A Much-Shorter-Than-Usual Holiday Message From the Desk of Colin Moriarty

Greetings and salutations! It’s me, Colin.

It’s my annual tradition to write a message to the audience at the end of each calendar year, and last year, I wrote you a borderline-insane 3,500 word novella. I won’t be doing that this time around, mostly because I’m so tired and burned-out that I’m basically running on fumes. Honestly, I also don’t have nearly as much to say. That’s probably good news for all of us!

But, I will give you an annual -- albeit brief -- look into how the company is doing, because that’s what you’ve come to expect from these messages, and I like to deliver. The short answer is: We’re doing great. Indeed, 2025 will mark Last Stand Media’s highest-grossing calendar year ever, spanning all the way back to Colin’s Last Stand’s founding in early 2017. However, we’ve attained this milestone a little bit differently than we have in years past. While Patreon remains the lion’s share of our income (and while we would cease to exist without it), ‘25 was actually LSM’s second best year on the service, missing 2024’s earnings record by 4%. This is even after we experienced some of our biggest revenue months on Patreon ever over the last year. However, ad sales are fairly consistent (though I want them to be far stronger), our YouTube revenue has increased substantially (this is a combination of increasing traffic, longer watchtime, and our streaming initiative), and our in-house merch op brought in more cash than it ever has (with Habroxia selling briskly, multiple limited time drops, and consistent sales of shirts, stickers, and the like). So at the end of the day, it all netted out into a tidy little win. We’ll see if we can continue this trend into and through 2026.

Ultimately, my feeling is this: We’ve settled nicely into what we are, which is a fan-driven gaming podcast network with some other accoutrements surrounding it. Sacred Streaming, for instance, came from a need to change things up and try something different. Boredom, really. But it’s also turned into a far bigger hit than I ever expected, and so we’ll continue to focus on that in ‘26 and beyond. Elsewhere, our fleet of podcasts remains as strong as ever, though we’re down two Dagan-driven shows out of necessity. With the changes we’ve experienced, I hope we’ve done a good job of maximizing the value you receive from our service, and truly believe that our best course of action is to focus on high-quality, on-time, weekly podcasts that dissect the industry we love. But we’ll of course be keeping an eye on what makes sense for us moving forward, including new ideas and revivals. We’re listening to your feedback, so you should keep it coming. A lot of what we’re working against is time and availability rather than money.

Otherwise, I want to take a second to thank everyone on the team for another awesome year. The crew is so dedicated to their respective craft, and work so hard to deliver our shows each week. It’s important to remember that this stuff doesn’t just happen; it’s because of the toil of individuals who come together to make everything go. So to Dustin, Chris, Brad, Micah, Matty, Cog, Gene, and Lock: Thank you so much for your dedication, your determination, and your grit. It doesn’t go unnoticed. To our regular collaborators -- Jaffe, Dagan, Hoeg, Tom, Ben, Jimmy, Ian, and no doubt others I am forgetting (I’m sorry!) -- thank you for your willingness to work for and with us. We look forward to continuing our respective collaborations in ‘26. And to those that help manage aspects of our company in various important ways -- our lawyer Oscar, our accountant David, or Patreon liaison Sam, and so on -- thank you for your fastidiousness and attention to detail. What you do is vital, and it really matters.

I would also be remiss not to thank all of you, our loyal fanbase for which we do all of this, and for which none of this would exist without! I am extremely blessed to do what I do for a living, and even more blessed that so many people are willing to put their money where their mouth is and pay for it. This will never be lost on me. It's especially not lost on me when the economic situation is what it is, when people are struggling mightily, and when it seems global forces are stopping us from finding a path toward recovery. Thank you for giving what you can to help keep this engine running. You are the fuel. I tip my cap to you.

Okay. I will leave it there!

As always, content will continue to pour out on-schedule throughout the duration of our holiday break, so Sacred Symbols, Defining Duke, Summon Sign, and Punching Up will all publish as you’d expect. Sacred Symbols+ will go back to publishing twice a week (in its normal Saturday slot, as well as on Mondays) so that we make up for our missing streams (which will return on January 12th). And we’ll return beginning January 6th with newly-recorded content as we get back into the swing of things that week.

In the interim, allow us to wish you a Merry Christmas (or Happy Hanukkah) and a Happy New Year. Take good care of yourselves, be safe and well, and we’ll see you when the calendar turns over.

With love, -Colin

P.S. Is there better news than this?