Current State of My Subscription

I don't really know how to go about saying this, but I think the content, not quality, of videos have really degraded. For the first time in awhile I've thought about not resubscribing to the giantbomb premium in favor of ads. I used to come to this site to find new games to play and ways to spend my money to check out new games that may or not have gone unnoticed. I know this has been a critique over the past few years but it has finally caught up to me.

I, and everyone else paying attention to the site can see that the emphasis has been booming on the premium content side of the site. Many times I see UPF, east coast play dates, and maybe one quicklook during the week? There are things I see go on sale all the time that I check to see if a video is on site but it isn't. This is true for the eShop, I would say with 90% manufactured sales, but I'm still interested if it's shit or not. I've dismissed this kind of critique many times before but now it's to the point where I'm actually avoiding resubscribing (through sales because..) .. I have a sub until end of 2020.

I understand it's after e3, but there are plenty of things being showcased around the web that are deserving of a pass/fail, something I have grown to love about the real giantbomb review system. Forget the 5 stars, should I buy or care about this? That's the giantbomb review system to me. I understand the culture and possible revenue of the site has changed, but it has affected me to the point where I am more willing to skip through podcast ads than I am to search through UPFs for new unseen content. My 2c/

Just did a quick count and in the month of June, wherein more than a week of time was lost to studio teardown/setup and E3 itself, there were 18 QLs posted which is still a little over 1 QL every 2 days even with that lost week. Not really here to tell you how to spend your money, just to say that your presentation of the issue is a little exaggerated.

I've been here since the start and certainly, there was a time when the raw volume of quick looks was greater. Those videos were also shorter and pretty much the only content on the site. What we get now is an overall greater variety of content, in a greater volume of output at the cost of there being less of one specific type of content. Again, not here to tell you how to spend your money. It's a call everyone has to make on their own on what content they value, so more power to you if you decide for yourself you want to stop.

Oh it's that time of the year again, QL seem on point don't know if we need a Pure Mahjong QL for Switch (although i would pay extra to see Jeff explain Mahjong to Ben). Also Premium content or at least the volume is on point to bad i am not a big fan of the GBE crew videos i feel like there focus is more on the stereotypical you tube viewer, which is fine it's just not my thing. I just want MORE GAMETAPES!, Okay this was my yearly rant about GB content cya next year!

@soulcake: Yeah, Game Tapes and Demo Derbies are fun. Ranking of Fighters is a good time, too. I just don’t have the time to keep up with one series, let alone a half a dozen of them.

I watched Metal Gear Scanlon over the course of...forever. Same thing with Shenmue. But I only watched maybe 10% of Beasts in the East, and as fun as Crime Crew and Mass Alex sound, it’s just too much content for me to even dip my toes in.

I can only give my experience on this and that is that since the day Giant Bomb Premium launched with the first Big Live LIVE Show: Live! I have not once thought about not being a GB premium subscriber.

I am and always have been happy with the state of both GB's free and premium content offerings.

Sounds like you need a good dose of Endurance Run.

As far as I can tell, you're unhappy because GB isn't flooding the site with Quick Looks of mediocre games?

OK, then.

@frytup: To be fair, good games can fall through the cracks if they’re a genre the staff doesn’t play as much.

Like, quite a few years back, I remember they did a Quick Look for Endless Space (flawed 4X game by Amplitude Studios). Over the next few years, Amplitude Studios is still a pretty good studio, making arguably better releases than Endless Space 1, but Dungeon of the Endless, Endless Legend, and Endless Space 2 got no Quick Look (Vinny did randomly play Endless Legend on a Play date this year, finally).

I generally agree that OP is, at best, cherry picking to make it seem like the site’s video output is low/lopsided. But I get the frustration when there’s a game you want to know about (from a medium-sized developer that should be getting coverage) and the game just gets no coverage anywhere on Giant Bomb.

I find the West coast content really lacking these days. I like Game Tapes but those are infrequent. I only really listen to the bombcast now.

East coast is killing it though.

I just want a Shenmue 2 endurance run. I cant be bothered to play that game again but I would enjoy watching them suffer through it. (it's a better game though, honest!)

@frytup: That Dragon Ball Evolution quick look is a timeless classic!

