thanks to everyone who spoke to me for this story. i had over 20k words between research and transcripts, so there's a ton i left out, which ironically provides an even bigger scale to how much of an issue this is

Now in print and online - you can read what I spent months working on. I talked to key developers behind Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Persona, Metaphor, and Sea of Stars. About the “turn-based reniassance,” if it really came put of nowhere, and what’s next gameinformer.com/feature/2026...

Woof

imagine if someone printed all of our screen time into a print book, how long of a time that would be and how intimidating. how few would actually scroll as a result

One thing I haven’t seen a lot of people talk about is the role that AI has played in cutting costs for Grand Theft Auto VI. Not much, according to its CEO.

I’ll be in Los Angeles early next month! want to meet up? my DMs are open and email is [email protected] everything everywhere is happening at once and we need to talk

just watched The Devil Wears Prada 2 and can confirm it’s a great watch for all those still rooting for journalism to make its comeback. what an emotional gut punch and catharsis

doing research for the big day and here are the songs I would not play at my wedding, because they feel derisive: never gonna give you up by Rick Astley sandstorm by Darude any others to be aware of?

happy birthday to the decadent tauruses celebrating their special time

some of these partiful thumbnails are so beautiful, they're starting to inspire the events I want to throw, when it really ought to be the other way around

my fiancé just cooked dinner and then washed all the dishes and even wiped down the stovetop (which he never does), and I said wow, a perfect man, but then he followed it up with, “now I can play league of legends”

Coachella was unreal. I wrote a magazine-style dispatch about it here and how it subverted my festival expectations and how Sabrina and Madonna represent pop culture changing the guard: shannonliao.substack.com/p/babys-firs...

Got my first invite, so guess a good time to say I'll be tackling Summer Game Fest coverage for @consolecreatures.com Send me all the cool stuff, I want to see it.

grateful for every day I get to keep doing this work :)

my partner loves fish and would actually try this, but dear god, ‘some’ fish? not all fish? and the article suggests removing the skin and fat and then consuming, but excuse me, what’s even left to eat at that point?

i wish i had understood as a child that faces just have flattering angles and unflattering angles and nobody's inherently ugly or flawless. i was so confused about angles

have y’all ever thought about why Anthropic named its AI Claude. Edelgard or Dimitri would be so much more fitting

don’t look at the fruit ai videos, they are so disturbing actually, I regret seeing them. and they should come with content warnings

flying out to Korea now. hope to procure those special sunscreens I’ve heard so much about

happy international women’s day, especially to the baker at this beautiful coffee shop near Bryant Park that offered us slices of her phenomenal cake she decorated with care and edible flowers

I’m deciding to do this organically, by the way. I didn’t see ads, or it popped up on my feed. I saw one chef diss another chef on Chef And My Fridge by saying he only looked good enough to be on “I’m Solo,” and I realized this was a show about average-looking people that I had to see

started watching the Korean reality show I’m Solo, and it’s great counterprogramming to Single’s Inferno, just about average looking nerds who are kinda funny and neurodivergent instead of hot airheads chasing social media clout

I’m trying to be humble outside but someone asked me how I get my consulting clients and I said they just find me, and he said, oooh whoa you’re so famous, and I’m like damn, what’s a safer answer I should’ve given here

just learned how to use a sewing machine. this is a good reminder: you gotta start somewhere and start trying

paid newsletter went out this morning where I dissect what happened to digital media through the lens of my last gig. more here: shannonliao.substack.com/p/so-what-th...

started using my Dutch oven for the first time to make a tagine and it reminded me I still haven’t finished that game…

browsing the internet is so exhausting now, having to keep on your "is this fake" questioning hat for fear of being taken in

at this rate, I don’t even watch tv lately, it’s just some nice background vibes

my partner: mario tennis is shockingly more accurate than prince of tennis

i actually liked wuthering heights and thought jacob elordi was the perfect heathcliff, ama

it's a bit wild to me how when you go to the grocery store there's only like one box of extremely sweet blueberries and the rest of them are like horribly sour

started watching Suburgatory on Netflix and the comedy just hits a little closer to home than I was expecting haha I know a lot of people from westchester haha

saw so many guys holding flowers and some sweet treats walking around in nyc before 9am on a saturday, we love love

couldn’t make it out to DICE this year but I’m eyeing a trip in 2027 👀

I played the board game Magical Athlete last night, won, and then realized belatedly, this set was worked on by Richard Garfield! honestly, I just tried to apply League of Legends rules to it (play the most annoying character possible) and got pretty far that way.

Apple iOS bubbles are pretty hard to read at a glance, adding a few seconds to the time it takes to comprehend my feed 😬

looking back on my notes and found this weird gem of a line: “AI was being injected into every filling, like we were all donuts” lol

never give up on your dreams, they might finally happen after all these years of working at them 🌸

I just finished THE RICHEST MAN IN THE GAME, a Chinese anime about one man trying (and failing) to lose money and make the worst video game ever. it is actually such a good show. a thought-provoking glance at the industry and questioning the profit-driven model

thinking it's about time to go build an igloo. I have a canadian to help me, so it can't be that hard, I imagine

Netflix’s single’s inferno season 5 is already a trainwreck but I can’t seem to look away. our new female protagonist is just getting a straight up villain edit and the hosts are mostly mad at her for stomping on men’s feelings. the one Korean American is already demoted to getting zero screentime.

this weekend I painted an unripe mango, I shit you not, four times in watercolor but I just couldn’t capture that perfect chiaroscuro and gentle winter light striking this fruit just so. real human art is hard, man, and it requires very strong mental. also, it’s been a minute

live art retreat update: we will leave early to beat the snow storm, but not before painting mangoes in watercolor, making each other home cooked meals, and doodling the daylight away. it’s been a truly restorative detox touching grass

already at the art retreat, waiting for the snow storm like:

my friends and I tried to keep our phones away from us for an evening, and we actually had to use our memories to recall proper nouns and recommendations, and found ourselves struggling to piece names together like we were doing the New York Times crossword puzzle. oof #digitaldetox

I’m keeping an open mind about this weekend’s snow storm because I have an art retreat planned with a few friends where we’re going to a cabin in the woods and lock in on our art and our writing, but the mood is definitely apprehensive

spent a healing day at the Met. contemplated Pandora’s box. hours of walking, admiring art, and taking a moment to think about something other than the little rectangles or numbers going up worked its wonders

at a time like this, it’s been an honor to present on stage at #NewYorkGameAwards. it’s the 15th edition, bookended by these chonky fluffy buddies

woke up today knowing the glass half empty is actually half full. not to be trite, but I’m starting to appreciate this new chapter in life and am brimming with ideas of what to take on next. 2026 is going to be fucking incredible

Robin is one of the most talented writers I've ever known - an indie expert on another level entirely. Literally every week she wrote something that surprised me. She's such an important voice in this space, and it would be absolutely heartbreaking to lose that voice. Please don't let it happen.