Great for the guys I guess, hoping for the best, even though I'm rather sceptical. They've said time and again how great it is to be doing what they're doing specifically because they're such a small group of people, and now it's all "we've got to grow so we can do the things we want". I guess I'll see what happens and maybe I'll like it, but I'm.. sceptical. Pretty much everything I like about the site comes down to them being as small a team as they are.

And come on, don't try to assuage people saying GB is going to stay GB, nothing's going to change in this or that department, bla bla bla - this is a huge change which will necessarily have huge implications on pretty much everything. Which seems to be the intent of this deal.

Much of this seems to contradict what they've said and done before (even though they have apparently wanted to do this for a long time, which I also cannot reconcile). And now they're assuaging/patronizing their customers, talking all businesslike - which is something I thought I would be spared on this site - so I find myself being weirdly disappointed. Maybe I just got the wrong impression. I dunno.

I'm going to trust you on this one but all I got out of the video is "GameSpot is giving us a bunch of money but they're not changing anything" This doesn't seem to be how to world generally works but if anyone can make it happen it's you guys.

was not expecting this...

...as has been expressed by some others hopefully you guys can keep the sites separate.

congratualtions? i guess?...i mean congratulations!...i guess.

no this is not good news :( this is the worst news i could hear and i could be loseing my job sometime next year .

@Zeik said:

For those that think they're just putting on a "happy face", the Giantbomb crew is not that good at acting.

I've read nearly every page of this madness and this is the best thing to take away.

Business sucks, enjoy shit while you can. If you don't like it, don't support it with viewership or money. Done.

On side note a lot of crazy stuff going on today:

- Diablo 3 gets release date

- Baldurs Gate gets HD remake

- Giantbomb announcement

All good stuff :)

@Jumanji said:

@MN_MiRajan said:

@Jumanji: While that may have been the case and they're all excited to still be employed, I don't think that was the case. They have had offers for the last 2 years to but the site/content/whatever. Meaning, they no matter what had options. While they probably knew they needed to be bought to stay afloat, it seems like CBSi gave them what they wanted, the ability to keep the integrity of their site. Does this make sense?

Hypothetically speaking, I think the main asset at Whiskey Media was the publishing platform, not the media frontpages. Am I the only person who ever wondered why 5 sites that published as modestly as the WM family did apparently needed an engineering section as large as the content section? I think we have our answer now.
So BB gave WM a big enough payout on the Whiskey publishing platform, and either wouldn't pay a premium for GB or didn't have a place for sub-driven revenue in its business model.

@Superfriend said:

What I´m most curious about is this: They said that GB was responsible for 98% of the subscribers.. would that money have been enough to let GB stay afloat? You know, just GiantBomb, not all of the Whiskey sites..

Selling to BB meant losing the platform, all the infrastructure, etc. I guess they could have rented it/licensed it back if they wanted to stay independent, but that would have meant Jeff et al buying out Shelby.

I'm not a business person and I usually don't comment on these things (hence I just learned how to quote with the previous post lol). So your thinking is that the main purchase here was the style in which WM was able to post content, and not the content itself? And this was something that CBSi decided to pick up since it was going to be on its own?

I am very excited. Giantbomb has been one of my favorite websites since it started and I hope having CBS behind them will give them the greater press coverage they deserve.

So GB and CV are now part of a big soulless corporation, is that the general gist of things? Well, I like John Davidson and have respected him since his days at Ziff Media.

Perhaps this means an end to the occasional (less occasional these days than in the past) "Why I hate Gamespot" threads.

my mind is totally blown by this. i followed gamespot religiously during college and have such an affinity for the old gamespot crew when rich and greg were still there. i lost interest in gamespot soon after giant bomb came into being. its going to be interesting to see how this develops.

and to find out what really happened when jeff got fired is epic. Wouldn't it be hilarious if they came out and said " sorry guys it was TOTALLY the Kane and Lynch thing"

After watching the video, I think that this is actually a good idea. Really excited to see what they'll do with the virtual set. Also, the live stream later about the Gerstmann-gate thing will be awesome.

