Dan Stapleton joining Giant Bomb/Whiskey Media?

This is complete speculation on my part, but I think there's a bit of plausibility to it. But Dan Stapleton, former reviews editor of PC Gamer and all around awesome dude mentioned this week that he is leaving PCG after 8 years to take on a job with another organization. He said he's not moving far, and it sounds like it'll still be journalism and not the PR/community manager kind of stuff that some journalists get in to.

He's already good friends with Will and Norm from their time at Future Publishing. And on Dan's appearance on the 24-hour charity podcast he had a very heated but good-natured argument with Ryan over the merits of a post-TNG era Star Trek series and it felt like good chemistry there.

But yeah, just speculation on my part. Its sad to see him leave PCG, but if he comes to the Bomb I think that just means more Dan not less, and I'm always down for more Dan Stapleton.

People say this every time someone leaves a website.

That would be fun but I think Giant Bomb will hold back for awhile after hiring the newsguy Klepek.

Though... In my opninion they need a PC purist. Too much console third person love on the staff for my taste. Still don't think it would happen.

he should totally join tested....

That would be cool, but I doubt it will happen.

@AxleFGK said:

he should totally join tested....

mhm, I'd say the Giant Bomb boat is full at this point.

Oh shit, Dan's leaving PCG? Crazy, I guess playing copious hours of Skyrim is the equivalent of living under a rock......

@project343 said:

@Christoffer Well, there's nothing stopping him from joining the Tested crew. They seem proportionately more popular than the size of their staff.

Yep, you could be right about that. Tested doesn't seem to have a very "living" forum like GB but it's still a quite popular site anyways, it seems. Dan would be a great member of the tested crew.

I would say its unlikely. He has almost no relationship with Giant Bomb, and I would think that if they were hiring someone new it would be someone that they had worked with previously or at least had some collaboration with. He is more of a Will/Norm kind of guy.

I could see him joining Tested, but GB? Unlikely.

@Potter9156 said:

People say this every time someone leaves a website.

I guess Whiskey Media will need another dude to fill in a spot once Brad sadly leaves in January...

garywhitta Gary Whitta

Congrats to my chum DanStapleton, leaving PC Gamer after 8 years for an exciting new opportunity. I KNOW WHAT IT IS AND YOU DON'T.

Hmmmm....

If I quit my job does that mean I am going to join Giant Bomb?

Brad sure is going to be a tough act to follow.

@OllyOxenFree said:

I guess Whiskey Media will need another dude to fill in a spot once Brad sadly leaves in January...

What!! Elaborate now please. Brad's leaving?

Edit: say it ain't so!!

I am a fan of Stapleton's work, but I very much doubt he's moving to Whiskey.

He is hyping up future podcasting. I know that im clutching at straws, but it doesn't weaken the argument.

Also:

Greenspeak Jeff Green@

DanStapleton woah, big news, sir! grats on the new gig (which I may or may not know about)!!

Jeff Green is a friend of the site...

@Christoffer said:

@OllyOxenFree said:

I guess Whiskey Media will need another dude to fill in a spot once Brad sadly leaves in January...

What!! Elaborate now please. Brad's leaving?

Edit: say it ain't so!!

It ain't so

@SuperSambo said:

@Christoffer said:

@OllyOxenFree said:

I guess Whiskey Media will need another dude to fill in a spot once Brad sadly leaves in January...

What!! Elaborate now please. Brad's leaving?

Edit: say it ain't so!!

It ain't so

Good. I can stop punch the wall now.

I think I'd like to see him go work with Tested. GB editors already take up half the editorial staff for Whiskey Media.

I may be wrong, but I highly doubt it. Time will tell though.

@project343 said:

@Christoffer Well, there's nothing stopping him from joining the Tested crew. They seem proportionately more popular than the size of their staff.

If there is one Whiskey Media site that is proportionally more popular than the size of their staff, it's Comic Vine. Comic Vine is one of the biggest comic sites on the internet. During their busiest period this year (during comic-con, I assume) it pulled in more daily traffic than Giant Bomb has ever got. And all they have is Tony and Sarah. Tested also has just two editorial staff but gets far less traffic - about 1/3 of CV's traffic on average.

Of course, with Comic Vine already being one of the most popular comic book sites in the world there is probably not too much room for it to grow it's audience. Whereas Tested is a tiny technology site compared to the big tech blogs, so its growth potential is huge.

Either way, I highly doubt this rumour. I'm sure Dan would be a great person to work at Whiskey Media, but this speculation happens whenever anyone else in the industry leaves their job.

