Game Two

Sometime in the early 2000s I realized that four German guys on television understood gaming better than most of the gaming press. Simon Krätschmer, Daniel Budiman, Nils Bomhoff, Étienne Gardé—they hosted Giga Games and then Game One, a show that mixed sketches, reviews, and stupid jokes into something that actually felt alive. If you were anywhere in Europe with a PC or console back then, you knew them. They mattered in a way that’s hard to explain now.

Game One got canceled in 2014. The hosts scattered into Rocket Beans TV, a 24-hour internet stream that felt like exactly what they’d do after television kicked them out. It was good, but it wasn’t the same. The specific magic of four people on TV at a specific moment doesn’t translate perfectly to always-on internet. Nobody said they missed Game One, but you could feel it.

And then somehow—through Funk, this youth platform ARD and ZDF set up—they got to do it again. Not Game One. Lawyers made sure of that. So it’s called Game Two. Same hosts. Same format. Slightly different container.

I’ve got no idea if it’s actually good or if I just want it to be good because it shouldn’t exist. Probably both. But there’s something stubborn about it, something almost defiant. They get to make the thing they wanted to make, even if they had to rename it. That’s not nothing.