Jay Peters

Hi! I’m a journalist at The Verge. I cover technology, gaming, and more.

Below are select highlights of my work. You can see all of my writing for The Verge on my author page. On Bluesky, I’m @jaypeters.net.

Recent-ish stories I’m proud of

Astro Bot’s director on making a PlayStation icon
I intereviewed Nicolas Doucet following his GDC 2025 presentation about Astro’s origins and the small details that give Astro his charming personality.

Death Stranding 2 is bigger and more ambitious — and that includes its music
I intereviewed Woodkid, one of the composers of Death Stranding 2, about the game’s music, the game’s in-game music player, and working with Hideo Kojima.

The Atlantic is making a big push into games
I got an exclusive interview with The Atlantic’s director of games about its new hub for games and puzzles.

With the Switch, technology finally caught up to Nintendo
I wrote about how the failed Wii U helped pioneer ideas that Nintendo evolved into a huge success with the Switch and, presumably, the Switch 2.

Expedition 33’s big twist was designed to ‘inflict the pain on the player’
I interviewed Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s creative director and lead writer about a pivotal moment in the game.

Select coverage from the 2025 Game Developers Conference

The creator of Papers, Please wants developers to make weirder, more personal games

Why Balatro’s developer stays anonymous

7 cool indie games from GDC 2025

Features

How Reddit crushed the biggest protest in its history

Elon Musk’s Twitter, one year later

Former Kotaku writers are launching a new video game site — and they own it this time

Interviews

Tim Sweeney didn’t expect a five-year Fortnite ban

Polygon’s new owner says it will ‘do what’s right for Polygon’

Reddit CEO Steve Huffman isn’t backing down: our full interview

Reviews

The best indie games we’re playing right now
I’ve been a key contributor to making this storystream (in Verge parlance) of articles and reviews about indie games The Verge recommends.

Deltarune is halfway done, but it feels like a full game

Citizen Sleeper 2 is the good kind of stressful

Media Appearances

LiveNOW from FOX: Nintendo Switch 2 pre-orders sold out

CBS News: Bluesky picking up steam as alternative to X

CBC News: ELI5: What’s the deal with the Reddit blackout? | About That

Verge Media Appearances

TikTok video about Nintendo’s efforts to beat Switch 2 pre-order scalpers

Instagram video about Linda Yaccarino and Yoel Roth at Code 2023

A Vergecast episode about the protests on Reddit in 2023

Previous Jobs

Before The Verge, I worked at Techmeme and WE Communications.

Other Stuff

Emoji

I drafted accepted emoji proposals for:

🫡 Saluting Face (one of two accepted proposals for Saluting Face)
🫧 Bubbles
🧇 Waffle
🥱 Yawning Face

I also wrote a story for The Verge about how I made the yawning face and waffle emoji.

Running

I like to run long distances and have completed four marathons:

A Treat For Reading This Far

In 2010, I played bass drum for the University of Oregon Marching Band and nearly ran over a camera person at the Rose Bowl.