Giant Bomb is a business

If Whisky media/giant bomb wanst a business, i could not watch its content. Because the site would be dead.

They can't be around without some money, so stop being so fucking cheap. And just enjoy this awesome site. If Giant Bomb wasn't good at doing business. They would have probably be bankrupt.

So YES to business.

@Dtat said:

@CaptainCody: You pay for TV. you pay for HBO. You pay for Amazon prime. You pay for Netflix. You're going to eventually have to get over the mental barrier of paying for content on the internet.

I pay for TV, not any of those other things but, okay..?

It also still amazes me how a good portion of the members in this thread still seem to entirely miss the point I made while at the very least some others managed to understand that much, I tip my hat to all the users who decided to not berate me.

@TeflonBilly: None of that is really random bullshit, For starters: I loved Scrub league, but it was planned, and also please don't use events from many months ago as catering to free users, that applies to BLLSL as well. Secondly, Building the Bastion was a nightmare to watch, the games awesome and so are those guys, but I do not want to watch people talk about how they are making a game for an hour. The Xpress, wasn't that also ages ago?

@TheDudeOfGaming said:

Stop bitching duder, considering that you're a cheap and/or poor bastard like myself (no offense), you should just be grateful that free memberships are still allowed on Giantbomb.

I would be so bummed out if that day ever came. I'm too poor to justify dropping the cash on a subscription, but I respect that they need the money.

Great, more QQ about subscribing. That's not old.

GB is a business, and its workers get paid in exchange for their work. How do you eat and buy games ?

GB is probably 95% free, if not more. Please don't complain about some premium content. This is still the best video game site out there. Maybe you need to spend more time on sites that have huge ad skins, articles split up on multiple pages, full page ads that make you wait, etc.

@dbz1995 said:

Brie is a cheese.

This thread has gone on for way too long. Can we get a lock and forget these 13 pages of absolute fucking useless nonsense ever happened?

The odd thing is that so many of the video features one sees on Screened would translate perfectly to cover video games. Perhaps instead of playing the newest game with a two-hour video feed of mostly banal filler, Giant Bomb could produce a handful of short videos that are actually interesting. Where are retrospectives on franchises? Deconstructions of gaming tropes and mechanics? Reflections of genre trends? Hell, the occasional news article from Patrick or Alex seems to make up the vast majority of content that seems prepared in any way.

You nailed something BIG here. I enjoy the fratboy antics and frivolous quick looks, but I definitely want for some more in depth looks at games. Maybe one article/video a week could be an in depth feature. Maybe once a month we get something nearing the quality of this:

EDIT: I'm not a paying member, but I would definitely say these sorts of videos and features would be PRIME candidates for premium content.

For the sake of clarity, I'm not against Giant Bomb. I don't feel like I need something more from giant bomb. I don't feel excluded by not being a member on giant bomb. I don't want Giant Bomb to disappear either.

I just thought I'd add that premium content might be a little half-baked considering it's actually some of the more under produced video content on the site.

I'm sure this has been said before, but I'm not gonna read all 13 pages of this thread:

You are not entitled to the content of this website.

Edit: I was more than happy to pay for a subscription, after watching all of the persona 4 and deadly premonition endurance run videos, I felt like $50 dollars was not a lot to ask for

@CaptainCody said:

@TeflonBilly: None of that is really random bullshit

So it all condenses back to "IT WASN'T WHAT *I* WANTED SO FUCK THEM!"

What exactly is the statement you want to make out of this complaining?

"I can't afford it so they shouldn't make it!"

or

"They should give me everything for free cause I can't afford it even though it hurts them!"

@CaptainCody: People need to realise nothing is free in life and the reason giant bomb is so great and unique is because its free of allot of the bullshit that comes with playing the corperate game re ads etc. The entitlement culture of people has gone insane because of the internet.

When you dont pay you will always miss out on something its a fact.

Whiskey Media can't continue to run a business without money. They can either sell out and have intrusive ads everywhere or have people who love what they do pay them a few bucks a month.

