Stephen Totilo, journalist, editor.

Stephen Totilo, journalist, editor.

From My Perfect Console with Simon Parkin by Simon Parkin

May 19, 2026 · 1h 40m · Episode 161

About this episode

Stephen Totilo discusses his career in video game journalism and the evolution of game reporting.

Stephen Totilo is an American journalist whose career has helped redefine how video games are reported and understood. After studying at Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism , he became MTV News ’ first dedicated video game reporter in 2005, bringing serious coverage of the medium to a mainstream audience. Four years later he joined Kotaku , where he rose to become editor-in-chief and spent nearly a decade pushing the site toward deeper reporting, broader cultural coverage, and a more ambitious vision of what games journalism could be.  My guest later joined Axios , building its games coverage through a widely read newsletter before striking out on his own. Now, as the founder and author of the popular Substack Game File , he continues to pursue the stories he believes matter most—combining deep industry reporting with a conviction that games, and the journalism around them, should be taken seriously. Become a My Perfect Console supporter and receive a range of benefits at www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole Take the Acast listener survey to help shape the show: My Perfect Console with Simon Parkin Survey 2025 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more…

People in this episode

Host: Simon Parkin

Guest: Stephen Totilo

Topics covered

  • video game journalism
  • media coverage
  • cultural reporting
  • game industry
  • Substack

Keywords

  • video games
  • journalism
  • Kotaku
  • Axios
  • Substack
  • Stephen Totilo
  • media

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: MTV News, Kotaku, Axios, Substack

Places: Columbia

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