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215 Building a New (Old?) Model for Games Journalism, One Subscriber at a Time (w/ Luke Plunkett)
Episode 216

215 Building a New (Old?) Model for Games Journalism, One Subscriber at a Time (w/ Luke Plunkett)

We can rebuild it. We have the technology.

Colette & Matt Have Entered the Chat

August 15, 20251h 16mExplicit

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Show Notes

If you've read a video game article on the Internet in the last two decades, chances are it was written by Luke Plunkett. His tenure at Kotaku spanned 17 years, and all the highs and lows of the digital media rollercoaster.

When the bottom eventually fell out, he and other games media refugees co-founded Aftermath, a worker-owned video game news and commentary site, whose business model eschews advertising, SEO, and clickbait in favor of — get this — reader subscriptions!

Luke joins us to discuss the evolution of games media, getting paid $10 to post pictures of cake on Kotaku in 2006, living on the opposite side of the world from his co-workers, and why we are entering a new and (hopefully) more sustainable era for online journalism.

Connect with Luke:

https://www.lukeplunkett.com/

https://aftermath.site/

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Topics

cyberpunk 2077kotakuaftermathvideo gamesluke plunkettgames journalism