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GameTrailers to close after 13 years

I

ieptbarakat

Member
As a person who found a great community through the old user subforum "Faction" system that continued to exist even after they stopped supporting it, GameTrailers has been responsible for me finding friends lasting close to 10 years now.

While I might not have been dedicated after they disbanded the usergroups, it always has had a special place in my heart over the years. Thank you GameTrailers. I hope everyone lands on their feet.
 
S

SoraanTribal

Member
So depressing... I met some really fantastic people on GT forums. Plus, I liked most everyone who worked there... Bah. Best of luck to everyone.
 
D

Deleted member 80556

Unconfirmed Member
Defy can erase the markings, but the memories will never disappear.
 
A

Aspiring

Member
What the hell????? It was only yesterday i read bloodworth say on youtube no more sackings and they are all good.

Why??? Bosman, huber, hinck and gt time and.gt live. These were my meal time podcasts. I cant go without. What the hell am i supposed to do now?
 
J

J-Rzez

Member
Wow, well that's a shame. Good luck to the staff. It's been a fairly good run. Still can't believe it's been 13 years.
 
A

Aztechnology

Member
Damnit. Their video reviews have been some of my favourite for a long time. Very professional compared to so many others. Sad day.

Bosman was always great and the retrospective series was awesome. This just feels out of nowhere.
 
V

Valkyri von Thanatos

Member
renegade_dewitt said:
Perfect. The Zelda one is my favorite too!
Click to expand...

Mine too! It was the first thing I thought of when I knew that the site would be going down soon, that would be in danger of getting lost because it probably didn't go on Youtube! I had to get a copy downloaded! So much nostalgia with that triumphant Zelda music at the beginning!

I just finished getting it, anyone have any suggestions for some videos to save from the site?
 
Shang

Shang

Member
Defy Media is
SyFBu9J.gif
Click to expand...
 
G

G0523

Member
Wow! This is very sudden! Are they still going to have videos on YouTube or are they just shutting everything down?
I'm beginning to suspect why they're closing up.
I'm surprised no one wanted to buy them out either.
 
L

Lilphish

Neo Member
That is awful. I wonder how much notice the employees were given. This just seems really sudden. I'm going to miss Kyle's show each week. I wish everyone there the best.
 
K

KoruptData

Member
Brainfreeze said:
I don't think that's fair.

I'm as upset as anybody, but it doesn't really seem like it's Defy's fault. They even said in their final stream not to be upset at Defy. GT's views just weren't high enough to keep that staff alive. Defy picked them up as part of a deal that included brands like Smosh, they didn't even necessarily want what seemed to be the already failing site. But Defy definitely gave them a fair shake, all things considered.

I just don't understand why they gave them such incredibly short notice. That seems like a dick move, without any further context. I'm not even sure what context could justify that.

But I'm still glad we got to enjoy GT as long as we did.

It's a shame the last few threads they've had on Gaf have been full of so much negativity lol.
Click to expand...

You announce that a site is closing and you do a few more shows, announce a date when it's closing and it's going to generate tons of nostalgia traffic, they are gonna see numbers they haven't seen in awhile and it's going to make them think twice. But they know those numbers would just be a bandaid so you just have to make the decision to cut ties suddenly. It's taking the emotion out of it. It's business.
 
R

Rogue_Glory

Neo Member
It's really sad to think that we won't be able to experience E3 along with the GT crew this June. Sure, IGN and everyone else will still be covering every inch of the show floor but no one else really fed off of the hype and excitement like gametrailers was able to do. I hope all of them are able to go to this year's E3 and reunite one last time, if that would even be possible :(
 
Shang

Shang

Member
KoruptData said:
You announce that a site is closing and you do a few more shows, announce a date when it's closing and it's going to generate tons of nostalgia traffic, they are gonna see numbers they haven't seen in awhile and it's going to make them think twice. But they know those numbers would just be a bandaid so you just have to make the decision to cut ties suddenly. It's taking the emotion out of it. It's business.
Click to expand...

That makes sense for telling the public, but it doesn't seem like anyone at GT knew before today. That sucks, because without any warning, they don't have jobs.
 
A

Already Torn

Banned
Woah, what? I just started getting into their stuff, and it's some of my absolute favorites to listen to. Wish these guys all the best.

Wow, this is the worst news I've heard in a while. It doesn't seem real.
 
Sakura

Sakura

Member
That's too bad. The only video reviews I ever watched were GT's, and I also always used to watch E3 coverage via them.
 
H

hlhbk

Member
Ok folks here is an update. Just got done downloading all the top 10 videos off their youtube. Moving onto GT TV now.
 
P

Pappasman

Member
ieptbarakat said:
As a person who found a great community through the old user subforum "Faction" system that continued to exist even after they stopped supporting it, GameTrailers has been responsible for me finding friends lasting close to 10 years now.

While I might not have been dedicated after they disbanded the usergroups, it always has had a special place in my heart over the years. Thank you GameTrailers. I hope everyone lands on their feet.
Click to expand...
Did you use the same username? I think i remember you.
 
V

Valkyri von Thanatos

Member
legacyzero said:
Seriously, watch the Retrospective series. It's fucking FANTASTIC.
Click to expand...

Which?

G0523 said:
Wow! This is very sudden! Are they still going to have videos on YouTube or are they just shutting everything down?
I'm beginning to suspect why they're closing up.
I'm surprised no one wanted to buy them out either.
Click to expand...

I see no reason for their YouTube to be demolished, but it's best to assume the worst, and expect that it's time is limited.