I'm still really happy with the subscription, yes i know you didn't ask.
To me it seems like maybe you've just gotten a little bored of GB, you'll still be supporting these guys by using the free site so give that a try.
If you feel like GB aren't covering what you want there's a deluge of content creators on Youtube, and there's always IGN, Fortnite's Gamespot and other sites doing... uh... "journalism stuff", though honestly i feel like GB has everything important covered.

Same here. I honestly get more entertainment value and time out of this site than I do out of netflix or amazon instant.

I don't agree with OP entirely, I have a few minor complains (premium-specific or otherwise) but am happy with my subscription. I do know where they are coming from though.

I'm not unhappy about the amount or general quality of videos and these complaints are specific to my situation. But my main complaint is that the commitment required to follow a lot of GB stuff is quite high. Like I can watch a random quicklook or Ranking of Fighters (strangely my favourite series) and have a high chance of being entertained and/or informed, and if I'm not then it's no big deal.

But for the majority of premium content of the form "NAMED SERIES ABOUT ONE VIDEO GAME PART 17", there are things to consider like the following:

• Will it be good or not?
• Am I too far behind to follow it?
• Is the series too long to keep up with/go back to?
• Is the archive worth watching, or did it only really work as a livestream?
• Do I know in advance it will be good enough to be worth the download? (*see below)

Even if the odds of the video passing any one of those questions is quite high. The chances of it failing zero of them is quite low. The last one alone rules out basically every UPF.

*Until very recently I had appalling internet. GB on Youtube was practical, on the GB website player it was not. So for premium content I had to download the entire thing in advance.

There are definitely games I'd love to see a QL of that never get one. I'm loving the premium series out of the Beast crew. UPF is still pretty fun. Rorie needs to do another RPG stream.

Giant Bomb has been around for more than a decade now. The business has changed. The crew has changed. The viewers have changed. I get it, it can be hard to realize something you loved doesn't bring you as much joy. I hope you find another site that has what you're looking for.

This honestly wasn't as bad as most of the other, "Giant Bomb has CHANGED, man," posts.

What? I love those! It's like the changing of the seasons, it's how I keep track of my age. Every 6 months when a new "Giant Bomb isn't how I remember" pops up I know the Earth has revolved around the Sun just a bit more.

Anyways, I get where OP is coming from. Premium can sometimes feel like a bounty of goods and other times feel dry as a bone. When there are series you love you can't help but feel you're being accounted for and when there's something you're not into it's like being left behind.

No shame in dropping your subscription for a bit until a new series crops up and convinces you to return. It's your money after all.

Hey, your opinion is valid, but also know that every year around this time (post E3, pre madden) someone will start a thread like this.. I really feel it's just part of the cycle video games are under. Giantbomb is still covering games, maybe not those you want, maybe not big titles at this very moment, but patience is key here -- I really think this is a perception thing in the end.

Giantbomb ∞ is an excellent tool to extend the value of your premium membership, too!

UPF just isn't the same for me since they brought in the desk. Less unprofessional and for some reason much less fun for me to watch, so I rarely do even though I used to every week. I also find the playdates hit or miss. Other than that though, I'd say I'm getting my money's worth.

I stopped watching UPF because it got so formulaic, but that was back when half of it was Jeff's mister stream every week which got real old. I'll stay subscribed though because I enjoy most of the East's series, and I know West will start a series eventually I like. And I'm sure I'll get back to UPF eventually.

Honestly, I get it sometimes. Giant Bomb has become a lot more selective with the kinds of games they cover, and I feel like that selectivity makes the crew's blind spots that much more obvious. Then again, given the way they talk about a lot of RPGs and strategy games, I'm not entirely sure I need them to cover the stuff I'm into. My serious suggestion is to find someone else outside of GB who does cover the games you're interested in, because I feel like GB's tastes aren't exactly getting any broader as time has gone on.

On the premium side, UPF has always been incredibly hit-or-miss, and while I certainly don't mind the commitment to longer features, it also means that if I'm not into something there are stretches of time where I don't have a lot to watch. I don't really need to see Abby go through RE4, a game I've played to completion at least a half-dozen times. And know what? I think that's fine. Clearly, a lot of people seem to be into it, and I still have Crime Crew to look forward to every week. I also think it's fine if someone found the amount of premium content to be unsatisfactory to the amount of money they pay for it.