Pocket Gamer 20th anniversary: The team dares to reminisce

Hello! Today is the last of our Pocket Gamer 20th anniversary celebrations, and it's something a bit different. Rather than hearing me flippantly dismiss films and music from the last twenty years for no real reason, I thought we'd hear from the rest of the team. 

My colleagues are a lovely bunch, but with how everyone surfs the web these days (a term no one uses anymore), it's easy to forget real people are working on all the articles we publish. So, I asked everyone to share their memories of the time they joined the team and which games they were playing back then.

Dann Sullivan

Editor in Chief

Dann joined the site in 2019 as Deputy Editor before quickly taking the reins as the big boss. During his tenure, he's guided Pocket Gamer through tricky times, all while maintaining a love for indie and strategy games. The closer it is to a spreadsheet, the more he'll probably like it.

Back in 2019, we didn’t really know which way mobile was going to go. It was at a turning point, as the conventional AAA market was collapsing in on itself, and publishers were continuing to snap up mobile companies to try to get a cut into the market. What we really needed was continued innovation in controls, storytelling and gameplay, and that’s what Thatgamecompany gave us with Sky: Children of the Light, a stunning, almost spiritual platformer about companionship and awe. 

I still think about Sky quite often, not least because my eldest daughter will still sometimes sit and play it with her friends (as recently as last week); However, sometimes I also wonder about what mobile gaming could look like now if more companies had continued down that airy, co-operative and artistic avenue.

Catherine Dellosa

Reviews Editor

Catherine joined us in 2020, putting her literary skills to use by covering the newsbeat. Since then, she's moved up to Reviews Editor and, outside of the site, has a few books published by Penguin Random House. I know, right? We have a proper author in our ranks.

It's hard to believe that when Pocket Gamer started in 2006, I was 19, wide-eyed, innocent, and of the firm belief that video games rule and nothing else matters in this world. While I'm now the farthest I can possibly be from the first two, the third still applies - in fact, now more than ever. 

Fast forward to today, and I'm working at my dream job, which is playing games for a living with a team of some of the best humans I've ever had the pleasure of knowing in my entire life. I feel nothing but gratitude that I've been with PG since 2020, and I can't imagine celebrating the next 20 years and beyond anywhere else.

Before I get too emotional, though, let me just gush a bit about my personal GOTY from the year I joined, which was Far: Lone Sails on mobile. I gave it a solid 10/10 in my then-terribly-written review, and that’s because I’m a sucker for emotional narratives and bittersweet endings. That really hasn’t changed - I love a good tearjerker every now and then - but I suppose what made Far: Lone Sails stand out to me was how it told its story without uttering a single word, and how that kind of minimalist gameplay felt absolutely perfect on mobile at the time (it still does). 

Reviewing something that beautiful that year also added to my sheer exhilaration that I get to do this kind of job day in and day out - so here’s hoping we all get to keep doing this for more and more years to come!

Jupiter Hadley

Staff Writer

Jupiter, who joined in 2020, is a well-known figure in the gaming world, particularly in the indie scene. Frankly, it'd take a whole other article to cover her accomplishments, but suffice it to say, she's pretty good. She also has a book out, only a non-fiction one, covering cosy life sim games. It's very pretty.

My first look at Pocket Gamer was actually at Gamescom in 2017, when I was judging the Very Big Indie Pitch and learning more about the mobile games industry. I cannot believe Pocket Gamer has been around for so long! Mobile games have changed so much over the years, much like this website, so it’s neat to have a look back.

I cannot remember much about when I started writing for Pocket Gamer, as that time is a bit of a blur. We were still in lockdown, which I feel like completely shrunk and melted any sort of memory of the time. Everything was just so hard! One game release that really stuck out, however, is Among Us. Among Us had previously been released on PC, but came out on mobile, which allowed more people to play together. I remember my partner and our kids playing it (often until someone was upset, to be honest) as a way of hanging out. This was a game that was banned from our house before the end of 2020, due to fights, but it made an impact and, for moments, made the lockdown more bearable. 

Charlène Tavares

Initially working on PocketGamer.France in 2020, Charlène now works with us on PG.com, serving as a constant reminder that some people can write brilliantly in multiple languages while I'm still struggling with English. 

I joined Pocket Gamer in July 2020, right between two lockdowns because of you-know-what. At that time, I had already spent a huge amount of time on Pokémon Café Mix, which is hardly a surprise since I'm a Pokémon kid and a fan of puzzle games. Its puzzles were really refreshing when it launched, especially since I played the more classic Pokémon Shuffle before that. There were a lot of creatures to recruit and customise, and, well, it was also really cute.

