Giant Bomb & Gamespot. Why this is a good thing.

@Grimluck343 said:

.... but what happens two years from now when CBSi looks to start making budget cuts? Do they fire staff? Do they question why they have two websites covering the exact same thing? In the past, none of this mattered because Giant Bomb and Whiskey Media were in control of these decisions. Now the decision goes to the corporate overlord who doesn't care how funny Brad or Vinny are, they're looking at numbers in a spreadsheet and want to cut payroll, therefore they get the ax.

I look at what happened to 1UP and IGN. Even yesterday, another round of layoffs happened over there. I suspect that should the hammer fall at Giant Bomb, there would be another exodus just as there was in the months following Jeff's departure from GS and the mass firings at 1UP a couple of years ago. Then again, how many times can a video game writer keep jumping ship? There aren't that many financially stable online publications around anymore for the medium. At some point, especially if your married, don't you have to consider if it's worth leaving again?

@Excast: While I think you do have a point, isn't there an argument to be made in the opposite direction? From a business standpoint, it wouldn't make much sense for CBSI to have purchased GB only to rip the place apart and lose a massive inherited fanbase. If they wanted to acquire GB, it's probably because CBSI desired to subsidize the way that they do content and make money in the process. What's more, I'm sure that Jeff and Ryan are as savvy as the people in this thread and would not have made the deal if they felt that their integrity was threatened. Don't get me wrong, this whole thing makes me nervous too, but by now I think that the GB crew has earned my trust.

That said, if and when things go south I'll be among the first to sign on with whatever project Jeff and Ryan start up after jumping ship again.

@Marokai: Here's the problem people are making about the assumption that migrating to CBS will compromise their integrity...

GiantBomb has been led, not by Jeff or Ryan, but by Shelby Bonnie since it's inception. This guy actually co-founded CNET, the very company that used to own Gamespot. He started Whiskey Media with his own money, while also becoming the Director of Warner Music Group, one of the biggest media companies in America!!! So their principal guy for cash was himself a businessman with ties back to Gamespot.

Fast forward to where we are today, the previous managers of CBS that were in charge of Gamespot are gone, and Mr. Bonnie sells Whiskey Media. So where does that leave Jeff and the guys? They no longer have the capital behind them to pay for things like rent on a giant-ass basement to record in, not to mention supporting interns and trips to cover game conferences... They needed a new backer.

So in the middle of that they get involved in negotiations with the new management team over at CBS, who are more than happy to have this group of guys back. Mind you, these were rather happy employee's who left because of old management, but still liked Gamespot and the staff there.

So yes new guys at the top, but all that happened was a replacement of the principal investing group, from Warner Music Group to CBS, not a terribly big shift.

@Grimluck343 said:

And for the record, I don't think they are doomed in the immediate future. The most cynical side of me thinks that it will be a slow, painful death. The optimistic side of me thinks that Giant Bomb will slowly absorb GameSpot and change company culture to the point we won't care if they become the same entity because it's being run the same way the site is now.

This is where I fall. I've been following the site for a few years now, and at the very least hope to get a couple more good years from the guys. If something happens at that point, it's been a good run and nothing lasts forever.

I'm also a little put off by the overwhelming positive attitude, but it can't be any other way. Either everyone is truly that happy about it, or the move was a necessity to keep doing what they enjoy.

Did we not have this argument when Giant bomb moved in with the Whiskey Media family? When they started asking for subscriptions? Did not the same talk about integrity and working for corporate shill come up too? I find it funny (and sweet) that those people that were feared two years ago (Will, Norm, Rory etc) not will be missed. Everyone thought that moving in to bigger digs would make it less cool and nobody wanted to see Will in Giabt bombs mailbag videos etc. Today they are loved and I believe that this cycle will start again. First veryone will hate the guys from Gamespot visiting Giant Bomb and then they will start to like them. People need time to accept and even like change.

