Welcome to the next era of The Besties (Patreon)

Hello!

We didn’t expect to be doing this show for 12 years. Barely anything lasts that long on the internet. The only reason The Besties has survived for so long has been your support. You were with us through weekly episodes at Polygon, monthly and then annual episodes on our own, our return at Spotify, and our shift back to independence.

Now we’re entering a new era and once again we’re asking you to join us.

When we say "you" we don't specifically mean you, the person whose name is Beth or Randy or Tommy Trombone. We mean the collective you. We mean the fans who have, in their dogged determination and uncanny lack of rationality, thought fit to keep asking us to make this thing. Though Randy was particularly insistent.

Which brings us to the big question: Why Patreon?

As much as we love making the show for y'all, the shift to weekly a few years back meant that The Besties required a significant amount of time and energy to produce. We've tried to justify that time (mostly to our spouses and kids) by showing some returns in the form of money to pay for things like food and schools and diapers and all the junk of adulthood. And we've tried to earn that money in the way that would be least impactful or disruptive to the fans of the show: ads.

We're well aware that some ads can be bothersome, but we were careful with our partners and their ads allowed the show to remain free for y'all, even though it made our margins pretty tight.

Over the past year, those tight margins became untenable. You may have heard about the podcast ad market tanking. And you've probably had moments listening to the show where we'll throw to an ad but then the show comes right back. Every time that happened, it meant that an ad slot didn't get sold. Because the ad market has been terrible. It's no one's fault, but it has had a considerable impact on the show’s livelihood.

We hope that Patreon will help fill in the blanks and, after more than 10 years of chaos, finally let us stop searching for the next safe harbor to keep the show alive. That we can focus our energy on making the show, rather than saving the show.

What do you get for subscribing?

We know not everybody can afford a subscription. To those folks: The main Besties episodes will remain completely free (with those occasional ads), and you'll still get our weekly newsletter.

But if you're willing and able to commit to a few dollars each month, you'll be getting a few things:

First, you’ll get a new, monthly bonus Besties episode with the whole gang. We want these to feel epic and worthwhile, so we’re modeling them off our Game of the Year bracket episodes. We’ll be pitting ourselves and our favorite things into spectacular, absurd bracket challenges to determine the Bests in a variety of categories (as voted on by subscribers).

We will also be making The Resties and its two episodes per month exclusively for Patreon subscribers (though the back catalog of The Resties will remain free for all). We mentioned the ad market above. For full transparency, it’s become too difficult to weather the storm by splitting potential ad support across two shows. We want to keep the core Besties free,  and that means directing what ads we can find into that program.

We hope you will continue to join us for these episodes, as we've loved making this offshoot into something that feels like its own vibe.

Other questions you might have

How do I listen to the bonus content episodes or add it to my preferred podcast player?

Once you subscribe, you'll be able to listen to the bonus content directly on Patreon or through the Patreon app.

If you're on Spotify, you should see an option to link your Spotify account through Patreon which will allow you to add it to your Spotify playlists. Instructions here.

You'll also be granted a unique RSS link that you can copy and paste into just about every major podcasting player. The instructions will vary depending on the player, but here's how it works on Apple Podcasts:

Open the Podcasts app.

1. Tap Library.
2. Tap Edit in the upper right corner, and then tap "Add a Show by URL..."
3. Enter your RSS feed URL.
4. Tap Subscribe. 

Why aren't the main episodes and the bonus episodes in the same feed?

The challenge here is that the main episodes are still ad-supported and Patreon doesn't currently allow us to run our ad platform through their services. We're hopeful that this will change in the future, but for right now, all the bonus content will exist in its own feed called The Besties Bonus. It's even got its own album art. Fancy!

If I can't subscribe now, will I get access to older bonus episodes if I subscribe later?

Yes! The back catalog of bonus content isn't going anywhere if you're not able to subscribe right now. Though obviously we greatly appreciate anyone who does, since it's those subscriptions that'll be helping to keep the show going. 

Did you guys just steal your bonus content offering from how Blank Check does it?

Basically, yes.

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Whether you're planning to subscribe or not, thank you for sticking with us all these years. We're extremely excited about this new era of Besties.

And thank you for keeping this show going for over a decade. We hope to do it for decades more. Because shouldn't the world's best friends pick the world's best games?

Love,

Justin, Griffin, Chris, and Russ