Anyone else old enough to remember when we had this same conversation around Orson Scott Card and Advent Rising? That one was a lot easier since the game sucked and Card sucked even more.
I think Tim Rogers is the most interesting games media to Patreon figure to follow. And he was fired iirc! Kotaku fired him, he starts a Patreon, has ~5,000 patrons, and yet only puts out a video once or twice a year(!!!)
That shows to me if you A) make something unique and B) find people who love you for it you can stand-up on your own much better than with an outlet. He complained that Kotaku barely paid him (while working well over 40 hours a week) and look at him now.
Same can happen at GB or Patreon. I don't want to crap on the site but I watch old videos daily and rarely new content for a reason. They aren't getting new fans for a reason. You need to stand out, do something bold and genuine. Tim Rogers is literally just talking over footage and yet look at his wild success.
@theonewhoplays: As others have noted, it's pretty common practice in any IT-related industry. This is to prevent any malicious acts (like trashing source repositories or databases). However, your "notice" period is often paid out (ie, you leave immediately, but still receive another 2 or 4 weeks pay).
I think it's also just any tech job now since companies want to get you off their Slack and whatever else ASAP. Not sure if it's even a security concern, maybe be partly legal reasons behind it. It really sucks too because it's like the human being itself go unplugged when they just vanish like that in remote jobs.
GB is essentially an entertainment/media company and I bet the rules around that stuff get even more obtuse. The main thing I'd judge Fandom on isn't the firing/heads-up but more the severance package and resources offered to Jason/Jess. At my job, they give you weeks of job training to help you get a new job and spruce up your resume which is rather generous.
@uhtaree: I'm mostly in the same boat. As someone who watched daily, think GOTY awards and few reaction streams are only things I watched in last few years. Watched some of those arcade shows which are fun when people I know are on. But wanted to say, don't sleep on the Goemon series with Jeff and Ben. That felt like classic GB. Same with Tony Hawk series.
Even if they did have a good reason and they tried everything they could to save the jobs and couldn't make the numbers work they didn't have to do it the way they did.
You don't have to do unpaid PR for a corporation.
I'm never sure how the best way this stuff should be handled. I get the feeling most corporations want to rip the bandaid off and probably best handled that way in case a dour mood sours all the content being put out -- which may happen anyway given the remaining staff may not feel great about things and showing a "brave face" only goes so far.
I'm just trying to understand the situation. I think the owner -- whoever that may be -- just wants to see money coming in and when that's not happening they start cutting, especially when they own a ton of stuff and can't be bothered to rethink business models or whatever. As others have said, it's probably best for the crew they go Patreon as that's the only thing that really works it seems. But that leaves the question of how do fans support keeping the old content alive and unfortunately that seems like supporting Fandom and GB as-is is the only way. And for me personally, that's what I care about most (no offense to staff.)
To hear GB struggled in 2012, when it was literally one of the most discussed and popular gaming sites where they could grab anyone from Geoff Keighly to John Carpenter for content (not to mention their wiki which was used as the basis for Twitch since removed), it's kind of miraculous they survived this long. I think they can go on if they tighten things up and really deliver great stuff that pulls people in. GB started with a small staff with very focused content that people love. So it's not impossible, whether that happens here or some new Patreon thing -- who knows when/if that would happen though since contracts may have to play-out. Anyway, I'm hopeful something good may come in the future.
Quick point: If you are unhappy with Fandom's decision to lay people off then point the frustration and anger at Fandom specifically, not bailing on Giant Bomb. Give them a reason to take notice by the fan reaction instead of accidental justifying their decision by making Giant Bomb more unprofitable.
There is a clip going around yesterday of JeffG saying GB was going to shutter but after Ryan's passing it suddenly created an unprecedented demand for GB content that kept the site alive for many more years. Obviously, we'd all prefer Ryan to be here and whatever would have happened to happen. But the point is that the terrible news -- a reminder that the content creators we love and the stuff they put out won't be here forever -- got people to come back and care.
I think the hard truth of the situation is that GB is an extremely not profitable venture -- few other sites have as much baggage between legacy wiki stuff and massive amount of video content to host -- and that compounds with how much games media has become top heavy: Kinda Funny is feasting while just about everyone else is struggling to even exist.
I've said it here many times but MinnMaxx is everything I would want GB to be in 2023 and yet they struggle to pay salary, earning a sliver of what even Nextlander or JeffG bring in on Patreon. All of this despite daily content, always great audio, always great video, huge variety of content, constant guests, and always quality stuff. They even cut in video during podcasts like I wish GB always would. And yet hardly any growth, because people just find the biggest places/people and stick to those. That's just how games media goes now. So expecting GB to turn the ship around while having the biggest baggage ever in terms of hosting cost, it just seems like an impossible task. So I don't really get the anger at Fandom, if this is costing more than it's earning and nothing is working than you are forced to fire staff to cut costs and eventually shutter the whole operation. That's just common sense. I don't fault GB staff or fans either: The point is its become an extremely hard business and even those who IMO are doing it the best right now don't get rewarded for it.
As someone who is a day one fan and visit the site daily since 2008, I feel conflicted. I actually only visit the site for the archives and I'm expecting that's the one thing that staff can't leave with. So how to keep archives alive while supporting the staff then (should they leave)? Best scenario is the community hosts the archive and we collectively pitch-in to keep the servers alive but so many issues with that both legal and logistical. Not being tied down by YouTube and Twitch was the site's biggest asset in the early days but may make its legacy quite messy which is disheartening (we already lost most of those Justintv streams and other weird stuff like Periscope streams).
Really hope there is a plan, both internally and externally, to archive all the content should things get worse. This past year I spent a lot of time revisiting 2012 media and in absolute shock that even popular podcasts, videos, and other content vanish from the internet within a decade. Outside Reddit and few other sites, most content goes away forever unless people proactively archive it. I've been rewatching GB videos from 2012 (now 2013) daily and it's such a timeless goldmine that I'd be gutted if it all went away for good.
Condolences to staff. Jason was always professional and gave life to some great series. I stopped following the site much in recent years -- part of the problem I guess -- but I can recognize Jess put a lot of effort and passion into some new ideas and projects.
On the bright side, I do think slimming down staff CAN work. The original GB crew was so solid with 4 key members and few surrounding folks that would make appearances.
Rewatching all the 2012 content -- I do mean all of it -- and so shocking to see the amount of comments back then. I think they took the community for granted and that's hard to gain back.
I think the fact that in 2012 Giant Bomb was one of a few, whereas now they are one of hundreds, if not thousands, has far more to do with it than some nebulous notion of "them not appreciating their community."
Giant Bomb has always been a personality-driven site, and that's something that's always rubbed some people the wrong way. But there has never been a moment where they've "taken us for granted."
I just mean how they used to engage with fans: TNT, mailbags, actively reading questions, directly replying to comments on videos, hosting meetups b/w fans and staff, etc
Of course Covid recently made some of this difficult but all of these things started vanishing over time long before 2020. These are things the best streamers are now very good at. GB took fans for granted. That may sound harsh but it's true. Mailbags? Too much effort. Fans in comments -- let's start banning them and discouraging any direct feedback. TNT? Long gone. Engaging with fans during streams -- literally streamers bread-and-butter on Twitch now -- a rare occasion.
I ride hard for MinnMax because they do all these things very well now and feel like the original spirit of GB I miss.
Rewatching all the 2012 content -- I do mean all of it -- and so shocking to see the amount of comments back then. I think they took the community for granted and that's hard to gain back.
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