Lilphish said:
That is awful. I wonder how much notice the employees were given. This just seems really sudden. I'm going to miss Kyle's show each week. I wish everyone there the best.
Click to expand...

I was most suddenly worried about this (Final Bowman ending), as soon as I saw the thread, but he'll probably be able to keep afloat with a new version of the show.

Listening to this puppet story on the last stream at the 33 minutes mark.
 
F

firelogic

Member
Brainfreeze said:
I don't think that's fair.

I'm as upset as anybody, but it doesn't really seem like it's Defy's fault. They even said in their final stream not to be upset at Defy. GT's views just weren't high enough to keep that staff alive. Defy picked them up as part of a deal that included brands like Smosh, they didn't even necessarily want what seemed to be the already failing site. But Defy definitely gave them a fair shake, all things considered.

I just don't understand why they gave them such incredibly short notice. That seems like a dick move, without any further context. I'm not even sure what context could justify that.

But I'm still glad we got to enjoy GT as long as we did.

It's a shame the last few threads they've had on Gaf have been full of so much negativity lol.
Click to expand...

When you get laid off of work en masse, you don't get any notice. You go into work. Your department gets called into a meeting. They tell you what's going to happen. You go home. You don't even get to get your things from your desk.
 
A

akileese

Member
hlhbk said:
Ok folks here is an update. Just got done downloading all the top 10 videos off their youtube. Moving onto GT TV now.
Click to expand...

Out of curiosity are you going to do a video dump and if so where are you going to put them? I'm putting all of mine in my google drive right now.
 
Hazelhurst

Hazelhurst

Member
I went to gametrailers constantly during the ps3/360 era. Not so much this gen. I enjoyed the site back in the day. I remember it being one of the first sites i accessed on my first iphone back in 2008.
 
V

Valkyri von Thanatos

Member
hlhbk said:
Ok folks here is an update. Just got done downloading all the top 10 videos off their youtube. Moving onto GT TV now.
Click to expand...

Wow, that must be a fast connection. Once again, thank you so much, can you guess if you'll be finished before tomorrow? Are there any holes people can think of between GT and YouTube?
 
B

BlastProcessing

Member
the_id said:
Did DEFY media breach any employment rights here? I feel like these guys are being treated and let go unfairly. So, after being told a few hours that they're being fired, the won't have a job tomorrow???

If so, then that is terrible and I hope some legal action can be done. I don't think that process was done Justly.
Click to expand...

On the final stream Ian said that they couldn't say anything about Defy legally. That implies that they signed a severance agreement. Pretty standard.

border said:
You generally don't want people hanging around very long after they're fired......especially if you have a lot of expensive stuff in your offices that they could break or steal. Not that I think the GT crew would do that, but generally speaking that's why you don't hand someone a pink slip and have them keep working for you.
Click to expand...

We both know that, with proper warning, Ian would have taken a flame thrower to that place :)
 
H

hlhbk

Member
akileese said:
Out of curiosity are you going to do a video dump and if so where are you going to put them? I'm putting all of mine in my google drive right now.
Click to expand...

I can download much faster than I can upload. I am saving them on a local NAS that I cleared 1.5 TB off of prior to starting.
 
C

Charles Alan Ratliff

Member
hlhbk said:
Ok folks here is an update. Just got done downloading all the top 10 videos off their youtube. Moving onto GT TV now.
Click to expand...

I can take care of everything on the GT Reviews channel since we don't know how long everything will be up. I'm not going to bother uploading anything though until their YouTube channel is actually deleted (if/when that happens).
 
V

Valkyri von Thanatos

Member
hlhbk said:
I can download much faster than I can upload. I am saving them on a local NAS that I cleared 1.5 TB off of prior to starting.
Click to expand...

You sure that'll be enough?

Can anyone tell me how to download twitch archives? Interested in hearing Bosman's impressions of Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth, and it seems a video unlikely enough to be ignored by most archivers.
 
A

akileese

Member
hlhbk said:
I can download much faster than I can upload. I am saving them on a local NAS that I cleared 1.5 TB off of prior to starting.
Click to expand...

Ah nice! The important thing is to grab it before it's gone. The uploading can happen later and whenever. Thanks for all your work!
 
A

Already Torn

Banned
Just saying, I would totally pay money to keep getting GT Time. At least they went out on a high note content-wise, I'm sure they'll all be able to succeed elsewhere.
 
H

hlhbk

Member
Valkyri von Thanatos said:
You sure that'll be enough?

Can anyone tell me how to download twitch archives? Interested in hearing Bosman's impressions of Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth, and it seems a video unlikely enough to be ignored by most archivers.
Click to expand...

No clue if that will be enough. I am going to see man. I can only do what I can do! LOL.
 
E

EphemeralDream

Member
Ugh absolutely heartbreaking to see Gametrailers go, I've been following them faithfully since probably 2004 or 2005 and spent hours going through page after page of trailers just to find the goodies. Sometimes when I had friends over and we had nothing to do, we would simply throw on some gametrailers video reviews and they always impressed and entertained. They dominated the video side for so many years before there were any other worthwhile places to look.

It was great to see Brandon Jones go from simply "the voice" who was never on camera to this visible unifying presence for the company. They became a personality oriented group with a lot of fun energy and enthusiasm and each person seemed to have a genuine uniqueness and interest.

Love these guys, hope they continue to do great things. For anyone who wants a quick laugh, check out their Halloween episode for Mandatory Update
 
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