All good things must come to an end. No really, we’re just taking a break! An extended hiatus! Yeah…this is what they always say.
Seeing that Syp has kinda let the cat out of the bag in the latest episode of the MOP podcast, I might as well already talk about it here (it’s not like my blog has that many readers): our little geeky podcast on MMO music is setting its sails by the end of June 2024, or whenever episode 234 has aired. Things have just run their natural course and both Syp and I, co-hosting the show for some time now, have felt our enthusiasm gradually lessen. For one it has become harder and harder to find good titles to talk about and without constantly repeating ourselves in our commentary. There are only so many ways to talk about game music and after 11 years it really feels like we’ve unearthed and covered as much as we reasonably can. I would rather end on a high note now as our long journey together very much deserves.
And it really was such a blast! When the three of us (including Steff) set out in April 2013, none of us would have expected to still be chatting (and bickering) about MMO soundtracks a decade later. I call that success and we’ve always been proud to be “the world’s first and only MMO music podcast” out there! There were times when the show did really well in terms of visits and download numbers and we always appreciated the great feedback from our listeners. The fact that the Battle Bards podcast had a small but steady following is part of what’s kept us going for so long. These interactions are one thing I will miss dearly but I’m happy to know we’re still connected to folks on Twitter or Bluesky. Our episode archive can be found on the MOP site for now (and will hopefully remain so long into the future), so you’ll still be able to access it from there.
There will be a bit more commentary in our final episode on all this, even if we haven’t made it an official farewell show and the announcement wasn’t prepared in any way. I’ve never believed in grand goodbyes, not here on the blog or elsewhere and we both want to keep the door open in case a special occasion strikes. You never know, maybe MMORPGs will see a second coming few years from now! Or we’ll just be doing something else together. I would like that.
Thanks to everyone, in case you read this and are/were a follower of our podcast! It’s been a privilege to share the passion for MMO music with y’all! <3
I will miss the podcast, but 11 years is a really long time! (I think I do have them all saved, although the first 50 might be a bit iffy as I lost some podcasts in a hard drive crash.)
Maybe after a break you two might do something else, but you never know.
Getting to know you (better) and your wonderful family thanks to the podcast is one of the things I appreciated so much 🙂
In fact those cute Xmas cards are stored away safely and I went through them again when setting up the new office last year. Please say hi to everyone from me.
I’ll do that! And honestly, we need to start sending cards again. We kind of dropped the ball once Covid hit, and haven’t gotten back on that bandwagon since.
But I’m glad that we connected as well!
That was a long run for a podcast that couldn’t just talk about whatever news popped up in the last week. It required work… more work than even the usual podcast… so I salute the team for keeping it going on for so long. I couldn’t sustain a podcast for three weeks running even if somebody wrote the script for me.
Cheers Wilhelm! 🙂 Yeah it sure was a lot of prepwork beforehand and research and taking notes. Also post-production was challenging for Syp. We just all really liked what we were doing and we enjoyed each other’s company, otherwise we never would’ve stuck with it for this long.
It feels like the end of an era for me, also where MMORPGs are concerned. A little bitter-sweet.