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Giant Bomb #8 | It's a Hit!
- Thread starter Hot Coldman
- Start date
- Status
Oh no!
Hot Coldman
Banned
if Alex had been laid off, he'd have said as much
EmCeeGramr
Member
Nearly every game site is going through this process where they got a huge surge of hits and traffic because of the start of a new console generation, and now we've transitioned out of that there's nothing left outside of an increasingly irrelevant yearly E3 show that traditional outlets can offer mainstream audiences that YouTube and streaming can't.
See Polygon, who in the last year have shifted their content focus away from editorials and longform features and increasingly towards clickbait (and I mean actual "non-news, misleading, vague, or inflammatory headline" clickbait, not just "Polygon person said dumb thing") type articles, including non-games related stuff (notable examples in the last few months have included the Mario Kart 8 sales thing; a tag team review of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes in which Ben Kuchera misremembers characters and completely mutilates a biblical simile; and a Chris Plante "feature" in which he links and describes an old wacky Garry's Mod vid he found on YouTube, with the headline focusing on a sex joke in the first ten seconds that the article itself admits is irrelevant).
See Polygon, who in the last year have shifted their content focus away from editorials and longform features and increasingly towards clickbait (and I mean actual "non-news, misleading, vague, or inflammatory headline" clickbait, not just "Polygon person said dumb thing") type articles, including non-games related stuff (notable examples in the last few months have included the Mario Kart 8 sales thing; a tag team review of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes in which Ben Kuchera misremembers characters and completely mutilates a biblical simile; and a Chris Plante "feature" in which he links and describes an old wacky Garry's Mod vid he found on YouTube, with the headline focusing on a sex joke in the first ten seconds that the article itself admits is irrelevant).
ab.aeterno
Member
AFAIK, most if not all of them were employed by GS.
They also did a piece on The Bachelorette of all things a couple of days ago. And Kuchera said that their most popular article some weeks ago was a Game of Thrones review. As a fan of GB I shouldn't be too loud about a video game site focussing on stuff that isn't video games, but Polygon trying to jump on the already way too overcrowded TV episode recap/think pieces about TV train just seems desperate.
Freedom = $1.05
Banned
But for all of that, um, unappealing content they at least give us FMV Quest, something all giant bomb fans should be able to get behind.
firehawk12
Subete no aware
TharpDaddy
Member
Yeah Alex hasn't been laid off. Alex is important to GB east and it would gut content output if it was only Vinny. CBSi wouldn't have allowed them to hire 2 new people if there was even a chance they would need to make GB staff cuts anytime soon.
Freedom = $1.05
Banned
because im fully caught up with my 10+ podcasts and the idle thumbs entire podcast run, im now going back to listen to the giant bomb podcasts from years back, all the way back to the beginning.
I forgot how much i hated their energy drink segments. It's poor radio, ghost ryan and jeff!
I forgot how much i hated their energy drink segments. It's poor radio, ghost ryan and jeff!
This shift seems even more pronounced due to Vox as a whole being incredibly bloated and overfunded. Someone probably did the numbers realised they probably wouldn't recoup the initial investment until 2032. The Verge have gone down a similar rabbit hole with many of their video features scrapped (excuse me, re-focused), awful headlines and inflammatory articles which encourage fanboy wars or faux outrage like that recent "I Pirated Expendables 3) one.
Yeah totally, my post was just implying that they could (and probably will) in future staff up for events using contractors instead of a massive full-time crew which is incredibly expensive to sustain.
Yeah, I didn't realise because my mobile twitter app just shows handles. I only see custom names on my desktop so I thought it was new. He's almost definitely unaffected.
firehawk12
Subete no aware
The difference is that GB's stuff is all easy live stream setups while a lot of GS's stuff is still produced and edited. They probably need all those people to pump out material on a consistent basis. Heck, I think they still do video reviews - which GB already concluded weren't worth doing based on the number of clicks that they get.
Hey_Blinkin
Member
It's easy to forget just how few employees Giantbomb has. I'd have to imagine that ratio of website hits per employee is a dream for companies.
