill by making perhaps the ultimate example of a big game for people and by people in Baldur’s Gate 3 , ran right off the road by openly embracing AI. The studio’s CEO, Swen Vincke, has spent the past several days both digging...
This week, Gita, Riley, and Chris talk about many games that came out recently that will never win a Game Award, and what our attitudes about the event are. First, the enigmatic Ys-alike Angeline Era , a beautiful game with thoughtful design. Second, the toe tapping Rhythm Doctor which feels like it takes cues from Rhythm Tengoku and iNIS games like Ouendan . Then we discuss Skate Story , Faustian Tony Hawk with an incredible soundtrack that reminds us of Arctic Eggs . We give a shoutout to Demo...
On this week’s episode, Nathan, Gita, and Chris are joined by the one and only John “Super Eyepatch Wolf” Walsh, YouTuber extraordinaire and, now, author of The Bizarre World Of Fake Games, a book about exactly what it says it’s about: meticulously crafted settings and rule sets for games that don’t actually exist. Walsh explains his fixation with fake games and how, as he sees it, they broaden the landscape of who can create and imagine games in the first place. He also gives us a history lesso...
On this week’s episode, we’re joined by two of the finest internet culture reporters to ever lace up their boots and wade into the muck, Kat Tenbarge and Steven Asarch, to discuss why MrBeast’s new theme park, Beast Land, is so bad – and why quality was never the point in the first place. Spoiler alert: It’s a giant ad, as many so-called theme parks, activations, and experiences are these days. We live in an era of flimsy disposability where nothing – whether it’s a short-form video or a branded...
This week, Chris, Riley, and Gita raise our heads above the water of Aftermath’s relaunched website to talk, excitingly, about things that aren’t relaunching a website. To start, Chris and Gita talk about the movie Bugonia , a remake of 2003’s Save the Green Planet . We talk about how it’s different from the original, for better and worse, and what it says about class, society, and whether or not humanity is a failed experiment. Then we talk about Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan’s new Apple ...
On this week’s episode, the WHOLE gang – Nathan, Gita, Chris, Riley, Luke, Isaiah, and Nicole – gather to celebrate Aftermath’s two-year anniversary. We begin by announcing that we’re relaunching the site next week, but not with all the bullshit bells and whistles you’d typically expect from this sort of thing. Instead, it’ll still be the simple, streamlined Aftermath you’ve come to know and love, but sleeker, more professional, and easier to use. We’re very excited for you all to try it out! We...
On this week’s episode, Nathan, Gita, and Chris bathe in the afterglow of Aftermath’s first-ever in-person party before hinting at big changes to come (the good kind) as a result of the site’s upcoming second anniversary. Then we discuss the United States government’s sudden gaming fixation, following a week of Halo memes from White House and Department Of Homeland Security accounts, as well as JD Vance’s embarrassing reveal that he not only stays abreast of Twitch drama but is fluent in CollarG...
On this week’s episode, Nathan, Chris, and Riley discuss the recent revelation (via Bloomberg) that Microsoft has been seeking a 30 percent profit margin from its gaming division since 2023. This borders on ludicrous compared to what the rest of the industry typically achieves and fully clears that bar in the case of Xbox, which managed a 12 percent profit margin in 2022. Now here we are in 2025, following multiple rounds of mass layoffs and project cancellations, because while Xbox was profitab...
On this week’s episode, Gita and Luke are joined by Matt Leone, formerly of Polygon and now of Design Room, a site dedicated to sharing the oral histories behind some of the biggest and most important video games of all time. We chat about Matt’s work detailing the stories behind the creation of games like Street Fighter II and Shadow Of The Colossus, how he managed to find the time and space to get that work done while at a commercial site like Polygon, and how his works, created as acts of jou...
On this week’s episode, Nathan and Luke are joined by Cameron Kunzelman of the Ranged Touch podcast network who has a book about Assassin’s Creed, Everything Is Permitted, coming out next month. We discuss how the series has evolved over the years, with each sequel and spinoff essentially functioning as an argument in favor of the series’ continued existence. Highlights include: why Brotherhood was weird and kinda bad, how Ubisoft portrayed itself in its own book about Assassin’s Creed’s legacy,...
On this week’s episode, Nathan, Chris, and Gita talk about the two latest signs that the video game industry is being chopped up and sold for parts: EA’s $55 billion sale to a consortium that includes Saudi Arabia and Microsoft’s decision to up Game Pass’ price by 50 percent – the latter of which follows multiple rounds of layoffs and studio closures almost certainly intended to help pay for the company’s own $68.7 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard. Who benefits from any of this, aside fro...
On this week’s episode, Chris and Riley are joined by Aftermath contributor Isaiah. First, Chris can’t resist talking more Silksong , and then he tells us a bit about Silent Hill f . Then we move on to Sony’s State of Play presentation this week: Does Insomniac’s Wolverine need all that blood? Do we need a Deus Ex remaster when it basically makes a game from 2000 look like a game from 2004? Also, Chris is really into those speakers. After that, we talk about the continued fallout from Charlie Ki...
On this week’s episode, Nathan and Chris are joined by Morgan Sung of KQED’s Close All Tabs podcast to discuss shootings as shitposts and media censorship following the death of Charlie Kirk. While we still don’t know the killer’s precise motive, bullet engravings that reference video game memes and largely nonpolitical Discord activity seem to suggest that he was just a guy, possessed with the incoherent politics and general nihilism characteristic of extremely online young people in these time...
This episode delves into the political landscape surrounding Charlie Kirk's death, analyzing how the right-wing media ecosystem fostered and amplified his influence, contrasting it with the left's approach to its own voices. The hosts discuss the mainstream media's role in perpetuating right-wing narratives and the inherent dishonesty in conservative political discourse. They explore the effectiveness of engaging with such figures and the broader societal issues contributing to political polarization, including the impact of social media on public opinion and the challenges of achieving meaningful change.
