Hello everyone, and welcome to the very last Null Newsletter for 2023. It’s been a heck of a year here at Null, as we’ve been building out our team, signing games to publish, working on all kinds of trailers and other assets, and planning for 2024 and beyond. We announced Tape to Tape, Demon Spore, Athena Crisis, and ExeKiller in 2023, and have plenty more exciting news to share in the new year. But first, our last announcement of the year!

Announcing Streetdog BMX

We’re happy to announce that we’re partnering with Adam Hunt of Yeah Us! Games, developer of the Pumped BMX series of games, to publish his latest title: Streetdog BMX, launching on Steam and other platforms in 2024. Streetdog BMX is an extreme sports game that sees you riding through six expansive levels in search of extreme tricks, great lines, and devious challenges. You can find out more information about the game on its official website or watch the Announcement Trailer, and don’t forget to check out the official Discord and wishlist it on Steam!

It’s been a pleasure working with Adam on the journey towards this announcement and we’re really looking forward to showing off more of it in 2024!

Null Games’ Inaugural Stream

Null recently launched its inaugural Twitch and YouTube stream! I have spent a not-insignificant amount of my adult life doing goofy things in front of a camera (please do not google this), so it was a pleasure to get back into the swing of things and help show off all the wonderful games that Null has announced so far. If you missed the stream, you can find the archive on our YouTube channel.

In addition to the games showcase (featuring some world-class Tape to Tape gameplay from yours truly), the stream featured a one-on-one interview with our President, Chris Wanstrath, in which he outlined his motivations for founding the company and what we’re hoping to accomplish with Null in the future. 

The stream also may have been your first introduction to FemSteph, who produced the show and hosted alongside me! She’s a regular presence on Twitch and I can’t wait to hop on more streams with her in 2024, which feels like it’s going to be here before we know it. And I’d also be remiss not to mention Drew, Roxee, Sam and the rest of the Null team who all helped provide a lot of support before, during, and after the stream!

Streetdog BMX Q&A

After our big announcement and stream, we sat down with Adam for a more intimate talk about his BMX fandom, his work on the previous Pumped BMX mobile games, and what inspired him to start working on Streetdog BMX! Please check out the video!

Etcetera

Ah, December. A time for reflection on the year just past, spending time with family and friends, and trying to settle on the perfect order for those Game of the Year lists. I’ve written a Game of the Year list for most of the last decade at my previous work, but I very quickly learned not to worry too much about ordering games, and eventually stopped numerically ordering them at all. While we obviously have a desire to assign ranks to the things we enjoy (a decent chunk of the internet probably wouldn’t exist without the traffic that editorial lists generate), it’s always seemed to me to be a bit reductive to say that Game A is empirically better than Game B when they often have completely different goals and artistic sensibilities. In that regard, it’s kind of a relief not to have to make a GOTY list if I don’t care to this year (but I might anyway!).

I certainly have plenty of thoughts about 2023. It was a great year for games, but I don’t think anyone would think it reflected very well on gaming as a business, as layoffs affected thousands of employees at development studios, publishers, and press outlets. I’ve survived and been the victim of layoff rounds almost more times than I can count, so I know how it feels to get a packet with one of those weirdly large corporate checks and a pat on the back on your way out the door. You can recite the motivational speech from Up In The Air all you want but no one has yet developed a cure for how losing your job feels.

At any rate, we can hope that 2024 will be better for the industry as a whole. Certainly we at Null have a lot to look forward to, as we’ll be releasing our first games in 2024. There’s a lot of work to be done between now and then, and we’ll get back to it after enjoying a little holiday break. See you on the other side!

-rorie