This is a huge bummer and I hope everyone impacted is ok. To be honest, I thought it was maybe already dead because after the initial fanfare it felt like it dropped off of a cliff (at least to me).
Same, but I chalked that up to the fact I really don’t watch TV anymore. I had no idea it was in trouble at all, I thought they had carved out a good little spot for themselves. Or at least from the secondhand things I saw from Abby’s appearances elsewhere.
Feel bad for the people who lost their jobs but there are so many options these days the G4TV format just doesn't appeal to me any more. Part of what made me tune in occasionally back in the day was that it was the only shop in town.
@bigsocrates: I wasn't much of a viewer back in the day either. Partly because I was too poor to have cable. But also the vibe of what I did see wasn't really my thing. I assumed they had a twitch presence just because everyone does, but I don't really watch Twitch much other than Nextlander and Gerstmann, and that's all relatively recent.I don't really watch anything else on Twitch.
@tartyron: @bigsocrates: Yeah, not looking to kick anyone while they're down, but I had a hard time imagining G4 succeeding in 2020 regardless. I can count on one hand the things I liked/found memorable from the old shows that weren't just hosts.
G4TV’s biggest problem was that they seemed to want to put the YouTube personalities front and center on everything…despite the Completionist guy appearing to be the only one who could read naturally from a teleprompter or deliver pre-written jokes. And there was such a huge surprise insistence on pretending it was still 2010 in every other aspect of their programming too.
It was fun to have Sessler back for a bit though, despite his personal and professional struggles he remains a great critic and genuinely interesting writer/presenter. Shame he remained locked away in his basement for most of the time.
Like others have said, Abby left quite a while ago and has been moonlighting on Nextlander Gabriel Knight streams and Giant Bomb Fortnite streams since.
Hope anyone laid off manages to land on their feet.
Have to say this doesn't surprise me much, unfortunately. What little I've seen from G4 has been pretty unwatchable (and the old one had its share of problems too, really). Add me to the chorus of people wondering what niche the folks behind the reboot thought they could fill in 2022.
@dodecalypse: It's very weird to say that "woke" isn't funny on a site where the personalities clearly lean "woke" (whatever that means) and that has produced endless hilarity over the years.
The obvious problem with G4 is that they put together essentially a streaming operation with TV overhead costs. It might have gotten carried on some cable packages but it seems to primarily have been for streaming and it just cost way too much to operate. Some streaming operations have a small production staff once they're established with an audience but I have no idea why you would launch one with that much overhead.
Even Youtube itself couldn't make "TV production with Youtube personalities" work and that was with the biggest stars like Pewdiepie at the height of his powers.
I for one cannot believe that a project launched by the CEO’s son would have no clear vision for its long-term success.
It sucks that a lot of people are out of work now. Can’t say I enjoyed the Nu-G4 content I saw (admittedly a very small sample size) but the staff deserved better than this.
I never understood who their audience was supposed to be. Those who remember the old G4 have had a decade to settle into online outlets. Those who don't remember the old G4 have no real reason to tune in as they didn't have the rights to present anything that audience was looking for.
It sucks that people are losing their jobs - that never a good feeling. Also, games medai is an industry were high tides raises all boats (more coverage, is better for all coverage)and low-tide can bring everyone down. A stronger G4 would have been good for games media in general.
Sadly, they offering that G$ had never appealed to me, I had no connection with some of the streamers they brought on and much of the time their 'streamer style' and trappings were over my old head? Maybe, I'm old, but I think Sessler and Pereira needed a few other older more seasoned colleagues. I don't care how well established you streaming channel has become, working for a corporate entity takes decorum and savvy.
@sethmode: PC culture doesn't lend itself to funny. G4 used to really push the boundaries, right or wrong they can't do that now. I guess I am just tired of token representation that doesn't produce quality content. It makes it impossible for creative companies to excel. The audience at the end of the day is there to be entertained. The fact that insults came first in my direction just kinda shows, just how little most are willing to concede on minor points. No big deal though
@sethmode: PC culture doesn't lend itself to funny. G4 used to really push the boundaries, right or wrong they can't do that now. I guess I am just tired of token representation that doesn't produce quality content. It makes it impossible for creative companies to excel. The audience at the end of the day is there to be entertained. The fact that insults came first in my direction just kinda shows, just how little most are willing to concede on minor points. No big deal though
Well, for future reference, you might want to pick a new word instead of woke.
@dodecalypse: It's very weird to say that "woke" isn't funny on a site where the personalities clearly lean "woke" (whatever that means) and that has produced endless hilarity over the years.
"Woke" is code word for not white only. Basically, any medium that has a diverse cast and not just of white people, mainly men, is called "woke" and hated upon. All you have to do is look at the latest responses to shows like the recent Lord of the Rings series, GOT: House of Dragons, Obi Wan Kenobi series for recent examples of this.
