If Austin's leaving, I'd like Patrick Klepek back on Giant Bomb

I've missed Patrick since he left. I watch his stream from time to time, and occasionally read one of his articles on Kataku, but I don't have a lot of time. Almost all the time I spend watching or reading videogame stuff is on Giant Bomb. And I miss seeing Patrick. So if Austin is leaving, I'd love to see Patrick rejoin the team.

That's my two cents. What's yours?

If it'd be this easy, I'd like Danny to move over from Gamespot. But I wouldn't mind reading Patrick's articles either.

I mean... yes? Of course? But I don't think that's going to happen.

I really don't know what's going to happen now. The chemistry between Austin, Vinny, and Alex was magical. I'm gutted by this loss. Irrationally so.

Nuke.com aquires Kotaku

As nice as it would be to have Patrick back on the team, you still have to remember that he moved back to Chicago and from what Dan mentioned on the stream tonight he is planning on buying a house soon. So even if he did rejoin the team he'd essentially be doing what he is doing now, he wouldn't be in any of the West or East coast live streams or podcasts. Be nice to have him around more, but it just wouldn't be like it used to be.

Patrick is killing it at Kotaku and on his own. Danny is killing it at GameSpot and on his own. Give someone new a chance to kill it at Giant Bomb like they are already on their own.

I think that would require Patrick moving to New York, which probably wouldn't happen, considering he moved to Chicago from SF specifically for family reasons, a la Vinny. It seems pretty evident they're looking for another on-camera/in-office presence on Giant Bomb East.

Patrick just bought a house so sadly I don't think he's going to be joining the GBEAST crew.

I was super sad to hear Austin leaving. Why must all good things end? Listening to Everything Dies by Type O Negative right now in mourning.

Nothing against Patrick, but do we really want this community to go back to what it was like back then ?

With Austin leaving, only "World Coming Down" will play in my head.

Even if he hadn't just bought a house, didn't he say his plan was to move into and stay in Chicago? I'm sure if he brought it up, they'd let him join GBeast in a heartbeat, but he just seems like he wants to stay in Chicago so I wouldn't bet on it.

'Course, he is working for a bankrupt company, so perhaps he could go back to writing articles and reviews and Skyping in for podcasts? We know that it's possible to Skype in for Quick Looks, Dan and Austin did that, so maybe that would be possible as well? It might be a little clunky, though, and there's a lot to be said for group dynamics when everyone's local, in the same room.

No.

@anund: Real talk - as someone who only had just started getting into GB ~5 months before Patrick left - what was up with the community to prompt this response?

@lpug21: Patrick chose to write articles about certain subjects and highlight certain people that a vocal group disagreed with. I'll leave it at that.

I can get my Patrick fix when I need it. I'd rather they uplift some new voices.

As others have said he just bought a house in Chicago, and while doing content with GBeast remotely could work, Jeff specifically said in the closing segment they need someone else with Vinny and Alex in NEW York.

Patrick was (and is) a great writer, but to many (myself included, to be honest) he was not a very good on-camera personality. Couple that with him appearing in a lot of video content and the fact that we are on the internet... It didn't help that he was very political in his work, in much the same way as Austin really, but with less finesse.

Some of the comments did not treat him kindly, to the point of mocking him when his dad passed away.

@anund@ivdamke Jeez! Never knew it got that bad - sucks that communities aren't all always rainbows and sunshine - but that's the internet, I guess.

Austin still has a week left with Giant Bomb, and as such we are asking patience on the part of the Giant Bomb Community. As mentioned during the final E3 live stream the staff are exploring their options and will notify the community when they have come to a solution. As such let's refrain from speculation for now.