On this week’s episode, Nathan and Chris are joined by former Polygon writers Ryan Gilliam and Cass Marshall, who just launched a new worker-owned video game website, Rogue. It’s like Aftermath, but Polygonier. We ask them how the project came together, how things are going so far, and what their pie-in-the-sky goals are for the future. Then, after extolling the virtues of structures that don’t force us to always heap attention on the big game of the week, we heap attention on the big game of th...
On this week’s episode, Nathan and Luke – remember him? – are joined by Brandon Sheffield of Necrosoft to discuss the decision to delay Demonschool, a very promising-looking indie tactics RPG, from September to November in light of Silksong’s surprise release announcement. While Demonschool’s publisher, rather than development team, ultimately made the call, they’re far from alone in rolling out the red carpet for the long-awaited indie darling and then sprinting full force in the opposite direc...
On this week’s episode, Nathan, Chris, and Riley discuss Hollow Knight: Silksong, a game that is finally, actually, really real after years of anticipation (and Geoff Keighley showcase disappointments). It looks like… more Hollow Knight. Cool! Also, the developers have said they will not be sending out pre-release review code, citing concern that it would be “unfair” to Kickstarter backers and regular players. But perhaps that approach is better for interesting writing about the game – and games...
On this week’s episode, Nathan and Gita are joined by their former Kotaku colleague Harper Jay for a discussion of criticism’s role in a world that seems determined to reject it – or at least cast it out of mainstream publications like Vanity Fair, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and the Associated Press, as well as many video game publications. What does it mean for institutions to cede this ground to fandoms and social media? What do we lose when we cease to respect the expertise that...
On this week’s episode, Nathan and Riley – the former of whom has spent the past several days near a beach and the latter of whom just returned from a boating excursion – are joined by Chris “Peg Leg” Person to discuss boats, boating, and a flotilla of related matters. First we talk about Riley’s recent voyage, which involved reading Moby Dick as quickly as possible while on a boat. Why? Riley enjoys punishing himself, I guess. Then Riley regales us with tales of the time he lived on a boat duri...
On this week’s episode, Nathan and Chris are joined by an additional Chris (Plante) – and also, to complete the bit, Nathan has legally changed his name to Chris. We begin by discussing Plante’s life following his tenure as editor-in-chief at Polygon, which came to an abrupt halt earlier this year for reasons with which Aftermath readers and listeners are depressingly familiar. On the upside, he’s launched a new show, Post Games, and it’s very good! We discuss the whys and hows of his interview-...
On this week’s episode, Nathan and Chris are joined by Isla Hinck of Easy Allies, aka the Aftermath of YouTube. Nathan and Isla met just one week ago, at this year’s TennoCon, the official Warframe convention (yes, Warframe has an official convention), so they regale Chris with tales of their time at a refreshingly positive show attended by fans who just seem to… love a thing? In 2025? I’m as surprised as you are. They also got to explore developer Digital Extremes’ office inside a dead mall, wh...
On this week’s episode, Nathan and Chris are joined by award-winning disability reporter Grant Stoner to discuss Disability Pride Month, as well as his own growing body of investigative work in the accessibility space. Not entirely in order, we draw a line from the early days of companies largely ignoring accessibility-related concerns to the moment they realized such options could serve as a marketing hook – and then up to the present, which Grant argues would be better served by journalism tha...
On this week’s episode, Nathan and Riley are joined by Ethan Gach of Kotaku dot com and Garrett Martin of the newly rechristened Endless Mode, two beneficiaries of the only good week for games media in the past century. The former finally managed to wriggle out from under G/O Media’s suffocating boot via a sale to the same seemingly benign company that bought Gizmodo, and the latter represents that rarest of unicorns: a new video game website with a functional budget in the year 2025. We talk to...
On this week’s episode, Nathan and Chris celebrate the NYC democratic mayoral primary victory of Zohran Mamdani by bringing on a whopping TWO guests: First, Max Rivlin-Nadler joins us to talk about how Hell Gate – a fellow worker-owned publication – punched well above its weight during this election, organizing a town hall that every candidate except Andrew Cuomo showed up for and hosting an election night livestream that aired in bars across the city. Then f ormer Kotaku writer turned professio...
We’re off this week because of Juneteenth, but back in February, Nathan released a book! About Twitch! As part of that, he hosted a launch event at Wonderville in Brooklyn, NY with a panel featuring Chris and Gita, as well Polygon’s Simone de Rochefort. It was basically a live episode of Aftermafh Hours, so here it is now, as an episode of Aftermath Hours. Enjoy! Credits - Hosts: Nathan Grayson, Chris Person, Gita Jackson, & special guest Simone de Rochefort - Podcast Production & Ads: M...
On this week’s episode, Nathan, Chris, and Riley reflect on the latest installment of Geoff Keighley’s mid-year video game advertisement carnival, Summer Game Fest. It was a weird one! High-profile announcements were few and far between, leaving relative no-names shaped kinda like the industry’s heaviest hitters to fill in the gaps. But at least Stranger Than Heaven, which is basically noir Yakuza in the 1940s, looks cool. Then Nathan talks about what it was like to actually attend SGF’s in-pers...
On this week’s episode, we are joined by Xalavier Nelson Jr. of Strange Scaffold to talk about the Switch 2 (because neither of us bought one at launch.) We discuss the satisfying click of the magnetic controllers, the strange emptiness of Mario Kart World , and the idea of trying to return to a yesteryear that can never be recaptured. Then, we discuss the State of Play, Luke’s piece about vibes, Sony’s entry into fight stick hardware as it relates to Arc System Works making a Marvel game. Last,...
