Episode
Gaming's First-Half Highlights and Second-Half Hype | Button Mash
- Podcast
- The Ringer-Verse
- Published
- Jul 10, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 5561
- Processing state
not_requested- Canonical source
- https://traffic.megaphone.fm/GLT8443190883.mp3
Actions
POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-ringer-verse-1577068/episodes/gaming-s-first-half-highlights-and-second-half-hype-button-mash/transcription-requests
Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-ringer-verse-1577068/gaming-s-first-half-highlights-and-second-half-hype-button-mash.md
Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.
Summary
Ben brings on Polygon's Giovanni Colantonio and Oli Welsh to sum up the first half of 2026 in gaming and preview the remainder of the year. First, they discuss the odd dynamic of dire industry news coinciding with a glut of great games. Then, they each share their top 10 games of the first half of the year, and break down the differences and similarities among their respective lists. Finally, they assess the up-in-the-air race for Game of the Year, how the timing and rollout of 'Grand Theft Auto VI' could affect its fortunes, the late-summer pileup of pre-'GTA' releases, and their biggest questions about the upcoming calendar. Intro (0:00)Industry news (3:00)Game of the Year picks (16:53)Outro (1:28:20) Host: Ben LindberghGuests: Giovanni Colantonio and Oli WelshProducer: Devon RenaldoAdditional Production Support: Arjuna Ramgopowell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices