Anyone wonder if Mahardy might join Giantbomb in the future?

I know that Giantbomb has people on their streams from other companies all the time, but since Mahardy moved to NYC, he is consistently on their streams on a regular, almost weekly basis. While he is a Gamespot employee and works in the same building as the GBE team, it almost feels like they've been doing trial runs with him on all these streams. While I highly doubt any of that is true, I can't help but feeling like it isn't off the table. He works so well with the GBE team and already feels like a natural, no-brainer addition to the squad. I truly enjoyed when he sat in on "Die Another Friday" and I look forward to anytime that beautiful man shows up on a feature. What do you folks think?

As is always my assumption when these kind of wishful thinking hires I think you have to think about the larger picture.

1) GBE has been, as far as I can tell from their content, a really small office with very little room (literally physically) to add more people. Hell, Abby contributes to the podcast from the control booth for crying out loud.

2) GBE hasn't made any indication that they were hiring or looking to hire someone.

and probably most importantly, 3) Mahardy, from what I remember, went to NY partially because he is from there and partially because he was going to work to build up Gamespot presence there. Now, maybe if that falls apart he'd be looking for something new, but for the foreseeable future I would think moving to GBE would be more of a step back for him.

To me, Mahardy just feels like the video version of Bakalar: the "revolving chair" special guest each week (at least lately). He is really great, and meshes well with the crew, but just like other fantasy hiring ideas (Mary Kish is the most recent I remember, but this has been a thing we GB fans like to do every time a guest we like is on a lot or teases starting a new thing) I don't think it is the actual best move for the person in question. But, what do I know? I'm only making guesses based off of the very small window into their work life that we have.

Would Mahardy be a great addition to GBE? No doubt. Is that what they are planning? It doesn’t seem likely.

These kinds topics are always really bizarre to me. It's up to the man himself and GBE if they would consider him. We don't get a say, it's up to them. 'It would be nice though!' Sure, I guess, but we can't force these things to happen.

Knowing that Danny boy almost was recruited in the GB team before he started No Clip (as he mentioned in the podcast he did with Jeff). I wouldn't be surprised he joined (he seems like a great get), let's just drain all the talent from gamespot :D Peter Brown at GB west would be nice :D.

oh, you mean like jeff bakalar will be gb staff any day now?

not trying to be snarky, but they all work for cbs. there have been many, many people over the years that appear in a lot of gb content, and inevitably these threads always pop up. i wouldn't read into it. besides, mike is a long-time friend of dan's. that alone is the most likely reason for his frequent appearances.

Can someone who's still a GameSpot member tell me how much presence GS has in CBSi NYC apart from the aforementioned Mike Mahardy? Do they have more or less staff than GBE?

IF anything he'll end up doing some underwhelming twitch or patreon thing like everyone else seems to

The fact GB isn't actively recruiting should probably tell you they don't have budget for another hire at the moment. If they can get Mahardy on streams while he's being paid by Gamespot - win win.

Even if GB was hiring, I'm pretty sure Mahardy is still pretty happy with his current job. You just don't steal people from other companies to work for you.

@ravelle: Actually "stealing" people from other companies is pretty common. Especially in California, because it's illegal there to place restrictions on employees that prevent them from going to competitors. Recruiters look for talent from other companies all the time. Regardless, that doesn't really apply here because both Mahardy and GBE staff are employees within CBSi, so it would basically just be a transfer between corporate departments.

All that said, I don't think Mahardy is actually going to join GBE. I've enjoyed his presence on streams though!

I mean they haven't poached Bakelar yet, so probably not. Love me some Mahardy though.

No. Same reason Jeffy B. or Mary Kish won't be hired either. GB doesn't have an infinite budget either. To hire someone in such a senior position in another company you have to able to give them a significantly higher paycheck and benefits that would compensate them to leave their job.

Also not for nothing but it has seemed to me that Mahardy and Dan are friends, beyond just being colleagues in the same building so maybe that's why he's been coming over more often. Not sure but regardless Mike is great so I'm glad every time he's on.

