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Most of Giant Bomb cast leaves?

R.R. Bigman

Coolest Guy
Giant Bomb is the only gaming news and culture site I still follow. Abby and Ben both leaving around the turn of the year for vague reasons was a sign something was not right, but all the original voices of the site other than Jeff going away is something I don’t think can be recovered from. Have they gotten new ownership lately? Were the premium numbers not high enough? This sucks.
 

Mr. Sensible

Pitch and Putt Duffer
Yeah, CBS sold off CNet and Giant Bomb to RedVentures late last year. I highly doubt the timing was a coincidence.
 

ThornGhost

lofi posts to relax/study to
(he/him)
I'm hearing some things that this is roughly 6 months after the Red Ventures acquisition, which lines up with a pretty standard agreement/bonus for key staff to stay on after a sale.
 

MCBanjoMike

Sudden chomper
(He/him)
Man, this is fucking rough. I've been listening to these guys do podcasts since the Hot Spot days back on GameSpot. I hope there will be a place where I can find them in the future, but for now it seems pretty bleak.
 
I learned about them through 1up when listening to Retronauts and the like years ago and was just charmed by Ryan and Jeff on Arrow Pointing Down gagging on energy drinks.
 

Exposition Owl

more posts about buildings and food
(he/him/his)
I haven’t really listened to the Bombcast since Ryan passed, but that crew got me through some tough days at some boring jobs. End of an era.
 
I was surprisingly upset with the news. Watched most of the bombcast of the announcement on YouTube today.

Its a reminder to me to appreciate things I like while they are around. Almost every group goes their separate ways at some point.
 
So, if you were missing a weekly dose of the departing Giant Bomb crew they've now setup their own Patreon funded venture.

$5 a month to get episodes of the main podcast a week early and ad free; which seems to be the standard for podcasts currently. They have some higher tier levels with additional content or input as well, including some additional podcasts.

Sounds like they will mainly be sticking to a weekly podcast with some Twitch streaming thrown in.

First podcast went up today, it does cover some of the reasons why they left Giant Bomb and why they decided to start their own thing. They also held a Twitch stream this afternoon; Vinny played an FMV game, and then Brad and Vinny played some Hitman to see who could eliminate the current Elusive Target.

They've indicated they'll try to archive what they can of their Twitch stream on their Youtube (haven't seen a confirmed link yet).

They've got an official Discord, but it sounds like there's no plan to do the website thing, which I'm not sure is even needed for what they want to do.

Already at 6,500 patrons and still increasing.
 
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R.R. Bigman

Coolest Guy
So, they’re going to be doing what they were doing at Giant Bomb, just under a different banner? I have to admit that I’m not thrilled about half the site leaving to do the essentially the same thing. Is there something bad about to happen to Giant Bomb? I don’t see another reason for this.
 
So, they’re going to be doing what they were doing at Giant Bomb, just under a different banner? I have to admit that I’m not thrilled about half the site leaving to do the essentially the same thing. Is there something bad about to happen to Giant Bomb? I don’t see another reason for this.
CBS Interactive (which included GameSpot and Giant Bomb) was sold to Red Ventures Media late last year, and as part of that sale it sounds like their new owners have larger plans for Giant Bomb, which Jeff was all for but some of the others were not so keen on doing. This includes things like a push for year of year growth and hosting other content creators, "grow the brand" you know, i.e. make the new owners more money.

I think the three that left weren't particularly interested in the new direction, especially under a corporate umbrella. Why try to build something from the ground up yet again for someone else, if you don't have a owning stake in it (like I assume Jeff does).

This was probably the right time for them to evaluate doing something else with their lives, and based upon the initial podcast it sounds like this venture isn't what they had in mind when they left, it happened because of the outpouring of support from both their fans and encouragement from previous Giant Bomb staff like Austin and Dan who have started new things where they have more control.

I mean, I assume most people would take the opportunity to be their own boss and (probably) make more money. No one explicitly mentions it as a reason they left, but it sounds like Red Venture Media wasn't interested in boosting their pay or creative freedom to try to entice them to stay on.
 
