To My Fellow Lost Boys And New Game Plusians

April 12, 2022

Written by Jason O'Callaghan

By now you might have seen the video we made announcing the end of New Game Plus TV. It was a hard call for us to make, and I wanted to write this to give you a better understanding of why the decision was made, and what it means for New Game Plus going forward.

Ten years is a long time for anything. In those ten years, we have made over 470 episodes of New Game Plus TV: that’s basically us only taking 6 weeks off a year on average, and producing 26 minutes a week for the rest. But things change. Hosts and crew leave our little Never-Never Land to go be real boys/girls/everything in between, as they should, and more and more the grind falls to on those remaining to produce that content. Add in the stresses and extra logistical hurdles of COVID, and one reaches a point where they finally have to question if they have the drive to power through another 26-32 weeks of production a year. The answer for me and for the remaining Lost Boys to that question has finally tipped over to “no”.

As such, starting from the 18th of April, one day after our 10 year anniversary, we will officially begin the End Of New Game Plus with 7 episodes directed and produced by the remaining voices here at New Game Plus TV. Each a different way to eulogise a show that has become a part of us as much as anything else in our lives and given us opportunity and friendships throughout those years.

We have always considered NGPTV primarily a television show, supplemented by our streaming, YouTube, social media etc. The end of the television show as it exists on C31 and C44 does not mean the end of those other outlets: if anything, it allows us to focus more on the parts we enjoy and maintain our passion for creating. www.newgameplus.tv will continue to showcase all our content going forward, and after the last episode has aired you can still watch all new content produced by us, alongside our classics, through the site.

What does it mean for NGPxC31? Well, the timeslot will remain ours for the foreseeable future, and we intend to produce more specialised, “evergreen” content produced by the New Game Plus Productions crew. These will usually be more focused 6 episode blocks, but will include occasional hourly specials and short run content. Similarly we are in talks for some other non-NGP content to air on the network and on C31’s premiere online platform, C31+.

As for online, we will expand our blog content to include more reviews, opinions and news, as well as aiming to do more fun online content through Instagram, Twitch, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok. We’ve also created Murasaki Gemu channels for Japan-centric content as well, so look for more info on that in future.

Lastly, it would be remiss of me end this without mentioning those who got us to where we are today. Kirsty, Tim, Aleks, Kano, Sab, Brad, Jodie, Megz, The Tog Tomino boys, Shane, Oz, Kate, and all those who’ve ever helped us make an episode of this silly little show I love, thank you from the bottom of my heart. To all those in this wonderful, chaotic industry that ever took a chance on us or enabled us to meet industry legends and create wonderful content, your support will always be appreciated and we’ll always be here if you want to do some cool stuff.

To the Lost Boys who remain, thanks for staying the course, and let’s have some fun with these last few eps.

And finally, the fans and viewers of our little show. There’s nothing quite like someone randomly stopping you on the streets of Tokyo to talk about how the show inspired them, or to pick our brains on our latest review while we’ve just popped up to the shops for a bottle of milk. Likewise, showcasing gaming to tens of thousands at Sidney Myer Music Bowl was a delight, and I could write an entire other piece covering off how much the viewers of the show have engaged with us.

To you, thanks for joining us on the mad journey that was New Game Plus TV, and we hope you’ll join us to send it off, as well as see what we have coming in the future.

“I suppose it’s like the ticking crocodile, isn’t it? Time is chasing after all of us.”
-J. M. Barrie, Peter Pan