Co-op Mode: Aftermath

You may have noticed our Co-op Mode section at the bottom of the weekly newsletter lately. That section grew out of a special, not-technically-a-secret project we're a part of: a coalition of independent, worker-owned journalism outlets. Think of us like a union, but instead of standing together against oppressive owners, we're standing together against the concept of oppressive capitalism.

Because we're stronger together — even in a space where you might expect cutthroat competition and West Side Story-esque, back-alley knife fights. Lifting each other up benefits us more because, like in all things, cooperation and building something better are more powerful than competition and tearing each other down.

If you're a fan of Rogue, you almost definitely know about our friends at Aftermath. Aftermath is another worker-owned, reader-supported gaming site. And they have a similar story to us — most of them were just unceremoniously let go from Kotaku instead of Polygon.

This week, Aftermath is running a theme week — Woke Week — to coincide with a subscriber drive. As part of Woke Week, you can read Gita Jackson's Notes Towards A 'Woke 2', Luke Plunkett's What A DEI Manager At A AAA Video Game Company Actually Does interview, and Bee Wertheimer's A Love Letter To 'Girl Games'. And, while it's not part of Woke Week, everyone should also read Jackson Ryan's The Secretive Company Filling Video Game Sites With Gambling And AI.

Aftermath has also been wonderful about publishing pieces by some of our fellow ex-Polygon friends like Joshua Rivera and Nicole Carpenter.

If you like what you see, Aftermath is running a membership sale and they've got some sweet merch. At the very least, go sign up for a free account and show them some love. If you've got the money to spare, sign up for a membership.

Aftermath is a site full of really good people and we're proud to call them our friends.