Remembering Jonathan “Yogdog” Brown

Passion. When I think about our departed friend and colleague Yogdog, the word that instantly comes to mind is ‘passion’. Whether it was his streaming, doing so for an incredible 1264 consecutive days on his own channel or representing developers like Slitherine, whether it was the grim dark future of Warhammer 40K, or it was his beloved strategy games, Yogdog was an incredibly passionate person. When he loved something, he loved it wholly. It was a truly admirable quality, and watching him wax lyrical about Escape From Tarkov or any number of strategy games I’d never even heard of in his own brand of tranquil tones was something to behold. I only dream I could be half as passionate about any game as much as Yogdog was passionate about Battle Brothers.

I’ve known Yogdog since 2017, when we ran in a few of the same internet circles. Primarily, this was the comments sections and forums of TheSixthAxis. Back in the day, you wouldn’t find many comments sections of that website without an appearance from Yog & I, alongside Peter, Chris, Tuffcub, Del, Gaz and Stefan. Yogdog managed to translate that passion in the comments section of TSA into a short lived writing gig there, contributing to a number of reviews and getting a few of his own bylines. It was clear back then that he had an eye for games; Yogdog was all over PUBG before it was famous.

While we’d stayed in touch via Twitter (as much as anybody can stay connected on Twitter), it wasn’t until an unexpected email hit my mailbox in June 2022 that we properly reconnected. We’d put a call out looking for some new writers to join our team, and he’d reached out with an application that was frankly excellent. A month later, it was as if he was always part of the team. Always willing to learn, always volunteering to help, always compassionate and one of the friendliest, most genuine people you could ever hope to meet, it was a joy to work with him. Editing his reviews for the games that he cared about was always a challenge; you’d often open a review draft to be met with a wall of 5,000 words on a short DLC expansion, read it and be unable to cut or condense any of it because it was all engaging, insightful and (there’s that word again) passionate.

In the 2 years that Yogdog was part of our team, he quietly and unassumingly smashed it. He holds the record for the review that generated the most traffic for the website, ever. He became a staple on the Finger Guns podcast (the team recorded some thoughts on Yog that you can hear here). His streaming went from strength to strength, with a level of consistency that even the most ardent professionals would struggle to match. He became a friend, one that I wish we could have had more time with.

Yogdog, you and your passion will be sorely missed. May you rest in peace.