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Becksworth

Aging Hipster Dragon Dad
Yeah, honestly it just sounds like Brad, Vinny and Alex weren’t interested in taking on a “mentoring a new generation of content creators” role is all. Sometimes people just move on from a job.
 

Serephine

and a spark kindled carpet into flame, Blooming
(she/her)
So based on today's Bombcast, it sounds like the Red Ventures thing isn't nearly as bad as people, myself very included, had suspicions about. The very short version is it sounds like RV is actually interested in letting GB be weird, as they put it; based on what everyone said RV actually going to give them the budget and space to do more work with people who aren't literal employees in a modular/contracter capacity. To wit, Danny (O'dwyer) is going to be consistent on the podcast and come in to work on a show. Jeff Grubb is apparently going to be working with them soon, Bakalar is going to be working with Tamoor Hussain and Lucy James from Gamespot on a show, and (buckle the fuck up) Dan Ryckert is also going to be working with Bakalar in that same satellite way soon too. And that's just the plans that are solidified such that they can officially announce them, I wouldn't be surprised at all if they end up doing something with like Austin and Abby in the near future too. The entire crew sounded fucking hyped about the whole situation, it's super exciting.

It very much feels to me that the Nextlander crew wanted to break out and return to the older Whiskey style of playing very fast and loose in their own style without having to be beholden to a Corporation, and with the information about the future plans for GB out in the open now the split makes a lot more sense, because it's not like those behind the scenes plans weren't being talked about with everyone before the Nextlanders broke off.

And fucking hey, Waypoint also just launched their own subscription bonus content program, Waypoint Plus, as well! It feels like a really exciting time for fans of the Duders current and past.
 

MCBanjoMike

Sudden chomper
(He/him)
Yeah, we're kind of drowning in gaming podcasts right now! I agree that this is all turning out the be more exciting than I thought it would. Danny doing more stuff with GB is great news, he has always fit in super well with that bunch and his presence on the Bombcast has really impoved that show. Nextlander is, uh, a pretty bad name, but it comes as a total surprise for me and I'm curious to see what they do with it. Vinny is one of the best personalities in games media, and I like Brad and Alex a lot too, but they're both a little on the low-energy side of things. If they could add in one more person with a bit more dynamism, I think Nextlander could become the next incarnation of GBEast, and that's a very exciting thought.

Then there's Waypoint+, which is a funny one for me. Waypoint already puts out more podcasts than I can listen to in a week, but with Plus they're bringing back all of my favorite stuff - XCOM 2 streams, Waypoints, their television discussions, etc. I should probably subscribe to support that stuff, despite the fact that I already skip half the podcasts in their feed.

And Dan Ryckert's new podcast with Mike Mahardy and Mary Kish has been pretty good so far, too! The shows are longer than I would like, but the discussion is fun, if extremely loose. Mike in particular is a real wild card, he makes Dan almost seem down to earth. And if Dan will be collaborating with Jeff Bakalar at GB in the future? Well, it's an embarrassment of riches, is what it is. Where am I going to find the time to listen to 30 hours of gaming podcasts every week?
 

Nich

stuck in baby prison
(he/him)
So based on today's Bombcast, it sounds like the Red Ventures thing isn't nearly as bad as people, myself very included, had suspicions about. The very short version is it sounds like RV is actually interested in letting GB be weird, as they put it; based on what everyone said RV actually going to give them the budget and space to do more work with people who aren't literal employees in a modular/contracter capacity.
This made me more, not less, suspicious--shifting to a model of non-FTE rotating cast means Red Ventures doesn't have to pay any of them full wages or benefits.
 
Yeah there's way too much games media precent for "it's all going to be like before, except almost everyone is part time now" being the precursor to a venture being shut down.

Obviously I don't know RV's intentions, and no one can predict the future, and maybe they'll reverse course, and maybe they'll bring people on full time later, but... it sounds like trying to make the best out of a bad situation.
 

