Mike & Rami Are Still Here

Why bother? Between the layoffs, the poor sales, the threat of AI, it feels like making video games in 2026 has become a bit of a pointless endeavour.
Mike Rose (No More Robots founder) and Rami Ismail (Vlambeer founder) decide to answer this question once and for all. Should you bother making video games?

Mike Rose and Rami Ismail have been around in video games for nearly 40 years combined, and have worked on a bunch of different games -- but what games inspired, directed and influenced their career trajectories?

Together they discuss 20 games that got them to where they are. Picks include Minecraft, Age of Empires, Papers Please, Golden Sun, Cave Story, and Spelunky.

Mike and Rami have been playing loads of video games, and they decide to actually talk about video games for a change.
They talk Blood of the Dawnwalker, Assassin's Creed, The Incident at Galley House, Big Walk, Blood Dungeon, and more

Bit of a misleading name.

Simon Carless of GameDiscoverCo is on the poddy with us today, talking about analytics and video game history and dealing with Mike's usual bs. Rami still can't believe this is a real podcast. Mike Rose and Rami Ismail host.

It's the first ever Mike & Rami LIVE, recorded at Develop Conference in Brighton!
Huge thanks to Develop Conference for letting us do this ridiculous thing on their stage. Mike & Rami play a 40 minute DnD session, and it goes exactly how you'd  expect. We've got dice rolls, we've got guests, we've got game pitches, we've got the lot.