What do you call a podcast when you’re sick of the nonsense and too tired to pretend otherwise?
I didn’t hold a naming session. I didn’t put it to a vote or ask for suggestions from the team. I just called it what it was. What I am. Grumpy Old Gamer.
I’d love to say that it started as a placeholder while I was working through the planning documents, but that would be a fib. I sat here one morning after and exhausting nightshift and the idea of starting a new podcast came to me. Maybe it was exhaustion. Maybe it as the come-down from nightshift delirium (that shit is real). I didn’t consider names and discard some. There was no shortlist. It was just always Grumpy Old Gamer, and here’s why:
Because that’s the point. I’ve been gaming long enough to remember when manuals were thick, menus were fast, and expansions came on discs. Back when forums mattered and you found secret missions like IT CAME FROM RED ALERT by clicking a hidden speaker on the menu. Not because the game told you to, but because someone on a message board swore it worked.
These days you boot up a game and you’re hit with a battle pass, three currencies, and a login queue. Most of the industry feels like it’s built for people who want to scroll through item shops rather than actually play something. I’m not here to celebrate that. I’m here to talk about how it got this way, what’s still worth playing, and what’s worth walking away from.
The name fit immediately. It gave the project a tone, a direction, and most importantly, a filter. If something didn’t make sense for a show called Grumpy Old Gamer, it didn’t belong in the plan. We’re not doing hype coverage. We’re not reading marketing decks on air. We’re not pretending to like games just because they’re new or trending.
And the “Old” part matters too. Not just in terms of age, but in terms of perspective. I’ve got a limited amount of time to spend on games these days, and I’m not wasting it on bland systems, shallow loops, or studios that treat players like customers in a queue. That doesn’t mean I hate everything modern, it means I’m picky. That’s the energy behind this thing. Measured, not moaning. Focused, not performative.
I didn’t set the name to be edgy. I set it because it kept me honest. The podcast had to be worth listening to. The name made that clear. No waffle. No pretending we’re excited about everything. Just a group of people (starting with me) calling things how we see them.
Every episode, every segment, every guest, every piece of content has to pass that filter. Is it interesting? Is it honest? Is it grounded? If not, scrap it. The name gives us that permission.
And yes, I still get people suggesting we soften the title. Something more upbeat. Something that sounds more marketable. I ignore them. There’s nothing wrong with being critical. There’s nothing wrong with being tired of seeing the same broken systems pass as “innovation.” There’s nothing wrong with saying what you think, without worrying how it looks in a press kit.
Grumpy Old Gamer isn’t a gimmick. It’s the tone. The voice. The project. And it started with me calling it what it is.
If you were starting a podcast about games today, what would you call it?