Let's do some math. Let's say WM has 10,000 subs. We know it's less than 15,000, so hell, lets make it 12,000. Now lets pretend that all these subs are monthly for shits and grins. Thats $60 a year per sub. Thats $720,000 on subs. Ad rev is low right now, and when you are marketing to such a tech-smart bunch you have to assume there are not many click-throughs and a ton of ad-blockers. I would guess that they may equal or just slightly surpass what they get on subs with ads, so lets be generous and say they pull in $1.5 mil on subs and ads. Add in another $30,000 for merch and we are looking at about $1.8 mill a year that they are pulling in. Hell, lets bump it up to and even $2 mil.

Now I am not %100 sure how many full time workers they have, I think around 25(?), but with what they have to pay them, web-hosting, equipment, games/movies/comics/tech crap, I would be willing to assume that WM still operates on a loss.

@CaptainCody said:

@elcalavera said:

@CaptainCody said:

I'm with you two which is why I made this thread to see where everyone else is with me on this. I know what you mean with the views but since their debut they've gotten a new bigass building, more staff, more production equipment, skylanders, and Jeff is considering buying a new car. Money is no issue.

So, here's a "problem" I see a lot of bitching about and I cannot for the life of me understand what it's about. What business do you have with what the employees of Whiskey Media do with their salaries? That's just sick.

if you weren't an idiot you would realize I was making the argument of DISPOSABLE INCOME, and sick? It's not sick guy, you must be the type of person who is disgusted by hugging.

You do know Jeff does not OWN WM right? He just works for them. If your employer (assuming you have one) approached you and said "Captain Cody, we aren't doing so well this year, so I need you to work for free for a little while", I am sure you would be okay with that right?

Point is, everything that was free is still free, hell, there are weeks where as I, as a paying member wish they would do less free content. Sorry, it's the truth. If there wasn't this content for people to pay for, GB and all the other sites would already be a memory and Jeff would be at IGN or something.

HAHA a first world problem if ever i saw one, GB went and developed its own social hierarchy

You think too much.

@Metric_Outlaw said:

Whiskey Media can't continue to run a business without money. They can either sell out and have intrusive ads everywhere or have people who love what they do pay them a few bucks a month.

The site already has ads, and that Meebo bar. I'm not entirely sure what you mean by intrusive as I seriously doubt they would ever even think of plastering ads all over the site getting in the way of site navigation.

Plenty of smaller sites have ads and they aren't intrusive.

@Sooty said:

@Metric_Outlaw said:

Whiskey Media can't continue to run a business without money. They can either sell out and have intrusive ads everywhere or have people who love what they do pay them a few bucks a month.

The site already has ads, and that Meebo bar. I'm not entirely sure what you mean by intrusive as I seriously doubt they would ever even think of plastering ads all over the site getting in the way of site navigation.

Plenty of smaller sites have ads and they aren't intrusive.

you mean like FUCKING EYE BLASTERS!!!!!!

@SamFo said:

It's five bucks... Just stop whining and take the free content. Or pay five bucks? Or just go somewhere else and stop complaining. Sick of these threads....

You can't get everything in life. Deal.

@Sooty said:

I'm not paying money to watch a man talk with a jar.

You, my friend, are missing out.

@DrBendo said:

@Milkman:

That could be true. When I started coming to the site, there were a handful of Quick Looks and a couple of mailbag type videos, but a lot of the content was prepared, written, and edited. There weren't endless hours of video, but what was there tended to be focused and good. The site had a different take than most, and it was refreshing. The site is increasingly "Watch us dick around for an hour; oh, aren't we just wacky."

That could be what most users genuinely want. Given the rabid defense of anything the site does that typifies many threads, it appears that a lot of people are just here to watch a group of people goof around and occasionally write a review. There's nothing inherently wrong with that. If, though, there is a sufficient contingent of visitors who want intelligent, pointed features that can reduce the striking absence of legitimate criticism, then it's worth bringing up. Eschewing insight for cheap college humor somewhat related to games seems to be proving Giant Bomb's meal ticket.