Not to (once again) make this thread about Vox media (but I'm gonna do that anyways), but it seems like SBNation is the only part that is running smoothly for them. Low cost and incredible traffic. The Verge had incredible growth for a while, but it seems like they've, as you said, done the math and found out that the longform stuff etc. doesn't make financial sense. It's a shame because I really liked The Verge, but now it has turned more and more into clickbait crap, and you have to almost search for the stories about actual technology.
Vox.com is just another example of "we explain the news for you because you're dumb" news site on the media. When Ezra Klein announced the site as almost a revolution in how you do news on the internet I had some hope that they would do some actual reporting. But no, it's just another internet news site that sometimes has some cool graphs, but not much actual substance. I can't see that site being a big money maker for them, especially if the rumours about Klein and other editor's pay are correct.
Oh don't get me wrong, I get why that's the case and agree with you. I just don't think it's the best use of money and resources in today's market.
No chance. They wouldn't have brought him over to the US just to lay him off now. He's also, as Jeff put it, "the face of that damn site" now.
razgriz417
Member
Really hope Danny wasn't part of they layoffs today
They are not going to fire Danny.
He's pretty much the face of the site now, there's no chance he was laid off.
Jimmyfenix
Member
Everyone should leave and join up with Gamebomb.ru I hear they are doing fine.
As other people have said, Danny is the most likely to stay. He's pretty much the frontman of that website now.
They just hired some new dude called Boyle after his club tanked, I hear he's a real asshole.
Incandenza
Banned
SteveWinwood
Member
Yeah, a few hours ago.
Keyser Soze
Member
I kinda want to watch GI Joe cartoons now...
It seems hard to do so in Europe though (DVD's are all over the place), so that is helping me not do that.
Good
It seems hard to do so in Europe though (DVD's are all over the place), so that is helping me not do that.
Good
Jimmyfenix
Member
He streamed it but i missed it bro.
firehawk12
Subete no aware
I'm not even sure what video game coverage is any more. If you look at GB, they basically have like two or three Patrick articles a week, a random Alex review once in a blue moon, tons of trailers to fill out space on their feed, and the QLs/live stuff which is probably fairly easy to produce compared to other video content.
If that is what is successful now, then pretty much all game sites are dead and all we'll get at some point is cameras pointed at people streaming on Twitch. lol
I wouldn't be surprised if at least one of the big sites survived (GS or IGN). There seems to be a market for niche sites like RPS, so sites like that will continue to be around too. Kotaku will survive forever. But yeah, we're moving more and more in the direction direction you're mentioning there.
What I'm saying is that PewDiePie and Smosh are the future of journalism. And Yogscast with their shady as fuck business dealings (which probably goes for a lot of Youtubers who aren't as open about it - I seem to remember Nerdcubed mentioning that he got offered something like 8 grand to do a positive video of a game, and that it happens all the time).
Speaking of gamespot people, does anyone know if Jess worked in TV before going to gamespot or something? The way she speaks in all of the produced/scripted content I've seen her in is of a certain style that is kind of reminiscent of people on tech shows and stuff on tv. You kinda can't avoid putting on a certain "voice" when doing stuff like that I suppose. Danny's scripted stuff is a little similar, though not as noticeable.
firehawk12
Subete no aware
When one or two people can get as many views as a site with 5, 10, 20 people... yeah.
I remember him saying that he has a pretty important sounding title at CBSi itself, overseeing the gaming sites. I think he got it after Davison left, but I could be wrong of course.
randomlyrossy
Member
It's on Netflix. Which is making me consider it...
firehawk12
Subete no aware
Oh yeah, I totally forgot that this came up on the podcast as well.
Dan has never heard of composting.
I think this is going to become a new obsession of mine. I wonder if he has velcro shoes because he's too lazy to tie shoe laces.
Dan has never heard of composting.
I think this is going to become a new obsession of mine. I wonder if he has velcro shoes because he's too lazy to tie shoe laces.
You skipped way past the actual hilarious information, that he didn't know aluminum cans were recyclable until he moved to San Francisco. He slipped that one in there and nobody addressed it.
Keyser Soze
Member
He had heard of it, but didn't know the difference with just recycling .)
No. They refer to a few later encounters, but nothing story-related.
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