A Potentially Unnecessarily-Long Holiday Letter From the Desk of Colin Moriarty

Hello!

It’s me, Colin. As usual, I wanted to write an end-of-year note to the audience and offer my gratitude to everyone for their support over the past year. I figured I’d also take this opportunity to provide a glimpse into what’s happening here at Last Stand, reflect on our previous work, and perhaps offer a word or two on what’s to come. The TLDR is this: We're doing great, I'm happy with everyone, 2024 was fun, and 2025 should be awesome, too.

For starters: Thank you. Your support has long been unreal, and it’s perhaps more unreal than ever. That’s because 2024 was our brand’s strongest year from both gross revenue and raw traffic points-of-view, and we end ‘24 as the biggest games coverage-related Patreon in the world (a title we both lost and recaptured over the past 365 days). I know we’re far from perfect, but we’ve definitely left it all out on the field in the shows we’ve produced. Everyone is executing at a high level, the content is incisive and fun, and it seems that our audience is generally vibing with our catalog. That’s really all I can ask for.

As usual, consistency is key, and it’s vital to me that we don’t miss episodes, ever. I’d like to think that if Sacred Symbols doesn’t publish, for instance, you should assume I’m dead. So for newcomers (or forgetful types), everything will roll-on uninterrupted throughout our holiday break. We’ll begin recording new episodes on January 6th; everything you hear and see between now and then is officially in the can and waiting to auto-publish. I want to tip my cap to the entire team for working so hard these last few weeks to make this a reality, as it’s far from convenient to record so much, so quickly. As I’ve often said, I think it’s really important that the content flow never stops particularly because people rely on us, even over the holidays. While most (if not all) of the rest of the content you enjoy will stop for a while, ours won’t. Enjoy!

So, with all of that said, how’s Last Stand doing? How did the last year actually go? And what does the near-future hold? For the interested, let’s get into the weeds a little bit.

As noted above, Last Stand grossed more revenue than ever this year, the lion’s share garnered from Patreon, but also from non-endemic ad sales, a strong in-house merch operation, and modest YouTube rev-share. But stopping there leaves the full story incomplete, because the company’s expenditures are also higher than ever. This isn’t necessarily a problem -- we’re in a very healthy position, and describing the situation otherwise would be wildly disingenuous -- but it leaves me in pursuit of new avenues of growth while trying to reinforce our core products, namely our podcast network. We have a wide array of paid hosts and co-hosts, and a few full-time employees to worry about as well, so it’s important we keep potential revenue streams lubricated. Doing so lets us fairly compensate everyone, and even give everyone lucrative bonuses. We must treat our team right. You allow us to do just that.

While we maintain a dominant position on Patreon (more on this in a minute), and while merch and YouTube revenue is moderately growing, other routes of potential revenue and profit have been less fruitful. We conducted two live events this year, a more successful show in New York City in the spring, and a less successful one in San Diego in the late summer. Cumulatively, we were barely in the black, but nowhere near enough to justify the time and outlays these shows require. I have a lot of thoughts on what went right and wrong with both, but I think we generally overshot people’s interest in doing more than a single live show a year, and I also think the shows we delivered (particularly in San Diego) weren’t up to the quality I would have preferred. I take full responsibility for this. The vision of the early live shows were tighter and more cohesive, and I will be far more hands-on when we return to a stage near you. But, as I’ve alluded to in the past, we’re gonna take ‘25 off, and come back strong in 2026. I’d love us to return for a Sacred Symbols Episode 400 celebration, and… well… you can do the math on when that might occur. We’ll see what happens when the time comes. For now, I’m not making any promises whatsoever. I hope you understand.