As I said, the site does not yet suck, but I come around less and less, occasionally checking for something that has focus and forethought. As I more often find the product of flipping a camera on and hoping something amusing happens eventually, Giant Bomb simply may not be my kind of site.

Have you read any of Patrick's articles yet? I'd call those intelligent and pointed.

You're mad that you're not getting stuff for free. Thats stupid.

Whiskey Media does good work and deserves the money. If its not worth it to you monetarily, it shouldn't be worth bitching about idly.

People complaining about content Have they not noticed Klepcks work? He is the best thing to happen to this site.

These threads make me facepalm stop bitching you knew there was going to be preimum content so when you can't see it either pay for it or go somewhere else and come back later.

@Barrock said:

I just watched Ryan Davis play Dark Souls for 2 hours. It was worth millions bucks. 50 was a damn steal.

Fixed

@Shadow said:

your mom is a business

boom...I give them money because I want them to be able to continue this site...something that I love dearly...i'll be getting another monthly when this one runs out soon

Stop bitching duder, considering that you're a cheap and/or poor bastard like myself (no offense), you should just be grateful that free memberships are still allowed on Giantbomb.

tl:dr I couldn't afford the $5 cover charge for that party on Friday.

Seriously though, content costs money even if it's not a physical thing. I don't understand why people have a problem with this. Do you not have cable TV, Netflix, a Zune pass, Xbox Live Gold, etc? Do you not go to concerts and instead buy t-shirts from a band's website because after the concert there's no physical thing to show for it? I don't get the mindset where someone won't pay for a website because it's a website. It seems silly. If you didn't want to pay for the content because you didn't feel it was worth the money that would at least be understandable.

Maybe you should change the way that you think about it. You get a t-shirt when you subscribe. Buy a $50 t-shirt and enjoy all of the extra stuff you get for the next year.

@Red12b said:

@oct_ONES said:

I found this thread to be quite entertaining as i read through the posts. One thing i observed is that your replies seem to get angrier an nonsensical as the thread moves on and as valid points are made against your opinion from both sides. It's obvious that you care about this site, otherwise you wouldn't have made such a thread, but the fact is not all of the content that you see posted daily is what they do in a workday: the staff is constantly producing content, playing through games to get a review done, attending press events, and managing the wiki database, etc. In my opinion, much like what has already been stated in the thread, you are paying the membership fees to support the site, while the premium content is simply a "bonus". The staff feels entitled to make this content as a "thank you" for supporting the site not so much as something to be marketed. If you are not financially able to pay for this site you may have bigger worries in life than not being able watch grown men sit on a couch and play video games. I do though feel that the Youtube switch in video should utilize the HD format since they are saving money through offloading some of the video bandwidth costs and the person that suggested that they should sell merchandise in the store that maybe helps to advertise for Giantbomb is right (i would really be interested in a logo shirt like the ones in the Too Human video or a sticker to slap on my laptop).

Agreed, I especially like

If you are not financially able to pay for this site you may have bigger worries in life than not being able watch grown men sit on a couch and play video games.

Yeah, sort your shit out mate...

Basically this.

I do agree with having an HD option on their youtube videos for the general public because the youtube quality is way less than the quality in the whiskey media player.

Also, I'm kinda tempted to just get this guy a membership so he can calm down, but the option to do that for him isn't there...go figure.

@CaptainCody: if you don't like it leave. What do you want us and the Whiskey Media employees to do, say OH YOUR SO RIGHT BRO!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WE WERE SO DUMB!!!!??? If McDonalds decided to sell actual human shit instead of fries tomorrow they can...they will lose some customers sure but they can do as they please. Also I don't understand why you keep saying "I want to see who's with me." Obviously the majority thinks your a fucking moron (I dont but the majjority seems too) So if it sucks for you to be the minority and not want to pay for content on the internet ( a perfectly reasonable thing), then leave and go somewhere that doesn't expect you to pay...I work literally 12 hrs a week am a full time college student and athlete yet I can afford a membership easily...its not too hard so that shouldn't be an excuse. If you don't like the content that is premium whats your point? I'm literally dumbfounded by your position and apparent lack of understanding how to solve your own issues with the way the site is run.

