We're launching a Patreon! (Plus, Persona!)
Today, you can listen to FOUR new episodes!
Listen to this week’s episode
Click here to visit our Patreon and get bonus episodes!
The short version:
Today, you can listen to FOUR new episodes. Our usual Friday Besties episode (Persona and Lysfanga!) will be waiting in your podcast app of choice. If you join our Patreon, you’ll get three additional episodes and a bonus podcast feed that’s easy to add to that very same podcast app!
The three bonus episodes at launch:
The Besties Bracket Battle: Final Bosses - An late night, extremely slaphappy showdown of the best final boss fights
The Resties: The 11 indie games that changed our lives - These games aren’t just fun; they’re part of who we are
The Resties: History of Metroid - Frushtick walks us through the surprising origin of the Nintendo classic (and we finally unpack the silliness of the term Metroidvania)
The long version — and why we’re starting a Patreon
We didn’t expect to be doing this show for 12 years. Barely anything lasts that long on the internet. The only reason The Besties has survived for so long has been your support. You were with us through weekly episodes at Polygon, monthly and then annual episodes on our own, our return at Spotify, and our shift back to independence.
Now we’re entering a new era and once again we’re asking you to join us.
When we say "you" we don't specifically mean you, the person whose name is Beth or Randy or Tommy Trombone. We mean the collective you. We mean the fans who have, in their dogged determination and uncanny lack of rationality, thought fit to keep asking us to make this thing. Though Randy was particularly insistent.
Which brings us to the big question: Why Patreon?
As much as we love making the show for y'all, the shift to weekly a few years back meant that The Besties required a significant amount of time and energy to produce. We've tried to justify that time (mostly to our spouses and kids) by showing some returns in the form of money to pay for things like food and schools and diapers and all the junk of adulthood. And we've tried to earn that money in the way that would be least impactful or disruptive to the fans of the show: ads.
We're well aware that some ads can be bothersome, but we were careful with our partners and their ads allowed the show to remain free for y'all, even though it made our margins pretty tight.
Over the past year, those tight margins became untenable. You may have heard about the podcast ad market tanking. And you've probably had moments listening to the show where we'll throw to an ad but then the show comes right back. Every time that happened, it meant that an ad slot didn't get sold. Because the ad market has been terrible. It's no one's fault, but it has had a considerable impact on the show’s livelihood.
We hope that Patreon will help fill in the blanks and, after more than 10 years of chaos, finally let us stop searching for the next safe harbor to keep the show alive. That we can focus our energy on making the show, rather than saving the show.
What do you get for subscribing?
We know not everybody can afford a subscription. To those folks: The main Besties episodes will remain completely free (with those occasional ads), and you'll still get our weekly newsletter.
But if you're willing and able to commit to a few dollars each month, you'll be getting a few things:
First, you’ll get a new, monthly bonus Besties episode with the whole gang. We want these to feel epic and worthwhile, so we’re modeling them off our Game of the Year bracket episodes. We’ll be pitting ourselves and our favorite things into spectacular, absurd bracket challenges to determine the Bests in a variety of categories (as voted on by subscribers).
We will also be making The Resties and its two episodes per month exclusively for Patreon subscribers (though the back catalog of The Resties will remain free for all). We mentioned the ad market above. For full transparency, it’s become too difficult to weather the storm by splitting potential ad support across two shows. We want to keep the core Besties free, and that means directing what ads we can find into that program.
We hope you will continue to join us for these episodes, as we've loved making this offshoot into something that feels like its own vibe.
Whether you're planning to subscribe or not, thank you for sticking with us all these years. We're extremely excited about this new era of Besties.
Thank you for keeping this show going for over a decade. We hope to do it for decades more. Because shouldn't the world's best friends pick the world's best games?
Love,
Justin, Griffin, Chris, and Russ
This week on The Besties:
Let’s do the time warp again! Persona 3 Reload brings one of the most beloved and bizarre RPGs of the past into the present. This is the easiest and most accommodating way to play this classic entry of the Persona series, but is it the best option?
Speaking of time travel: Lysfanga looks like Hades crossed with Groundhog’s Day. With the help of time manipulation, you play as a small mob of characters who must work together to solve puzzles and clear hordes of baddies. It’s one of the quarter’s great surprises and we can’t wait to tell you all about it!
Like the show? Leave a review! Or join our Patreon for three extra episodes a month!
Games discussed:
Persona 3, Lysfanga, Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor,
Books discussed:
Musicals discussed:
Have questions for The Besties?
Drop them in the comments! We aren’t able to respond to every question, but we read all of them and answer some in episodes!
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Next week on The Besties:
On next week’s The Besties: Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth and Helldivers 2
Bonus links:
Is it March yet??
Mario vs. Donkey Kong is fine, but Nintendo remade the wrong game
Eurogamer’s review of Helldivers 2
One of the funniest seasons of Taskmaster is finally on YouTube
Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered lovingly restores a trio of important artifacts
Digital Foundry breaks down the technical side of the Tomb Raider remasters
Subbed for a year. Thanks for over ten years of dedication and providing fun and entertainment. Not kidding when I say the show helped get me through some tough times.
finally!! I’ve been waiting to throw money at you dorks and now I can.