It even had a massive update which added new modes, Pokémon and outfits, but also revamped gameplay and a new stamina system, taking it to new highs. Does it mean that I am still playing six years later? You can't prove that, and I will not answer without the presence of my lawyer. Happy birthday, Pocket Gamer!

Cristina Mesesan

Staff Writer

Every gaming site worth its salt needs an expert guide writer, which is what Cristina offered when she joined in 2020. I don't know anyone else with the same encyclopedic knowledge of gacha RPGs. Incidentally, she's also the number one Cookie Run: Kingdom fan, and I will argue with anyone who dares to disagree for at least three minutes.

Back in 2020, when I first joined Pocket Gamer, things were still pretty hectic in the world (IYKYK). I had just started in the industry a couple of years before, and I remember clearly thinking, “This is what I dream of doing long-term. That’s it, I’ve found it!” - and little did I know, things would actually work out pretty well! 

2020 was also the year Among Us went even more viral (if you could even believe that), with content creators going bananas across social media and memes like “orange is sus” and “red is sus” dominating. I can’t fault them, though. The game was indeed heaps of fun!

Here at Pocket Gamer, though, things would slowly start feeling more and more at home for me, which made me want to become even more involved. I slowly started showing my then-boyfriend, now-husband, Mihail, the ropes (him being a gamer and all), and I tried to get him started in the industry as well. After all, how cool would it be to tell your children that your actual job involves games?

Seeing how much things have evolved over the years has made me so happy to be a part of this change and community; it’s almost surreal thinking Pocket Gamer turned 20 already! 

Tanish Botadkar

When Tanish joined us back in 2021, he was still studying, yet he managed to juggle his education and cover all the breaking news without breaking a sweat. Then he studied some more and continued keeping pace, all while remaining a positive voice when discussing games.

Pocket Gamer launched in 2006, which means when the site first appeared, I was still busy doing important things like failing to understand math homework and playing games on whatever phone my parents had. So naturally, ending up writing here years later was not part of any grand life plan.

In fact, I’m still not entirely sure how it happened. I used to play mobile games purely for fun, picked up a random internship writing about them (my first attempt at writing anything remotely professional), and then somehow Dann messaged me asking if I wanted to join Pocket Gamer. A site I already read fairly regularly for news. That was the moment things went from “this is a fun hobby” to “I guess this is my job now.”
If I had to pick a game tied to that period, it would probably be Pokémon Go. Not exactly a niche pick, I know. But it was one of those rare games that felt like it genuinely brought people together, even during a time when the world was doing its best impression of falling apart.

Funnily enough, I also kept up with Pokémon Go updates through Stephen’s coverage on Pocket Gamer before I ever joined. Then, on my very first day writing here, one of the first things I covered was Pokémon Go’s fifth anniversary event. Which feels oddly fitting. Like the universe decided to make the onboarding process a little on-the-nose.

Mihail Katsoris

Staff Writer

When Mihail joined in 2021, he brought a wealth of gaming knowledge to the team. You probably see the many tier lists we have on the site. They're all updated and maintained by him. Think how many metas he has to keep up with for that job? I certainly couldn't.

I am one of those people who can't remember what they ate yesterday, so remembering and finding what game I was playing when I started working at the site wasn't easy. The only thing I remember is that, like everyone else, I had gone through a very difficult period with lockdowns and such, which those of us who lived through will never forget. In the meantime, I was also in the middle of a move back then—and not just to a new city, but to a new country.

Anyway, after some searching, I remembered that was the time when League of Legends finally became available for mobile, and of course, I’m talking about Wild Rift. I was quite excited at the idea that I could now 'int' my friends' games from my phone too. Also, I remember Genshin Impact had come out then, and I had to write about it, so I started getting into it quite a bit.

How quickly have five years already passed since then? It seems so close yet so far away at the same time. It’s a bit strange. In this industry, it’s very difficult to stay somewhere for long. Here, though, things are different. Here, I didn't just make new colleagues, but friends too, in the last five years. Happy 20th anniversary, Pocket Gamer.

Shaun Walton

Staff Writer

Despite more visibly popping up on our sibling site 148 Apps, Shaun has played a crucial role at PG since arriving in 2022. You know all those code articles we have? He maintains those. And he does so while still working a regular 9-5 and writing for 148. All of that, and he somehow manages to find time to play multiple games alongside FF XIV. It’s wild.

