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Aftermath Hours

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Rating
★★★★★
4.6
from
75 reviews
Categories
Country
United States
This podcast has
132 episodes
Language
English
Publisher
Aftermath
Explicit
Yes
Date created
2024/01/24
Latest episode
2026/09/25
Average duration
94 min.
Release period
8 days

Description

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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Check latest episodes from Aftermath Hours podcast


Bobby Kotick's Been Sending Legal Threats To Games Journalists
2026/09/25
On this week’s episode, Nathan and Chris are joined by Nathan’s former Washington Post colleague, Mikhail Klimentov, to discuss the latter’s years-in-the-making report on former Activision CEO Bobby Kotick’s pattern of legal threats against publications who’ve reported on him in ways that he perceives to be inaccurate. We dig into why the story took so long to find a home, what Kotick—no longer running Activision and obviously quite wealthy—stands to gain from this, and how the knowledge that such a thing could happen shapes reporting coming out of sites without the time or resources to combat a defamation suit. Then we move on to this week’s big headline: more layoffs at Microsoft, this time reducing Halo Studios to a shell of its former self and putting Activision in charge of a series synonymous with Xbox going forward. We come to the conclusion that Microsoft has no overriding, long-term plan at this point; its decision making—like that of many other C-suites in the video game space—is largely reactive, and the end result is chaos. Finally, we talk about something everybody should try at least once: playing Half-Life Alyx in VR at Gita’s birthday party. Watch the report here: https://youtu.be/kKwpp-Bn8jI?si=lfEF7aoa_HOa6t6K Credits - Hosts: Chris Person, Luke Plunkett and special guest Mikhail Klimentov - Podcast Production & Ads: Multitude - Subscribe to Aftermath! About The Show Aftermath Hours is 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. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
A Framework For VR
2026/09/18
This week, Chris and Luke talk to The Verge’s Sean Hollister about the Steam Frame, Valve’s latest foray into the VR space. Both Chris and Sean reviewed it, and we get into the current state of VR, if it can be salvaged, the Beta test nature of reviewing Valve’s hardware and more. We also talk about FEX (the emulator that lets the Frame play full PC games) and the Big Picture consequences that this device might have on smaller, cheaper handhelds. Credits - Hosts: Chris Person, Luke Plunkett and special guest Sean Hollister - Podcast Production & Ads: Multitude - Subscribe to Aftermath! About The Show Aftermath Hours is 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. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Zero Company Left If You Furlough Everyone (with Stephen Totilo)
2026/09/04
On this week’s episode, Chris and Luke are joined by Stephen Totilo, formerly everybody’s boss at Kotaku and currently breaking stories at GameFile. The latest scoop is about Bit Reactor, developers of the latest inheritor of the “XCOM-like” crown, Star Wars Zero Company – and how most of the people who worked on it have been left in employment limbo, despite releasing the game to stellar reviews. But covering all of that left Stephen with little time to review the actual game, so it’s up to noted tactics-heads Chris & Luke to tell us how the game actually stacks up. And then while Stephen hops off to put his kids to bed, Chris and Luke will stick around for some Mailbag questions about what media they might enjoy better if they weren’t quite so media-pilled. Credits - Hosts: Chris Person, Luke Plunkett and special guest Stephen Totilo - Podcast Production & Ads: Multitude - Subscribe to Aftermath! About The Show Aftermath Hours is 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. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
The One Billion Dollar Video Game
2026/08/28
On this week’s episode, Nathan, Chris, and Riley recap the highs (read: mids) and lows of Geoff Keighley’s least consequential annual advertisement fest, Gamescom Opening Night Live. The new expansion for Witcher 3—yes, the one that originally came out in 2015—looks cool, as does an arguably even longer-awaited continuation of a beloved series: Pony Island 2. But otherwise, it was hard not to let our eyes glaze over as Geoff and co ladled out a slurry of same-y looking games that embraced AI, shamelessly cribbed notes from other series, or both (see: Hoyoverse, Krafton). Then, a whole day later—which will pass to you like seconds thanks to editing magic—Kotaku’s resident GTA beat reporter Zack Zwiezen joins us to talk about the latest developments in GTA VI’s lengthy leak saga and, of course, the weird Netflix extended preview that Rockstar inconsiderately chose to air on Thursday, 24 hours after we typically record. Credits - Hosts: Nathan Grayson, Chris Person, Riley MacLeod and special guest Zack Zwiezen - Podcast Production & Ads: Multitude - Subscribe to Aftermath! About The Show Aftermath Hours is 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. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Nothing About GTA VI's Launch Can Be Normal
