Man Gamespot just can't get a break can they? I still post there but not as much as I used to.

"Giant bomb should hire Arron Thomas for sure, we need some sports reviews."

Hey guys, thanks for your thoughts. (even if you don't like me, it's cool.) The layoffs SUCK MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF DONKEY ANATOMY and I'm saddened that I no longer get to work with such amazing people like Don and Bethany. I lost a LOT of amazing coworkers. Props to each and every one of you. As well as GB users. Thank you for not TOTALLY turning this into a gamespot bash thread. :) Just kinda. ;)

You know this bashing of Gamespot would have ended a long time ago if we knew straight up what happened that caused everything to become one big clusterfuck.

"That sucks.Gamestop has already lost so many good people.I don't hate Gamespot,bu i do hate CNET and CBS.Now i will list off all the people i can remember who were fired,or left Gamestop.Most of them will be missed.

Bob Calayco
Greg Kasavin
Greg the other one with a shaved head
Jeff Gerstmann
Rich Gallup
Alex Navaro
Jason Ocampo
Ryan Davis
Brad Shomaker
VInny Carravela
Carrie Gouskos
Tim Surrete
Aaron Thomas
Bethany somebody
Don Francis
and whoever else I am missing."

"TomA said:

"That sucks.Gamestop has already lost so many good people.I don't hate Gamespot,bu i do hate CNET and CBS.Now i will list off all the people i can remember who were fired,or left Gamestop.Most of them will be missed.

Bob Calayco
Greg Kasavin
Greg the other one with a shaved head
Jeff Gerstmann
Rich Gallup
Alex Navaro
Jason Ocampo
Ryan Davis
Brad Shomaker
VInny Carravela
Carrie Gouskos
Tim Surrete
Aaron Thomas
Bethany somebody
Don Francis
and whoever else I am missing."

I don't really see how Jeff, Ryan, Brad, or Vinny can be missed when they are right here. Also, although it sucks that those other guys don't work together anymore, they are not dead and they seem to be pretty happy with their new jobs. I don't think this should be a venue to vent against Gamespot and we should all just move on."

"Of course it's romanticized by us twits on these messageboards. Most of us only think "paid to play games, zomg!!!!!!1 sign me up!" when in reality it is pretty hellish. It's easy to love what you do while working a job like that but even freelancing it, from the comfort of my home on a sometimes loose schedule, is still very hectic. It's multitasking in the extreme, doing a crazy amount of stuff at once while trying to do your job. It feels good in the end but it isn't what most people would hope.

That said this really saddens me. Between the losses they've suffered this year, including Matthew Rorie (my idol in the area of game guide writing) and all the previously mentioned ones, this site is really killing itself for me. Which is really annoying as it's been my homepage for well over three years. I like Kevin Van Ord and Shaun McGinnis but the rest of the new blood doesn't really do it for me. I feel bad for those being fired AND those left behind. Losing a job this close to Christmas is a horrendous thing which CBS should be ashamed of itself for (at least wait until the New Year people) and I can't imagine the feeling of seeing the people you're working with, even longtimers, being shed like itchy clothing.

*sigh* It's a shame too. The site has been slowing down in the stuff being posted, the rapid-fire days of old are starting to grind down. Blogs are less frequent too. I wonder how bad it's getting for those left behind... Good luck guys! I hope you don't need it."

BTW what was the other Greg's name?"

I for one don't go to gamespot anymore because I found that I couldn't really relate to the new editors. Not that their reviews were bad it's just I didn't feel like the geek in me had time to browse it more often over other sites. The big problem with Gamespot is that they've had to put in a LOT of new editors on the site and practically reboot it. Now that they've laid off even more people it's just kind of sad how many people they've went through after firing Jeff. It's especially sad when ANY editor, like him/her or not, gets fired. I mean, if you have that job: that's your dream job besides maybe a job higher in the industry. Wish those guys well, hope they land on their feet. 

That sucks for Gamespot. I never really revisit the site anymore since the shit that happened last year, and the fact that it seems to take them months to review games. I wish the staff the best but CNET needs to go screw.

It's a shame but these things happen when the economy isn't exactly going too well.

            After Jeff was let go, I honestly lost all interest for Game Spot. Yes, I'll admit I watch the occasional On The Spot, and I also listen to the podcast because I think Tom McShea is hilarious, but I only do all that because Giant Bomb only has a podcast every Tuesday, and the occasional video. If Giant Bomb would grow to have a live show, and maybe another podcast, I could make my oath to never return to Game Spot.

           I dont know what happened to Game Spot over the years, but whatever it was, you MUST attribute it to just plain stupidity. They let go their most popular employees, and totally ruined their site. Rich Gallup,Brad Shoemaker, Ryan Davis, Jeff Gerstmann, and now Don. Brian Ekberg,Shanker,and that Kristin gal are the only interesting people at Game Spot now. I just wish Rich would join GiantBomb, even as a part-time employee. I understand he needs to make money, and he wants to pursue his dream, and if doing this kind of stuff is really that uninteresting, then he definately shouldn't return. However, he will always be remembered, to me atleast, as the best host of any show hands down. Be it live video, or even a podcast.

