2020 might have been a bit of an odd year in terms of life on this spinning chunk of rock we call Earth, but it was an astonishing 12 months in the world of Nintendo – and, by extension, the world of Nintendo Life. We posted the best traffic numbers in the site's 15-year history, spurred on by the increased popularity of the Switch and (we like to think) our amazing editorial coverage.
During 2020, visits to Nintendo Life rose by a staggering 49% year-on-year – not too shabby when you consider that 2019 had been our best year ever up to that point. Page views rose by 30% year-on-year, too. Meanwhile, our YouTube channel burst past the 500K subs marker and currently sits at just over 570K subs. Congratulations all around – we couldn't have done it without you (quite literally, in fact).
You might assume, then, that with such an incredible year behind us we'd be content to simply rest on our laurels and ease off the gas – but that's not how we do things here at Nlife Media. We know that to keep the site where we want it to be – at the absolute forefront of all things Nintendo – we need to invest in the best talent available and evolve the team to ensure we're firing on all cylinders, and that's exactly what's happening in 2021.
You've already met the award-winning Kate Gray, who marked her return to games journalism by joining us full-time staff writer a few weeks back. Kate began her career at Official Nintendo Magazine in the UK and also worked on Official Xbox Magazine (but don't hold that against her), and it was during her time with Future Publishing that she won the prestigious "Rising Star" award at the 2015 GMAs. She worked as a writer, producer and presenter at Xbox On (the official Xbox UK YouTube channel) and then performed a similar role at GameSpot.
After relocating from the UK to Canada, Kate jumped into the world of game design, working as Narrative Director at KO_OP – in fact, one of the games she worked on, Winding Worlds, has just been nominated for "Best Mobile Game" at the Unity Awards. So she's kind of a big deal. We're incredibly fortunate to have her, and we hope you've been enjoying her content as much as we have over the past month or so.
Joining Kate is someone you might have heard of before: a gentleman by the name of Thomas Whitehead. Tom joined the site way back in 2011, initially helping out with reviews before coming on full-time to steer HMS Nintendo Life through one of its roughest patches: the dreaded Wii U era. He left us back in 2017 to join publisher Circle Entertainment and, since then, has relished working on the other side of the video game PR divide.
Tom's now ready for a fresh challenge, and we obviously did something right during his long and prosperous tenure on Nintendo Life, because we've managed to convince him to return – which means that all those "It was better when Tom was here!" comments are sadly going to have to be retired, we're afraid. Tom will be bringing his indisputable writing talents to the role of Deputy Editor, and we honestly couldn't be happier to have him back.
The next big change relates to someone who has been part of the furniture for some time now. Gavin – who was, until today, doing an utterly marvellous job in the role of Features Editor – will be stepping into the position of Nintendo Life Site Editor with immediate effect. Gavin's work on features over the past few years has been nothing short of exemplary, and we feel that the time is right for him to take the step up to a more challenging (and hopefully rewarding) role as he guides Nintendo Life onto even bigger and better things.
Filling out the core team are News Editor Ryan and News Reporter Liam, both of whom are responsible for the stellar reporting which has done so much to propel Nintendo Life forward in the past few years. News remains one of the most important elements of the site, and Ryan and Liam are doing a fantastic job when it comes to providing exhaustive coverage of everything that happens in the world of Nintendo. We'd also like to thank Henry, who has been helping us with our UK-based news coverage over the past few months while we work on assembling the new team. Henry's going to remain part of the site for a while yet thanks to his insightful features, so we won't be saying goodbye to him yet.
With this new "dream team" of staff, we're confident that Nintendo Life will be the best possible shape to tackle an exciting future. The Nintendo Switch may be now four years old, but it shows no signs of losing momentum and has many exciting titles in the pipeline – including Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, Pokémon Legends: Arceus, Bayonetta 3, Metroid Prime 4 and (of course) Breath of the Wild 2. Not to mention the seemingly endless supply of amazing indie games which have turned Switch into the platform of choice for millions of players.
Our new core team of Gav, Tom, Ryan, Kate and Liam – not to mention our three-strong YouTube team of Alex, Zion and Jon – will be guiding the site as we move into the second phase of the Switch's lifespan and towards its inevitable successor (imagine that).