2026/08/21
On this week’s episode, Nathan, Chris, and Luke of Aftermath convene to discuss the pre-math of Grand Theft Auto VI’s impending, insanely anticipated release. With a Netflix preview of the game—itself pretty unprecedented—a week away, fired Rockstar workers are asking fans not to boycott the game while a hacker group has taken to leaking gameplay footage that hints at various systems (gas for cars?) while broadly… looking pretty much like you’d expect a Grand Theft Auto game to look. We talk about how GTA reached these dizzying highs of hype in the first place and how a rapidly changing industry all but guarantees that no single video game ever will again. We also ponder the funniest possible outcome: What if GTA VI, the latest installment in a series known for low-brow humor and surface-level satire, turns out to be nuanced and thoughtful? Credits - Hosts: Nathan Grayson, Chris Person and Luke Plunkett - Podcast Production & Ads: Multitude - Subscribe to Aftermath! About The Show Aftermath Hours is 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. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Alex Jones Popped Like A Balloon (With The Onion CEO Ben Collins)
2026/08/14
On this week’s episode, Nathan and Gita are joined by Ben Collins of The Onion, because, against all odds, he and his comedic cohort have managed to transform Infowars—until recently one of the internet’s deepest, darkest toilets—into something funny and good. We discuss how the new Infowars came to be, its larger goal of providing monetary aid to the Sandy Hook families Alex Jones spent years tormenting, and those families’ reaction to the new Tim Heidecker-led show’s deranged shenanigans. We also delve into the particulars of satirizing something as inherently absurd as Infowars, as well as the ins and outs of how the show gets made on a regular basis. This includes, of course, an answer to the question on everyone’s mind: Is Tim Heidecker’s voice OK? (Barely.) Credits - Hosts: Nathan Grayson, Gita Jackson, and special guest Ben Collins - Podcast Production & Ads: Multitude - Subscribe to Aftermath! About The Show Aftermath Hours is 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. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Balkanize The Video Game Industry (With Rami Ismail)
2026/08/07
On this week’s episode, Nathan and Riley are joined by game developer, consultant, and general industry luminary Rami Ismail to discuss his new Levelling The Playing Field series of courses aimed at making “the critical less-spoken parts of indie gamedev accessible away from expensive visa-locked hotel bars.” These come at a time when the industry is in a massive state of flux, to put it lightly, with layoffs and closures ravaging triple-A studios while indies are forced to appease the ever-changing whims of Steam and penny-pinching publishers. We talk about what it means to release something like this now and whether chunks of it are potentially outdated on launch, as well as the ways indies and publishers—in their attempts to head money troubles off at the pass—often play it too safe and doom themselves to obscurity in the process. Speaking of doom, we then move on to Saudi Arabia’s deal to purchase EA, which finally went through this week. What will this mean for the company and the many studios under its umbrella? Obviously the future is vast and unknowable, but the answer is layoffs. Finally, we speculate as to what would happen if the world ended tomorrow and, eons later, aliens dug through the ruins (they’d correctly ascertain that Stardew Valley slaps). Credits - Hosts: Nathan Grayson, Riley MacLeod, & special guest Rami Ismail - Podcast Production & Ads: Multitude - Subscribe to Aftermath! About The Show Aftermath Hours is 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. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
The Hater’s Guide To Hating (With Ed Zitron)
2026/07/31
On this week’s very special Hater Week episode, Nathan, Chris, and Riley are joined by the crown prince of hating himself, Ed Zitron. We talk to Ed about what it means to be an effective hater in his wheelhouse—going after the companies that are taking everyone for a ride (to hell) on the AI Express—and beyond. But whether the topic is games, tech, or whatever else, one truth pervades: To be a good hater, you must also, at your core, be a lover. You’ve got to be equally studious whether you’re obsessing over something genuinely cool or something that deserves to be ground to pulp by a thousand garbage disposals. In that spirit, we also discuss our greatest hates and our greatest loves. And of course, we decide which JoJo from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is the biggest hater. Credits - Hosts: Nathan Grayson, Chris Person, Riley MacLeod, & special guest Ed Zitron - Podcast Production & Ads: Multitude - Subscribe to Aftermath! About The Show Aftermath Hours is 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. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
FromSoft Sicko Sh*t
2026/07/17