R.R. Bigman

Coolest Guy
I’m cautiously optimistic. Jeff truly seems to want to break away from the structure of how the site has been for years now, and I’m sure he and the others will do their best to make use of what they have. It does remind of the post- 1upocalypse era of 1up, though. Parish tried his damndest, but the new owners didn’t give the new site direction a real chance to grow before killing the whole thing. I hope this will be different.

It at least sounds more exciting than Nextlander, which appears to just be modeled after Classic Giant Bomb, but without Jeff and, of course, Ryan.
 

MCBanjoMike

Sudden chomper
(He/him)
It at least sounds more exciting than Nextlander, which appears to just be modeled after Classic Giant Bomb, but without Jeff and, of course, Ryan.
Giant Bomb East was basically my favorite thing going throughout the entire time they had any combination of Austin, Abby or Dan on staff. I still think they need like one more energetic person to balance out the cast, but Nextlander could end up being exactly what I want.
 

R.R. Bigman

Coolest Guy
I think Nextlander could use Dan a lot more than Giant Bomb.

A follow-up podcast to All Systems Goku is once again a possibility.
 

Serephine

and a spark kindled carpet into flame, Blooming
(she/her)
This made me more, not less, suspicious--shifting to a model of non-FTE rotating cast means Red Ventures doesn't have to pay any of them full wages or benefits.

Yeah there's way too much games media precent for "it's all going to be like before, except almost everyone is part time now" being the precursor to a venture being shut down.

Obviously I don't know RV's intentions, and no one can predict the future, and maybe they'll reverse course, and maybe they'll bring people on full time later, but... it sounds like trying to make the best out of a bad situation.
I'm admittedly leaning in a possibly over optimistic direction here, but based on what was said on the show none of the core crew are being downgraded from FTE, and everyone they've mentioned so far at least as collaborators already have full time day jobs (Danny specifically talks about how he wasn't sure if he wanted to sign up for whatever this new direction is until he saw how truly excited the core crew were for things because NoClip isn't going anywhere).

And as far as this being a lead up to shit going bad, it could be that RV fed Jeff a line of shit even an old head like him could fall for, but Jeff seemed very very excited to work with a place that seems to want to let them do way more than CBSi ever did; Jeff said stuff in a way that would keep him out of trouble but he really dunked on CBSi in a professionally acceptable way. It also sounds like they're trying to move in a direction that is explicitly *not* like the old way it was.

The biggest thing I would say is if you haven't go listen to the announcement on yesterday's show, I can't convey the legit excitement they all have in text. I trust all those oldheads to be able to see through bullshit and not pitch a bunch of shit to their fans.

The worst thing about Nextlanders to me is that I'm gonna add another 5 bucks to my Patreon bill, I love all three of those dudes.
 
To be clear I'm not trying to say that GB is doomed, and I'm not trying to make a certain prediction one way or the other. I just think this is a "more information needed" situation.

It would definitely not be the first time someone has put on a brave and optimistic public face after having most of their full time staff replaced with people who are doing a side gig, only to have things go south later, that's all.

It's not necessarily bad to have the new contributors all be doing it as a side gig (lots of talented people games media people would be probably be very happy to have a steady GB side gig!), but it's not necessarily reassuring, either.

Then there's Waypoint+, which is a funny one for me. Waypoint already puts out more podcasts than I can listen to in a week, but with Plus they're bringing back all of my favorite stuff - XCOM 2 streams, Waypoints, their television discussions, etc. I should probably subscribe to support that stuff, despite the fact that I already skip half the podcasts in their feed.

This one is really weird to me because the current incarnation of Waypoint is the only video game podcast since Idle Thumbs that I will listen to if I have time regardless of the episode topic (in particular, Austin/Gita/Rob is one of my all-time favorite podcast lineups, just a great dynamic), but on the other hand I kind of hate Vice as an institution and this is more like a Vice subscription than a Patreon thing where I'd be putting money directly in the creators' pockets. But on the other other hand, it sounds like they feel comfortable saying that more Waypoint+ subscribers means they are more free from Vice as an institution and that it makes their lives better on a day to day basis, so...
 
