Storytime

Each PAX begins with our traditional opening ceremony, Storytime from an industry luminary. Leaders in gaming; be they developers, influencers, artists, designers, or other related expertise in this space, have regaled PAX attendees with the story of their lives and how they cemented their place in the annals of game culture.

2026'S STORYTIME ANNOUNCEMENT COMING SOON!

Greg has been covering video games for nearly two decades and eating chicken wings a lot longer than that. In the first eight years of his career, he went from being a PlayStation Team editor to the face of IGN.com, but in 2015, he broke off with friends to form Kinda Funny, an Internet media company that's changed the way the industry sees games coverage and crowdfunding. Now, Kinda Funny's 10 years old, 11 full time employees, and a live talk show network for their audience of Best Friends.

PAX EAST’S 2026 STORYTIME SPEAKER IS
XALAVIER NELSON JR.

Best known for: Founder: Strange Scaffold game studio, Forbes 30 under 30, Indie Games Developer

Join us for his Storytime on Thursday, March 26 at 11:00 AM ET in the Main Theatre

Xalavier Nelson Jr. is a relentlessly prolific creator, weaving between video games and voice acting, comics and tabletop, to support his collaborators and build the creative life he wants to lead. He's the studio head of Strange Scaffold most days, developing El Paso, Elsewhere (2023), Space Warlord Organ Trading Simulator (2022) and its runaway success sequel, Space Warlord Baby Trading Simulator (2026), I Am Your Beast (2024), and more, for a total of 18 games released in the past 6 years. The speed at which Xalavier and his creative partners develop and publish unique, distinctly-realized games is both remarkable and deliberate, reflecting an acceptance of compromises and advantages that Xalavier believes is key to being a sustainable creator. Do you want to make things you love, in a way that fits your brain and life? Do you hope for a world where your favorite developers and artists get to keep making things? Do you live for the bit? In this keynote, Xalavier will tell us how he started his career, why he persists in the face of massive industry upheaval, and how we can all move towards a future where everyone gets to make art better, faster, cheaper, and healthier, without generative AI, because fuck that shit.