Vinny and Alex leaving - gap in the market for older streamers?

I'm a little bit older than Vinny. The current market on streaming is crazy energetic young youtubers or twitch streamers, that I don't want to watch. Is there a gap in the market for viewers like me, mid 40's, who want to listen to older gamers?

If there are lots of people like you out there, then probably.

Legitimate question though: do you care most about the person's age, or their perceived maturity? Because I agree with you that I don't really enjoy the hyper energetic folk, but I do enjoy some rather relaxed and informative video game streams now and again - but I don't believe those folks are in their mid 40's.

There's a market for anyone. You just need to find them.

I'm mid-thirties, and I'm right there with you. Vinny in particular talked about his family life and things outside of Giantbomb/video games. It was always nice hearing those snippets as I also have a couple kids and a job that keeps me very busy.

I'm hoping they're able to get some older folks on the site, but I'm worried that it it's a younger kids' game at this point.

There are plenty of older streamers out there doing their thing. A lot of Youtubers, some of whom are in their 40s or 50s, do it as a side gig or diversification. Some of them seem to earn okay money, but they appeal to an older audience and while that audience has more cash it has less time, and streaming feeds on time. The real money is in getting people to spend a ton of time watching your videos and identifying with you so they become stream whales as it were. Of course the older streamers also have less time to stream ridiculous hours and when you have responsibilities it's harder to keep those regular hours that audiences also like.

That's not to say Vinny or Alex couldn't make a go of it. They have a built in fanbase already. But people like them tend to make more money via Patreon support as far as I can tell. That's how you monetize the older fanbase with more money but less time, not through long Twitch streams.

More importantly, of course, we have no idea what they want to do or plan to do etc... I assume we'll see them again at some point, if only dropping by the Bombcast or other games media stuff to chat and debrief, but I wouldn't be shocked if Vinny just takes a quiet production gig somewhere behind the scenes with more regular hours and less on camera time. He's very good at being on camera but it's not actually what he signed on to mostly do.

We'll have to wait and see. As I said, I'm sure if nothing else we'll get them on the Bombcast in 6 months saying "yeah I took a job where I'm not on camera and I really love my new workplace" or maybe they will end up launching some kind of Twitch thing like Dan and Abby have. Who knows?

@renegade1973: Do you think it’s a lack of older streamers, or a dearth of content in the vein of Giantbomb?

Dunno if this is how GB hit you, but it was always like “dudes on a couch” that I could relate to growing up, with the kind of people I grew up with, and that’s really hard for me to find, which doesn’t fit the single person in front of a camera model.

Tangentially related, but I’ve especially been seeing this with the board game streamer/podcast community (Vinny, if you magically read this, I will fight a bear for board game content from you in the future), there are not a lot of people who are a happy medium nestled somewhere between Joe Manganiello and Tom Vassal.

in my 30s and i know exactly what you mean. not always the case but more often than not you see the younger ppl who are just a bit loud and obnoxious imo and nott a ton of older gamers or groups of them in the same vein as something like this. don't get me wrong i'm sure theres some out there , i still dabble with gi from time to time but thats not exactly the same as it was 10 years back and it slowly took a backseat over the last 5 years to gb and waypoint. thats not to say younger ppl can't do just as great a job its just they usually miss the mark for me in alot of ways. i feel like i'm smack dab between 2 generations having missed a ton of great older stuff and just not understanding these new 'kids'. i have a niece and 2 (12,10,6) nephews who in the past year have started watching youtubers and they love them and i realy can't understand why so idk ..

This has been my problem - I can’t find anything similar to Giant Bomb and I don’t really jive with what else is out there for games coverage. Looking for recommendations to branch out a little.

I want a streamer who references The Adventures of Baron Munchausen and Pizza the Hutt.

That’s a good question. I definitely think there is streamers that aren’t the typical YouTube teens especially on twitch. That is what is so appealing about this site and the members is that they are knowledgeable about the industry as a whole. The only other people I’ve listened to that have the same humor and decent amount of industry knowledge is the Destiny Community Podcast crew. The main three, tefty, briar and watts each have streams where they play random stuff as well as destiny and other stuff together.