Too be honest, I'm not actually surprised with this turn of events. Gamespot has been going downhill since June of 2007 but now this. Its the economy; recession new jobs dry up and people get fired. The Video Game Industry is also suffering due to the economic downturn even though that may be hard for some to imagine. Third party developers are hit the hardest and ole Electronic Arts attempt to assimilate the video game industry has probably just made things a whole hell of a lot worse.

It's sad that things like this have to happen around Christmas, but lets hope its more of a blessing than  a curse and they will probably find better jobs. :)

Sad :( best of luck all.

It's Crazy... I think most of us (fans of Giant bomb) developed our relationship with the giant bomb guys when they were on Gamespot.

That really sucks, around the holiday`s also.
Hopefully these fine folks can get back up on there feet.

"Now I am sure there is going to be a bunch of asswholes filling the comments with, "Gamespot Sucks." I don't need to, and no one else needs to hear that crap, go take it else where.

In case you have not already heard, CBS has laid off numerous people. This includes many great people from Gamespot. This includes: Don Francis, Bethany, and Aaron Thomas, just to name a few of the large names. Each of these people were great in their own rights, and seeing them go, breaks my heart. Especially that of Mr. Don, who I play numerous games with over XBL, and hope he finds another job quickly. Knowing Don, working at Gamespot was his dream job, and he got that dream fufilled when he was able to get such job earlier this year. Now, in less than a year's time, his job is gone, and CBS and CNET, and any other big corporations that treat their workers like shit,  can go fuck themselves, for destroying these people's lively hoods.

Gamespot, I really miss you."

It's actually kinda funny (read: sad) that those reviewers and game guide writers who do so for non-pay sites are the only ones with any real job security at this point. This economy is just horrible and the way that big businesses handle even a slight shift in profit is really just terrible. Freaking commercialism.

Aaron is gone too?! NOOO!!

That really sucks for Aaron. He was so great there. I really hope he gets another job soon somewhere in the industry.

So Gamespot essentially has nothing?

Sort of weird imo, why would they lay off these people while they still have newer people?   Thomas had been there for quite a while.  Companies typically fire the new before old.
Maybe he was given a lower wage which he wasn't willing to settle for?

With all the controversy surrounding GameSpot over all kinds of random shit, I would imagine that CBS is trying to weed out some of the more recognizable faces for fresh blood that they can bend to their own will.  This would allow them to try and sweep the shit under the carpet...but when it comes down to it, a lot of what GameSpot has had controversy over was brought on by them-fucking-selves!!!  It's pretty shitty.  I can't say that I was a fan of Kristen at all, and didn't really know any of the other doods...because the core guys that I paid attention to happen to run this site...but still, losing a job sucks regardless of who you are or what people think of you.  =  /

Man, this sucks. Not in a "CBS/CNET is the devil" kind of way. And not in a "Giant Bomb> Gamespot" kind of way. Not even in an 'the economy sucks' kind of way. In a people lost their jobs kind of way. People i watched, listened too, and generally got to like. People who i'm sure are good people and didn't deserve it. So don't push your own agenda and turn this into a 'Gamespot sux!" thing or even a "Corprate America SUX" thing because that's being selfish and honestly stupid. Instead we need to look at what matters and that's real problems, real setbacks, real people.

My prayers go out to them. I hope you guys land on your feet and i hope things work out for the best. If i ran a gaming web site, i would hire you guys.

i don't know if you guys heard this, but from the bleachers was the best podcast related to games ever. even better than the bombcast. Also, Shanker Srinivasam, the annoying trash-talking Indian (I'm not racist, happen to be Indian myself), was also laid off. That is two of the three of FtB. FUCK CNET!

Wow, Gamespot is even more of a shambling zombie now, having only around 20% of their original (hired before 2007) editorial staff left (Brian Eckberg, Justin Calvert, Ryan McDonald, and Ricardo Torres?)   Still, its sad that these people lost their jobs as a result of the economic downturn and I wish them the best of luck.

Man, Aaron Thomas was a really great guy and an honest game reviewer. I really liked him. He was probably my favorite reviewer over at the "new gamespot". I used to PM him all the time on the site and he replied to each and every one of my PMs. I loved the Pheonix Wright video review he did with Vinny back in the day.

Real shame about him, and all of them as a matter of fact. I wish them all the best of luck.

"Why am I not surprised that this post has turned into this..."

"Man, Aaron Thomas was a really great guy and an honest game reviewer. I really liked him. He was probably my favorite reviewer over at the "new gamespot". I used to PM him all the time on the site and he replied to each and every one of my PMs. I loved the Pheonix Wright video review he did with Vinny back in the day.

Real shame about him, and all of them as a matter of fact. I wish them all the best of luck."

"Gearhead said:

"Why am I not surprised that this post has turned into this..."

be quite.
you started this beast you got absolutely no fuckin right to
complain."