Announcements from 6/8/21 'Cast. O'Dwyer joining P/T. Collabs with Ryckert, Grubb, Gamespot peeps. Will hire more F/T.

I am wary, but I definitely don't hate the format. But if they are going this route, I just hope we get some fresh faces too, and not just the same old "friends of the site".

The irony of bringing Dan back in some form is it very much feels like when the WWE hits the panic button, and brings back some wrestler from the past to wrestle part time instead of making new stars. So yeah, basically I am saying Dan is Bill Goldberg.

I don't know about this, the thing that makes Giantbomb special to me is that you take this core group of correspondents and get to know them and the way they interact very well and get their collective takes on the games of today and the past and getting material from other random people kind of detracts from that mission. There's already a site out there for getting pre-recorded video content about games from random people.... it's called Youtube.

Without a core crew driving the content I'm not really sure what the point is, aside from the fact that it's being hosted here what is going to make this "seasonal" content GiantBomb content rather than just content from people who have their own things going on that so happens to be posted here.

@roadshell: The core crew isn't going anywhere, and in fact Jeff G said he wants to hire at least another member to the core team.

@yyninja: Giant Bomb has always had... challenges with their communication and organization. To me it's part of the quirky charm of GB at this point, but I can certainly understand it making some folks worried or even a bit upset.

But the core crew already kind of left... Danny's not going to be full time, Jeff B seems like he's mostly there in a "podcast and occasional guest" capacity, Rorie and Jason have always sort of been "mostly behind the scenes but occasionally onscreen" talents.

Unless I'm misunderstanding it seems like traditional editorial is primarily just Jeff G, Jan, and whoever the new person is. And that's going to be a bit of an odd crew. Don't get me wrong Gertman and Jan are both cool personalities that make the site better but their tastes run toward niches and if left to their own devices we'd mostly be getting content about obscure 80s games and Pokemon respectively. All the "normie, generalist, meat and potatoes" correspondents seem to have left.

I think on paper the series idea around a core of quick looks is great, albeit not that different from what GB was heading. Though I think an explicit directive from new owners makes it far more crystallized and committed.

Though in the end of the day, it will come down to the execution. either way, i'm happy to stay subscribed to find out.

Previously, Jeff had made it sound like they were looking to bring in new faces to do new things, but really all I see here (with the exception of Grubb) is a series of people that already had a working relationship with the site. None of these people are new. The gaming industry is bigger than the 20 people that happen to work out of their office.

I think starting off a new format with people they know well and have worked with before makes sense. It'll help them get a feel for what works and what doesn't, and they can expand outward from there.

@whitegreyblack I hear you, I still remember countless QLs where they couldn't recall the price or release date of a game.

My hope is for this news to actually get out there, not buried in the forums or 10 minutes into a podcast.

This is so wonderful and exciting. I wish nothing but the best for everyone! All of these ideas for future content has me happy.f

Jeff Grubb has so much Giant Bomb energy it’s like he was created for this.

@thedigitalistic: they're already in talks to contract work with new people, and the contract program will be ongoing, so ideally there will be new people coming in and out on a regular basis.

I frankly can't wait for the site to get weird again. There are so many cool people floating in the Giant Bomb orbit, who could and should get some attention and funding. I'm not here for every Quick Look and am not always able to catch a Friday stream. Not to discredit the work the cast did, but the site has felt a bit stagnant for a while now. While I did enjoy a lot of the "let's play" type content, it's not special in the same way it once was. I can get that experience from a dozen other creators on Twitch, or even better, from the Nextlander crew.

I want to be surprised by strange or unique things. If I open the frontpage and there's a "game tapes" type show with the aesthetic of a Vektroid stream, I'd probably be down for it. Or a contributor wants to drive around LA in a limo and interview gaming personalities Roundabout style? I'm here for it. Or even better; they actually pitch something that's not something dumb I thought of in 5 seconds and surprise me with something incredible.

