Letter from the Editor – One Year In

Hi folks,

Two days ago I completed my first year as the Editor-in-Chief of The Escapist, and I couldn’t be happier with the state of the site and its community.

When I took on the job, my primary goal with The Escapist was to rework the brand into something that would become known for positivity and community, and I think we’ve done a great job of that over the past year, all the while introducing loads of fun and interesting content for you to read, watch, and listen to.

We’ve driven the point home that we’re focusing on escapism and creating an outlet where we can have thoughtful discussions about entertainment without it devolving into toxic shouting matches. We’re incredibly appreciative of the fact that across our community, you have worked with us to achieve these goals and recreate a community that we ourselves are proud to take part in.

Over the past year we’ve introduced a number of new faces to The Escapist team, new columns, new video series, new podcasts, new livestreams, brand new forums, and updated branding, and we capped it all off last month with our first ever Indie Showcase. We also launched our new subscription services through The Escapist + and YouTube Memberships, which have received a very positive response. Your support has helped to give us more creative freedom to create what we want instead of focusing on driving hundreds of thousands of page views on every piece of content.

I’m extremely proud of everything that we’ve accomplished in our first year, and I’m looking forward to what the next year has in store for us as we continue to build on our vision of creating an outlet centered around positivity, fun, and community.

Stepping into this role as an unknown name to the community was a bit terrifying, to say the least, but everyone has been very welcoming, supportive, and proven to be a community that I’m proud to call home and work together with. I’m also extremely grateful to everyone that contributes content to The Escapist and has helped to build and achieve the platform we envisioned from the beginning.

As I enter my second year as Editor-in-Chief of The Escapist, we will continue building upon our vision of creating an outlet centered around positivity, fun, and community. We’re currently working on quite a few things, including a couple new video series, a new podcast, and more perks for our subscription offerings.

Thanks again for all your support the past year.

As always, if you have any feedback or things you’d like to see from us, please let us know in the comments.

Nick Calandra
Editor-in-Chief