Obituary: Kotaku’s Mike Fahey Dies

Mike Fahey Kotaku, one of the longest-serving writers for one of video games’ oldest and most widely read online publications, died on Friday. He was 49 years old. For 16 years, Fahey has written with a deep love for big fun and toys, snacks, giant robots, video games, and the emotional bonds that bind them all to their readers.

It was Fahey’s death confirmed on Friday by his partner, Eugene Abbott. Fahey in 2018 underwent aortic dissection, severing a major artery in his body paralyzed him from the chest down and forced him to use a wheelchair. Fahey suffered another such tear in April, and he died of an infection related to these chronic health problems.

Mike Fahey joined Kotaku in 2006 after building his online presence with comic posts about a missing Pikachu plushie. “He had a Pikachu that people kept kidnapping,” Abbott told Polygon. “People would hold up signs saying, ‘We have your Pikachu.’ “I think the last time he was seen, he was tied to the front of an 18-wheeler.”

Photo: Eugene Abbott

Brian Crecente, Kotaku’s editor-in-chief from 2005 to 2011, recalled that Fahey was a commentator on the blog he started before Kotaku was founded. When Crecente was named editor of Kotaku, Fahey became his first hire.

“The reason I hired him and continued to work there is because he was a naturally funny guy,” Crecente said. “Most people who try to write funny things come out of compulsion, but for him it was an innate ability. It was very natural. I pushed him to do investigative work and write in longer form, but I think that’s what he likes best was to make people laugh.”

When Crecente hired him in November 2006, Fahey came out of his shell. He has remained on staff ever since. “I once again had a job, a boyfriend, and finally my own apartment with no roommates,” Fahey wrote. At Kotaku, Fahey is known for his appreciation of delicious food – Snacktaku was the running title to celebrate the lighter moments of these posts – and of video game culture.

Image: Brian Crescent

Fahey found his voice as an everyman pop culture fan, with interests and passions in The Transformers, Final Fantasy, Street Fighter, Madden NFL, and especially role-playing games. I published it in October 2009 a groundbreaking memoir of his own video game addiction while playing Everquest, and how he ruined the relationship with Abbott that he would soon mend.

“Everybody would be like, ‘Ha ha, did you date the guy who ignored you for video games?'” Abbott said Monday. He realized that Fahey was heading towards level 40 – he hated it though. “But there was no part of me that was like, ‘He doesn’t matter? Does he like video games more?’ I just said, “Bruh, hurry up.”

articles about Michael McDonald to Fight Stickor how to cook Original Castlevania wall Turkey was equal to his working day. In 2008 his one-man campaign There’s “Touch” – a 1986 power ballad – from Stan Bush Transformers: The Movie animation function — added Guitar hero 5.

In one of Fahey’s most memorable and loudest posts to Kotaku, he was playing a video game in his office when he looked over his shoulder and saw “a spider the size of a small Volkswagen” on the ceiling. I blasted it with a can of Elmer’s CraftBond glue, then split it with a copy. Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare For Xbox One. The case is still stuck on the ceiling.

Fahey has invited comparisons to the cliché of the big, overgrown kid because he stands 6-foot-6. Abbott recalls that she often returned from business trips to conventions and exhibitions with a suitcase full of surprises for her children. “He would come home with a suitcase, open it, and all the candy and toys would come out,” they said.

“I just came home from Momocon 2015 [in Atlanta] with lots of ramune and Hi-Chew [candy]”, Abbott said, “he called the children and opened them in bed, then fell asleep surrounded by candy.”

Polygon news editor Michael McWhertor, who was hired at Kotaku shortly after Fahey, had a similar recollection covering San Diego Comic-Con together. “I went back to the hotel room and there was Fahey lying on his bed surrounded by all the toys he bought at the showroom as a kid at Christmas,” he said.

Michael Fahey is survived by Abbott and their two 11-year-old sons, Seamus and Archer. GoFundMe campaign to help the family you are built