As for me, I'll still be around in the capacity of network-wide Editorial Director (sadly, you haven't gotten rid of me yet). I'll be working with fellow site owners Ant and Daz to ensure Nintendo Life (and its sister sites, Push Square and Pure Xbox, which also posted their best-ever years in 2020) are as good as they possibly can be, and that Nlife Media as a business continues to head in the right direction. We've also got some exciting developments happening within the wider network which we can't wait to share with you later this year.
So there you have it – a stronger, better, harder and faster Nintendo Life for 2021 and beyond. Enjoy!
Comments 133
Excited for what's to come!
Awesome news! Welcome back @ThomasBW84!
These could be good changes or it may just go to crap.
or else what? what's up with that wording
Fantastic to have @ThomasBW84 back, he was always part of the OG squad for me!
wow, can't believe Nintendo Life is going to kill Mario tomorrow, huge news
GG Team Nlife.
Congratulations to you all. Quality, entertaining content like this rightly deserves celebration and growth. I have especially enjoyed the video content this year.
Hey, welcome back, Tom! Keep up the good work, everyone!
All I want are folders and themes, is that too much to ask?
So glad to hear Tom is back.
So pleased to see @ThomasBW84 back! Good luck to all for a great 2021!
@Koxen It's a pretty common term:
https://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/or-else
Cool, NL version 1.0.6
Great to see Tom back! Unexpected!
And Kate Gray is fantastic.
I also hope we're having a lot of reviews from Vogel and O'Reilly, too.
Probably also got Gonintendo to thank aswell for the rise in page views since they've been non existent for the past month. That's a LOT of traffic
Congrats to all involved, you've been doing a fantastic job for so long now, long may it continue!
Bravo and thanks for your coverage of Wulverblade 3yrs ago, it really made a difference to us!
Fantastic news, a strong team and the recent content has been stellar.
@karatekid1612 This update improves General Stability?
Wooooo, welcome back @ThomasBW84! You were missed, you jovial, bearded scamp you ❤
@Grackler Hopefully
Been reading you for a few years now and I have to say, grats on the huge number rise! Keep up the good work ^^
Well deserved congratulations to Nintendo life team on and amazing 2020 (for the site at least)
And WELCOME BACK @thomasbw84!!! I can say on the name of anyone that has been here long enough to see your work.
I've been visiting since the VC Reviews/WiiWare World days and have been a member since 2008. You must be doing something right as I'm still here, every day.
Welcome home Thomas,it's great to have you back.
Oh thank you! Tom is back! The site changed so much when he left. Happy dance over here!
Awesome stuff - keep up the good work and glad all the sites are thriving.
@ThomasBW84 welcome back! I think you can rightfully claim the email address permanently now ^^’
Regards, the old Thomas
Congratulations on your year! This is the first site I check every day. Great work everyone! Thank you!
Yes Tom, back to the fold. Welcome home chief.
Tom, Gavin and Kate 😁 The dream team right there!
Things have come a long way since the Dom era, thankfully.
I'm still a newbie here but have enjoyed your content for the past 3 years or so. Keep up the good work!
I am a little confused by the penultimate sentence. Is there a typo or does my Language Processing Unit just need a reboot?
"We've also got some exciting developments happening within the wider network which we can't help to share with you later this year."
@CrazyCats Fixed. Thank goodness Gavin is here now.
Favorite website of all time. So happy to be part of this community now for 10 years. Tom is a legend, glad he's back!
What a team!
I'm always having a great time on this site, and I'm glad to here everything will be thundering onwards in style!
Welcome back Tom, you’re writing was always stellar! And props to Kate, that’s quite a resume.
And congrats to the new positions for everyone, I hope it’s a fun and challenging position to grow your skills. Cheers!
@MoonKnight7
Alright, I'm a new NintendoLife reader (started late last year) so I don't really know why it is that people are so happy that Tom is back. Could you perhaps enlighten me why people seem to gravitate towards Tom so much?
Kate Gray is my favorite! I've loved the articles she's written, you guys have something great!!
Or else
Or else what?
