Rachel Kaser’s 2000th GamesBeat article: A collection of reads

At the time this article is written, it is the 2000th piece of written work I’ve produced for GamesBeat, if our content management system tells me no lies. I thought I’d do something a bit fun and frivolous with this article to mark the occasion, even if I suspect that not many besides myself will want to read it. But that’s okay, because what are Fridays for if not the occasional in-office silliness? Besides, there is a purpose to this article: I thought I’d cap it off with a list of the articles I’ve written for GamesBeat that I would most like people to read. Before I do that, I just want to note how pleased I am that I’ve been able to put out this amount of work during my years at GamesBeat! That’s thanks in large part to the help and mentorship of the people who’ve worked with me here, including (but by no means limited to) Dean Takahashi, Alexander Lee, Mike Minotti, Jeff Grubb, Gina Joseph and all of the amazing people with whom I’ve had the privilege to work. Okay, enough sentiment. On to the list.BOSS Mode: The culmination of years in the games industry If I can point to one thing I’ve done during my years at GamesBeat that I consider to be my pride and joy, it would be the BOSS Mode series. This series is the realization of a wish I’ve long held, to put the spotlight on the incredible women in the games industry, from the giants who laid the foundations to the present-day geniuses shaping the future. Ever since I started working at GamesBeat, and specifically on the Women in Gaming breakfast panels at our Summit and Next events, I’ve met a multitude of women with interesting stories. I’ve met innovative thinkers, bold leaders and witty creatives, learning something from each one as I go. BOSS Mode is not just an initiative to bring attention to those women. It’s a replication of that experience of learning from them, gleaning insights from their unique experiences so that everyone can benefit from their knowledge. If you want to read all of the BOSS Mode interviews so far, check the special page here. I recommend beginning with the inaugural interview with Aubrey Quinn of the ESA.Me and Circana: For the love of sales data GamesBeat has been covering the monthly game sales reports from Circana (formerly known as the NPD Group) since before my time. I actually took over the reports from Jeff Grubb, and I’m so glad that I got that chance. Sales data is one of my great loves, as it provides concrete information about the state of the industry, something from which to form greater pictures. The first NPD Group report I covered was in May 2022, where the headliner was Elden Ring. Since then I’ve covered almost every report the company has put out. A list of some of my favorites:July 2022 NPD: MultiVersus shoots past Elden Ring to the top I like seeing a dark horse overtake the favorite, if only for a moment. The late Multiversus was one such winner, snatching defeat from Elden Ring for that one month. It wasn’t the only game to displace FromSoft’s magnum opus, but it was by far the last one I expected to do so.Resident Evil 4 tops charts in a quiet month | Circana March 2023 When you’ve been watching the charts for a while, you begin to spot patterns. One of them is that MLB: The Show and WWE 2K typically win in March. So for Resident Evil 4 Remake to come along and smoke both of them is a testament to the viability of the brand. It was also satisfying to see it knock Hogwarts Legacy from its perch.Hogwarts Legacy comes out on top in 2023 | Circana December 2023 Having said that, I can’t lie: Watching Hogwarts Legacy be the first game since 2008’s Rock Band to dethrone Call of Duty from its bestseller position was an interesting surprise. I have my reservations about the Harry Potter/Wizarding World brand, but I can’t deny the brand’s power within the gaming sphere.Ghost of Tsushima tops charts four years after launch | Circana May 2024 It’s not often I’m surprised by the Circana charts. I generally have some inkling of what’s going to be on them. But even I was shocked to see Ghost of Tsushima come back and top the charts four years after it launched. This was due to the Director’s Cut launch on PC, but usually even a relaunch is only a small boost in numbers.Nintendo’s Switch 2 leads dizzying hardware sales turnaround | Circana I knew the Switch 2 was going to be a massive shot in the arm to the industry, but I was not expecting a 249% upswing in hardware sales. Very rarely do I get to write about hardware with regards to the Circana reports, so it’s always a banner day when I do, especially when it results in such a wildly unusual numberPrice increases and subscriptions are driving gaming growth | Circana This is one of the first longform interviews I did with Circana’s Mat Piscatella, where we discussed the state of gaming at length. Now it’s something I’m hoping to do quarterly so that there are notes to compare as the games industry continues to change over the years.Interviewing my heroes: Some o

May 27, 2026 - 06:32

Rachel Kaser’s 2000th GamesBeat article: A collection of reads

At the time this article is written, it is the 2000th piece of written work I’ve produced for GamesBeat, if our content management system tells me no lies. I thought I’d do something a bit fun and frivolous with this article to mark the occasion, even if I suspect that not many besides myself will want to read it.

