Bummer Game Fest

Bummer Game Fest

From Aftermath Hours by Aftermath

June 12, 2026 · 1h 24m · Episode 118

About this episode

The episode discusses the impact of Xbox layoffs on the video game industry and reviews the Summer Game Fest.

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…

People in this episode

Hosts: Nathan Grayson, Luke Plunkett

Guest: Ethan Gach

Topics covered

  • video game industry
  • Xbox layoffs
  • Summer Game Fest
  • game reviews
  • industry analysis

Keywords

  • Xbox
  • Summer Game Fest
  • Ethan Gach
  • video games
  • Microsoft layoffs

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Kotaku, Microsoft, Xbox

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