Or else I will triple your debt in new horizions
Congratulations, I guess. I don't mind who runs the site though. I do enjoy the "hello lovely people" line in some of the reviews. Besides that, you're just something I consume from time to time, like Oreos!
Take care.
Oh and that Kate Grey person looks sympathetic in a nerdy way. Which is good.
Keep up the great work guys!
Welcome back Thomas!
@F_T_Wolf
Tom is a very talented writer. His articles had a smart and witty tone to them. You could just tell that he enjoyed what he did, it showed in the writing. And his tenure even went through the dreaded Wii U days, so it wasn’t even cheery news, lol. So I’m excited to see him write about more prosperous days for Nintendo.
Excited to see the new team too, lots of talent all around.
Also welcome to NL!
@TossedLlama you are aware that that comment, unlike yours, was made in humor right?? Anyways good luck on that new site.
@MoonKnight7
Thank you for the information! I now know why Tom is so beloved by old(er) NL fans.
And also thank you for the welcome! I'm not yet completely done with setting up my NL profile but once I'm done I hope to become a much more active community member/contributor.
At the very least, I can finally share the games that I play every weekend. Always wanted to be part of those discussions!
Very excited to hear Tom is returning. Welcome back Tom!
@MarcusIsCool You're my new favourite person.
Great to see @ThomasBW84 back on the good ship NLife! Definitely one of the most dedicated people I've ever had the pleasure of working alongside.
@ThomasBW84 is back? AW YES SIRREEEEEE
Thanks for the kind comments. Excuse me, there's something in my eye...
Happy to be back and writing about Nintendo and all its craziness!
WELCOME BACK @ThomasBW84!
Katies articles are great too. Honestly, this is the single best place for Nintendo gaming (erm...outside of my actual Switch I mean...erm.)
Sounds like a really positive work environment! Glad to hear about the new changes. This is easily one of the best gaming sites I’ve visited in 20 years. Wish I found the place sooner.
@ThomasBW84 Welcome back! My name is BloodNinja, and judging from the reception you are getting, you’ve just been...
NINJA APPROVED
@F_T_Wolf
You’re very welcome, I hope you enjoy the site, I’ve been around for a few years and most of the people on here have good intentions. As it’s grown, there’s definitely been more troll accounts, but you’ll have this anywhere. Just ignore them, most of them go away when no one pays attention to them.
I’ve had good discussions with people on here, even if we walked away not agreeing. Different perspectives are not a bad thing, and I’m wiser because of it. See you around the site!
Right on. Welcome back, Tom.
I've been frequenting this site for about 10 years now, I think? Feel like so much has happened in that timespan.
The forums here at Nintendo Life are particularly good, and the least toxic place to actually discuss games that I've found on the internet.
Eyyy, welcome back @ThomasBW84!
Gotta say, the quality of content on this site's been on a real uptick lately (meaning no shade on prior writers!), especially with the addition of Kate, Gavin, Ryan etc. Been enjoying a ton of the content here lately.
And I thought you where going to tell us that the legend Matthew Castle was joining the team........
I'm glad the site is doing well and I was pleasantly surprised to see Pure Xbox return a while back for the XBS. I've never owned an XB console, but I'm always glad to see a fanbase flourishing. Years ago I wished that the three sites were one, but now I'm glad that there are dedicated sites for each.
@JaxonH 100% agreed on that, it feels like a small community. It’s a great place to hang out.
NINJA APPROVED
@TossedLlama No, please stay! The more the merrier!
I'm sorta new? I mean I joined like three or two so years LOL, man how time fly's.
Nintendo Life «improving stability»?
Congrats on your success, Nintendo Life! Good to have you back, @ThomasBW84.
Congratulations on all the great achievements this past year. I remember Kate from ONM and she’s been great here, and Mr. Whitehead’s return is fantastic news.
Great news, welcome back Thomas! The core team now and regular freelancers are as strong as they’ve ever been.
Welcome back, Thomas! You've been missed! And keep on doing what you're doing, Kate!
@ThomasBW84 Welcome back TW. 😁
I first started going to Nintendo Life in 2009-2010, since it became a great place to get info on DSiware releases and news on the 3DS. Community support with Forums also made this site so lively to me. Eventually, I'd move on to GoNintendo and the Nintendo subreddit. Both of those areas have gone somewhat downward (does anyone know exactly what's happening at GoNintendo?) But 2020 brought me back to Nintendo Life. Glad to see Thomas is back as well. He's a good writer and has always been great at communicating with the users.