@Redbullet685 said:

After watching the video, I think that this is actually a good idea. Really excited to see what they'll do with the virtual set. Also, the live stream later about the Gerstmann-gate thing will be awesome.

Gerstmann-gate!!!! awesome name for it!!

boo

I don't know what to think. I guess "nervously optimistic" might be a good term.

It's bittersweet, and I'm leery of the Gamespot cloud as much as anyone. But I trust Jeff & crew to know what they want, and know what they're doing.

The irony of Jeff referencing the NWO, I wonder what happened to that organization?

somehow my heart is bleeding...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CgLDbfXnb0

I'll found a gaming site then: Small Petard!

Sometime selling out is giving up.

@g6065 said:

This will not end well.

Has no one learnt from WWE purchasing WCW, or the UFC purchasing Strikeforce?

This can't end well.

That was totally different. WCW was dead when the WWE Bought them. WCW got put up for sale by AOL Time Warner after merging with Turner. But then they cancelled Nitro. So any potential buyers (Bischoff was one of them looking to buy) of a 3rd rate wrestling promotion backed out because who wants a wrestling company if you aint got a TV deal? So Vince came in and bought the assets of WCW. Contracts for wrestlers that belonged to WCW were taken up. Contracts that belonged to AOL Time Warner were not so Goldberg and the nWo sat out. What Vince really got was the tapes and licenses of WCW. But WCW was really gone by the time he bought it. That is why it only cost him 7 million bucks. No, this would be more like the WWF and WCW merging in 1995, both companies doing well, not amazing, but still operating their own TV shows.

I guess I'm cautiously optimistic, at least for the short term, but I can't help but wonder how long it'll be until some CBSi executive says "Why are we running two competing sites when we could just run one?" and we end up with giantbombspot.com. Or until they just start sticking the giantbomb 'brand name' on any old game related video content, sort of like the way it feels like EA is going with the Bioware name. Hope that won't happen, but can't shake the feeling that it will.

I don't feel betrayed or anything as a premium member, I definitely got way more entertainment value out of the site than what i paid, and was glad to support the guys. Shame that it couldn't last as it was.

Oh well, at least there'll always be gamebomb.ru :p

So they threw you guys out of the office in SF basically. There must be ugly details missing because this happened so suddenly and your running the website from Dave's house. This is scary.... gamespot is the definition of corporate, this could ruin Giantbomb.

Man fuck Giantbomb. I don't come here for tons and tons of content, I come here for bootleg ass content that was made by some dude's I feel like I know and can relate to. The partnership with Whiskey was enough bullshit, and I'm not giving a single fucking cent to CBS.

I think you motherfuckers are starting to love the $$$$ more than the games you cock chugging bastards.

But i'll still watch anything you make or do...I just feel betrayed!

Fuck this, I'm going to Gamebomb.ru.

I wonder what it would take for the Giant Bomb guys to say "No, we won't let you do this with our content" and launch a new site, like what happened in 07. I have no doubt that there will come a time when CBS steps on Giant Bomb toes, but I have to wonder how Giant Bomb will react. I think they really care about quality content, and CBS does not. If Giant Bomb lets them, CBS will smear their evil corporate fingerprints all over the site and destroy everything that's good about it.

I'm straining to recall a time in the past when a buyout turned out to be a good thing.

I'm not a business person and I usually don't comment on these things (hence I just learned how to quote with the previous post lol). So your thinking is that the main purchase here was the style in which WM was able to post content, and not the content itself? And this was something that CBSi decided to pick up since it was going to be on its own?

I hope or the best but my day one GB mind is letting out a long ugh.

I just don't want bloated review scores and journalists bent over their desks by publishers...

I think it's really weird for people giving them congratulations for this announcement. I feel like good luck would be more appropriate.

This is probably going to be identical to what happens when Anheuser-Busch buys a small brewery. Everything is fine at first until slowly but surely they're forced to make everything cheaper and worse under pressure from clueless accountants and sociopath businessmen.