Last but not least. Has everone forgot how much crazy shit Gamespot as a site have done when Jeff, Ryan and those people were there. That's the reason I really dug Gamespot many years, they made fun stuff and no corporate overlords told them not to do crazy and dumb stuff. A big reason Gamespot changed is probably because Jeff and crew left. I also find Gamespot more stale today but who knows...stuff may change. The bomb crew has a nack for making people less tense.

A also have a question. Jeff was fired by Cnet not CBS. So are Giant Bomb really returning to the same company (without counting that those who fired him left)? He has no reason to hold a grudge against CBS, right? They had nothing to do with what Cnet did, right?

@Shimmy said:

From a business standpoint, it wouldn't make much sense for CBSI to have purchased GB only to rip the place apart and lose a massive inherited fanbase. If they wanted to acquire GB, it's probably because CBSI desired to subsidize the way that they do content and make money in the process.

Conspiracy theory time!

@yakov456 said:

But it's not really the crew that concerns me, of course they will be the same awesome guys who work their butts off. It's the fact that CBS owns them now and the crew will answer to them. There will be corporate hands all up in this cookie jar.

Bingo. You can paint as rosy a picture as you want but the fact of the matter is that the same corporation that fired Jeff for costing them ad revenue is the same corporation that they're going back to work for now. The novelty of Giant Bomb was that they answered to no one, there was no one at the top trying to influence things. I'm sure at the start everything will be all rainbows and puppy dogs, but what happens two years from now when CBSi looks to start making budget cuts? Do they fire staff? Do they question why they have two websites covering the exact same thing? In the past, none of this mattered because Giant Bomb and Whiskey Media were in control of these decisions. Now the decision goes to the corporate overlord who doesn't care how funny Brad or Vinny are, they're looking at numbers in a spreadsheet and want to cut payroll, therefore they get the ax.

If the duders are happy, then I'm happy for them. I'm sure they all got nice pay raises and as was mentioned above they definitely earned it. But I think it's a little naive to say "nothing's changing! Everything's staying the same, except only better." These guys got burned working for the man before, it's the whole reason this site exists to begin with. It's within the realm of possibility to say that it could happen again.

Fake edit: I sound like a goddamn Occupy Wall Street hippy.

Real edit: typos and such.

We have this argument whenever a publisher buys out an independent studio. When BioWare or Popcap gets bought by EA, we say fuck EA and BioWare is doomed. Now it's suddenly a different story?

In this case, is Jeff Gerstmann the same as Jeff Greene? Thought he got away. Now John Riccitello is going to beat him.

@yoshimitz707 said:

@Grimluck343 How did you finish the ER in 2 days if it's over 100 hours long?

I skipped most of the parts where Vinny casts Bufu which is about 90 hours of that ER.

@N7 said:

Jeff said in the video announcing all of this that they aren't answering to anyone in terms of what they do and content. "There is no shadowy hand that comes in and says "YOU WILL DO THIS". Because that doesn't happen at Gamespot either".

This is like the third time I've answered this so I think I'm just going to have to edit the original post.

I'm not talking from an editorial side, where a shadowy hand comes down and says "You must give this game this score to appease our advertisers" (although they did it once so who knows if it can happen again). I'm talking from a pure business perspective, where a shadowy hand comes in and says "We're making budget cuts and letting go of x, y, and z. Also, we're cutting bandwidth costs, so cut back on the video content. Oh, and we're also plastering your site with a shit ton of ads. Oh, and you're going to start making lists where every item is on a separate page to increase page hits and ad counts." Stuff that the Giant Bomb staff might not necessarily have a say in.

@Grimluck343 said:

@yoshimitz707 said:

@Grimluck343 How did you finish the ER in 2 days if it's over 100 hours long?

I skipped most of the parts where Vinny casts Bufu which is about 90 hours of that ER.

Got it. So you haven't actually watched it.