But that’s okay, because what are Fridays for if not the occasional in-office silliness? Besides, there is a purpose to this article: I thought I’d cap it off with a list of the articles I’ve written for GamesBeat that I would most like people to read.

Before I do that, I just want to note how pleased I am that I’ve been able to put out this amount of work during my years at GamesBeat! That’s thanks in large part to the help and mentorship of the people who’ve worked with me here, including (but by no means limited to) Dean Takahashi, Alexander Lee, Mike Minotti, Jeff Grubb, Gina Joseph and all of the amazing people with whom I’ve had the privilege to work.

Okay, enough sentiment. On to the list.

BOSS Mode: The culmination of years in the games industry

If I can point to one thing I’ve done during my years at GamesBeat that I consider to be my pride and joy, it would be the BOSS Mode series. This series is the realization of a wish I’ve long held, to put the spotlight on the incredible women in the games industry, from the giants who laid the foundations to the present-day geniuses shaping the future.

Ever since I started working at GamesBeat, and specifically on the Women in Gaming breakfast panels at our Summit and Next events, I’ve met a multitude of women with interesting stories. I’ve met innovative thinkers, bold leaders and witty creatives, learning something from each one as I go.

BOSS Mode is not just an initiative to bring attention to those women. It’s a replication of that experience of learning from them, gleaning insights from their unique experiences so that everyone can benefit from their knowledge.

If you want to read all of the BOSS Mode interviews so far, check the special page here. I recommend beginning with the inaugural interview with Aubrey Quinn of the ESA.

Me and Circana: For the love of sales data

GamesBeat has been covering the monthly game sales reports from Circana (formerly known as the NPD Group) since before my time. I actually took over the reports from Jeff Grubb, and I’m so glad that I got that chance. Sales data is one of my great loves, as it provides concrete information about the state of the industry, something from which to form greater pictures.

The first NPD Group report I covered was in May 2022, where the headliner was Elden Ring. Since then I’ve covered almost every report the company has put out. A list of some of my favorites:

July 2022 NPD: MultiVersus shoots past Elden Ring to the top I like seeing a dark horse overtake the favorite, if only for a moment. The late Multiversus was one such winner, snatching defeat from Elden Ring for that one month. It wasn’t the only game to displace FromSoft’s magnum opus, but it was by far the last one I expected to do so.
Resident Evil 4 tops charts in a quiet month | Circana March 2023 When you’ve been watching the charts for a while, you begin to spot patterns. One of them is that MLB: The Show and WWE 2K typically win in March. So for Resident Evil 4 Remake to come along and smoke both of them is a testament to the viability of the brand. It was also satisfying to see it knock Hogwarts Legacy from its perch.
Hogwarts Legacy comes out on top in 2023 | Circana December 2023 Having said that, I can’t lie: Watching Hogwarts Legacy be the first game since 2008’s Rock Band to dethrone Call of Duty from its bestseller position was an interesting surprise. I have my reservations about the Harry Potter/Wizarding World brand, but I can’t deny the brand’s power within the gaming sphere.
Ghost of Tsushima tops charts four years after launch | Circana May 2024 It’s not often I’m surprised by the Circana charts. I generally have some inkling of what’s going to be on them. But even I was shocked to see Ghost of Tsushima come back and top the charts four years after it launched. This was due to the Director’s Cut launch on PC, but usually even a relaunch is only a small boost in numbers.
Nintendo’s Switch 2 leads dizzying hardware sales turnaround | Circana I knew the Switch 2 was going to be a massive shot in the arm to the industry, but I was not expecting a 249% upswing in hardware sales. Very rarely do I get to write about hardware with regards to the Circana reports, so it’s always a banner day when I do, especially when it results in such a wildly unusual number
Price increases and subscriptions are driving gaming growth | Circana This is one of the first longform interviews I did with Circana’s Mat Piscatella, where we discussed the state of gaming at length. Now it’s something I’m hoping to do quarterly so that there are notes to compare as the games industry continues to change over the years.