I personally like the move Jeff G (I hate that I have to do that now with three Jeff's) is making. The funny thing is, this reminds me about what happened when Super Arcade fell. Anyone who follows the fighting game community remembers that Super Arcade was where it was at on the west coast, like Next Level Battle Circuit still is on the east coast.

Anyway, both men who ran the arcade who were friends for decades had a falling out on what direction the FGC should go in terms of holding live events and overall lasting as a community. One guy believed the future was eSports and making FGC tournaments more mainstream like other games that became commercially popular like Fortnite. The other guy believed keeping the Arcade traditions and not "selling out" was the way to go. Before the pandemic hit, the guy who believed in taking FGC eSports was proven right. And the other guy who believed in keeping it underground like back in the day, ended up failing in the end. Which is sad, because the dude tried his best, even putting himself in a financial hole trying to do what he believed was right.

What is the point of this history in gaming? Time will tell if GB or Nextlander prove to be right in the end.

wow i'm legit excited after listening to the bombcast, thumbs up from me!

Dude, this sounds fucking awesome

Neat, sounds like we were pretty close on what the new GB would be like with all these contractors doing shows. Although personally i prepared for a bigger change. The whole idea of a modern venture being based around an oldskool website & having your best content behind a paywall on said website, was something that i imagined would be retooled in the battle to hit a rich vein of new viewers. But no, it seems like the website will keep being the base of all of this.

Especially since Jeff brought up a while ago that GB has the issue where all their content is split across multiple platforms, which gives them a disadvantage on places like Youtube vs the ones that are fully commited to 1 platform. But at the same time, the premium sub for premium content idea seems to be the most successful part of GB throughout the years, and probably something they wouldn't want to get rid of. It's the moneymaker.

I do wonder if there's going to be a physical studio being created for this (I heard someone say that RV has studiospace in the CBSi building?, but given that Jeff didn't talk about all this i guess that needs to be taken with a bag of salt) or if it will remain a remote streaming sitch for the upcoming future.

This sounds awesome. I just really hope they start doing stuff locally, the remote stuff just lacks the same energy and chemistry.

I'm not really excited about this. There's nothing worse than corporate oversight. It's cool, though, that they're turning Giant Bomb into a brand starting with people we know (minus a couple I wont go into because they're awful so I'll ignore them), but as a person who knows exactly what this turns into I know this is going to push me out.
But that's fine. Not everything needs to be for me. I hope it's profitable for the Jeff's. Nothing else about Giant Bomb truly matters at this point- and I mean that with love. This is no longer what it was and I've come to accept that and moved on from hoping it would recover.
I wish the best. I'm pretty sure a corporate Giant Bomb is not for me.

@cornbredx: You know GB has been owned by a corporation for longer time than it hasn't been right?

@fugoy: Thanks for your feedback. That wasn't my point, they weren't subjugated by corporate before, and now they're going to be a brand studio for content creators.
I'm not interested in this direction they're going. I don't have to be. I've accepted it, and you should accept that I am allowed to feel that way.

Honestly im just excited to get more content again then 2 podcasts and an occasional quick look. Maybe this means we will finally get content on Mondays again.

Very exciting!

After the announcement I am really excited to see what Giant Bomb content is coming this year.

@cornbredx: Are you sure about that? Because in their announcement of new stuff and even from stuff we've heard from Nextlander they sounded pretty damn subjugated by CBSi. If you're not watching cause of the three that left sure that's fine. But GB is still very much around gonna do their own thing on top of the new stuff. There will still be bombcasts and upfs and quicklooks and now we get to add new shows from new people into the mix. If that's still not enough for ya then yeah fair enough I hope ya find something new.

Sadly, this doesn't sound like my cup of tea. But I'm thrilled for Jeff, though, that he's maybe finally able to realize his vision for the site and able to expand it in ways that are interesting and exciting to him. Nothing but love and I wish all of GB - crew and community - only the very best.

Not going to lie, I think this all sounds great. Getting Danny O'Dwyer on board is super smart because his NoClip content is superb. Not sure what I was expecting but I'm exciting to see what happens.