There's a market for older game commentators, but I'm not sure Twitch is necessarily the place to reach them. As someone who works 9 to 5 and needs to ration out how I spend my time in the evenings and weekends I don't exactly have time to tune into livestreams and while stuff does get archived on twitch it isn't necessarily the best experience.

I seem to be on the younger side of GB viewers, my favorite parts are their laid back nature and genuine knowledge and appreciation for history. They fill a niche I don't think is going to be possible to fill the same way.

Limmy is great!

isn't this the truth. i mean i used to love twitch stuff ,streamfriends in particular that austin was part of before coming here.. you can imagine how happy i was when he started and old screwattack stuff that i outgrew. but over the years working ( usually 2nd/3rd shift ) and even now my timing for live stuff just isn't there i'm either late and i hate tuning in late or i miss them n have to watch archives which just isn't the same when you can't interact.

I beg you all. Please spend 5 minutes researching before you make claims about what does and doesn't exist on youtube/twitch.

Look up the MJR crew

I have similar vague worries. As a lifelong gamer who has just entered his 40s, I've always appreciated Giant Bomb's longer perspective on things, and approach to content which felt a little less 'screamy' (while also being entertaining and engaging). I wish all the best for the guys leaving and the ones staying, but I won't pretend I don't expect any changes to skew younger, as I imagine that could feel like the sensible play to the paymasters.

As far as YouTube goes for content, probably well know already, but I quite like Christopher Odd; his let's plays are interesting and well while not being so 'Loud' as to be off-putting for my aging sensibilities. Resonant Arc also just recently did about a 10 hour series analysing Final Fantasy VIII, which I found pretty compelling considering the length. I hope they do more long form stuff for other games. I'm sure there are plenty of others people can recommend, but the hope will be that Giant Bomb will continue to be high among the recommendations once everything gets sorted out.

I've just started a channel myself where my younger brother and I play through point-and-click adventure games. The intention is for it to be an casual thing, aimed at an older crowd. However I will freely admit that we've only finished one game (King's Quest 1), have no idea what we're doing, and get stuff wrong pretty much every other sentence!

Did not expect to find another Limmy fan on here! I've been a fan of his ever since his early days making silly little flash games/YouTube videos years ago. He fills that "older gamer" void for sure, but he is definitely not for everyone. Even among my fellow Scots, his style of comedy is very much love it or hate it. (For those who don't know, he's a Scottish comedian who had a sketch show on BBC but has since turned to full-time streaming). He's definitely worth checking out, though.

Limmy indeed rules. He even does a fair bit of Eurotruck if you're missing that.

Also above 40 here too. The most chill streamer i found was Dastactic, he also on the older side and very relaxed. Does youtube and twitch both. Mostly tactics games though.

His moderation team are like Stalin's secret police though

Junkyard129 is also an older streamer that's fun to watch. He does stream a lot with people young enough to be his children, but he's a charming dude.

Dans doing well, and maximillian dood is one of the biggest streamers around

@mamba219: Why is the age of the duders so important. There's plenty of 60-year-old gamers that are happy and energetic and plenty of 20-year-olds to 30 that are low energy and done with everything....some even on this site, there's no reason for their age, and since when are they old? so important. I hope we close this thread, the duders have young children and aren't getting ready for retirement...geez. They have plenty of life left to live, and their energetic on streams. The new kids' as you put it are in their 2-s and 3-s so they're like what 10 years younger and suppose to be this weird unable to identify with the crowd cause they are streaming to their base and being excited about a game. Plenty of said "kids" that stream are super down on games they don't like too.

I don't know, GB isn't over I just hate seeing this take that it is, unless I missed an announcement, jeff can easily post up some new hires that are "young" and able to fit the mold of whatever your and others are looking for in a range of "hyper to relaxed."

PS: Never been into the idea that you age and have to become so mellowed out. SO this obviously hits me the wrong way, so overlook my rant XD. The point being...yes plenty of people of all age ranges fit the style of GB, including GB which isn't gone. :)