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MCBanjoMike

Sudden chomper
(He/him)
CAN YOU BE MORE SPECIFIC

OK I looked it up on my cell data and holy shit, this is wild. I wonder if Jeff (Gerstmann) was on retainer for a certain period of time after the Red Ventures acquisition? Does this mean he's going to go back to doing stuff with Vinny and co?? I hope there isn't some really unpleasant news at the bottom of all this.
 
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Behemoth

Dostoevsky is immortal!
(he/him/his)
This is wild. It doesn't hit me the same way Alex and Vinny leaving did (the Beastcast across its multiple iterations was maybe my favorite podcast ever (unfortunately the Nextlander podcast just doesn't hit the same, but I'm hopeful the new podcast with Beastcast alums will capture some of that magic)) (but anyway back to the topic de jure), but it's still huge. It will be interesting to see if "Giantbomb" is even still a thing once the dust settles.
 

ThornGhost

lofi posts to relax/study to
(he/him)
There's a video of the Nextlander guys learning about it on stream and they seem fairly staggered by the news, though this does line up with the whole "Red Ventures paid Jeff a one year retainer when they bought GB" rumor back when the rest of the crew left, so I don't know.

I worry about the rest of the Bombcast crew. With Jeff gone I don't think they've got the chemistry to keep me listening and I imagine I won't be the only one to bounce.
 

MCBanjoMike

Sudden chomper
(He/him)
So GB just announced their new crew. Jan, Jason, Jeff Bakalar and Jess are all sticking around. Jeff Grubb, Tamoor Hussain, Lucy James and Matt Rory (who I had always considered sort of GB-adjacent) are now part of the "core crew". And the big reveal is...the full-time return of Dan Ryckert! Say what you will about the importance of Jeff Gerstmann to the institution that is Giant Bomb, but it sure doesn't look like they're planning on packing it in any time soon. That said, the world of games journalism is a very unstable one, so this could all go up in smoke tomorrow and I wouldn't be that surprised.

Honestly, this is a pretty solid crew. It also doesn't really feel like Giant Bomb at this point, without any of the founding members around. Call this the GB cinematic universe, I guess? I'll check out some of their stuff, and I certainly hope that it will be fun to watch. I've really enjoyed Jan, Jeff B and Dan's contributions in the past, and the rest I'm mostly kind of neutral on. Tamoor sometimes rubs me the wrong way, since I find he makes a lot of declarative statements that are presented as truths and I often don't agree with them. But I'll give them a chance and see if the next iteration of the Giant Bombcast can fill the whole in my heart that has existed since Dan and Abby left the Beastcast.

Just in general, the last few years have really shaken up my favorite gaming podcasts quite a bit. Austin's departure from Waypoint Radio was pretty huge, the disappearance of the Beastcast followed by the arrival of Nextlander, and now this almost-complete reworking of the Giant Bombcast, probably the show that I've listened to for the longest of all. I'm a little bummed, because none of the new iterations work for me quite as well as the old ones did. My dream Waypoint line up is Austin, Rob, Patrick and Natalie, and the Vinnie/Alex/Dan/Abby era of the Beastcast is probably my favorite podcast of all time. Nextlander hasn't really clicked with me so far, as 2/3 of the cast is pretty low-energy and it just feels a little staid for my tastes. I have more podcasts to listen to than before, but none of them is quite as good as it used to be. Nextlander just announced a new monthly podcast that's supposed to bring in big names from the golden era of the Beastcast, but it's at a Patreon tier that'll run me $16cdn per month and that honestly seems like a lot to pay for one episode of a show.
 

Adrenaline

Post Reader
(He/Him)
Jeff started a patreon and will be doing a podcast. He didn't elaborate on the situation other than saying he wanted to refocus on covering games and wishing the GB crew well.
 
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