Ad sales are also softening, which seems to be a problem with many podcasts, but definitely for ours. The lore goes like this: For many years, companies were spending money on podcast ads without having any true insight into any specific ad’s efficacy. Discount codes and referral links only go so far, because the true value of advertising goes beyond instant action. Over the past couple of years, a series of updates have been rolled-out on podcast apps (and in the backends of those apps) that have allowed advertisers to better track the money they’re spending, who listens to and interacts with their ads and those products, and so on, and what many companies have realized is that podcast ads (and other forms of advertising) weren’t always worth the spend. This has left our operation with fewer advertisers than we had even when Sacred Symbols was a nascent podcast, and while we’d love to solve this problem, we’re not entirely sure what to do about it. Again, it’s not the end of all things -- a lot of our ad revenue comes from ads other people record and run on our programming -- but it’s something to keep an eye on. And because I refuse all endemic advertising (meaning I won’t take money from gaming companies, whether publishers, developers, or accessory outfits), we have fewer places to turn. That’s a decision I feel good about, though. I don’t want (nor need) money from the industry I (and we) cover.

This year, I’ve also tried to explore if any revenue can be made on social media, using shareable clips and the like, and honestly, the answer is a resounding “no.” The YouTube Short-style videos we’ve produced are actually quite funny, but they also show little in terms of material return. Social media posts as currently constructed don’t drive much traffic to our core content, either. And perhaps most tragically, I’ve been unable to make much use of my vaunted Twitter/X checkmark, which I randomly received back for free out of nowhere earlier this year. Following the virality of our Concord podcast and the clips that went along with it, I was given permission to monetize on X, and it’s a major reason why I’ve been posting so much. Honestly, it’s the only reason. I wanted to have good data on what worked and what didn’t, and I was optimistic we could make something work. Yet, it became clear after a while that videos weren’t doing the trick, even if a lot of people watched. Could random posts? Pictures? Witty Retweets? Observations? Responses to other people’s Tweets? The experiments go on-and-on (just look at my feed), but the answer is that -- no -- none of it worked. And that’s totally fine, by the way. I’m not upset about it. It merely narrows the lanes we have to explore for future revenue.

I promised I’d get back to our Patreon situation, and now’s the time. The short story is that our subscription business is doing great, and our company is completely dependent on it, which has always been the case. Now, I love Patreon -- I’ve been using it professionally for literally a decade, which is crazy -- but its analytics suite is nightmarish (though slowly clarifying into something more usable). I tell you this because we discovered something recently: The ‘paid subscriber’ number you guys see is inaccurate. That number is, in turn, scraped by the Graphtreon service, which we ourselves used to help us track our progress at-a-glance, as do many other companies like ours. But then we realized none of the numbers made any sense. The public number and Graphtreon would show us down month-over-month, but the analytics dashboard would show us up. In fact, this is happening to us this very month, and for the calendar year, in which we are up a couple hundred and several thousand paid subscribers respectively, but for which Graphtreon shows us down for both. Both can’t be true, and indeed, they aren’t.

In other words, we’ve been paying attention to the wrong number, but to be honest, we figured something was up for a while. That’s because our gross revenue would stay flat or grow very slowly while a decay in paid subscribers was erroneously reflected. The only way this could be true is if we were basically exclusively losing $1 and $2 subscribers and only gaining $5 and higher subs. We have no idea why this is happening, nor does Patreon, and I’m not sure if we’re the only group that’s experiencing a dissonance in our public data. Our suspicion is that we are a fairly elderly Patreon by the service’s standards, and eventually there are years-old, long-dormant subs that are purged, and this number is somehow trying (and seemingly failing) to properly account for the inflow and outflow. But that’s just a layman’s theory. So yeah, Patreon is great, but I’m not sure the full picture is being seen more publicly, not that it really matters. We’re rock solid with our subscription, and we have no plans to raise prices, remove programming, or make any other moves. You can count on the machinegun of content to continue in 2025 and -- with your continued support -- far beyond. (And yes, the $5 tier remains our most popular tier, with nearly 9,500 monthly subscribers at the time of writing.)

Okay, that’s enough business. Before I go, though, allow me to also offer some words on the Last Stand Media crew.

