Jeff statement on the future of the site

Found this quote from a GS article on the departures and didn't want it to get buried under the megathread going on.

In a statement, Giant Bomb founder Gerstmann said: "I've spent a lot of the last year thinking about what's next for Giant Bomb and most of those roads lead to a full-on rethink of what it means to be a Website About Video Games in 2021. While I certainly would have loved to solve these challenges with my longtime friends and coworkers by my side, it just wasn't meant to be. I wish Vinny, Alex, and Brad the best. Meanwhile, we have a pretty exciting opportunity to broaden our horizons, rethink every facet of our operation, and get to a place where we're truly able to build that bomb all over again... or die trying."

Speaking to the future of the site, the Giant Bomb team as a whole said: "There is a collective vision for what the future of Giant Bomb is and it involves both familiar and new faces. We're already in talks with creators so that we can begin the next chapter. We're fully aware that this marks a big change and we're using this as an opportunity to rethink what this site is. It's a chance to introduce new personalities from different backgrounds and explore categories and topics that we never have before

Honestly I'm glad they're not just shuttering. Every new hire was a great addition and more or less every decision they've made has basically worked out in the long run. I'm hopeful for the future especially with someone like Jan being amazing lately with his pokemon card tales and his KH playthrough with Vinny.

Thanks, some reassuring words in there from Jeff. I hope that whatever comes next is amazing, if anyone can do it Jeff and the remainder of the crew can.

I'm kinda excited to see what they do, I've felt growth was the only thing holding GB back in the last couple of years tbh. It makes me a bit nervous having so many leave so close together though, but I will be optimistic to see what's next for the site.

I hope it becomes something new, and doesn't try and do what others are doing right now but somehow expand on what they already have in interesting ways.

This pandemic sort of killed everything. Good luck to Jeff and what he wants to do with the site. I've already been visting GB less and less and unfortunately this might be the nail in the coffin for me. Good luck to all the guys past present and future. I will miss those guys. Hopefully they get good jobs elsewhere.

Thanks for posting this. Anxious to see what's next.

I'm sad about the leaving, but I've always felt Jeff was conscious of freshness and relevance, and it's genuinely heartening to see that he's still wanting to try something new. I also wish it was in part with the same crew. I'll both stay, and follow them wherever they go, if they want to be followed.

The past year was a very harsh experience for all, even if you could work from home. I look forward to see what they build and hope to keep hearing from those who move on in some form, if it makes sense for them.

No. Wait. Come back... come back...

Looking forward to the internet's first Lovense enabled VR energy drink review podcasts. What's old is new again!

Giant Bomb: The Next Generation?

If there's one thing I trust Jeff to do, it's hire good people. I wish we knew more about what administrative stuff might be different under the site's new management, but this all sounds fairly positive, if bittersweet.

It certainly doesn't sound like this is a situation where we need to ask Jeff to blink twice if he's all right.

Giant Bomb has always been a site that brought in fantastic new faces to complement its long-standing members. Having three OGs leave at once is certainly a tough thing to overcome, but I have every faith in Jeff and whatever his vision is, I'm here to see where it goes. I love the staff who are remaining currently, and I've liked every member off staff who's worked on this site in the past, so I'm very hopeful for whatever comes next.

Well this is braking my heart. Pour one out...

I think there's a song about parking lots which goes here.

I'm not happy that we've reached this point but I'll stick about to see what comes of this.

At the end of the day - I originally came to GB for for insight into new games, from people with mixed perspectives and history in the game coverage business. I'm not sure whatever this new offering is can fulfill that but I'm not out just yet.

Obviously it's a bummer but I am absolutely interested in whatever Jeff G/B (hah, kinda funny), Jan, Jason, Rorie, etc. do next. Sleeping if you don't think it could potentially be great

Cancelled my sub due to grief, but, just re-activated. Damnit. Jeff is brilliant, and, I trust him enough to at least see where he takes this thing. Otherwise Jeff, I'll follow you wherever you go!

After listening to the podcast today, and seeing how sea has changed for video-game consumption, I have a strong feeling things are going to get radically different here on GB (in a good way). Stuff like Quick Looks, while a long-time staple and something people find as comfort food, may not be something new GB wants to do anymore. As the staff has stated multiple times: they're interested in people first, and games second.