Interviewing my heroes: Some of the most interesting people I’ve spoken to for GamesBeat articles

One of the perks of this job is that I get the chance to interview some of the most interesting people in the industry. Listening to these people speak on the subjects about which they’re educated or passionate is far and away the highlight of my work — whether it be at one of GamesBeat’s events or in a one-on-one interview. Here are some (but by no means all) of my favorites over the years:

Why Super Evil Megacorp invested in TMNT: Splintered Fate rather than killing it off | exclusive This interview came in the midst of a number of game cancellations, and so it felt especially important. I spoke with Super Evil Megacorp CEO Ian Fielding about how a game community can sustain a game and why that’s worth the time, patience and money required to keep said game going. Also, I realized mid-conversation that I was essentially cosplaying as Donatello, which of course was just a delightful bonus.
The rising popularity of TTRPGs, as told by Sunderfolk’s Game Master | Anjali Bhimani interview I’ve been a fan of Anjali Bhimani since the days of Overwatch, so getting to speak to her as the GM of Sunderfolk was a treat I won’t soon forget! It helps that we were speaking about TTRPGs, a rising sector of the gaming market and one that I think the whole industry should be watching as a case study if nothing else. And when you want to talk TTRPGs, who do you go to but a Game Master?
Skill Up on launching This Week in Videogames as a news site Not long after GamesBeat itself went independent, I found out that Ralph Panebianco, the face of the Skill Up YouTube channel, was launching This Week in Videogames as its own spinoff. I got the chance to speak to him about the future of games media and the importance of audience and accessibility.
Actor Samantha Béart illuminates all parts of the games industry in ‘It Takes a Village’ | interview One of my dreams is to create what I call a “DVD special feature” for the games industry — an accessible, digestible form of information about what goes on behind-the-scenes, the work and efforts of thousands of people whose work one might otherwise never appreciate. Well, it turns out actor Samantha Béart is way ahead of me, having already created a series called “It Takes a Village on their YouTube channel.
Sassy Chap Games on launching Date Everything into tricky market If you’d told me two years ago that a dating sim created by an indie studio launched by voice actors (and featuring a brain-meltingly large cast of yet more recognizable actors) would be one of the best games of 2025, I would have been skeptical-but-intrigued. Then I got the chance to talk to Sassy Chap’s Robbie Daymond about what it’s like to make a game this niche when the market is … let’s be generous and say “mature,” and after that, I was sold.

A handful of other, unrelated reads that I think are pretty alright

With 2000 articles under my belt, it’s hard to keep the list of potential reads at a manageable level — though I’m not Dean Takahashi by any stretch of the imagination. Anyway, here are a few other articles I think might be fun for GamesBeat’s readers to peruse!

The live Dungeons & Dragons experience brought the RPG feel into reality I play a lot of Dungeons & Dragons — like I can’t stress to you enough how much of my leisure time this activity takes up. So getting to play a kind of D&D in real life was both fun and a case study in how game mechanics can translate into live, family-friendly experiences. Shout-out to my friends and husband for rounding out our perfect four-player party!
Colossal Biosciences and the practical uses of de-extinction tech The visit to Colossal Biosciences’ office was an interesting little field trip for me, not the least of which was because I got to ask a question that doesn’t often come up in most interviews: “Why?” What is the point of the work that you do, other than just to prove that you can? The response, which you can read at the link above, was far more illuminating than any wooly mouse or direwolf animatronic.
NZXT Player Two Prime impressions, or how one can be a PC gamer in 2026 The memory crisis is one of the biggest stories of 2026, and it feels like we don’t talk enough about the effect it’s having on the games market. When NZXT let me review one of their PCs, answering the question of whether this is worth it for PC gamers in the middle of the parts shortage felt like the most important thing to keep in mind.

The post Rachel Kaser’s 2000th GamesBeat article: A collection of reads appeared first on GamesBeat.

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