As for G4TV? I'm not surprised at all that its failing. The channel is all over the place and they clearly don't know what they want to do with it. One good example of this is the reboot of the show X-Play and how that show is all over the place. Classic G4 before it became over flooded with COPS reruns and eventually went down was better than this second version of it. And while I wish the people who got laid off good luck and hope they land on their feet, I personally wouldn't have taken a job there simply because the past is the best indicator of the future in most cases.
Imo intentional inclusivity is more insulting then the alternative. Its literally using someone's sex, color, or creed to try and pinpoint those markets. Which is fine as long as the product delivers. I think a majority of people in entertainment wouldn't shy away from the fact, that corporate structures dosn't lend itself to creativity or compassion, only the facade of it.
G4 didn't work in 2012 when it was canned the first time, and I don't think anyone on the planet would attribute the network being cancelled the first time around to the show's "wokeness", so I don't know why anyone would seriously entertain that being the problem this time around.
Cable tv is dying. It's been dying for the last decade. Trying to relaunch a gaming tv network was a fool's errand, especially in a world where twitch and youtube exist as major competition in a way that they very much didn't in 2012, when the show wasn't working the first time. I don't care how many straight white guys you stick on that channel, it was never going to work.
Shame, I occasionally click on their videos and they've generally been pretty good. But I did get the sense that the production budget might be a little too high. Or maybe that's just me comparing it to so many outlets being webcams at home nowadays. Hell, just a few years ago Giant Bomb had TWO studios.
Also, wtf is happening to this thread? This woke discussion is bizarre.
G4 didn't work in 2012 when it was canned the first time, and I don't think anyone on the planet would attribute the network being cancelled the first time around to the show's "wokeness", so I don't know why anyone would seriously entertain that being the problem this time around.
Almost like it's a bad-faith argument to prop up existing opinions and prejudices under the guise of respectable debate.
Remember: 2 years ago the battlecry was "get woke, go broke" because these people were SURE that Disney would soon be going out of business for catering to something other than straight white dudes. Look how much those goalposts have already moved in such a short amount of time.
They never found their audience, and let's face it, there's too much competition out there. There's IGN, GiantBomb, Gamespot, and certainly others along with a lot of people doing patreons. All of these outlets represent competition for eyeballs. What's worse, is that they were on cable TV. Who watches cable anymore?
G4 may be on cable, but it is also on Twitch and YouTube. At least at the beginning, the Twitch channel streamed for hours and hours most days. As I write this on Friday evening, G4 is currently streaming on Twitch. The G4 YouTube channels for X-Play and AoTS were posting multiple videos a week, as recently as this week. What is happening at G4 isn't because "nobody watches cable." It may be in part because they have cable-like overhead costs.
I never understood who their audience was supposed to be. Those who remember the old G4 have had a decade to settle into online outlets. Those who don't remember the old G4 have no real reason to tune in as they didn't have the rights to present anything that audience was looking for.
More importantly those who remember old G4 had a decade to grow up and the new G4 more or less didn't.. Maybe they found their stride later on but the early showings I checked out were dire. Despite not really enjoying the project itself I hope the people involved land on their feet although seeing the insane exodus of industry talent at the moment that sadly is going to be tougher than ever before.
They brought Gamesmaster back in the UK for a short series and that seemed more appropriately scaled. Borrow a warehouse for some shooting, record all the episodes back to back and you're done. Even that wasn't given a TV slot and ended up on Channel 4's youtube channel. Cheap to make, probably didn't recover the costs but it's a cost they were more happy to take the hit on.
It's really, really hard to make a case for gaming TV nowadays. Almost as if G4 might've been pitched to someone very out of touch with what gaming coverage is now.
What is happening at G4 isn't because "nobody watches cable." It may be in part because they have cable-like overhead costs.
Which wouldn't be a problem if enough people watched the cable tv program to justify the cost. But they don't, and they shouldn't have built a network around it as if they did.
if i'm being honest i'm surprised it lasted as long as it did. condolences to those are are in a tough spot as a result- but G4 always felt like a relic of a bygone era that had all the overhead of legacy media but none of the scrappy, by-the-seat-of-your-pants production of post-2013 web-native media.
i tuned in a few times and it felt like 'this sure looks like a lot of people to employ, sets to build and money to spend for 5000ish concurrent on twitch.'
that alone is wild to consider- back in the day on cable G4 only had to compete against other ostensibly non-gaming outlets as you surfed the channels. seeing G4 fight to get a promo slot against literally every other streamer on twitch is a whole different sport.
I was a big fan of X-Play with Sessler and Webb back in the day, as well as the Pereira/Munn Attack of the Show. My most vivid memory of AotS, for whatever reason, is Kevin covering Occupy Wall Street, which wasn't getting a lot of traction elsewhere in media at the time. That being said, I've only seen one of the new AotS episodes, and some of the Sessler videos. G4 probably has to do a better job of adapting to the current industry. I mean, I miss reading Greg Kasavin reviews, but even if a sizable portion of gamers felt that way, their appetite would probably be somewhat satiated reading his GotY list, once a year, on this site. How would you update the written word for the times? Bringing something back without integration just results in an anachronism, right? 🤷♂️
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