Super sad to hear everyone leaving, <3 GB so much. You guys helped me during some pretty dark times that I didn't think I would ever get out of and I'll be a fan for life for it. Wherever you wanna take us Jeff, we'll be there.

Honestly I'll miss Vinny, Brad, and Alex deeply. At the same time if this allows Jeff to hire additional people and try something new I'm all for it. Theres no shortage of industry veterans, gamers, and personalities that him and Red Ventures can sign or get to be on podcasts. I'm reminded of feeling gutted when Ben Pack left and Danny was brought in to fill that spot on the Bombcast, one door closes and another one opens.

I speculate that they will be focusing more on streaming from home moving forward instead of working in a studio, but that to me just means they aren't stuck hiring people that are only in SF or NY which really opens up the possibilities to work with many others.

I guess this means though that finally Call of Duty will win GOTY.

I don't want to read too much into this but it kind of sounds like more of a streaming focus and less pre-recorded video content. With the last year kind of being a test run on that as they rebuilt their video pipeline remotely.

I could see why the guys would leave since that's not really what they originally signed up for. I'll stick around as long as Jeff is still running things but I've got pretty mixed feelings until this all pans out.

I'm going to miss the guys obviously, massively, but I know one thing for sure and that's I trust Jeff to reform/rebuild/etc Giantbomb and I'm excited to see what's next. I'll be here every step of the way.

I mean more power to Jeff I guess but maybe he's kidding himself. I don't see a future for this website past this.

A couple of thoughts.

1) Don't read too much into any official statements.

2) I trust Jeff.

@royalghost: Or maybe you lack imagination (not trying to be mean :) ). Honestly Jeff and the rest of the crew deserve all the chances in the world to try to make this work. If you were in Jeff's shoes would you not at least wanna try?

It’s a real bummer to see this group of people not sharing a podcast anymore. I’m curious to see what Jeff has next for the site (and hope he gets to do what he wants).

Funny enough I had just canceled my sub today because I was going to wait for a new sale. Now let’s see what’s next for GB

I wish I could drink the koolaid some of you are regarding the future of the site, but I just don't see it. After watching the video of the podcast, it is pretty clear to me that nobody wanted this and the site is being forced in a new direction.

It's easy to doubt him, but Jeff has shown time and again that he is a forward thinker and coupled with his personality-driven team building, I think he will make the right choices but only time will tell if they're the ones people care about.

People said that about GB 13 years ago when I started following the site after Gamespot.

I can still remember when this site was little more than a blog crawl and some Quick...Looks? Did those ever catch on, talking over gameplay footage in a candid, conversational way? What a crazy idea!

Seriously, the road getting from there to here has been long, but I've got faith of the Jeff.

I'll add that I think it's great that no bridges were burned also. It's always a shame to see finger-pointing when a band breaks up. This was, seemingly, a crossroads where a few parties said, "Yep, I don't think that's for me" instead of something more heavy-handed and dire like a scandal or something (like how GB was founded).

I'd follow Jeff to Mordor.

I'll stay here as long as Jeff remains. Will be very interesting to see what's next for GB.

Like I said earlier, the fact that 13 years ago his entire friend group uprooted their lives to make GB a reality and now are not willing to do it again is totally fair for them to say, "No, I'm not interested." Forced or not, you have to admire tenacity when you see it on Jeff's part to not just abandon ship.

This is forcing me to think about what I want Giant Bomb to be at this point and....I kind of don't have a clue?

Very curious to see what format the site will take on next but yah, these are losses you can’t recover from. Whatever happens next is going to be a brand new thing but the Giant Bomb a lot of us have loved over the years is very much over.

Honestly I don't get the sense that the Wiki is very important to many people. I really wonder if they drop it or sell the data / assets off and focus more on video.

@paul_tillich: Then you are only listening to the pieces of info that confirm the opinion you maybe already decided is the truth. Speculating about this stuff has always felt weird and disrespectful, and hey I get that your mind tends to do that when you are sad or curious.

Also it's not drinking the koolaid if I just want to give a team I love and respect the chance to try something different. It comes from a place of love not from blind faith/desperation.

I really am wishing for the best. I, of course, trust Jeff's judgment, hiring choices, and anything else that he wants to do.

