The 18th of last month was Penny Arcade’s 15th Anniversary.

There was never a lot of time to think about what we wanted Penny Arcade to be like. It’s like us, I guess, by default; sort of a mess. We just tried to make the best decisions we could, any time a decision was called for. It doesn’t always work out. And sometimes, you do things because “that’s what you do.” You “grow your business,” for example. You “extend verticals.” I honestly don’t know about the second one. I’ll ask Robert. But at 15 years, we’re taking a minute to figure out what we want to be when we grow up.

Child’s Play and PAX have lives of their own, now. They’re vital, and they need an obsessive level of care. We will do everything in our power to ensure that these things outlast us by a wide margin.

But I don’t think I want to “grow my business” anymore; I sort of want to do the opposite. And I’m tired, sick to death, of saying “Maybe Someday” when it comes to the things we really want to make. So, we’re not going to do that anymore. The next year is going to be a pretty big one, one of the biggest yet; it’s the year the previous fifteen have been leading up to in the literal sense but also in other ways. I think they’re going to be “big years” from now on, frankly. And it hurts pretty bad, but I don’t know where PATV as a “channel” for third party shows and The Penny Arcade Report fit into that. We’ll be shutting those things down at the end of this year.

I think they’re beautiful and useful and important; I use them every day. It’s possible that you do, too. I hired people to run them, or paid them, and I am making their lives worse by doing this. Losing Ben is especially painful - he did everything we asked of him, and more. The only comfort is knowing that everyone affected by this is excellent, as is attested continually by their excellent work, and will certainly land on their feet. We’ve tried to connect the dots for them where we can. Still hurts. But, starting January 1st,

You can find “Shut Up & Sit Down” at:

shutupandsitdown.com.

Loading Ready Run can be easily found at:

http://loadingreadyrun.com/.

You’ll be able to find Extra Credits at:

https://www.youtube.com/extracreditz. Yes, with a Z. Talk to them about it.

And for now, but not for long I would imagine, you can keep an eye on Ben Kuchera at:

https://twitter.com/benkuchera.

But it’s time to start making good on some of the promises we’ve made in our work. Recognizing that things like the Pins or The New Kid or Daughters of the Eyrewood or Thornwatch or The Lookouts or Automata deserve every ounce of our resources. Novels and albums, too - all these things that got put off in the interests of Empire. Essentially, we’ve decided to be Penny Arcade.

And I’m looking forward to it.

(CW)TB