↓↑journey

By Chris Penwell

I’m not going to lie: the last two years have been difficult. As soon as I moved back to the United Kingdom from Canada after 16 years of living there, my passion for gaming had dimmed.

Compound that with getting let go from Hardcore Gamer (Valnet)—and a severe lack of confidence as a result—and my unwavering love of video games for many years has waned.

But the move is probably the main factor. For two main reasons. The first:

1. Changing Timezones

There is a huge eight-hour difference between British Columbia, Canada (where I used to live) and England. Most of my friends from the United States and Canada, who live in the area, are hard to reach, especially on weekdays.

I used to stream as a VTuber for four years and gained a community of friends. I felt welcome. I joined parties almost every night, playing Fortnite and other multiplayer games. It was a blast. That is now cut off, and I feel distant. My viewer numbers also decreased significantly during streams, leading to the channel’s cancellation.

One of my longest friends, Buckles, also played fighting games with me pretty regularly.

However, when I moved back to the United Kingdom, I lost that almost immediately. It still hits me hard to this day. Not having that community of friends with me, readily available, hurts.

On top of the timezone difference, the connection can also be spotty. For our review of Invincible VS., the connection between Buckles and me was spotty. It wasn’t particularly enjoyable. We’ve lost that opportunity to play games together now, if we ever get the chance to match our schedules (which is very rare).

I’ve tried to make friends with my local community, but there hasn’t been a deep connection forged yet. To be honest, I’ve felt talked down to and alienated.

2. PlayStation Plus

There is no way to change your region with a PlayStation account. This sucks so much, and Sony needs to change this. I’ve lost all of my prior PlayStation Plus games due to having to make a new account.

For about a year and a half, I got currency keys from G2A and other key shops, but it got expensive and tiresome. They had to specifically be Canadian to work, too. The other annoying thing is that you don’t know how these users are getting these codes. It seems incredibly sketchy.

So, now, I’m using PlayStation Plus on a British account. I can’t stream PS4 or PS5 games to it with the progress I’ve had from the past. I can’t access the online progress I’ve made on the Canadian account either. It’s so damn annoying.

Thankfully, Steam doesn’t care which region you’re in. I can play all my games and not have to worry about a dumb online subscription. The problem is that my gaming laptop recently died. I’ve been so unlucky recently.

My love for the PlayStation brand has truly soured over the past few years, due to these frustrations. However, my opinion of PlayStation has lowered due to the agonising focus on live service crap. Most PlayStation studios are great at single-player, story-focused games, and that’s where Sony should be putting its money in.

Maybe a Phoenix Down is coming?

Recently, my love of gaming has returned slightly. Since writing for SmashPad and DownUpJourney, my passion for writing and the gaming medium is returning. I’m considering interviewing people who work on video games, like designers, environmental artists, voice actors, etc.

Going to events like MCM Comic Con makes me feel somewhat excited for upcoming games, too. Indies are also as delightful as ever, with Mouse P.I. for Hire becoming a true highlight of 2026 so far with its 1930s cartoon aesthetic and thrilling FPS gameplay. I’m also excited to play Denshattack!

While I may have thought I was down and out, maybe, just maybe, I can love gaming again.