Obituary: Mike Fahey of Kotaku passes away

Mike Fahey of Kotaku, one of the longest-tenured writers at one of video gaming’s oldest and most read online publications, died on Friday. His age was 49. Fahey was 49 years old.

Fahey’s death was confirmed FridayEugene Abbott, his partner. In 2018, Fahey suffered an aortic dissection, which is a tearing of the body’s main artery, that paralyzed him from the chest down and forced him to use a wheelchair. Fahey was also affected by chronic health problems and suffered another similar tear in April.

Mike Fahey, who established an online site with hilarious posts about the disappearance of a Pikachu plushie, joined Kotaku. “He had a Pikachu that people kept kidnapping,” Abbott told Polygon. “People would hold up a sign saying ‘We have your Pikachu.’ I think the last time it was seen, it was strapped to the front of an 18-wheeler.”

Photo: Eugene Abbott

Brian Crecente, the editor-in-chief of Kotaku from 2005 to 2011, recalled that Fahey was a commenter on a blog he had started prior to Kotaku’s founding. Fahey was Crecente’s first hire when he was appointed Kotaku editor.

“The reason I hired him, and the reason he continued working there, is he was such a naturally funny guy,” Crecente said. “So many who try to write funny stuff, it comes of forced, but for him, it was an innate ability. This was so easy. I pushed him to do investigative stuff and longer-form writing, but I think the thing he liked most was making people laugh.”

Crecente had Fahey hired in November 2006. Fahey stayed on the staff every since. “I once again had a job, a girlfriend, and eventually my own apartment, sans roommates,” Fahey wrote. At Kotaku, Fahey became known for his appraisals of tasty treats — Snacktaku was the running title of these posts — and for celebrating the lighter moments of video gaming culture.

Photo: Brian Crecente

Fahey was a true pop culture lover and found his voice. His passions range from Street Fighter to Final Fantasy and Street Fighter to Madden NFL and role-playing video games. His remarkable recollection, which he wrote in October 2009, of his video game addiction during play was published. Everquest, How it broke up a friendship with Abbott, which he would quickly mend.

“Everyone would say, ‘Ha ha, you dated the guy who ignored you for video games?’” Abbott said on Monday. She seemed to understand that Fahey was grinding toward level 40 — which she nonetheless hated. “But there wasn’t any part of me that was ever like, ‘Does he not care? Does he love the video game more?’ I was just like, ‘Bruh, hurry up.’”

His workday included posts about how to make a Castlevania Wall Turkey or how to fight Michael McDonald’s. In 2008, his one-man campaign on behalf of Stan Bush got “The Touch,” — the power ballad of 1986’s Transformers: The Movie animated feature — added to Guitar Hero 5.

In one of Fahey’s most memorable, and most uproarious, posts for Kotaku, he was playing a video game in his office, looked over his shoulder, and saw “a spider the size of a small Volkswagen” on the ceiling overhead. He blasted it with a can of Elmer’s CraftBond adhesive, then smashed it with a copy of Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare Xbox One. It is stuck to the ceiling.

Fahey invited comparisons to the cliché of the big, overgrown kid, not least because he stood 6-foot-6. Abbott recalls how he often returned from business trips to conventions or expos carrying a bag full of surprises for his children. “He’d come home with a suitcase and open it up, and all the candy and toys would come out,” they said.

“He came home from Momocon 2015 [in Atlanta]With a lot of Hi-Chew and Ramune [candy],” Abbott said, “called the kids in and opened them up on the bed, then fell asleep, surrounded by candy.”

Michael McWhertor (Polygon News Editor) had a similar recollection. He was employed to Kotaku soon after Fahey. “I came back to the hotel room, and there was Fahey, sleeping on his bed, surrounded by all the toys he bought from the show floor, like a kid on Christmas,” he said.

Abbott, Seamus, and Archer Fahey, who are the sons of Michael Fahey, survive him. To help the Fahey family, a GoFundMe campaign has been established.