Vinny, Brad, and Alex have started a new Podcast and streaming project called Nextlander

First stream:

Holy shit. I honestly wasn't expecting this at all, but I'm so relieved that I'll regularly be able to see and hear from these wonderful people again.

I just went from podcast void to overabundance with waypoint, fire escape, and now nextlander

The best news, you guys.

Kinda felt like this might be the move going forward, and it's likely been in the works for a good while. Sorta feels like what Giant Bomb would launch like in 2021 if things were just getting started here. Happy they've got something going forward and hopefully it pans out.

Awesome! I'm super excited to see what the podcast and Twitch channel are like. I'm also happy that these three are collected into one space, selfishly; it's hard to follow people's work as they bop around to and fro.

Good news everybody! I joined the Patreon to support them, very excited to see where this goes.

I'm happy y'all. I miss these goobers here on GB so much, but at the same time I feel like Giant Bomb is in good hands with Jeff G, Jeff B, Jan, and Jason steering the ship (shout outs to Danny as well). And now I get my faves off doing something new and cool. Stoked to see what comes of this.

Yesh, this is great!

Hell yeah hell yeah.

Uh, and they are streaming later today!

Be prepared for some terrible internet.

Neat. I’m poor so I can’t support them but I’m happy for the guys all the same.

I mean, that's cool but...what?

That is quite a significant jump in asking price for the mid-tier but not outlandish I suppose. It makes me wonder why they left to do pretty much the same thing somewhere else other than not being forced to work in an office anymore?

Edit: I've listened to episode 0 and it sort of confirms why they left and I completely understand why they left now. A small group of good people talking about what they love with no need succumb to corporate interests appeals to me. I haven't really seen them this enthusiastic in years and Patreon has always made better sense to me anyway. I'm all in.

Glad these guys will continue to be in the same room somewhere.

Huh. OK.

Awesome news. Glad they are still gonna be doing podcasts together!

This is very exciting news! I also wonder if this is going to be a future landing (next...landing...?) ground for any other Giant Bomb folks in the future. Regardless, WAY awesome!

If you listen to episode 0 of their pod, Vinny explains some of the decision-making.

Basically, the three of them wanted to be a small team again with more direct control. So less corporate goals and more personal goals and when it's just three people that's very possible.

You can speculate wildly on your own time but I think they just wanted to be free to worry less about subscription growth rates and more about what silly game to stream next.

Either way, I'm pretty excited to see what they do!

Fascinating! I guess I'm finally going to use Patreon!

This feels like the most likely explanation given everything we DO know right now.

it's cool to see them doing something but i'm a little bummed it's going to be a streaming thing. i've been holding out hope on Giant Bomb getting back in an office together because i feel like that's where the magic happens. the streams over the last year have been nice but they've been missing something...

Yep, I'm 100% there.

So happy with this news!

@pollysmps: I mean it's not a conspiracy. These are humans making decisions based on what they feel is best for themselves and their families. The only thing we can do is decide if we enjoy what they put out and how/if to support them.

Beyond that, it's speculation and guessing. And in my opinion that just kind of wastes time because 99% of the time everyone is wrong.

The intro podcast does not leave a lot to speculate about.

YESSS! My feelings exactly!

In retrospect, this seemed inevitable. But yeah, the introductory podcast explains their line of thinking. Glad to see people who bring such unequivocal joy to this world will continue to use their talents do so as long as they're willing. The world kinda needs it right now.

I'm onboard, but man, I can't stop hearing it as "Neck Slander". Sorry, guys.

Haha, same.

I just felt my eyes well up seeing this news - so great to see these guys have a new place to make terrible internet together.

Guess I better figure out how to sign up for Patreon

Having listened to the initial podcast I'm pretty excited. The energy is very "early Giant Bomb" and cool. I'm also super glad that they don't sound like there was any big drama that led to them leaving Giant Bomb. They just wanted to move to a smaller team with less corporate oversight. That happens a lot in a lot of industries.

@nick: I don't think that there's any hard plans at this point. They are pretty clear on the podcast that they're starting with podcasting and streaming because that's the easiest thing to set up right now. Could it eventually evolve into a studio or things like that? Who knows. I wouldn't be bummed about anything yet.

@lapsariangiraff: I'm pretty sure that this is still being done remotely because Brad didn't mention anything about moving to the East Coast and it would be a pretty big budgetary item to fly him in every week for the podcast.