Tonight we're gonna party like it's 2017!
I think 2020 was the year I realised I'm a crazy Nintendo fan (I blame Covid) and as a result this site has really brought me a lot of smiles. Keep up the good work.
Welcome home, @ThomasBW84! You have been missed.
Thank you for all the hard work. That is all the team. This is one of the reliable reviewing sites I consider when investigating a video game. Look forward to you future works.
Between Nintendo Life and Switch Up on YouTube, the UK has been knocking it out of the park when it comes to Switch coverage.
Welcome to the new, and returning, faces!
I must say I'm a little late to the party with NL/PS, but they've fast become two of my favourite sites that I still read thoroughly on a daily basis — glad to see the site and the crew thriving
Yay, I love Kate Gray's pieces, so I'm more than happy to read more of hers in the future
I can see the super racist Japanese "rising sun" Nintendo flag behind Ant and Tom.
If you look at my site visits stats it is probably horribly high & on the verge of obsession. Will need to go to Nlife Rehab if I keep this up
Yay!
I had jokingly hoped that @ThomasBW84 would have had more influence in getting more Dark Witch content released on Switch when he first left, but it's good to have him back!
Keep up the good work, Nintendo Life!
@kingbk SwitchUp is also my favorite Switch-based YouTube channel!
It's funny how I get most of my Nintendo related news and reviews from the UK lol
The articles that I like the best have gotta be Kate's. Whether it's her talking about Zelda or reviewing a game, it feels like she's talking to you. It feels like she's telling her friend not to get this crap game she has or is recalling an experience with another game. But on top of all that, all of her articles are funny and well written. This is the main reason why I'm checking the site 30 times a day.
Kate has been such a breath of fresh air, lending the site the air of a print magazine with longer form articles. It's wonderful to see. And a huge welcome back to @ThomasBW84 !
Though a lot of people feel the site changed when Tom left, but IMO it had less to do with Tom leaving and more to do with Nintendo actually becoming popular again - the audience changed from a core nintendo-loyalist defenders group to a large popular console group and the content, for better or worse, changed with it.
I think for those of us that were around during that era, we'll always like it best when it was a small close-knit group than a large population and more fanboy warriors.
@NEStalgia Yeah, you’re pretty much spot on. It’s a very different site from the Wii U years and I honestly wouldn’t say that the community’s gotten any better.
the dreaded Wii U era.
NOT THE WII U ERA
Love it ! Can we also get a night mode of the site at some point ?
I've especially enjoyed Henry and Kate's articles this last little while. Glad to see there's no plans to give them the boot anytime soon.
@ThomasBW84 Welcome back! I was hoping it was either you or James when I read the tagline. Can't wait to read headlines and taglines, and immediately recognize your writing style.
@MaxPlastic Yeah, it's interesting because Nintendo has been pretty secondary in Europe overall when it comes to video gaming (Sega and PC gaming dominated in the 80s and 90s, Playstation and to a lesser degree Xbox in the 2000s to today). The Switch is the first Nintendo console to really get a foothold over there and have some success (though I know Nintendos handhelds have been pretty successful over there as well).
Here in the states, the places for Switch coverage have been mediocre at best. Kotaku at times can be good, but they lean more towards Playstation/Xbox coverage and too often dip into politics (though I appreciate their investigative coverage of certain things). Polygon seems to be focusing more on movies and pop culture these days than gaming. IGN's loves to hype up certain games and then score them way higher than they should, while then downplaying better games and scoring them lower than they should. YouTube seems to be a bunch of dudes living in their basements speculating on rumors or repeating news they see on Google.
I'm happy we have Nintendolife and Switch Up available.
Good news all around! And welcome back to @ThomasBW84, he was definitely missed!
Also congrats to @dartmonkey on the new position, and a belated congrats on the new tiny Koopaling!
Many things keep me coming back to NLife daily, and the excellently written features and articles are certainly part of that equation.
No way!
Welcome back home @ThomasBW84!