I’m really proud of our team for the consistent, high quality, dynamic, and insightful content they produce. Across the board, I think we are truly doing exceptional work. I was also extremely gratified by how the entire team -- and our whole audience -- rallied around Dustin when he dealt with a really terrible situation earlier this year. Not only did we keep everything moving, but we did so without missing a beat, all the while giving him the time he desperately needed. That’s only possible if everyone buys in, and it gave me a glimpse into the best humanity has to offer. I mean that.

In 2024, we introduced a brand new show called Summon Sign. It’s turned into a hit, and has snuck into iTunes’ Top 50 Gaming Podcasts list, a huge deal for a brand new product in an incredibly saturated space. I am immensely proud of the work that Brad has done with the show, and honestly cannot believe our luck that we were able to extract him from his old haunts. Summon Sign is the exact show we needed; something to focus less on the business, the industry, and the culture of games, and more on the actual games themselves. You know, the reason we’re all here in the first place. Indeed, I believe in Brad so much that I’ve doubled-down with him. He’ll be on more content than ever in 2025, because not only will he continue to host Punching Up in addition to Summon Sign, but he’ll be bringing Punching Up to a weekly format beginning in January. Switch 2 is right around the corner, and it’s time to make Punching Up sing! Oh, and he’ll also be helping us roll The Sacred League back out to the masses. More on that soon.

But speaking of Punching Up, I want to tip my cap to both Gene and Micah for helping make the show a thing, for getting it off the ground and formulating exactly what it would be. I also want to thank both Dustin and Dagan for their one-time roster appearances, and fully understand their exit from the program. Dagan is busy and maxed-out, and Dustin is stretched thin between too many shows, including our flagship and myriad production tasks. I think what we did with Punching Up this year is a great example of personnel management, and I’m excited to see what the Brad-Gene-Micah trio will do with some actual, real content to talk about for the first time in the nascent show’s run. Good work, crew.

Defining Duke spent the year continuing to navigate the choppy and uncertain waters of the Xbox ecosystem, and I continue to be impressed by Matty’s and Cog’s dedication to the podcast they’ve worked so hard to create and maintain. I’ve always been somewhat confused by just how many Xbox podcasts and YouTube shows there have been and still are -- there simply doesn’t seem to be as many in the PlayStation space, for some reason -- and I know treading fresh ground there is difficult with so many voices. They’ve not only met my expectations, but have wildly exceeded them. The audience loves these guys, and frankly, so do I. They are reliable, good-natured, and hard-working. I notice the grind, and I appreciate it.

Constellation enjoyed a solid second year, though with a bit of upheaval in there, as well as some mixed feedback on some of what we’re trying to do with the show. Handing it off to Dagan (and sometimes Chris) to host has been a good move, particularly in light of the amount of work I had on my plate even before Constellation began: Remember: We originally launched Constellation as a two-ish hour show that would air every other week. Bringing it to a weekly format and then bloating its runtime has come with some downside, but I think the show has nonetheless become an essential pillar of Last Stand, and gives us a place to talk about the infinite world of off-topic whatever. I love that. Dagan has done a great job keeping Constellation alive and moving, and I’m grateful for his work, especially because I know how much he has going on in his ever-busy life.

Since we’re here, I know that some of you have been upset about Constellation in regard to two things in particular: The move to make the show three members instead of four, and my lack of appearances as time has gone on. I’m going to level with you and let you know that as ‘24 marched on, I began feeling more and more overwhelmed. Because we were producing three episodes of Sacred Symbols+ every two weeks, I was spending a lot of time in that world trying to get programming together on top of Sacred Symbols itself, and doing all that’s required to run Last Stand as well. That said, I also (reluctantly) understand that Last Stand runs through me, and that appearing on content is important to our success, and to your enjoyment of what we do. So I have good news: Because Punching Up is going weekly, this means Sacred+ will also be going fully weekly, freeing me up substantially. As such, I plan on appearing on Constellation two out of every three shows, and I’ll also be appearing on Summon Sign around one in every three shows. The goal is to try to be on one or the other virtually every week, and while I’m sure there will be exceptions, you’re going to be seeing a lot more of me on Constellation in particular, and Summon Sign, too. And while we’re going to stick with the three-person format, we will bend and have four people on from time-to-time, keeping in mind that we made this decision for two simple reasons: We were having a hard time getting people interested and willing to do the show enough to consistently have four hosts, and the shows were starting to go way too long. But I think we can make the best of the situation and try to give everyone what they want in ‘25.

