Folks, we’ve made it through another year. 2023 somehow feels like it was over in the blink of an eye, and also infinitely long. A trying year, an exhausting year, packed with giant existential challenges for us as a species, but also filled with the usual intrusions of every day life. It felt like we’d wake up to news of more layoffs every other day, the wheels on the unsustainable business model driving AAA games development finally starting to come off the wagon.
There was sadness, and joy — we lost Ruby (god rest her soul) and gained an Emily, who has found her niche, has churned out some of my favourite yarns this year, and is utterly, authentically herself in everything she writes. We also brought on Alinah, who you may not have encountered on the website, but has been smashing it on our rapidly growing TikTok account.
We grew in ways that weren’t detectable by the average punter checking the news every day. We tried some stuff, failed at some of it, kicked goals on others. We started a podcast, and then wrapped it up because it turns out it’s really hard to make a weekly pod at a high standard of quality when you’re an editorial team of two. I’m glad we did it though, because I loved it. With the proper resourcing, I’d love to do it again. We did MIGW, PAX and SXSW back to back to back and somehow survived (though with a bout of Covid in between the latter two). We finally started getting invited on the odd international trip again, allowing us to bring you some really cool shit. Trips like this are obviously a perk of the job, but when you’re a smaller, standalone outlet that bears the name of a much bigger and more notorious one, you get passed over for these kinds of opportunities a lot.
With all of that going on, it’s a wonder we played any games at all. I can say with confidence that I played too few of them this year. When my relatives ask me what I do for work at family gatherings, and I tell them I run a video game website, the question invariably comes back: “So you get paid to play video games all day?” If only that were true. The reality is that most days, you do everything but play video games. You start work before most people are awake, and you log off well after most people have gone home for the day, and then you have to find time to play games to talk about tomorrow. The job can become your entire life in a way that is deeply unhealthy, and I need to be better at drawing the line next year.
Righto. Let’s wrap this up. Thank you for showing up this year, for reading us, for shouting us out when we’ve written something you like. We really do appreciate you being here. Thank you to everyone who gets in the comments and raises the tenor of the discussion. Appreciate you. Thank you to the haters as well, especially the confused Americans who can’t tell the difference between us and the mothership.
Thank you for showing up this year, even when our IT team replatformed the whole site to a new backend and it broke everything. Our article header pics are still coming through blurry. We’re gonna get to it, I swear. Rest assured, it annoys me as much as it annoys you.
With that out of the way, what the hell are you playing over the holidays? I’m writing this piece at the airport, a Lenovo Legion Go tucked in my bag. I’m gonna play some New Star GP on the way up to Brisbane, I think. I’ve got some other stuff on there, like Baldur’s Gate 3 and Jusant, stuff to help while away the catatonic hours of Boxing Day while the test match rumbles along in the background.
Get in the comments, let me know what you’re playing over the holidays. Or even just tell me about your plans! Having a quiet Christmas? Could you find yourself alone on Christmas Day? Join our Discord! You’ll be among friends. (Vashtar thinks they own the joint, but don’t let that stop you from getting involved).
No matter what you get up to over the holiday break, please be well and stay safe. Fill up on Christmas lunch, have a cold bev, and play some damn games.
See you next year. Cheers.
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