I love Nintendo Life, keep pushing out quality content. 👑
Really think you guys should stuff like gameplay in yogscast. Style with your members bunch of you hanging out playing video games having a laugh I would be down for watching could defo bring more people in to the site and your YouTube channel!
It’s funny, the other day I caught myself thinking... what with Kate contributing all these excellent articles to the site, it’s beginning to feel like the golden days when Tom was here! And now Tom is here! What wonderful news!
If I’m blunt, I feel there was a discernible dip in quality in the period directly after Tom left, but things have been going from strength to strength over the last year or so, and adding Tom back into the mix is more than I could have hoped for. His writing was always brimming with warmth, wit, and wisdom, as well as good old-fashioned common sense. There was a balance and perspective to his writing - rare in the hype-laden information stream surrounding video games - that writing the really grounded the site. I look forward to reading his contributions from here on.
I should also say, the YouTube channel has also really benefited from Jon’s presence, and the current trio works really well. Jon has been the glue that binds the whole thing together, as well has providing his own unique and valuable spin on things.
But this is about Tom... Welcome Tom! So good to have you back!
Congratulations to Kate and welcome back Tom.
@Maxz I think Tom left but always knew he was going to come back. In fact I say he was the one they suggested his replacement as he knew that everyone would dislike him.
Glad to hear Thomas Whitehead is back. And nice to see Kate Gray front and center, the industry needs more women's voices.
@NEStalgia Hear hear
In this humble scribes opinion it's good to have @ThomasBW84 back
@ThomasBW84 Welcome back mate! I can't wait to see you in action once again here at NL!
Very impressive, making me wish I had put my journalism degree into a video game journalism career but hey, it's a tough industry to crack! You are The Ocarina of Time of Nintendo blogs (i.e. The gold standard) Keep it up!
Looking forward to it.
Sorry, but Kate aside I don’t see ANYTHING positive in this news
Glad to hear that the site is doing well! I used to lurk during the Wii U era but I’ve been coming back more frequently after Jon joined on the YouTube channel. His videos are brilliant, please keep giving him and the others the freedom they have now!
Congratulations team! Now how would a young (haha 40s young!) enthusiastic, fresh faced writer…. ME… get to write an article or two for your wonderful site? I’ve tried to contact via the contact us a couple of times but have sadly never heard back. makes sad puppy dog eyes at whole team
For further clarification :
Kate is excellent, yes.
@ThomasBW84 being back is excellent too. He’s been much missed.
BUT - the site is still crap after the redesign with content easily being missed.
The site still works rubbish on iPads and other mobile devices.
We still have to read endless rubbish on the same topic - Mario being retired?????? Really?
There is still this condescending tone towards the readers which makes visiting here sometimes uncomfortable “all those ‘it was better when Tom was here’ comments”......
Gavin is going to have more control as features editor. So two good bits of news balanced out with a lot of bad,
Give Kate whatever she wants. Keep her happy!
@Spoony_Tech Now if only they could get James back, that would be a killer team.
...So I'm still not taking over this site yet?
...Can we at least still make Sanya the site's mascot?
...No? Oki. TwT
Oh hai Tom.
Welcome back.
Welcome back Tom. Been a member here since 2011 and its great to see one of the original writers return.
Thanks everyone for the kind comments and general level of being excellent to each other! Feeling very fortunate to work with such a top, top group of humans — and to be the first to eyeball the brilliant stuff they create on a daily basis.
Excited for what's to come in 2021 and beyond!
Welcome back @ThomasBW84! I really enjoyed reading your detailed articles and reviews so it’s great to see you and your excellent writing back.
And Kate’s done a great job as well, I love the personality and humor that comes through in her articles!
Glad to see Nintendo Life as a whole doing well! Hope you guys continue to have record-breaking traffic to your site!
I'm part of that uptick as I've recently gotten into NintendoLife content over the past year- predominantly with your YouTube topics & personalities (Jon's passion for certain random topics is always a welcomed treat- let him do more random vids, Zion's reviews/commentary, Alex's straight-forwardness... and all 3 doing long discussion videos are the best) really, but now also checking in on the site- Kate's (shoutout Canada!) writing in particular is really endearing and I appreciate the obscure, random features, lists, retrospectives, polls etc. on here.