@undeadkink: Podcast is free and I assume the Twitch streams will also be available for free. The patreon stuff is mostly behind the scenes and discord stuff so you can definitely follow/support for $0 (beyond the cost of electricity and Internet I guess.) First podcast did not have ads but I assume they have plans for those. I assume Twitch channel will have normal ads. I don't use my Twitch Prime at the moment so I think I know where it will be going.

@bigsocrates: I hate Twitch lol, but I will check out the podcast when I have time…which is rare, but I’ll try all the same.

@doctorfaust: Based on the first podcast it definitely does not seem like it was inevitable. Alex makes it clear that he thought about stepping away from the public spotlight. But they're all super enthusiastic and energetic sounding and it sounds like they're going to be in the Discord a lot.

It just seems like they got burned out working as part of a large corporation and especially with the business aspects of it. But again it doesn't sound like there was any drama.

They are going to be working with Waypoint for E3 coverage too, which is exciting.

gonna be honest experiencing a second wave of "whoa" at the fact that there's a bigsocrates on this site i didn't meet when i was a regular user a decade ago

anyway, yeah, glad the giant bomb podcast family gets one larger. gonna have to give up screen drafts at this rate to keep listening to everybody

See, this is why I couldn't trust that this was doing what's best for their families and whatnot. If anything, it's more work to run it on their own so they'll have less time with family. All this amounts to is them leaving one place to do the same thing on a different URL. There had to be some kind of a fallout between them and Jeff that caused this.

@svengoolie: Did you read the thread and listen to the podcast that they left in or did you decide to create an entire new reality on your own?

@fugoy: I did. They're not being forthright about it.

@svengoolie: Then trying to understand if you did in fact listen to the last bombcast with them and this thread how you came to the conclusion that they somehow lied?

@undeadkink: I am also not generally a Twitch fan, but that's mostly because of the kind of content. The service itself is okay and a lot of Giantbomb streams ran on it. I assume they aren't going to go full Dan with their Twitch because that doesn't seem like who they are as people.

@svengoolie: That's not necessarily true. On the podcast they basically say that the pressure to constantly raise revenue from corporate was problematic, and that they are focused on taking in enough money to live on but not necessarily constant growth. So it could be that they plan to work less. Also obviously though they'll have to pay Twitch and other services, their revenue won't be taken in by a large corporation so they might make more per dollar earned. I think most importantly, they won't be beholden to all the other work that you have to do at large corporations (timekeeping, HR stuff, endless meetings with various departments, etc...) and will be able to focus more on just producing content and community interaction stuff.

And they'll have a lot more flexibility. If Vinny needs to take time off to go meet with a teacher in the middle of the day or whatever he won't have to clear it with anybody. If he doesn't want to stream some night because it's his wife's birthday he won't have to.

There's just no evidence that there was any kind of falling out.

Wild. I honestly thought they were just burnt out from the grind of covering video games. Happy to see them back and will subscribe, just bummed out their streams will be on twitch, that site always has been unreliable and janky for me.

Got shivers the moment I read the title of this post...cannot wait ^_^

I can't help but think this is kind of messed up; leaving a well-established gaming podcast/site just to go start a new one. I wish I knew more about why they left. There must be something really shitty about Red Ventures' expectations.

@bigsocrates: Figurative, lol.

@mobiusfun: This happens all the time in the media and other industries. Look at all the writers who have started substacks recently. Or NPR people who left to start their own podcasts. They say literally nothing about Red Ventures in the podcast, though they do talk about the corporate grind.

@oopprraahh: They were burned out by working for large corporations, not by covering games.

So... $5/mo. which basically just gets you an ad-free podcast. The rest is Twitch streams. And unless I'm mistaken, you'll have to throw Twitch another $5/mo for a channel sub if you don't want to watch those ads.

I'm happy to see anyone breaking out and doing what they want to do, but from a consumer perspective I'm not sure this whole move to Patreon and third party services is very good value.

Well, that feels good.

Good for them. I mean, from the sounds of things Brad couldn't even mention his techpod with Will Smith on the Bombcast, so I think they'll enjoy the freedom of not working for a big conglomerate again.

Take my money!

@bigsocrates: I feel like some people on this thread questioning Brad, Vinny, and Alex’s motives have never worked as a small gear inside a large and bureaucratic organization or company. The behind the scenes daily tedium that distracts from what you actually like about your work can be soul crushing. I completely get it. Good luck to them!