Sadly, he now runs a website that is run by a venture capital group. Venture capital groups don't care about making quality content, they care about making money by any means necessary.

The company I work for was bought by Bain Capital a few months back and every change they have made has been in the service of making themselves richer, employees (and customers) be damned. I know my company's days are numbered because once they squeeze every penny they can out of us, they'll saddle us with debt and toss us aside.

Hopefully Red Ventures isn't as transparently evil as that, but I just don't have any faith in them that they'll purposefully to anything to help Jeff keep the website's quality up.

Here's hoping that Jeff can keep things going in spite of Red Ventures. I'm sure podcasts ten years from now about all of this will be EXTREMELY interesting.

Genuinely gutted. I'm subbed until October and won't cancel, but I'll miss those guys. In Jeff we trust?

This day is a rough day for many of us. I have so much love for Vinny, Brad, and Alex. I feel like a huge part of my life and growth is tied to these guys, and I look forward to what they do next. All I can say is, Jeff knows how to staff. I'm excited to meet some new friends.

It's sad that Vinny, Brad, and Alex won't be with the site anymore. Their conversation, outlook, insight, and eccentricities were always nice to listen to.

As much as I expected some of the long-time staff to ride off into the sunset in the next few years, I expected it would be one at a time, and that more recent hires like a Dan or a Ben would gradually grow into the new wave of senior editors at GB. I really didn't expect Dan to leave when he did, and the continued departures of Abby and Ben, into today's announcement, wasn't the road I expected. The last thing I expected was some hiatus+dramatic rework of what the site even is, especially when (to my knowledge) the Bombcast is still extremely popular among gaming podcasts.

"In talks with creators" is an interesting use of nomenclature from the Jeff statement. It implies that future hires (permanent, contract, who knows) might be coming more from the influencer pool than the journalist/reviewer/critic pool. Or maybe I'm behind the times, and anyone who works in a creative capacity is just calling themselves a creator now. I guess the kids these days turn more to streamers than game reviewers for game coverage these days, so if I'm even close to correct, I hope the creators they find offer an informed viewpoint while also being entertaining on-camera.

I have no qualms about what got GB to this point. They were revolutionary. I have no personal vendettas now. The tenacity by Jeff has nothing to do with the fact that I think the venture firm is crushing Giant Bomb and GameSpot into dust, evidenced by... everything. Being literally owned is very different than the situation that led to this site's existence.

I look forward to the future! GB Forever!

Here's to the past!

I trust Jeff and his decisions, yet I'd be lying if I said it doesn't feel like the OG Giant Bomb is gone for good from this moment forth. Whatever comes next may be cool, fresh and unique, but I doubt it'll be the same - for better or worse, that remains to be seen.

This is a great reminder that nothing is eternal, though it may at times feel like it is, especially for many people who have been following this website for nearly a decade at this point... and I'm one of those. This website and its main crew were like a really good friend to me over the years.

Curious to see what's gonna happen next - and I wish Jeff best of luck with making it into something glorious. But today... today I shall remember the good old days, re-watch some classic videos and try to say goodbye to my good old friend.

I was going to make a joke about how the future of Giant Bomb is hiring Ninja or Vtubers or something, but after reading some of the post in this thread, instead I'll say -

Chill. Take a step back. Every time people leave, they have to go on and on about the behind the scenes, the stuff you don't see, and why it's not good to speculate this and that. And every time, you see it anyways. Relax.

I have very much failed to diversified my interests when it comes to gaming websites/podcasts since GB was the only one that seemed any good to me. They always seem separate from youtube/twitch/influencers end of things which always had the distinct reek of conflict of interest (free codes for coverage etc).

I hope the voice of whatever Giant Bomb ends up as isn't over because there is genuinely nothing else close.

@neghis: I have no idea what you mean by only listening to sources that confirm my opinion, since this news is so fresh that there are no real stories about it. I just watched the live podcast. I am, however, an academic that has spent the bulk of the past decade researching video games, philosophy, and ethics. History does not bode well.

@paul_tillich: Please don't speculate. You don't know what Red Ventures has done behind the scenes for good or for ill.

And Jeff is one of the last people I'd believe would just go along with whatever a new company wanted.

@finaldasa: I am not speculating or breaking the rule created in the first post on the thread about departures. I am just responding to strangers who feel like accusing me.