...But that's enough waffling, let's get right into thanks. Thank you lovelee peepull for your interesting coverage, congratulations and keep it up! 👍🏾👍🏾
@Synecdoche I agree with this sentiment
Tom must have loads of notifications now.
Also noticed one of the two games he gave a 10/10 to was Super Metroid, a man with a fine taste!
This isn't meant as a slam, just some personal hopes for the future of this beloved site. First, I really miss the abundance of game reviews this site used to post. I found out about so many games I would've missed had it not been for you all. It seems reviews now are heavily outweighed by soapbox/clickbait/rumor/etc... Second, please have more reviews, less soapbox/clickbait/rumor/etc...
Lol, ok I cheated. Both hopes are the same.
Great news! I don't comment often, but I've been reading this site for over 10 years. This looks like an all-star line up to me!
Huzzah! So glad @ThomasBW84 is back!
@ThomasBW84. Welcome back, we ain't letting you go again.
As my primary source of Nintendo news, it’s great to hear how well you’ve been doing! Let’s hope that this year is even better!
Love to hear you guys are doing well!
Brilliant team, brilliant site. To many more years together!
I enjoyed the site even in the relatively quiet Wii U days, and NL has kept me informed and entertained in these Switch boom years.
I love the addition of Kate - her writing has been fantastic and I’m grateful for the diversity she’s brought to your team!
I remember Tom’s excellent reviews, too, so it is wonderful to welcome him back.
Wishing success to your entire team - I’m happy to be along for the ride! 😁
Can you get Zion to say his name correctly and teach him how to say Super Mario Bros. properly PLEASE?
Welcome back, @ThomasBW84!
@Tasuki That would be awesome! Bring back a bit of what made this site great years ago.
Not enough love here for Jon’s video content. NintendoLife has always had the best YouTube channel, but with Jon on board it’s even better. Great site guys.
I remember I once got @ThomasBW84 to say "Hello lovely people" in an E3 live chat
Honestly, I don't remember who the staff were back when I was active on the site in say, 2012, but that is indeed a familiar name.
Congrats on your return @ThomasBW84!
But when will NL get folders?? How long can you keep us waiting, guys!
NintendoLife just keeps getting better and better. So glad to see Tom back!
@Jack_Goetz Agree man. The Dom era saw NL taking overhand rights followed by uppercuts to the chin. Old boy got demoted to reviews then was finally flushed a year later.
@ThomasBW84 Tom! I’ve been a regular visiter to NL since 2011 (my goodness, 10 years!) and I must say I’m absolutely thrilled that you’re returning! Your writing has always captured so well the feelings of people who deeply care about Nintendo. Welcome back good sir!
@ThomasBW84 Happy to hear you are back! I look forward to seeing your articles again!
Awesome all around, congrats and welcome back are in order!
@AcclaimDev Dreadful times. It was clear his heart wasn't in it, as his articles for PS4 on other websites were pretty good. On this side though his articles were clickbait-y, full of typos (so much for being the main editor) and a lot of times didn't make any sense or were full of inaccuracies, as he was trying to blag knowing about different series (Xenoblade 2: Torna review is a prime example). The only series he spoke about with any real conviction on this site was Dark Souls, which says it all really.
He was a poor gamble on the directors' part, especially as it was Tom they were replacing. They were dark days for this website, but I'm really glad it's found its feet again.
It's really awesome to see Tom return to Nintendo Life, as he's one of the nicest people I've met in the gaming community. Tom's already back in style as well, with his fantastic recent Talking Point called Nintendo And The Industry Needs To Get Serious About Game Preservation.
It's so uplifting to read that 2020 was Nintendo Life's best year so far, and this news article highlights how brilliantly the team is growing for the future. I look forward to reading the great content here, and visiting the YouTube channel regularly, for many years to come.
It's also cool to see Fully Illustrated with a comment above, because I loved hackin'-and-slashin' my way through Wulverblade for repeated brawler playthroughs with different characters.
Congratulations, and my best onwards and upwards wishes to Nintendo Life!
It’s Easter Monday today, so Happy Easter too.
@Damo english is not my main language. good to know
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