I actually agree with you on this. Them talking about getting weird or going crazy reads to me that they need to bend their content to meet whatever it is Red Ventures does. As far as I can tell RV acts as some sort of clearing house and maybe they see GB in that role for the gaming space. Nothing I heard made me excited for their future. I noticed that we got some info on upcoming guests but no idea what they may be doing and told that we have to wait until after E3 to find out more. I just don't have confidence that they know the direction they are headed. The podcast from NextLander about wanting to do their own thing apart from corporate influence only makes me think the direction of GB isn't solely in the hands of Jeff, Jeff, Jan and Jason. I have an annual sub and will hang around to see how this develops but if it isn't for me then Ce La Vie and catch you guys on the next big thing.

Just as an aside I figured RV would have made changes to CNet before getting to the gaming division so I visited their homepage which I haven't been to in awhile. Has anyone else looked at it? It isn't a tech focused website anymore at least on the front page but intermingled with some tech stuff is entertainment news, finical news and other random stuff. Doesn't fill me with confidence for GB website changes.

I have always been a fan of the special series Giant Bomb did over general streaming, and in a time when lots of people do general streaming very well, I think seasonal series oddness with different faces sounds great. Hopefully it is more varied than the friends of the site deal as time passes, but yeah, sounds good and interesting after a few years of the site feeling like it was at a standstill. Still loved a lot of stuff they did then, but yeah, a core staff with seasonal folk coming in for specials sounds grand.

I’m going to see how it goes, I feel like giantbomb is trying to appeal to a younger audience at the expense of their regular, loyal fans. I will see once it starts how things go, I have a subscription until August so that should be enough time to feel out what they are going for. I hope it goes well but I’m more excited about Nextlander. Fingers crossed giantbomb doesn’t bomb

Another group of predominantly white, 30-40 somethings that we've known are friends of GB for the last ten years.

I wish they'd try something different. Like someone else said, there's more to games people than Dan and Danny. Tamoor and Lucy is nice so it's not just all Americans

There are a few people that are taking a bit of a leap of faith with what this is going to look like moving forward, which I find a little bit weird.

Maybe stop prophecising, keep an open mind and see where it goes?

I like that Giant Bomb has a future and I'm interested to see what it holds and I like that I can listen to Nextlander too. Win win. I don't really understand the crybabies. Give it a chance, if you don't like it then see ya I guess.

Content on a Monday? Don't be crazy.

It's very odd that news came the day after Nextlander announcements. I'm still going to go Nextlander aswell because what people need to remember some off these projects are just short term guests. There still the elephant in room that clearly something is up at Giant Bomb for 3 of there big staff to leave at the same time. I have love giant bomb for a long time before someone has a moan at me. We are going to have to see how these new things turn out. I just wished they could all be friends instead of this sour taste in the air. If they clear the air, then I could happily get along with watching both but at the moment there's still an awkwardness in the air.

It's great that Giant Bomb will be making shows again, it's definately the thing that was missing. But why is there no written announcement or anything?

I still get kind of a corporate feel about the whole thing, it was so refreshing to hear the Nextlander crew kinda talk "unfiltered'. Also a bit of a strange direction in a way, giant bomb was the core crew (which is no longer there), so I'm not 100% sold on the rotating guest thing.

I’m happy that they’re happy. This ain’t my thing, so I guess canceling my premium was a good idea after all… But I wish ‘em well all the same!

I think the idea has promise, especially with Jeff G saying he wants Giant Bomb to be weird. If Giant Bomb can remain a distinct entity, I think it will be here to stay for a while.

Also, whoa, just found about Nextlander. I’m pleasantly surprised, but I could’ve sworn it sounded like those three were kinda done with this kind of work. Honestly thought they were going to get more traditional jobs. Glad to be wrong.