Amazing idea. They should be all corporate in their next video appearances. Full blown suits. I would love to see the guys in tuxes or suits to really put forward the idea that everything is super corporate now. I want to see the big guys in amazing Cedric the entertainer type suits. Sorry for the random feedback but there certainly have been worse ideas.

Amazing idea. They should be all corporate in their next video appearances. Full blown suits. I would love to see the guys in tuxes or suits to really put forward the idea that everything is super corporate now. I want to see the big guys in amazing Cedric the entertainer type suits. Sorry for the random feedback but there certainly have been worse ideas.

@yoshimitz707 said:

@Grimluck343 said:

@yoshimitz707 said:

@Grimluck343 How did you finish the ER in 2 days if it's over 100 hours long?

I skipped most of the parts where Vinny casts Bufu which is about 90 hours of that ER.

Got it. So you haven't actually watched it.

I've watched it three times, actually, and will work on the fourth when my Blu-Ray copy comes in the mail. Why?

Edit: The first time I went back to watch it the whole way through it was FUCKING PAINFUL to watch Vinny fumble around with the fights. Although by the third time around it was pretty comical.

@Grimluck343 said:

There's a difference between your boss being the guy you basically founded the company with and your boss being a board room of suits.

And for the record, I don't think they are doomed in the immediate future. The most cynical side of me thinks that it will be a slow, painful death. The optimistic side of me thinks that Giant Bomb will slowly absorb GameSpot and change company culture to the point we won't care if they become the same entity because it's being run the same way the site is now.

Also, in general (not aiming this at you goatmilk), I'm not at all bitter or resentful at the guys for making this move. I'm a little put off by the insane positive spin they've put on what is essentially the end of Whiskey Media, but as long as these guys are covering video games I'll follow them where ever they go.

I get'cha. I think a lot of the positive spin was just the guys being so excited by it all. I love how excitable the guys are about games and other things. Sure they can be cynical too but they all seem like genuinely great guys which is a big part of why I trust them going forward with this. What's that saying? Once bitten, twice shy?

Kiss me once, Shame on you; Kiss me twice, Let's party? Oh man it is 11pm and I should be asleep.

Well I'm behind the Giantbomb dudes. I left Gamespot and watched this site become something great. Looking forward to seeing what comes out of all this.

Honestly the only thing that bothers me is the splitting of the family, which I feel is a bit, I dunno, dishonest? Part of what I loved about Whiskey was that it was a family of sites, all of which save for Anime Vice had some presence within the other sites, especially with live show stuff like the BLLSL and Happy Hours and TNTs and such. Splitting up the team is really what bugs me. I think that as separate entities, everyone who's situation has changed, between Tested, Giantbomb, and Comic Vine, is going to benefit. More and better content is a good thing. But again, I loved the family that Whiskey media had become. Splitting it up doesn't sit well with me, even if it was needed business wise. I look forward to all of Tested's new coverage and interaction with the Mythbuster folks, and to Giantbomb being able to go a little harder for the things they want, but it's sad that Will and Norm won't get to randomly invade TNTs on a regular basis. I felt that was actually really important to GIantbomb because the main editorial staff tends to shy away from certain kinds of games (PC, sim, Darksouls, etc), but between Norm, Will, Dave, and Vinny there was usually a posse at Whiskey that could talk about that stuff and show it off. Losing that outside input is going to be a bummer, to be honest. But, I wish the best for everyone involved, and I'm sure thing will continue to be at least as awesome as they were before!