And of course, I remain immensely proud of Sacred Symbols, the silly little PlayStation podcast that this whole operation revolves around. It remains a joy to record it each week, and I’m always eager to see what you guys think of everything we do. It’s crazy that we started doing it back in the Summer of 2018, and that we’ve literally never, ever missed a week since. We’ve been in your lives and your ears for so long, now. I hope we can keep it going for a hell of a while longer. To Chris and Dustin: Thank you for your spirit, your presence, and your commitment. I couldn’t do it alone.

To the rest of our constellation of hosts -- Lockmort, Jaffe, Hoeg, MLID, Jimmy, Jason, and others I’ve undoubtedly neglected but definitely didn’t mean to -- thank you, as well, for all you’ve done for Last Stand. I truly believe success runs through each of you, too, and I’m grateful for our respective collaborations. And though I've already thanked them for their respective programming, the behind-the-scenes toil from Dustin (Executive Producer) and Micah (Coordinator) to keep things flowing, shows scheduled, and problems dealt with is extraordinary. Thank you.

I also want to thank Ben, who (as was announced earlier this fall) will no longer be with us full-time beginning in ‘25, but will stay with us as a co-host on Constellation, Summon Sign, and so on. He’ll also remain with my developer Lillymo Games as our associate producer on future projects, as he does vital work for us there, too. Thank you for giving so much to Last Stand and Lillymo alike, and for being willing to try so much on our behalf. I truly wish the outcomes of our various experiments went differently.

As you can see, there are no surprises lined-up for 2025; Punching Up going weekly is probably our biggest move. That’s because I really want to resist the urge to do too much, instead of refining what has already made us so successful. I want our podcasts to be better than ever, make you think and laugh, and provide you the companionship, insight, and humor that makes your day easier, better, more productive, and more tolerable. But I won’t lie to you and tell you I don’t think about other things to do, because I do. I wouldn’t be surprised if you see the occasional episode of KnockBack in the calendar year to come, and I wouldn’t even be that shocked if you see Side Quest make a return, too. Who knows where my motivation (or lack thereof) will take me? That will all be supplemental, though, surprises if and when they happen at all. In the meantime, it’ll be all about the following: Sacred Symbols, Sacred Symbols+, Defining Duke, Punching Up, Summon Sign, and Constellation. Can we make this slate even better? I think we can.

I must admit that I do have a goal for ‘25 that goes beyond programming, though. Truthfully, I’m not wild about the increased hostility, meanness, trolling, and so on I’m seeing in parts of our community, whether here on Patreon, or on YouTube, or Discord, or social media, or Reddit, or really anywhere. While I lament the inexorable march of gaming discourse towards the abyss, I don’t think we have to participate. And we won’t. In early 2025, I will deliver our first ever Code of Conduct for the Last Stand community. It will be brief, easy to read and understand, and in effect on any platform we control. We will bring respect and decency back to a scene that desperately needs it, and will try and set a template for how microcommunities like ours might not only exist in peace, but flourish. I’ve been saddened by some of what I’ve read and witnessed, and how it’s making an unwelcoming environment for others. I think my laissez-faire attitude to most everything in life actually betrayed me here, and I’m going to fix it. I’ll have more on this front in Q1.

My friends, I don’t think there’s that much more to say. It’s time for me to disappear for a few weeks, sleep a bunch, eat more than usual (uh-oh), play lots of games, and regain my wits about me. Because I’ll be honest: I’m totally fucking shot. Like, completely.

It’s on that note that I wish you and yours a Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year, and a tranquil, restful, and enjoyable holiday season. Thank you for reading my missive.

With love and appreciation, -Colin