I'm one of the people that wasn't really wowed by the new announcements yesterday. I watched the first Nextlander stream and went right from that to the Bombcast stream announcements and it made me realize exactly what it was that I had been coming to Giant Bomb for for so long and it turns out, it really wasn't about video games. Sure, it was a t first, but I don't play nearly as many games as I used to, but I do miss my friends and hanging out with people I have stuff in common with. And though I've never met the Nextlander guys, they're the ones that feel most like old friends to me. I have a lot of non video game stuff in common with those three and it wasn't until yesterday that I realized the content I really wanted is actually small talk about Transformers or playing drums, and not so much video game stuff.

I love the guys that are still at Giant Bomb but I just don't have much in common in general with the people that stuck around, and it makes things like the bombcast and the friday stream less interesting to me. I think the new ideas sound like a good thing for the site, but none of it really grabbed me. It also doesn't help that I don't know who Jeff Grubb even is, for example, and the Gamespot people are fine I'm sure but I don't know them enough to find that announcement exciting either. Dan coming back sounded neat but Dan is all over the internet anyway so it's not like he truly disappeared or whatever. If I miss him I can find him.

I guess what I'm saying is that I'm interested to see where it goes and regardless I wish everyone nothing but the best, but the stuff I was here for isn't really here right now and doesn't sound like it will be in the foreseeable future. But I'm glad to know that I can now find what I was actually missing in the last month, even if it isn't here...for now.

Interesting. Could be good, we'll see. Lucy James, Jeff Grubb and Dan Ryckert are promising picks as first contributors.

This sounds exciting, and pretty much a straightforward interpretation of what Jeff had hinted at how he wanted GB to change. Interesting that Nextlander is pretty much just modern old Giantbomb (modern meaning Patreon+Twitch) while GB is changing. Not surprising that GB is starting with people they know, since with a month to prepare it's the easiest way to set this all up. I hope once the initial stage of this new GB rolls through and we get into 2022 that this promise of new and interesting people leads to cool content. This is mostly theoretical for me because I will continue to mostly consume video game media content through podcasts anyway.

@otterchaos: Cnet has been going in that direction for years. I haven't noticed a difference since they came under RV.

Danny is a great, natural addition to the crew. Im really excited to see what new series he helps come up with and he’ll be a great voice for the upcoming E3 streams. I’m psyched - Let’s gooo!

@heelbill: Ahh good to know, I hadn't been there in quite some time.

The fact that there is no announcement on the front page is the most Giant Bomb thing ever.

I don't wanna be too much of a Grumpy Gus over Giant Bomb's PR, but I do think they're mishandling this transition a bit with how little they are putting out any quick summary written statement on Giant Bomb itself. And the press statement given to Gamespot only was extra fucking weird. Maybe Jeff G and Jeff B feel in "this ever-changing media landscape" everyone just skims Twitter for the news or whatever, and maybe those written articles on Giant Bomb get almost no traffic or something so they're a waste of staff time to even write. Who knows. Jeff G has stated recently that the site layout sucks for promoting certain things, maybe including articles.

It just seems bizarre that in the past, new staff joining or old staff departing would warrant an article, as recently as Dan's departure in January 2020. Since then:

• Abby departs (random Twitter announcement many weeks before she leaves, no article)
• Ben departs (random announcement on Bombcast same week he is leaving, no article)
• Vinny, Alex, and Brad depart (random announcement on Bombcast same week they are leaving, no article)
• Giant Bomb announces shift to having more part-time/seasonal/contract contributors (random scattershot mentions on the Bombcast, inferences from Jeff's garage streams, no article)

These all seems like they warrant some kind of well considered writeup, as opposed to just off-the-cuff-ish remarks during podcasts. It just seems like a weird way to disseminate information, but hey, maybe the written word is dead in games journalism except in tweets.

Why wouldn't it be locked behind premium? It costs money to run a business so I am not sure how that is a surprise?

One thing I would agree with is that this really ought to get its own space on the main page. You got the Bombcast with the blurb that there's giant news on it, but a change of this magnitude should be spelled out. Heck, there's a perfectly good clip on the official Youtube channel that could be thrown on the front page!