Essays on games, screens, and the culture around them.

Independent pop culture criticism by Ben Touati. Written from a European perspective, slowly and on purpose, without chasing hype cycles.

Est. 2026 · Stockholm

Valve's Steam Machine, a small black cube, on a media stand beneath a television
The cheapest way into PC gaming, priced by people who will never play a game on it.
Ledger

The Steam Machine Costs $1,049 Because a Data Centre Outbid You

I bought both Steam Decks on day one, so the misgiving comes from inside the cult. The price is not about games. It is about who is bidding against you for memory.

Ben Touati · 25 June 2026 · 7 min read

Read the article View all Ledger →

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Key art from The Amazing Digital Circus: Pomni and the cast inside the virtual circus
Ledger

The Amazing Digital Circus Beat Hollywood in Cinemas, Then Posted the Finale for Free

A free Australian YouTube cartoon topped cinema charts across Europe, then posted its finale online for nothing. The studios should be paying attention.

Grand Theft Auto VI key art: Jason and Lucia in Vice City
Futures

Grand Theft Auto VI Is the Most Successful Game Nobody Has Played

It is the most valuable entertainment product of the decade, and it does not exist yet. On the week anticipation became something you can pre-order.

Woody and Buzz Lightyear staring up at Lilypad, the frog-shaped smart tablet that is the villain of Toy Story 5
Handover

Pixar Built the Screen, Then Cast It as the Villain

The villain of 'Toy Story 5' is a tablet. The studio warning your kids off screens is the one that taught a generation to sit still and watch.

Dead by Daylight tenth-anniversary key art, a crowd of licensed horror killers around a gold 10 and the Dead by Daylight logo
Anniversary

Ten Years of Other People's Monsters

Dead by Daylight turned ten and is bigger than ever. On how the cheap, weird horror game outlived the blockbusters built to bury it.

A black-and-white portrait of Martin Scorsese
Handover

What Scorsese's Name Is For

Martin Scorsese has become an adviser to a German AI image firm. A note on what a famous name actually buys.

The 'Ocarina of Time' title logo in gold on a red Hyrule tapestry
Revival

You Cannot Remake the Greatest Game of All Time

Nintendo announced an 'Ocarina of Time' remake for Switch 2. On why laying hands on the one game the medium crowned is its own kind of risk.

The interior of Duke Humfrey's Library at the Bodleian
Argument

The Lost Tolkien Work Is Homework

The lost Tolkien work turns out to be an unpaid translation of an 800-year-old sermon. On why that beats another dragon.

The EA DICE studio building in Stockholm
Argument

The Machine Can't Make Your Game. It Can Still Take Your Job.

EA cut people at DICE months after 'Battlefield 6' shipped as the best-selling game in America. On what the promise of AI is being used to justify.

A figure at night watching screens that all read five to midnight
Festival Dispatch

The Game Industry Solved the E3 Problem by Having Eighteen E3s

The industry replaced E3 with eighteen showcases in eight days, all on Los Angeles time. On what Summer Game Fest fixed and quietly broke.

Balatro key art, an Ace of Spades on a swirling red and blue background
Ledger

The House Always Owns

'Balatro's publisher was sold to the private-equity group that also owns Metacritic. On what happens when the house owns the scoreboard.

Two Saudi national team players on a floodlit pitch in EA Sports FC 26
Ledger

EA Sports FC Has New Landlords

Electronic Arts is being bought by the Saudi Public Investment Fund. What the takeover means for the most-played football game on earth.

A Cannes red-carpet scene
Argument

Fjord-Sitting: Europe Can Both-Sides Too

Sebastian Stan wouldn't laugh at a Trump question; days later his director took the Palme d'Or. On Europe's own both-sidesing.

A torn superhero cape against a smoky sky
Argument

The Boys Who Cried Woke

Elon Musk called the finale of 'The Boys' pathetic. He didn't notice it was about him.

A worn paperback of The Lord of the Rings on a desk
Essay

Reading Tolkien Slowly, On Purpose

On reading 'The Lord of the Rings' the way the slow-reading communities now do, and what the book does that no adaptation can.

A still from Sam Raimi's Send Help
Review

'Send Help' Is Sam Raimi's First Real Raimi Movie Since 'Spider-Man 2'

A review of the first Raimi film in twenty years where his actual signatures come back.

A franchise logo dissolving into pixels
Argument

Franchises Were Always Going to Get AI First

How franchises spent twenty years building the exact pipeline generative AI now walks straight into.

The New Game Plus venue entrance at Exhibition White City, with the London Games Festival 2026 banner above the doors
Festival Dispatch

Five Indies From London Games Festival 2026 That the Tube Ride Didn't Erase

A festival dispatch: five indies from New Game Plus that survived the ride home.

The Popkulturist manifesto title card
Manifesto

I Still Love Pop Culture. I'm Just Tired of Being Managed by It.

The founding manifesto: why pop culture criticism needs less hype and more honesty.

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