The Future of Skill Up & This Week In Videogames (I need your input)

Hi everyone,

Ok so I'm thinking about making some big changes to Patreon, and I'd really appreciate your input.

For a while now, I've been thinking about what's next. On the reviews and previews front, things are going well and I've been really happy to have Austin now contributing reviews. I think he's doing a fantastic job and the reception he's received has been amazing. Thanks to everyone who's made him feel so welcomed. When I think about 'what's next', I don't think too much about the reviews and previews front as I feel confident that Austin and I will continue to cover that side of things well. In the longer term, I'd really like to bring on a third person to focus exclusively on Indie titles, but that's much longer term goal.

In the immediate, I think a lot about This Week in Videogames. That show has grown to become the most watched gaming news show on YouTube, widely watched across industry and a real 'meeting place' in the comments section where people can discuss what's going on.

Having said that, the show has its limits. It being once a week is a blessing in one aspect, since it makes for a tighter, more condensed look at the news, but it also means that a lot happens in a week (often right after I upload :/) that I can't talk about until after the news cycle has moved on. The need to keep it to 30 mins also means that there is A LOT that I can't cover in a given week.

Similarly, I know people like to get their news in other ways - namely podcasts, Twitter, websites and more recently, newsletters.

So I'd like to expand the total 'This Week in Videogames' offering, and this is where I need your input.

Here's what's not changing

Firstly, the existing show stays exactly the same as before. No cut content, no paywalling, no delayed upload. 100% the same except for two free improvements available to everyone:

1) Timestamps: I know people want these. There's very important reasons why I don't do them (it crushes the video in the algorithm cause it massively reduces watch time) but if this Patreon supported initiative takes off, it helps cushion the impact that Timestamps will have on the video's performance

2) 4K uploads: pretty simple, but just better quality uploads for all

Here's what I'm thinking of adding

In addition to the above, I'm thinking about offering the following to people who are willing to become paid subscribers in whatever platform we choose to use:

1) Ad-free video version: no embedded YouTube ads, no ads from my channel sponsors. Just a 100%, ad-free episode of TWIVG

2) Ad-free podcast version: this will be available through almost all major podcast players and be the same audio track as the regular TWIVG episode. Again, totally ad-free

3) A new discord server focused on breaking news: not looking to spam you with every little thing, but when something big happens you'd get a notification through the #Announcements channel. In other channels you'd be able to discuss news, reviews, opinion etc and help surface news for others if you're into that sort of thing. If you ever followed Nibellion on Twitter, I think that's a good framework for what I'm hoping to achieve with this.

4) Finally, I'd be looking to put together a weekly newsletter. It would be a sort of end of week round up, focusing on newly breaking stories or things I wasn't able to cover in the main show. We may also look to do some original reporting in this, depending on who we're able to hire to assist.

Expanding the team

It would be literally impossible for me to do all of the above myself, so instead I'd be looking to hire another full time staff member - someone highly experienced in gaming news publishing and (ideally) news breaking. I'd focus on the YouTube show, while this person would focus on the Discord and Newsletter. Together, we'd provide deeper, broader and more regular coverage in the same way that Austin and I are able to provide more coverage of the review scene by dividing and conquering.

Platform choices

So a big question is: if we do this, where might this extra content live? YouTube is not equipped to handle this. Patreon works, sort of, but it also has big limitations. From what I can tell, I actually think Substack is going to be the best place for this since it allows to us to run and promote a newsletter, it hosts videos and podcasts, and it has a web front end allowing us to host any original reporting we might do.

Over to you

So - that's the setup, and with all that said, I really want to know what you think. Here are the main questions:

1. Are you interested in an ad-free video version of the show?
2. Are you interested in an ad-free podcast version of the show?
3. Are you interested in a breaking news discord?
4. Are you interested in a weekly newsletter?
5. Would you be willing move over to Substack to get this new content?
6. Are there any other new features/offerings that you would be interested in?

Finally, a big question is price. Based on what I've described, what do you think would be a fair price for all of the above? If there were different tiers, what do you think they should contain and how should they be priced?

Thank you

I know this was a big read but the truth is I've been thinking about this a lot, and for a long time. It was nice to get it off my chest. If you made it this far, thanks for reading and I really appreciate any input you might be able to provide.

Cheers

Ralph