This Week on Post Games:

Act 1: The Primordial Ooze of the Modern Game Industry

Act 2: No Time Like the Present

Act 3: How to Get People to See a Game in 2026

Patreon Bonus: What the Hell Is Happening at Xbox?

Guests:

Rob Pardo: CEO of Bonfire Studios, former CCO of Blizzard Entertainment

Jason Schreier: reporter at Bloomberg, co-host of Triple Click

Act 1: The Primordial Ooze of the Modern Game Industry

Rob Pardo's Lecture on Blizzard's Game Design Philosophy (Daniel Scrivner)

Bonfire Studios (https://bonfirestudios.com/)

Arkheron (https://www.arkheron.com//Steam) 

Arkheron - Reveal Trailer (YouTube)

Arkheron Preview: A Promising Battle Royale (No, Seriously) (Game Informer)

List of largest video game mergers and acquisitions (Wiki)

ROB PARDO DEPARTS BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT (BlizzPlanet)

Play Nice: The Rise, Fall, and Future Of Blizzard Entertainment (Hachette)

Act 2: No Time Like the Present

A New Phase for World of Warcraft’s Lead Designer: His Own Start-Up (NYTimes)

Andreessen Horowitz (Wiki)

Riot Games (Wiki)

Venture Capital (Wiki)

The Games Fund (https://www.gamesfund.vc/) 

The state of video games with Matthew Ball – Part One (The Game Business)

Game investments continue at record pace in first half of 2019 (GamesIndustry.biz)

FORMER BIOWARE VETERAN WARNS AAA GAMING IS TOO DEPENDENT ON LIVE-SERVICE TITLES (Insider Gaming)

IF MIYAMOTO NEVER SAID HIS MOST FAMOUS QUOTE, WHO DID? (A Critical Hit!)

Act 3: How to Get People to See a Game in 2026

GDC 2026 Keynote - An Odyssey in Building Games That Last (GDC/YouTube)

Blizzard veteran Rob Pardo says 'love' is the most important development milestone (Game Developer)

Some Nominated Devs Can’t Even Afford To Be A Part Of The Game Awards (Kotaku)

Highguard is permanently shutting down, barely a month after its debut (Game Developer)

Another MOBA gives up: Supervive, developed by former Riot devs, is closing in February, just 7 months after it launched (PCGamer )

Patreon Bonus: What the Hell Is Happening at Xbox?

Studios in Microsoft’s Xbox Division Brace for Closures (Bloomberg)

Jason Schreier on Bluesky (Bsky.app)

How Things Got So Bad At Xbox (YouTube)

Microsoft reportedly negotiating closures of multiple Xbox studios, including Psychonauts' Double Fine, South of Midnight's Compulsion and Hellblade's Ninja Theory (Eurogamer)

This Week in Video Game Links

He Won’t Stop Building a Map to an Imaginary Place (People Make Games/YouTube)

Gitaroo Man Soundtrack is now streaming (Spotify/YouTube Music)

5 things The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake shouldn’t change at all (Polygon)

18 embargoes from Summer Game Fest just lifted, so let's rank everything I saw in LA (PCGamer)

What are we all playing this Steam Next Fest? (RPS)

DAVE THE DIVER: IN THE JUNGLE REVIEW (PCGamer)

Signet City is an RPG where you play a brain fungus feeding off the emotions of your host, like a mushroom-themed Monsters, Inc (RPS)

Free Game of the Week: About Fishing demo

My favorite Steam Next Fest demo comes from The Water Museum, the studio behind the magnificent Arctic Eggs. Here's the Steam Summary for About Fishing: "Cast your line into calm waters and feel the quiet pull beneath the surface. Each cast brings rewards, but some things you reel in were never meant to be found." (Steam)

What Else I’m Enjoying

Loss was just the start of Ctrl-Alt-Delete's unhinged canon (Rogue/YouTube)

Can the New Anti-Heroine Heal My Inner Black Girl? (RogerEbert.com)

A virtual Criterion Closet (https://the-criterion-closet.vercel.app/)