Yes it is. And there's nothing wrong with that. This isn't some blog or a You Tube channel of someone posting every now and again, this is DAILY (even sometimes on the weekends) article/video content spread across five entire websites (even AnimeVice gets videos and articles). I always said at the beginning of Giant Bomb (and later the rest of Whiskey Media) that I'd gladly pay for content THIS consistently good. Last year, I got to put my money where my mouth was and this year I did it again.

Businesses change, but that doesn't mean Giant Bomb wasn't a business before. They're becoming a bit more corporate in the way they're approaching subscriber content, but those things you're describing were always really just bonuses. They're still providing all the content you've come to expect from them free of charge. As for the "Jeff answering questions shot from his self phone" videos, I don't believe those were archived before, so the move to that is HUGE for me.

As someone who works with and gotten to know some of the even smaller indie site owners (e.g. Sam Bishop and Andre Segers), I know how brutal trying to maintain a site with a minimal staff and focused content is. Having done this for over two years, I can tell you that I have spent way more money than I have gotten in return (mostly from god-damn E3 trips), but it was totally worth it to experience the world and meet all those people.

That and Brad's sweaty hands.

But that said... yeah, business. They need money to bring you content. Not just the easy content that can be cooked up in an hour, but the harder stuff that requires audio and video editing. That stuff blows, especially if you don't have a background in it. And that is where GiantBomb is special in that they have a full house of talented staffers from different backgrounds that need to get paid because this is their paying gig. While I wish every small site turned a really good profit, I see most of those infamous writers doing other gigs to pay their bullshit San Francisco bills [Side note: go buy the Battlefield 3 strategy guide; Sam worked hard on that one].

Frankly, I'm broke. I can't pay another site money for their content. But I give them traffic when I can, and whenever someone wants a good place to find a podcast or random not-so-quick-looks, I send them here. That, and like most of you, I sat through those god-forsaken Dead Island ads for what felt like months, so I think we're even.

It always has been a business, and don't you try to say otherwise. It's crazy talk. People gotta make their living somehow.

Also they DO sell t-shirts. So go buy those if that's what makes you happy.

They got to get that CREAM...

But yah if you have concern by all means post it, WM needs to hear your voice. And yes Youtube videos should be 480p no questions asked and I bet they will fix it soon and mb more orginial scripted content would be appreciated, but that takes way more time than just a quick live video. Plus these guys are pretty busy, specially during the fall, as they are in the end still reviewers. So for a small group like GB crew it makes sense to do live video or answer your question kind of things that are less time consuming and more related to newest releases (where i bet most of their traffic comes from).

And still the best content is free, Bombcast quicklook and big events like the big live live show or Skyrim marathon. Really if you have not been subscriber you've missed out on SNES party, Tricaster party, Jeff's Jar time and that amazing random ass PC game, Police Quest : Squad, with dave and vinny.

So if you don't like the way the website going go ahead and let the WM know, but don't expect them to change. At the end of the day and based on the reaction here, more people appreciate the directions that is going on right now and are willing to pay money for it. And since so many people are willing to pay money for this service, like any other good business WM and GB feels entitle to give these good customers better exclusive content. GB and WM can not be all things to everyone at some point some people are gonna be pissed with something they do, what matters is they satisfy the majority and limit alienating the minority; which they seem to be doing right now. For one I am really satisfied with my subscription this year, I'm actually getting quality content that I like compared to last year.

Feel free to voice your concern but don't complain and don't feel entitle to anything. Plus none of us here should feel that our view is the right one, its just a consumer preference at this point.