Many, many moons ago, I attended university on a journalism course, hoping to one day be a gaming writer. For one reason or another, I was unable to finish that course, and resigned myself to that not happening. Then, in 2022, Dann and Stephen took a chance and hired me, fulfilling that desire, and I will forever be grateful for this. And now I disappoint them on a daily basis. Follow your dreams, kids. 

When it comes to picking a favourite game, though, how do you narrow that down? Mobile gaming has advanced leaps and bounds from Snake; there are so many great games, even just from a single year. I was stumped, before Spotify reminded me of an absolute gem: Alice Fiction.

It was a match-3 RPG that brought legendary figures from history together, mostly in anime-girl form. Like Lancelot, Archimedes, and Surtr, the net was wide. As an added bonus, the designs weren't overly gross, let's say. The gameplay was incredibly fun, and the theme, Un-reality Escape, is an epic tune. It sadly closed two years after release, though, like a lot of mobile games, I love. Writing this has made me realise I may be cursed; thanks, Stephen.

Will Quick

Freelance Writer

Since joining in 2022, Will has dabbled in various areas of the site. He's written reviews, guides, and is one-third of the regular podcast team, along with Iwan and Catherine. He's also ranked the entire Dadish and Kingdom Rush series because he's a huge fan of both.

It's hard to believe that when Pocket Gamer started in 2006, I was 19, wide-eyed, innocent… Oh, shoot, Cat already used that opening, didn't she? Okay, let's try again. Wow, it's been 20 years since Pocket Gamer started?! That's a long time, and I've only been around for 20 per cent of it since I joined four years ago. At the time, the world of mobile entertainment was still fairly limited for me, so I decided to explore it further, and PG was generous enough to serve as my guide and show me everything I had been missing.

Back then, I was still getting into the swing of writing things, but I had been gaming forever, so I continued to work on linking the two. When I started dedicating more time to mobile games, it felt like switching from go-karts to motorcycles: Scary but exciting. I relied on certain games to lead me to new IPs and series, and then the people I met through PG led me to even more that I likely wouldn't have found on my own. All this time later, and PG is still showing me new stuff, and I hope to return the favour.

During my first year, there were two mobile games that I held above all others, and I still hold them as a shining example: Kingdom Rush and Cookie Run: Kingdom. Yes, they both have R-words in their games, and yes, one of them is FAR older than the other, but YES, they are among the best apps you can have on your phone. And yet, all these years later, both are still relevant and fun, and I'm also still here, doing something I love, being grateful for every chance I get to show my love, and looking forward to what comes next.

Iwan Morris

Staff Writer

Iwan joined us in 2023 and is mostly breaking news. When he's not doing that, he appears on the podcast and occasionally writes a guide or two. He's also our resident anime expert, who, unlike me, understands that more series exist than Dandadan and Prince of Tennis.

Keen-eyed readers may notice I started off my career working on PocketGamer.biz, our sibling site that focuses much more on the number-crunching side of things. After a reshuffle over there, I thought I was at a loose end, but courtesy of Dann, I got the chance to sharpen my skills once more over here at PocketGamer.com. It certainly offered a refreshing change from financial reports, KPIs and whatever ‘EBITDA’ is.

As for what was making a mark when I joined? Warhammer 40,000 Warpforge was my first foray into the world of guides and tier lists. I’ve been a Warhammer fan practically since I was a toddler, and eagerly devoured the Dan Abnett novels detailing the adventures of Inquisitor Eisenhorn back in the day. Which probably weren’t very appropriate in retrospect.

Warpforge is a difficult beast, as it definitely has all the hallmarks of the less pleasant issues attributed to mobile, such as aggressive microtransactions and obtuse UI. But at the same time, it does a surprisingly good job translating the feel of each faction’s tabletop mechanics and lore into the card-battling format, with some very aesthetically pleasing art to go alongside it.

I think what this informed me of was that mobile is far from what people lambast it as in the PC and console realms, but it’s also got some very real issues bleeding over from the business side, which make otherwise amazing releases such as Warpforge just a little less pleasant to play.

Thank you for joining us this month as we've celebrated 20 years of mobile gaming history, following it as this special part of the industry shifted from the plucky underdog (or, mutated social gaming alternative, if you will) into the biggest part of arguably the most influential entertainment industry.