Why they are always in Dave house? He look like he have uninvited guest

I just can't wait to see what Vinny will do with more crazy gear. Sky's the limit man.

Dude.

This news has made me feel uneasy. I completely trust everyone at Giant Bomb, I just don't trust CBS. However I'll follow these guys wherever they go. GIANT BOMB FOR LIFE.

So... can I have my money back?

@Haze said:

Jeff is a savvy guy, he's been on the Internet longer than I have, I have no idea how he things this is going to work. This NEVER working. The second something you love on there Internet is bought out by a large company it is eventually destroyed. This is a fact, he he watched it happen already with the cnet Gamespot thing!

Giantbomb will continue mostly unchanged for a time but its independence and personality will be destroyed one compromise at a time. Every time this happens the small busyness being sold seems think they are special, that they will be the one this works for. Unfortunately no one is special, when you sell your company/product/brand ect. to a large corporation they will destroy it, fact of life.

The fact that the overwhelmingly negative response in both chats was in no way acknowledged on the stream would seem to indicate they are already in some way gagged. I'm very sad today, I put my money into this site because I honestly cared about. it.

They were clearly very happy about it. Why would they want to focus on the negative? Especially given the insane internet overreactions also taking place this week.

Did you expect Brad to just keep reading bitchy comments from the chat the entire time?

but can Viiny say cunt on the podcast?!?

@Dany said:

I don't see this as bad news after the video. I just hope the sites can remain separate.

Same. It'll be interesting to see how Giant Bomb and GameSpot blend. It would be a little silly to have the exact same things covered on both sites, so I'm hoping that this will take a lot of the load of dull rumour-mill-reporting off of GB to free up space for more of the experimental, artsier articles we've been seeing more and more lately on the site. Fingers crossed.

Well I guess it was nice while it lasted. Here comes the bloated scores and moderators that take down your posts if you say anything bad about a game for fear of upsetting a corporate partner.

@Haze said:

Jeff is a savvy guy, he's been on the Internet longer than I have, I have no idea how he things this is going to work. This NEVER working. The second something you love on there Internet is bought out by a large company it is eventually destroyed. This is a fact, he he watched it happen already with the cnet Gamespot thing!

Giantbomb will continue mostly unchanged for a time but its independence and personality will be destroyed one compromise at a time. Every time this happens the small busyness being sold seems think they are special, that they will be the one this works for. Unfortunately no one is special, when you sell your company/product/brand ect. to a large corporation they will destroy it, fact of life.

The fact that the overwhelmingly negative response in both chats was in no way acknowledged on the stream would seem to indicate they are already in some way gagged. I'm very sad today, I put my money into this site because I honestly cared about. it.

They were clearly very happy about it. Why would they want to focus on the negative? Especially given the insane internet overreactions also taking place this week.

Did you expect Brad to just keep reading bitchy comments from the chat the entire time?

I expect Brad to read all the forum and cry a lot after.

I expect Ryan to punch Jeff in the face.

I expect Vinny to take his survival kit and live in the mountain.

I expect Patrick to go wherever he want to

@MildMolasses: They're happy because they have more personal financial security.

Man, I don't know.

Your Whiskey Media t-shirts just became collectors items. :(

Kinda worried about this, but if Jeff's ok and Giant Bomb stays the same then really there's no cause for concern.

Wait, does this mean more Time Trotters?

I'm on-board if yes.

Jeff, I stuck with you, Greg, Alex, and the guys when you were at GameSpot. When you left, so did I.. and yet they keep sending me junk email despite me no longer being a member and asking them to stop. And now you're going back.

I still have my concerns... BIG ONES... but I'm right behind you.

BTW, I don't trust your new bosses.

If you think nothings going to change your a dickhead. When have you seen a big company buy something and leave it alone.

Let's hope CBS does a better job with Giant Bomb than they did with Fender.

Is CBS going to have access to my personal information? Billing address etc?

This is really important to me. I do not want CBS to have access to my credit card and home address. Call me crazy, but I like having control over these things.