As always with these threads, no, sadly no.

I actually hope they don't hire him on full time; I like Mahardy a lot, but I think it's good to have some proper returning guests, because they providd distinct opinions and experiences. I don't think that Warframe stream would have been nearly as fun as it was, for example, if he was a full time Beastie. It also makes the times he (or other guests) show up more exciting and entertaining.

GB does what GB does. I don't think there are any inner secrets or some methodology of "testing people out", that not their style. Most times that they are hiring, they are about as open as is appropriate about a process. They are open and at this point would only hire newcomers to the field. Giant Bomb is not going to be hiring anyone with greater or similar experience to Brad or Alex on either coast because it wouldn't be fair to those new hires.

That is because?...anyone? anyone? Someone they hired would be by necessity be a crumb crusher (the lowman) working under Jeff, Brad, and Jason OR Vinny, Alex, and Dan. People from GameSpot, IGN, Polygon or established sites would not even move laterally in a job - they would be getting a job below their last position. There is no "room" to get ahead or jump the queue at Giant Bomb unless the seniors members depart. That why people like Drew Scanlon, Patrick Klepek, and Austin Walker needed to break away to "move vertically" into higher positions that would allow growth too.

This is not gloom and doom, it just the reality of Giant Bomb being a small workshop. Truthfully, if anyone at Gamespot, IGN, or Polygon wanted a new job they would be better served finding funding to make a NEW site...becoming their own boss.

It seems unlikely. I recall people wanting Danny to join Giant Bomb, and I had high hopes Mary Kish would join GB at some point, but it never works out that way. Besides that, Mahardy seems to have his own thing going and they work at different groups and all that.

I think Eugene will join for sure, they have mentioned him like 3 times which means he will work for GiantBomb now.

Bump... This has to be a discussion again now that Dan has departed...

And in fact I have started to notice that Mike has a few Dan'isms in him from time to time.

Not sure if he is putting it on or he seemed normal because Dan was there.

@mjg23: They were friends before working together i think, but i can't imagine how weird it would be if one day you up and left the colleagues you work with every day to join another team in the same office.

i think Mike makes a great addition to the Beastcast.

On one side, this thread predates Dan leaving. On the other side, since Dan left, mods have explicitly asked that we not speculate on the forums about the identity of new hires.

Mahardy is a good guy. Makes under the radar jokes. Plays well off of others. Seems to be a horror game guy. Regardless of his official employment, much like Bakalar, I hope we keep seeing and hearing him regularly.

Mahardy is like if Dan and Drew had a baby coming off the Metal Gear Scanlan series.

I like him quite a bit, would be a nice hire.

But Jeff B should just join the damn site, what the hell does he even do at CNET?!

@htr10 said:

The staff hasn't even confirmed that they're bringing on anyone new or posted a job opening so it seems doubly pointless to speculate.

I think as a 'brand' or 'website' Giant Bomb appreciates the concept of having outside folks on ONE of the podcast. I think at this time the Giant Bomb crew see The Beastcast as been a good place to fit that puzzle pieces. I don't think they are shopping for new people or hinting at anything. I think they just see the New York office and its studio as the place where that 'cross pollination' fits in best.

There’s no precedent for Giant Bomb to poach Gamespot staff, or vice versa, so I don’t see why they’re going to suddenly start now. Yes, some GS employees have solid on-screen rapport with Giant Bomb employees and their respective managers don’t mind them collaborating, but Mike Mahardy’s overall role at GS is quite different from the sort of “be a podcaster/variety streamer and do.a written review 1-3 times a year” role that most GB editors have. I don’t really see how it benefits CBSi or GS to relinquish Mike, in a role he is doing well at and has developed his skills towards, to fill a GB position that is honestly kinda general and lots of experienced game reviewers/journalists from across the industry could fill as long as they’re not completely awkward on camera.