On 1st January 2008, I made a New Year’s resolution. I was a freelance video games journalist at the time, and though I was really enjoying myself, it wasn’t quite working out financially. I decided to give myself six months to try to make it work, after which I’d have to have a think about what to do next with my life.
On 2nd January 2008, my friend Ellie Gibson emailed me and asked if I would be interested in applying for a job at Eurogamer. Exactly one month later, I was on the team. I remember thinking I should make life-changing New Year’s resolutions more often.
I was quick to respond to Ellie’s invitation. Eight years old at the time, the site had a fast-growing reputation for honesty, independence and quality, and was attracting great writers. It felt like somewhere I could make my home. Reader: I did, as you can tell from the fact I’m still here, just shy of 14 years later.
In that time I’ve had many incredible adventures and worked with some of the funniest, smartest and most loyal people you could hope to meet. Until it was sold a few years ago, Eurogamer and the company that grew around it was a family business, and it remains an intensely familial tribe to this day, bonded by friendship and a strong sense of common purpose. I am acutely aware that not everyone gets to work in an atmosphere like this or with a team like this; it has been a privilege and a joy, the greatest of my professional life.