@MordeaniisChaos said:

Honestly the only thing that bothers me is the splitting of the family, which I feel is a bit, I dunno, dishonest? Part of what I loved about Whiskey was that it was a family of sites, all of which save for Anime Vice had some presence within the other sites, especially with live show stuff like the BLLSL and Happy Hours and TNTs and such. Splitting up the team is really what bugs me. I think that as separate entities, everyone who's situation has changed, between Tested, Giantbomb, and Comic Vine, is going to benefit. More and better content is a good thing. But again, I loved the family that Whiskey media had become. Splitting it up doesn't sit well with me, even if it was needed business wise. I look forward to all of Tested's new coverage and interaction with the Mythbuster folks, and to Giantbomb being able to go a little harder for the things they want, but it's sad that Will and Norm won't get to randomly invade TNTs on a regular basis. I felt that was actually really important to GIantbomb because the main editorial staff tends to shy away from certain kinds of games (PC, sim, Darksouls, etc), but between Norm, Will, Dave, and Vinny there was usually a posse at Whiskey that could talk about that stuff and show it off. Losing that outside input is going to be a bummer, to be honest. But, I wish the best for everyone involved, and I'm sure thing will continue to be at least as awesome as they were before!

This is pretty much my sentiment. Business is business, I understand and don't begrudge. But I'll miss all the Whiskey family crossovers, particularly the Tested crew.

@dibdab Think of it like this. CBS, FOX, NBC, and ESPN all cover the Super Bowl, right? But only one of them gets to broadcast it, so every network covers it in a different way to try and get more viewers. Because they are competing over coverage of the same event.

Giant Bomb and GameSpot are covering video games in a different way to try and get more viewers. Because they are competing over coverage of the same games.

@Grimluck343:

I see your point but I don't agree with that analogy in this case because GB and GS are now owned by the same company so are not competing for viewers any viewers either site gets will be profit for the organisation overall. Now if one of the sites isn't pulling enough viewers to cover the cost of running the site then there may be an issue.

But I don't see this being a problem as GB has a strong and devoted base which I am sure is just going to grow in the future.

Guys just to clarify some stuff:

A1)

in 2007 when the whole Jeff thing happned gamespot was not owned by CBS. In 2008 CBS bought CNET...... So please when you say shit like "OH god they are going back to the same corporate dickheads..... .they are not"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GameSpot also Vinny video posted today going through his voice mail, there is a voice mail where someone leaves a voice mail announcing that CNET has been bought by CBS.

A2) For me the best content I have gotten from GB crew was during the GK + Rich Gallup era. Those hotspots and video content are to this day better than any stupid shit GB crew have done. and yes that great content was given to us under the authoritarian regime of CNET, with GASPPPPPP checks and balances and corporate governance and with business men setting up their budget , the same regime that after a change of management fired Jeff.

B) CBSi already has Gamefaq,Gamespot and Metacritic (3 gaming website with vastly different use). GB will change and the change will effect their content for sure. I would say they are gonna take GB model to its logical end and make it all about the personalities to differentiate from GS. As someone else has said before, as of right now GS and GB have different users and same users, bringing GB in will just allow CBS to get GB viewers (getting them to see ads etc.) People come to GB to see the content produce by the personalities, while they go to GS to get general reviews, news and videos. In concept they have totally different businesses (simlar to how Gamefaq and Metacritic functions)

C) people have a distored image of what a corporation is. Just because you hear about EA and Activision and other shady corporate fucks, doesnt mean everyone is like that. There is a lot of good corporation that do business as usual, and care about their fanbase, realizing cost minization is not everything. Also the total cost of having GB for CBSi is probably really low, its not like they need to invest in new capital and equipment (heck most of the people got their old phones back meaning that space has been empty since 2007); everything they need to make a website is already there at GS, infact CBSi is probably lowering its average cost and spreading its fixed cost (for video equipment etc) by having GB use it to create content.

Hey don't get me wrong, I am cautiously optimistic. In a few years CBSi might sell their units to some other corporate dickheads and GB can be ruined. But chances are a stable company like CBSi + the good work that these guys do = that result would probably not happen. Yes they will be changes but to ASSUME that it will go to shit its ridic. Again for any MMA fans, I think Sherdog.com is a great example of a start-up company getting bought by huge company and still being a solid website which still provides great content and has intergrity and is now able to do stuff that they could never accomplish being a start-up website on geocity (some might disagree but this is my thought visiting the website for the last 10 year)