Yeah maybe they could get someone on tested that writes articles AND is in videos....shocking i know. How could anyone do that!!!...wait...LOL

@SuperSambo said:

@Christoffer said:

@OllyOxenFree said:

I guess Whiskey Media will need another dude to fill in a spot once Brad sadly leaves in January...

What!! Elaborate now please. Brad's leaving?

Edit: say it ain't so!!

It ain't so

Dude, why you trying to soften it for him? Denial isn't going to help anyone.

lets wait and see.

@Jimbo said:

Brad sure is going to be a tough act to follow.

True enough. Good Luck at Blizzard Mr Shoemaker!

Every time.

Good luck at Vivid Entertainment, Brad! You don't need to pull Brads where you're going because Sasha Grey will be there to do it for you.

Whatever. I don't know who that is.

Don't think so as Jeff mentioned on the WM Radio Show that they've run out of desks. That seems like a prohibiting factor.

I'd say that GB is full and doesn't need any more people in it.

@Christoffer said:

@OllyOxenFree said:

I guess Whiskey Media will need another dude to fill in a spot once Brad sadly leaves in January...

What!! Elaborate now please. Brad's leaving?

Edit: say it ain't so!!

No, everyone always says that as a joke when someone makes a thread like this

He's not leaving till February

hmm weren't Tested looking for a permanent third chair for their podcast since Gary Whitta is busy with Holywood things now.... me wonders :P

@Jimbo said:

Brad sure is going to be a tough act to follow.

I tip my hat to you good sir.

This may be speculation, but I believe Jim Sterling will be joining Giant Bomb as well.

No chance, especially not at Tested. Adding another staffer to Tested would do very little to boost traffic and WM is not going to spend any serious money at the moment on anything that does not increase traffic. The only really deficiency they have at the moment is that Screened desperately needs another on-site editor - though my guess if that with it's poor traffic (not their fault, movie websites is a crowded market) they are happy to have Rorie hold the fort and justify it's continued existence with low overhead.

@grant742 said:

@Christoffer said:

@OllyOxenFree said:

I guess Whiskey Media will need another dude to fill in a spot once Brad sadly leaves in January...

What!! Elaborate now please. Brad's leaving?

Edit: say it ain't so!!

No, everyone always says that as a joke when someone makes a thread like this

He's not leaving till February

Thanks... I guess. Brad's bringing a huge deal of balance to the goofiness of this site. Him leaving would be devastating.... literary devastating... as in not functioning anymore

They're going to hire a new Screened editor before they get a new Giant Bomb one.

I've learned two things to be undeniable truths in this thread.

One, no matter who it is, and how loose their affiliation, people will also believe games journalists leaving their publication/site are coming to Giant Bomb.

Two, no matter who says it, people will always believe that thing I don't have the heart to ruin.

I welcome this rumour. Folk here are getting bored with hatin' on Kessler and Klepek, time for fresh meat.

Yet another hire is a big fucking investment and I suspect the subscriptions only barely cover the costs of the salaries (and employer salary overhead) of GiantBomb on-air/review guys (and that's generously allowing a 50% increase in the number of subscriptions since June, when it was 10,000). 15,000 * 50 = $750k/yr.  They can't serve enough ads to pull in much more than that much, too, so if they're running in the black already, I am fucking astonished and the last thing they should do (as much as I would love a dedicated PC person on staff) is pull in more staff.
 
When they do make another hire some day, though, they should definitely make it a PC guy rather than another "I is a real journalismist cuz I done wrote contraversialz stuff at GamaSutra" type (not that they would, but that is my fear).

Does that mean when Brad leaves he will go to GB?

Well since Brad's leaving I guess they need someone to replace him

@mastrbiggy said:

Does that mean when Brad leaves he will go to GB?

Infinite GB employment loop? I'm down with that.

A guy named Brad just cancelled their premium membership, people mean that Brad, not the on air personality Brad.

Speaking of premium memberships, the nearest I can figure Giantbomb is the only reason why anyone would buy a premium membership. There's hardly any premium content on the other websites.

I did really like Brad, and I know nothing about this new guy, but hopefully everything works out well even if Stapleton isn't taking the Shoemaker's place.

@dudeglove said:

I welcome this rumour. Folk here are getting bored with hatin' on Kessler and Klepek, time for fresh meat.

Rather than bringing in a new guy to remedy that, they should just get rid of Kessler.

@SuperSambo said:

@dudeglove said:

I welcome this rumour. Folk here are getting bored with hatin' on Kessler and Klepek, time for fresh meat.

Rather than bringing in a new guy to remedy that, they should just get rid of Kessler.

Kessler should get his own content, I want him in more Quick Looks!