Games Journalism General

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Tanner Glass said:
It sounded like Jeff wants to be a professional journalist and not a content creator, and GB is just going to do content creation 100% moving forward.
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Danny O'Dwyer jealousy? It would be great if he does something interesting but he's seemed so lethargic for the last... 10 or so years. Even when he streamed from home 5-6 years ago he didn't have much energy. Maybe he was channeling AGDQ speed runners when saying "this sucks..."

An odd pairing that I would like to see is Gerstmann and the guy from RetroPals, he's like a fat Dan Ryckert if Ryckert knew a lot about 80's Namco games instead of wrestling.
 
Smaug's Smokey Hole said:
It would be great if he does something interesting but he's seemed so lethargic for the last... 10 or so years.
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I still mark Ryan’s passing as the time that Jeff started treating Giantbomb as more of an obligation and less of a passion project. For everything Jeff did creating the site, Ryan was right there the entire time and was more or less the “face” of Giantbomb, hosting most of the content and being one of the most dynamic on-air personalities. Which is to say nothing of him also being Jeff’s best friend and comic counterpart and I can only imagine how devastating that must have been to try to continue on without him.
Jeff was very much the driving force behind a lot of what Giantbomb was, but Ryan was the glue that held most of it together and, as much as I still enjoyed their content for some time, there was no escaping the different vibe with his passing.
 
CHARizard said:
Hes gonna start the first episode of the podcast now. Sounds like we will not get a real reason for leaving GB.
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Jeff answered an email on the new podcast talking about the difference in coverage games recieve that hinted at what drove him to start over on Patreon. The gist of it was that there was enough of a lull in game releases that he used to be able to feel "caught up" with games media, but the now constant stream of news has made reaching that "caught up" feeling impossible. It seems like the stress of trying to stay relevant as a journalist while also churning out videos as a content creator was starting to weigh on him and he implied that he was expressing that anger and frustration towards his family, so I'm guessing that was what finally broke him away from Giant Bomb. (Vinny expressed something similar in the last Beastcast, that the Giant Bomb gig was straining his marriage)

Edit: Timestamps from the podcast: https://jeffgerstmann.simplecast.com/episodes/episode-001-oh-hi
2:34:20 - Question starts for people who want full context
2:37:10 - Jeff starts talking about old coverage vs. new coverage and breaking away from corporate schedules in favor of running his own show

Jeff seemed in good spirits aside from this moment, so hopefully he's doing better. He lost the ability to remember his dreams because of the stress, but he's recovered some it after making the decision to leave.
 
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Maybe it's been covered here already, but someone on the /r/giantbomb subreddit claimed that Jeff said something along the lines of "If COVID hadn't happened, I maybe would have left Giant Bomb sooner." I was only able to catch a little bit of his stream myself, so I'm just taking their word for it.

Lack of staff communication re: premium content has been a big issue since they launched the new shows last year. Seemed to come to a head recently on their on-site forums, forcing Rorie to step in and let people know that staff weren't ignoring them, and that new things were being worked on. That's probably why there's so much language around being more "transparent" in their announcement.
 
Nextlander’s deep dive on the behind the scenes at their time Giant Bomb
archive.is