@Afroman269 said:

@Red12b said:

@oct_ONES said:

I found this thread to be quite entertaining as i read through the posts. One thing i observed is that your replies seem to get angrier an nonsensical as the thread moves on and as valid points are made against your opinion from both sides. It's obvious that you care about this site, otherwise you wouldn't have made such a thread, but the fact is not all of the content that you see posted daily is what they do in a workday: the staff is constantly producing content, playing through games to get a review done, attending press events, and managing the wiki database, etc. In my opinion, much like what has already been stated in the thread, you are paying the membership fees to support the site, while the premium content is simply a "bonus". The staff feels entitled to make this content as a "thank you" for supporting the site not so much as something to be marketed. If you are not financially able to pay for this site you may have bigger worries in life than not being able watch grown men sit on a couch and play video games. I do though feel that the Youtube switch in video should utilize the HD format since they are saving money through offloading some of the video bandwidth costs and the person that suggested that they should sell merchandise in the store that maybe helps to advertise for Giantbomb is right (i would really be interested in a logo shirt like the ones in the Too Human video or a sticker to slap on my laptop).

Agreed, I especially like

If you are not financially able to pay for this site you may have bigger worries in life than not being able watch grown men sit on a couch and play video games.

Yeah, sort your shit out mate...

Basically this.

I do agree with having an HD option on their youtube videos for the general public because the youtube quality is way less than the quality in the whiskey media player.

Also, I'm kinda tempted to just get this guy a membership so he can calm down, but the option to do that for him isn't there...go figure.

That would be an interesting option for people that want to donate more, kill two birds with one stone. Yet, I'm not looking for handouts, I've already been offered and turned them down. Getting me membership won't get everyone membership, I want everyone to experience more of the GB randomness. Or, at least, better quality.

@atomic_dumpling said:

@TheDudeOfGaming said:

Stop bitching duder, considering that you're a cheap and/or poor bastard like myself (no offense), you should just be grateful that free memberships are still allowed on Giantbomb.

They are increasingly pointless though. Lately I wonder why I keep logging in at all.

All of the content that started off as free is still free.

@CaptainCody said:

@Afroman269 said:

@Red12b said:

@oct_ONES said:

I found this thread to be quite entertaining as i read through the posts. One thing i observed is that your replies seem to get angrier an nonsensical as the thread moves on and as valid points are made against your opinion from both sides. It's obvious that you care about this site, otherwise you wouldn't have made such a thread, but the fact is not all of the content that you see posted daily is what they do in a workday: the staff is constantly producing content, playing through games to get a review done, attending press events, and managing the wiki database, etc. In my opinion, much like what has already been stated in the thread, you are paying the membership fees to support the site, while the premium content is simply a "bonus". The staff feels entitled to make this content as a "thank you" for supporting the site not so much as something to be marketed. If you are not financially able to pay for this site you may have bigger worries in life than not being able watch grown men sit on a couch and play video games. I do though feel that the Youtube switch in video should utilize the HD format since they are saving money through offloading some of the video bandwidth costs and the person that suggested that they should sell merchandise in the store that maybe helps to advertise for Giantbomb is right (i would really be interested in a logo shirt like the ones in the Too Human video or a sticker to slap on my laptop).

Agreed, I especially like

If you are not financially able to pay for this site you may have bigger worries in life than not being able watch grown men sit on a couch and play video games.

Yeah, sort your shit out mate...

Basically this.

I do agree with having an HD option on their youtube videos for the general public because the youtube quality is way less than the quality in the whiskey media player.

Also, I'm kinda tempted to just get this guy a membership so he can calm down, but the option to do that for him isn't there...go figure.

That would be an interesting option for people that want to donate more, kill two birds with one stone. Yet, I'm not looking for handouts, I've already been offered and turned them down. Getting me membership won't get everyone membership, I want everyone to experience more of the GB randomness. Or, at least, better quality.

Give us an example of better quality.

@atomic_dumpling said:

@TheDudeOfGaming said:

Stop bitching duder, considering that you're a cheap and/or poor bastard like myself (no offense), you should just be grateful that free memberships are still allowed on Giantbomb.

Lately I wonder why I keep logging in at all.

That makes two of us.

Having been a paid member I don't really care for the extra features. Wearing a shirt with a logo of a website is the equivalent of holding up a business sign on the side of a road, minus the pay.

The real problem is 360p videos on youtube. Dat compression makes it look like a giant pixel.

Basically, they're downgrading the quality than it was before, pretty much taking away stuff from non-subscribers.

