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UK Retro gaming legend Nick Thorpe has passed away

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Paul McNally
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Last Updated On: Dec 3, 2025 10:12 pm CET

Terrible news reaching us at The Escapist this evening as we hear of the passing of popular retro gaming legend Nick Thorpe, long-time Features Editor of the bastion of the scene, Retro Gamer. Nick was just 38 at the time of his death.

Nick had worked on Retro Gamer for the last decade and was pivotal to its standing and appeal. Retro Gamer is, and remains, one of the mainstream successes of an entire gaming movement, in no small part due to the efforts of Nick.

News of his death was broken by Retro Gamer’s Editor Darran Jones on Bluesky.

This is absolutely heartbreaking news. Nick Thorpe @hkt3030.neocities.org our incredible features editor, sadly passed away yesterday. He was an incredible asset to the magazine and a compassionate and fantastic friend. My thoughts go out to his friends and family. I just can’t believe he’s gone

— RetrogamerDaz (@retrogamerdaz.bsky.social) 2025-12-02T18:22:59.745Z

All at The Escapist will keep Nick and his family and friends in our thoughts this evening and beyond.

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Retro Gaming
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Paul McNally
Managing Editor
Paul McNally has been around consoles and computers since his parents bought him a Mattel Intellivision in 1980. He has been a prominent games journalist since the 1990s, spending over a decade as editor of popular print-based video games and computer magazines, including a market-leading PlayStation title. Paul has written high-end gaming content for GamePro, Official Australian PlayStation Magazine, PlayStation Pro, Amiga Action, Mega Action, ST Action, GQ, Loaded, and the The Mirror. He has also hosted panels at retro-gaming conventions and can regularly be found guesting on gaming podcasts and Twitch shows. Believing that the reader deserves actually to enjoy what they are reading is a big part of Paul’s ethos when it comes to gaming journalism, elevating the sites he works on above the norm. Reach out on X.
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