Ah, yesterday was a sad day. Rooster Teeth’s The Know closed its doors for the last time, re-branding itself as a ‘new’ gaming channel dubbed Inside Gaming. The future looks very bright for the team – and I wish them all the best – but I can’t help feeling a bit sad that The Know as we know it is, well… no more.

Actually, I don’t think I ever fully recovered from the departure of Mica Burton, although my therapist tells me I’m making excellent progress. Ashley Jenkins was also a painful loss, especially as she just went without saying goodbye (I mean, I’d probably have done the same, Ashley, but I still shed a tear.) Over the last few months, several other faces have been conspicuous by their absence from the channel – Jon Risinger, Adam Ellis, Gus Sorola, to name a few; it was clear that change was on the horizon. I should say, though, that I’ve really enjoyed following The Know in all its line-ups, and I think Brian Gaar has done a fantastic job as the channel’s main face over this transitional period.

For the unfamiliar, The Know was a gaming news channel on YouTube. Produced by the Texas-based media company Rooster Teeth, The Know has evolved considerably over the last few years. Now, I wasn’t there in the early days (I started following in 2016) but from what I can glean from some YouTube archaeology, The Know officially began life on the 17th March 2014 as a re-branded version of Rooster Teeth News. Ashley Jenkins fronted the first video, explaining that the venture – like a Pokémon – “had some experience behind it, but was ready to evolve.” Naww.

However, the reasons for The Know now being known as Inside Gaming are a little more complicated. Basically, a company called Machinima folded in January 2019. It was once one of the largest channels on YouTube, and created content dedicated to gaming and SF culture (including a show called Inside Gaming, which ended a few years previously.) Now, Machinima was owned by Warner Bros., but recently moved to Otter Media – the parent company which owns Rooster Teeth. So now it has been possible for Machinima’s Inside Gaming to be revived, absorbing all of the talent (and hopefully audience members) from The Know to create a fresh new channel. Got that? 😛

I must say, I’m both sad and excited. Let’s face it, nobody likes change, but the reaction to this new venture seems overwhelmingly positive, and I’m glad for the team. I definitely owe a lot to The Know, and Rooster Teeth. The combined sass of Ashley Jenkins / Jon Risinger / Mica Burton / Gus Sorola was my biggest inspiration for starting this website (together with Burnie Burns’ vlogs, which are worth checking out if you’ve never seen them.) I really want to enjoy the new Inside Gaming, so I’ll be sticking around. Good luck to everyone involved.

Otherwise, yeah… *sniff. Farewell, The Know. I think a particular highlight for me was the coverage of all the craziness that was the No Man’s Sky launch, but Spider-Man‘s puddlegate scandal also has a special place in my memory. And although the core team seemed to erode towards the end of 2018, I grew particularly fond of the stalwart Brian Gaar, who seemed to take on the ‘burden’ of the show almost exclusively (did you ever sleep, Brian?!) I’m definitely going to miss my daily lunchtime catch-ups with Brian’s beard – with Mr Gaar usually elaborating on all the micro-transactional scandals from the four corners of EA – but with such a wealth of Know-based goodness still available in the YouTube archive, will The Know ever really go away?

I hope not 🙂