I did pay for a few months but didn't re-up because I didn't think it was worth it. I don't see the content being worth it. I don't even really watch the free content much anymore. Quick looks have gotten boring and a lot of the TNTs as well. And the now cancelled Happy Hour was just idiotic.

"Load the Last save" isn't interesting because they're playing really old games which most of us have moved on from. I have no interest in Shadow Planet so I don't care for "Lantern Run". And really old PC games are boring to watch.

But the thing that really got "under my skin" was not putting up 720p videos on Youtube. Since they no longer have to foot the bill for the bandwidth it just seems slimy.

heh, i remember when they talked about no ads on their site because they didn't want that sort of thing on here. MINI Coupe ad popping up at the bottom of the screen, Amazon ad at the top, Vimeo ad on the side.

Gotta get paid somehow...none of it bothers me (really it's expected) as someone who is not and will never pay for a membership to some gaming website; just not gonna happen. Vid quality being bumped down is quite annoying tho, I agree. I don't watch anything here except the quicklooks for the most part...why bother with anything else when I can go to the other hundreds of gaming sites?

@atomic_dumpling said:

@TheDudeOfGaming said:

Stop bitching duder, considering that you're a cheap and/or poor bastard like myself (no offense), you should just be grateful that free memberships are still allowed on Giantbomb.

They are increasingly pointless though. Lately I wonder why I keep logging in at all.

All of the content that started off as free is still free.

@LiquidSwords said:

@CaptainCody said:

@Afroman269 said:

@Red12b said:

@oct_ONES said:

I found this thread to be quite entertaining as i read through the posts. One thing i observed is that your replies seem to get angrier an nonsensical as the thread moves on and as valid points are made against your opinion from both sides. It's obvious that you care about this site, otherwise you wouldn't have made such a thread, but the fact is not all of the content that you see posted daily is what they do in a workday: the staff is constantly producing content, playing through games to get a review done, attending press events, and managing the wiki database, etc. In my opinion, much like what has already been stated in the thread, you are paying the membership fees to support the site, while the premium content is simply a "bonus". The staff feels entitled to make this content as a "thank you" for supporting the site not so much as something to be marketed. If you are not financially able to pay for this site you may have bigger worries in life than not being able watch grown men sit on a couch and play video games. I do though feel that the Youtube switch in video should utilize the HD format since they are saving money through offloading some of the video bandwidth costs and the person that suggested that they should sell merchandise in the store that maybe helps to advertise for Giantbomb is right (i would really be interested in a logo shirt like the ones in the Too Human video or a sticker to slap on my laptop).

Agreed, I especially like

If you are not financially able to pay for this site you may have bigger worries in life than not being able watch grown men sit on a couch and play video games.

Yeah, sort your shit out mate...

Basically this.

I do agree with having an HD option on their youtube videos for the general public because the youtube quality is way less than the quality in the whiskey media player.

Also, I'm kinda tempted to just get this guy a membership so he can calm down, but the option to do that for him isn't there...go figure.

That would be an interesting option for people that want to donate more, kill two birds with one stone. Yet, I'm not looking for handouts, I've already been offered and turned them down. Getting me membership won't get everyone membership, I want everyone to experience more of the GB randomness. Or, at least, better quality.

Give us an example of better quality.

As in not 360p youtube compression.

Ever since subscriptions have come into place, I've paid monthly and you know what, it's the best £4 or so pounds I spend in a month. I barely watch any television as it simply doesn't satisfy my needs. But Giantbomb, Screened and Tested entertain me like television can rarely do nowadays. Even ComicVine I have an outside interest in. I get some of the criticism, but for the price I get more then my moneys worth. Oh and yes I know it would be cheaper to buy yearly, but right now paying monthly suits me financially.

I'm upset about the quality of something I get for free!

@swamplord666 said:

tbh, my subscription is a donation, and the extra content is a bonus

AGREE. This is how we do it.

I like the stance the topic creator has with if you don't like what I like then don't post in my thread. Look at it like cable tv or something, if you don't pay for those shows do you deserve them? I think people should be entitled to a lot of things in life, like medical care, but for trivial stuff like a website you can either pay or shut up.