On this week’s episode, Nathan and Chris are joined by Tyler Colp of PC Gamer to discuss an extremely pressing business matter: Chris wrote almost 9,000 words about his favorite FromSoftware farming spots, and somehow, he still has more to say about them. Tyler, a fellow FromSoft sicko, happily indulges him. We discuss all sorts of obscure nooks and crannies in games like Dark Souls and Elden Ring, as well as larger topics like Sekiro’s (perhaps unearned) status as the studio’s dark horse. And of course, we spend plenty of time talking about Bloodborne’s legendary Cum Dungeon. Credits - Hosts: Nathan Grayson, Chris Person, & special guest Tyler Colp - Podcast Production & Ads: Multitude - Subscribe to Aftermath! About The Show Aftermath Hours is 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. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Chudbox Series X (With Reb Valentine)
2026/07/10
On this week’s episode, Nathan and Gita are joined by Kotaku’s Reb Valentine to discuss that which has long been prophesied (derogatory): The Xbox layoffs finally happened, and they’ve somehow proven even worse than expected. Thousands of jobs lost, seemingly with little regard for institutional knowledge or what the people in question actually, you know, did. Now remaining teams—cut to the bone—are left to pick up the pieces. Why did Microsoft choose to go about things so haphazardly? What happens to the studios that got hit the hardest, and is the decision to put Obsidian, in particular, on Fallout a sign of things to come? And who, really, is to blame for this catastrophic unforced error? Then we talk about a small handful of bright spots in our week—for example, Summer Games Done Quick, which is just the best. Lastly, we (joined briefly by Chris Person) rave about the new version of Ghost In The Shell. Credits - Hosts: Nathan Grayson, Gita Jackson, Chris Person, & special guest Reb Valentine - Podcast Production & Ads: Multitude - Subscribe to Aftermath! About The Show Aftermath Hours is 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. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Farewell Physical Media, We Hardly Knew Ye
2026/07/03
On this week’s episode, Nathan and Riley are joined by Wes Fenlon of PC Gamer to discuss his new project: Warp Point, a web 1.0-style webring of video game blogs for the modern era. We discuss how the current internet is dying while a new one struggles to be born and whether or not newer generations will take to a format with which most millennials are intimately acquainted. Does that even matter, though, or is a fixation on numbers and scale one of the main reasons the modern internet turned out so rancid in the first place? Then we move on to the news of the week: Xbox layoffs haven’t even happened yet, but they’re already causing turmoil for companies like Hitman and 007 First Light maker IO Interactive, and—on the other side of our rapidly escalating industry collapse—Sony announced that it’s phasing out physical discs entirely, a quake that will surely be followed by countless ripples. To cheer ourselves up, we invent the ultimate video game controller, which doubles as the world’s most complicated guitar. Credits - Hosts: Nathan Grayson, Riley MacLeod, and special guest Wes Fenlon - Podcast Production & Ads: Multitude - Subscribe to Aftermath! About The Show Aftermath Hours is 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. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Full Steam (Machine) Ahead
2026/06/26
On this week’s episode, Chris, Gita and Luke discuss the recent price announcement for Valve's console-competitor, the Steam Machine - it's $1,049 USD, but unfortunately that's kind of just what computers cost now. All that said, Chris does make it sound like a pretty cool little PC. Then we'll turn our attention to the grand monolith casting a dark shadow across the gaming release calendar: Grand Theft Auto VI. Has there ever been this much hype for a game? Will there ever be again? And why does none of it strike a chord with Luke, who is ostensibly a GTA guy? And finally we'll hit the Mailbag for a little bit of inside baseball, and to sing a song for some unsung heroes of video game development. Credits - Hosts: Chris Person, Gita Jackson & Luke Plunkett - Podcast Production & Ads: Multitude - Subscribe to Aftermath! About The Show Aftermath Hours is 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. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
GOTY Season Came Early
2026/06/19
On this week’s episode, Nathan and Chris are joined by a second Chris, this one of the Plante variety, to discuss the latter’s Earliest Game Of The Year awards. Why now? Because games that release near the beginning of the year often get ignored or forgotten by the time GOTY season rolls around. Also, as of now, nearly 11,000 games have already come out this year. We ask Chris why, despite a glut of same-y industry award shows, he believes we need more—not less—and what the value of those shows could be if they focused more on specific types of games or just generally dared to be weirder. Then we move on to the latest grim tidings out of Microsoft, where multiple studios including Double Fine, Compulsion, and Ninja Theory are now on the chopping block. What’s the plan here? Is there one? Was there ever—at least in terms of building a coherent identity around Xbox? Lastly, Nathan gets to talk about the UFC’s White House card, to the surprise and delight of no one. Credits - Hosts: Nathan Grayson, Chris Person & special guest Chris Plante - Podcast Production & Ads: Multitude - Subscribe to Aftermath! About The Show Aftermath Hours is 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. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Bummer Game Fest
