It’s about that time, folks.
Hard as it is to believe, it’s been a little over three weeks since Skybox launched. In that time, we’ve done some incredible things. We’ve launched two columns, from Brian and Lucas, with more to come from new folks in the future. I’ve personally kicked the hornet’s nest. We’ve published several reviews, with more on the way. We’ve run features on Balatro, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, Like a Dragon, and the importance of playing new games, so we’ll keep, y’know, getting new games in the first place. We’ve also published pieces from industry luminaries like Nicole Carpenter and Imran Khan that probably wouldn’t have found homes anywhere else. All told, in a little over three weeks, we’ve published 19 pieces from 14 writers and gotten nearly 8,000 views from nearly 4,000 people. Not bad for something that started as an idea from three guys on a WordPress site that we’re all still learning how to use. By the way, if you’re really good at web design and know WordPress, I would love to talk to you. Please. Please.
We’ve accomplished a lot, and everyone at Skybox is proud of it. But here’s the rub. All this shit costs money. Skybox was founded on the idea that we’d publish good work and pay people fairly for it. Right now, I am paying for all of this out of my own pocket, and while I’m happy to do that while we get the site on its feet, it’s not sustainable long term. I’m a freelancer and a teacher. I’m not exactly rolling with the Rockefellers, you know? For Skybox to survive, do what we want it to do, and be what we want it to be, it needs money.
Skybox is, and will always be, independent. We’re not going to sell out, and we’re not going to publish slop. As long as there is good work to do and good people to do it, Skybox will be a home for it. But we need your help.
That’s why we’re starting a Patreon. We’ve got some killer rewards for y’all, if I do say so myself. You can come hang out and chat with us (and all of our writers, too!) in our Discord, submit questions to our new Beyond the Skybox podcast, suggest stuff for us to write about, and get exclusive access to Skydive, our deep dive podcast where we break down a game in detail. Plus, I’ll offer your name to the Old Ones each night. When the Eternal Night comes, will you be saved? A little insurance never hurts.
If you’re curious, you can see all of our tiers below. Every little bit helps. You can sign up for our Patreon here.
$1 Tier – Toss a coin to your writers, to let ‘em know you care.
- Helps us continue to write and run the site.
$5 Tier – Discord Access
- Get access to the Skybox Discord and chat with fellow readers and the writers, themselves!
$10 – Beyond the Skybox Podcast & Question Submission
- Access to the Beyond the Skybox Show.
- Access to a special Discord channel where you can submit questions for the various shows Skybox creates and get access to a new show: Beyond the Skybox.
- You’ll also gain access to all previous tier rewards.
- Will will offer your name in prayer to the dark gods each night.
- Brian will use some of your energy for the Spirit Bomb.
- Lucas will drag your corpse back to the church from the dungeon for revival.
$15 – Suggest Written Pieces
- Suggest and vote for things to be written about on Skybox.
- You’ll also gain access to all previous tier rewards.
- The dark gods will still know your name.
- Your energy will still fuel the Spirit Bomb.
- Your corpse will still make it back from the dungeon.
$25 – Skydive Podcast & Podcast Topic Requests
- Get access to a new deep dive Skybox show: Skydive.
- You’ll also get access to a special Discord channel where you can request and vote on topics or games for coverage on Skydive.
- You’ll also gain access to all previous tier rewards.
- The dark gods will still know your name.
- Your energy will still fuel the Spirit Bomb.
- Your corpse will still make it back from the dungeon.
Over the last couple weeks, I think we’ve shown you we can do the work, but if we want to keep doing the work, we need some support. Help us prove there’s an audience for good writing, and better writing about games and other media. We wanna do this right, but we can’t do it without you. Let’s make this industry better.
We’ll see you under the sky so blue.
– Will Borger, co-founder, Editor-in-Chief
– Brian Barnett, co-founder, Editor-at-Large
– Lucas White, co-founder, Managing Editor