Nextlander’s deep dive on the behind the scenes at their time Giant B…

archived 8 Jun 2022 18:18:34 UTC
archive.is archive.is

In the latest episode of the Ramblecast, Vinny, Brad, and Alex discuss the behind the scenes of Giant Bomb under CBSi in light of recent events and it being a year since they’ve started Nextlander. Since the podcast is behind their Patreon, I thought to share some highlight to clear up some speculation as of late.
Full Disclaimer Full context cannot be made unless you listen to the podcast and hear what they have to say straight from their mouths. This is a summary of an hour chat. If there’s anything I’ve missed, feel free to comment and I’ll add. Anything I misinterpreted or was too ambiguous I’ve re-edited.
Key Highlights
  • Vinny had 5 bosses throughout his time
  • No one was under contract and did not receive a buy out or severance pay for leaving (despite what some forums speculate as called out by Vinny)
  • Staff roles, pay, and evaluations were pigeonholed by CBS’s old school editorial structure
  • While Vinny was still in SF, a meeting took place where a manager said “Now let’s imagine what Giant Bomb looks like without Vinny in it” as he was present in the room
edit direct quote transcript of Vinny’s for clarity “The guy was like ‘can we talk About Vinny as if he’s just not here anymore’ when I was in the room with the meeting! ‘Can we talk about what Giant Bomb looks like without Vinny here’ and I was like do you just want me to fucking … I can leave the room while you do this” (Vinny clarified on Discord this was during his pitch for GB East and in the context of what if we just let Vinny go instead, however the other people in the room said no)
  • CBSi was very slow to take action until threatened by quitting
  • “People are reading forums, as much as they say they’re not reading forums, they’re reading forums. The staff reads the freaking comments. It’s what happens, don’t think they don’t. A drive by crap comment on a YouTube video can ruin your week.” This lead to Vinny wishing for a proper HR or Social worker in the company to speak to and understand what they go through as Internet personalities
  • Vinny was told by his last manager that Vinny was at the “end of the runway” structure wise in the company
  • They cannot speak to how much has changed or is different at Red Ventures since they were only there for a few months
  • Overall, they enjoyed the corporate culture of CBSi despite the negatives mentioned above, believing it was friendly and easy going. Alex says “corporate but not horrific.” Vinny says they were trying to be more inclusive and had good goals but “at the bottom like they were a company”
  • They wish the best of luck to all involved as many are still friends, and it isn’t easy for anyone on either side
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Lucas Silva #4903141 said:
Vinny was told by his last manager that Vinny was at the “end of the runway” structure wise in the company
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Could be code-whispering saying that "eeey it is funny vinny (white) italian dad or whatever" was on the way out. Vinny was one of the more traditionally masculine persons in their crowd and even if he was woke he knows the door.
 
Smaug's Smokey Hole said:
Danny O'Dwyer jealousy? It would be great if he does something interesting but he's seemed so lethargic for the last... 10 or so years. Even when he streamed from home 5-6 years ago he didn't have much energy. Maybe he was channeling AGDQ speed runners when saying "this sucks..."

An odd pairing that I would like to see is Gerstmann and the guy from RetroPals, he's like a fat Dan Ryckert if Ryckert knew a lot about 80's Namco games instead of wrestling.
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I'd say Drew Scanlon jealously, more likely. Drew basically tried connecting his travel passion with GB content (when he went to NK) and it wound up going nowhere, but through Patreon/Clothmap, Drew turned it into a gigantic full series, was his own boss, etc.

A lot of people found more success/passion when they left GB - even Patrick and Austin, as much as I personally dislike them, have had better jobs/money/freedom since. Nextlander too, even Abby.

  • Vinny was told by his last manager that Vinny was at the “end of the runway” structure wise in the company
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This is weird it even had to be said. Vinny's title was literally "Director" - at a company that routinely has ~9 people working for it, spanning two offices. Obviously, Jeff Gerstmann probably "outranked" Vinny as well, so Vinny was a "Director" overseeing like ~4 people (GB East). That Director title was obviously a gift to him from someone to justify a larger salary, but did he think he was going to make "Senior Director" or "Vice President" in a company of 10 people? "Chief Video Officer"?

The only way GB was going to get corporate promoted was if they folded completely into CBSi - which was apparently never going to happen.

It looks like they're going to try and lean on Rykert and Bakalar, we'll see how that goes but the "content creation" from 2020 forward was pretty terrible and I'm not sure what Rykert can do to save it, besides all of the things Jeff Gerstmann likely suggested and was shot down over.
 
Apparently they're ditching the old premium, removing the paywall to all their new shows, and moving to Twitch.

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They can restructure the thing as many times as they want, but nobody is interested in a bunch of people talking over each other in a Zoom call.
 
Win98SE said:
Apparently they're ditching the old premium, removing the paywall to all their new shows, and moving to Twitch.

View attachment 3366559

They can restructure the thing as many times as they want, but nobody is interested in a bunch of people talking over each other in a Zoom call.
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Who the fuck had a premium sub for their non-legacy content for the last two years? And all the decent content like Demo Derby and Metal Gear Scanlon always gets voted in on their free re-stream channel, GB Infinite.
 