2026/06/12
On this week’s episode, Nathan and Luke are joined by Ethan Gach of noted Aftermath origin story Kotaku dot com to discuss… well, originally we were gonna talk about Summer Game Fest, but then—moments before we began recording—news broke that Xbox is on the verge of yet another devastating round of layoffs. We find ourselves once again lamenting the irreparable damage Microsoft has done to the video game industry, made all the more puzzling by the fact that the company seemed intent on acting like it was doing an about face following the appointment of Asha Sharma as Xbox’s new head. But now here we are, just a scant few months later. At least this makes it easier than ever to boycott Microsoft! Then we move on to the games industry party that preceded this week’s ice-cold bucket of water: Summer Game Fest. Ethan, who was in attendance, gives us his appraisal of Geoff’s latest carnival. The verdict: There were some cool games, and the whole thing left people with the mistaken impression that the industry can be normal and functional. But overall, the event was light on surprises. Finally, we nearly drop the ball on the mailbag, but readers save us from a terrible fate. Credits - Hosts: Nathan Grayson, Luke Plunkett, and special guest Ethan Gach - Podcast Production & Ads: Multitude - Subscribe to Aftermath! About The Show Aftermath Hours is 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. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Lost In The Backrooms
2026/06/05
On this week’s episode, Nathan and Chris are joined by musician, writer, and game developer Liz Ryerson hot on the heels of counterprogramming Summer Game Fest with the second annual Unearthed Treasure Room showcase. The basic idea? SGF is made up of nearly 20 showcases of games yet to come—too many, frankly!—but there are countless already-released games that deserve another shot. We discuss why it’s important to counterprogram something as commercialized as SGF despite a relatively tiny viewership, as well as what games can look like when they’re less constrained by the bounds of specific genres. Then we get lost in Backrooms, the film sensation based on YouTube videos (that were in turn based on a 4chan meme). How does the movie draw on video game aesthetics to create something that feels fresh? And is this new crop of YouTubers turned filmmakers—as also demonstrated by Obsession—the injection of new life Hollywood has been looking for? Or is this another, perhaps slightly more subtle example of popular people and properties being squeezed into tired molds? Lastly, in honor of God Of War’s magnificent new gelatinous cube, we discuss other shapes we’d like to see anthropomorphized in games. Credits - Hosts: Nathan Grayson, Chris Person, and special guest Liz Ryerson - Podcast Production & Ads: Multitude - Subscribe to Aftermath! About The Show Aftermath Hours is 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. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Podcast reviews

Read Aftermath Hours podcast reviews


4.6 out of 5
75 reviews
★★★★★
Apollo Dingo 2026/08/15
Second best video game podcast
Aftermath is the only publication where you can read a 4,000-word investigative exposé on why a specific pixel in Elden Ring is a direct commentary on...
★★★★★
mxzula 2026/07/18
Very Informative Gaming Podcast
Aftermath is the deep dive of journalistic gaming podcasts. It isn’t the normal fluff. They know what they are talking about.
★★☆☆☆
HierarchyOfGoodBrain 2026/07/01
[This Space Intentionally Left Blank]
Support creator-owned works.
★★★★★
barbarjinks420 2026/06/30
So good
This is the only gaming podcast I listen to. It’s so good, and everyone should support worker-owned businesses!
★☆☆☆☆
Crew Expendable 2026/05/31
Gone downhill
.
★★★★★
Undead-Chuk 2026/01/09
Destroy AI, listen to Aftermath
Aftermath is a great independent gaming journalism website, everyone on the podcast is great, plus Chris goes in deep on some of the most random stuff...
★★★★★
JonahWhite 2025/12/14
Serious gaming
Love the deep dives on the video game industry and politics. Great perspectives on the world we find ourselves in.
★★★★★
TonyScott Facts 2025/12/10
Speaking of transitions
Funny, informative, destroy AI
★★★★★
Acharky 2025/11/03
Independant Games Coverage at it's finest
Covering video games doesn't mean just talking about what's coming out. It means talking about the subjects that the industry would rather not shine a...
★★★★★
Eddy Tony 2025/10/17
Great independent video game journalism
I’m a proud subscriber to Aftermath and highly recommend this podcast and their website to anyone passionate about video games and wants good discussi...
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