Letter from the Editor: Continuing our commitment to long-form editorial and video content

We care deeply about video games at Shacknews and that permeates all parts of our company. Today, we have launched two new video series that showcase the future of our long-form content. In the past, we have published several mega long reads by David Craddock on the website. Last year's Rocket Jump: Quake and the Golden Age of First-Person Shooters and Doom: Stairway to Badass were deep dives into two game franchises that are deeply intertwined with Shacknews history. As we continue to grow our site's content offerings, we wanted to focus on including more video content to go alongside our long reads. Today, we have unveiled 24 'Til Launch and the Shacknews Long Table. These new video series will showcase the environment at a game studio the day before launch and allow developers to reflect on the challenges and opportunites that arise over the course of shipping a game.

We are extremely thankful to all of the folks at Obsidian for allowing us to shadow them during the two days surrounding the launch of Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire. This level of access upped the quality of our video content offering this time around, and we are very proud of the results. Shacknews Video Editor Greg Burke was in charge of the shoot and did a tremendous job editing all of the footage together.

Beneath a Starless Sky: Pillars of Eternity and the Infinity Engine Era of RPGs is our next Shacknews long read by David Craddock. It is an in-depth look at a genre of RPGs that Shacknews readers absolutely adore. We are willing to dedicate the time and effort at Shacknews to create high quality content of this magnitude because we care about video games, the people who make them, and the stories behind their development. Shacknews Long Reads Editor David Craddock has truly outdone himself. In fact, part of our Shacknews redesign focused on making our long reads easier to load and read across all desktop and mobile browsers. They are simply that big. 

When Rocket Jump was published last year, we put the content behind our Shacknews Mercury Beta paywall. This year, we have decided that we want as many people to see our content as possible. Beneath a Starless Sky will be free to read for anyone on the Internet, and we can't wait to hear all of our readers' feedback. Today's unveiling of two new video features to go alongside our longest long read ever should be taken as a firm message that Shacknews believes in long-form content. We will continue to lead the games media in this direction with the support of our community, readers, and the games industry. 

Asif Khan

CEO/EIC/EIEIO

Asif Khan is the CEO, EIC, and majority shareholder of Shacknews. He began his career in video game journalism as a freelancer in 2001 for Tendobox.com. Asif is a CPA and was formerly an investment adviser representative. After much success in his own personal investments, he retired from his day job in financial services and is currently focused on new private investments. His favorite PC game of all time is Duke Nukem 3D, and he is an unapologetic fan of most things Nintendo. Asif first frequented the Shack when it was sCary's Shugashack to find all things Quake. When he is not immersed in investments or gaming he is a purveyor of fine electronic music. Asif also has an irrational love of Cleveland sports.