Win98SE said:
Apparently they're ditching the old premium, removing the paywall to all their new shows, and moving to Twitch.

View attachment 3366559

They can restructure the thing as many times as they want, but nobody is interested in a bunch of people talking over each other in a Zoom call.
Click to expand...
Is it true that most of the fans of the old, original Giant Bomb from years ago are old enough to not understand why Twitch is so popular? I see them missing the days where getting random newsletters from old magazine was a nice thing. I can’t see them shelling out cash for something like this, even while they do remove the paywall from it.
 
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That subreddit is in full honeymoon period. Just a week ago it was doom and gloom about the state of the site, a lot of unfulfilled promises since RedVentures took over. Now that Gerstmann is leaving, I am sure they realize that a huge chunk of their subscriber base will leave, so once again they are going to overpromise. Theres a lot of zoomer hyper positive energy in this new crew, and its rubbing off on that subreddit.

Voidburger has ruined everything I have seen her in since fucking Freelance Astronauts.


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This site is dead in 12-18 months. Also WTF bring BACK quick looks? The best part of GB when I watched was them looking at shitty games like Battleship, how is that so hard to do in the era of streaming? If someone has a torrent of all the old premium stuff DM me please, I would love to go through demo tapes again and I am not giving them my money.
 
Kill Your Idols said:
Jeff answered an email on the new podcast talking about the difference in coverage games recieve that hinted at what drove him to start over on Patreon. The gist of it was that there was enough of a lull in game releases that he used to be able to feel "caught up" with games media, but the now constant stream of news has made reaching that "caught up" feeling impossible. It seems like the stress of trying to stay relevant as a journalist while also churning out videos as a content creator was starting to weigh on him and he implied that he was expressing that anger and frustration towards his family, so I'm guessing that was what finally broke him away from Giant Bomb. (Vinny expressed something similar in the last Beastcast, that the Giant Bomb gig was straining his marriage)
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This has been a long running issue in general. Exact same arguments and concerns over when they transitioned from written reviews to video reviews to quick looks.

Regardless, ain't no way Giant Bomb survives this. The desperate begging for people to not leave because "Giant Bomb is more than just one person and personality" is the tell.

What's the Giant Bomb personality now?

Jan who is basically Malibu's Most Wanted, is the whitest person on the team, closeted furry
Blonde Chick has zero personality at all
Baklar can't go 5 minutes without talking about his bowel movements
Jason has the energy of a man 5 minutes from death because he literally is 5 minutes from death
Ryckert is retarded

There's nothing there of interest.


edit

Question. Jason has diabetes and it's obviously killing him and he's gotten really fat. Is this just a case of a diabetic not doing the bare minimum here? Usually your feet falling off and going blind is reserved for folks who can't put the cheeseburgers down.
 
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Win98SE said:
Apparently they're ditching the old premium, removing the paywall to all their new shows, and moving to Twitch.

View attachment 3366559

They can restructure the thing as many times as they want, but nobody is interested in a bunch of people talking over each other in a Zoom call.
Click to expand...
They really are just ripping off of "A youtuber starts a patreon" perks.

A discord! Exclusive Merch! Behind the Scenes! - all boring stuff that people would be crazy to pay for. Moving to Twitch kills their ad revenue (as previously the site could collect their own data and negotiate their own CPM for ads) and none of the outline explains how Premium Money is going to help create a Better Product. Previously, Premium Money was clearly going to office space, changing sets, on-site "broadcast grade" equipment, mixers, etc - now who the fuck knows? From the few videos I've watched of "new GB", it doesn't even look like they've spent any money on production. They don't even have a stipend for childcare, as you can frequently see Jason's kid in some of the videos just rolling around on the floor.

They're still really missing the rationale of "why people had Premium previously" and have no idea how to sell it for a non-physical product. There's no reason for Giantbomb to exist currently, they could just be a Twitch Team/YouTube group with a podcast (aka Game Grumps, Markiplier's crew, Old SBFP, etc), there's literally 0 separation of Giantbomb from any run of the mill Twitch/YT content. It used to be "a thin veneer of professionalism" but that died out years ago.

GB isn't dead in 12-18 months, it died a while back but they're just finding the body now.
 
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