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Founding offer: $149 lifetime or $79/year locked forever. 95 of 100 lifetime seats left.
FOUNDING OFFER · 95 LIFETIME SEATS LEFT

We're building a Defector for games. Pay once. Get in early.

You stopped reading Kotaku in 2016. You're patched across Aftermath, Crossplay, Backloggd, Game File, paying $15 to $25 a month, half-reading three of them. We're the bundle that puts them in one bill. $149 once. Lock it before launch.

FOUNDED
2018
WRITTEN FOR
Adults
AD-FREE FOR
Pro
BREAK-EVEN
~9 months
THE BUNDLE MATH

You're already paying for this. Just patchworked.

Real quote from ResetEra: "if I supported all the creators whose content I consume it would probably be $100+ which I absolutely cannot afford." We did the math too. Here's what we found.

The patchwork

What an engaged reader pays today, across five outlets

Aftermathworker-owned, ex-Kotaku
$100/yr
CrossplayPatrick Klepek, one writer
$60/yr
Backloggd Backertracker only, no writing
$36/yr
Game FileStephen Totilo's newsletter
$60/yr
Second Wind / Patreon spillover
~$60/yr
YOU PAY$316

TAG Pro, founding

Editorial + SavePoint + Discord + Arcade. One bill.

Adult-mode editorialreturning-player guides, honest reviews
included
SavePoint Decision Enginetells you what to play this Saturday
included
Members Discordpaywalled adult community
included
TAG ArcadeConnections, Rank Arena, more
included
Founder badge, locked price, lifetime option
included
YOU PAY$149 once
WHERE THE WRITERS WENT

You don't follow brands. You follow people.

Every gaming outlet you trusted got gutted. The writers landed somewhere. Here's the map. TAG is the bundle that sits next to them, not above them.

Kotaku
Aftermathworker-owned, 2023
Waypoint / Vice
RemapKlepek, Hamilton, et al
Deadspin
Defectorthe original model
Vice / Motherboard
404 MediaMaiberg, Koebler
Kotaku editorial
Game FileStephen Totilo, solo
The Escapist
Second Windfull team relaunch
Reader, ResetEra: "We do need a Defector for games." We agree. TAG is the bundle that connects to this lineage. Read the full map →
WHAT'S INSIDE TAG PRO

Four things, one bill. Built for adults.

Editorial, tracker, community, and games. Sold separately by other people for $316 a year. Bundled here for $149 once.

Adult-mode editorial

Honest reviews and returning-player guides written for people with kids, jobs, and four hours a week. Not for sweats. Not for SEO.

  • Weekly Patch Briefing across five live games
  • "Is this worth your weekend" reviews
  • Returning-player guides for the lapsed ranked crowd
  • Long-form columns, not 100-word posts

SavePoint Decision Engine

You spent five hours staring at your Steam library. We tell you what to play this Saturday, in your two-hour window, from the library you already paid for.

  • Engine reads your library, mood, and time budget
  • Household library mode for couples
  • Backloggd CSV import (free), Year in Gaming wrapped
  • Pro members get full historical data and exports

Members Discord

Paywalled means filtered. No 19-year-olds. No engagement-bait posters. Writers are in the room with you, posting drafts and reading replies.

  • Member-only channels, no public flood
  • Founders lounge for the first 100
  • Game-specific rooms for what TAG covers
  • Co-mod system, no power-mod cliques

TAG Arcade

A daily five-minute habit. Connections clone built for gamers, Rank Arena head-to-head, more in development. Top of funnel, not filler.

  • TAG Connections (daily, gaming-themed)
  • Rank Arena (PvP ranking duels)
  • Pro members get unlimited replays and archives
  • Streaks, not leaderboard pressure
THE FOUNDING OFFER

Two ways in. Both lock the price.

Standard launch pricing is $99 per year, December 2026. Founding members lock in lower than that, forever.

FOUNDING ANNUAL
$79/year
Locked forever. Never goes up.
500 of 500 annual seats available
  • $79/year locked even when launch hits $99
  • Permanent Founder badge in Discord
  • Founders Lounge access
  • Cancel anytime, refund first 30 days
Lock $79/year
WHAT THIS ISN'T

Four things we are deliberately not doing.

PRO PERK
Ad-free for Pro, not anti-ad.

Pro members get a clean reading experience, no display ads. Free readers keep TAG funded with Mediavine. We're not pretending ads are evil. We're giving you the option to opt out.

NOT THIS
SEO-driven.

We write columns and reviews, not search bait. Google AI Overviews ate the gaming SERPs. We saw it coming and stopped writing for it.

HOW WE DO IT
AI-researched, human-written.

Claude does our research, sometimes 100 times faster than we used to. Every piece still has a byline and a human edit. Faster research means more in-depth pieces, not slop-filled calendars.

NOT THIS
Parasocial.

We're not a Patreon for two guys. We're a media bundle. If you only want one writer, follow Patrick at Crossplay or Stephen at Game File. We're the bundle around them.

"We're 38 and 39. Our friends have kids. We're at a different stage. The gaming press talks past us anyway. So we built a thing for adults. Pay once. Be in early."
Fred Twum-Acheampong & Julian · TAG founders · est. 2018
95 LIFETIME · 500 ANNUAL SEATS REMAIN

Lock $149 once. Be in before launch.

December 2026 the price moves to $99/year for everyone else. You will not be everyone else.

Claim a founding seat