Giant Bomb Thread 2: A thread on a popular internet message board

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Another thing in the SNES Party video that I watched (listened to) the other day was them saying they didn't want a bunch of random content; they wanted to have a schedule and not have every subscriber thing happen at the end of the week.

Don't get me wrong because I am a very happy subscriber, but this year has been really light, with the majority of the subscriber content just being archived videos of live stuff. I know they moved, and I know CBS is being... CBS... when it comes to getting them hardware, but if they are going to use the BLLSL to pitch people on subscribing, or keeping existing subscribers, I really hope they have stuff planned and in the can, because a lot of the stuff they talked about last year never happened.

Again, I'm not bitching. I am happy. I am just trying to voice a concern.
 
I wish I had a link to the original thread about the purchase where people were shouted down for suggesting that premium content would be slashed quantity wise and that Davidson would be gone in less than a year.
 
I said this when they first introduced subscriptions, but people shouldn't really be expecting a ton of unique subscription content because it simply isn't practical for them to produce a ton of it that will only be seen by a relatively niche group of their viewer-base. Giantbomb has always been advertisement-oriented, regardless of what they claim. Subscriptions are essentially donations to help prop them up and let them keep pumping up more video content. In fact, the Penny-Arcade Kickstarter is exactly what Whiskey Media/Giantbomb's subscriptions are, a non-advertisement based revenue source. If that PA kickstarter had happened much earlier, they probably would have done the same thing as well.

It's still their fault though because they shouldn't have acted as if subscribers were going to have access to regular interesting content that was at or above par with their usual content, and instead just give out smaller stuff like t-shirts and I don't know pins? Basically sorta like what PSN+ does. Don't produce separate content but give extra incentives and bonuses to subscribers.
 
Just people complaining about the decline of subscriber content.

Which is fair, it's been kind of average for awhile now, especially seeing that we've been in a dry period as far as game releases goes. Hopefully BLLSL will finalise the relaunch of the site and create more time for subscriber content.
 
Antiwhippy said:
Just people complaining about the decline of subscriber content.

Which is fair, it's been kind of average for awhile now, especially seeing that we've been in a dry period as far as game releases goes. Hopefully BLLSL will finalise the relaunch of the site and create more time for subscriber content.
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I almost want the BLLS to herald the announcement of a staff merge between GS and GB with the new GS being run by Jeff. The shitstorm would be incredible.
 
Xanathus said:
people shouldn't really be expecting a ton of unique subscription content because it simply isn't practical for them to produce a ton of it that will only be seen by a relatively niche group of their viewer-base.
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Playing devil's advocate, but whether it's practical or not isn't the customer's problem, when you're shelling out $50 upfront at a page that says;

We like having our audience be our clients. It means that adding features and content to keep you happy is the best possible kind of business decision. [...] Exclusive Content Every Day: Whether it’s the occasional live podcast, throwback video game coverage or a spontaneous live show, there’s a new premium piece of content every day.
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That's pretty much what you should be getting, and is what you would get with most businesses.


Dany M said:
EDIT: that qoute was when they were part of the whiskey family, they should probably remove it now.
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Probably. They removed the rest of the site banners from the top, but the copy remains the same.
 
HD videos rss feeds, no ads, and the premium videos are why i subscribe.

They just need to get into the rhythm to do a friday video thing consistently and I'm a happy camper.

EDIT: that qoute was when they were part of the whiskey family, they should probably remove it now.
 
Getting people to plonk down money in good faith only works so many times. There comes a point where that good faith runs out.

I don't think they've done anything to convince those on the fence of unsubscribing as to why the should re-up this year.
 
lol Davison leaves yet another company to do something else. Dude cannot sit still. he's got the jimmy legs.

Good Luck, Giant Bomb! (gulp)
 
weird... did gaf just go back in time?

I'm pretty sure tested folks would come by for BLS. Would be ridiculous if they could get Adam or Jamie to come.

They probably still can do another dumb movie and maybe even get some Gamespot guys to do something.

show probably gonna be fine.

Octoberkast though... that's gonna rock this year.
 
I'd like to know the reason we're not getting a new piece of premium content every day. I'm sure there probably is a valid reason, but why can't at least two of the guys find 90mins/2hours a day to just record something and put it up? There are people that do that on smaller sites every day, so I'm curious why it's not happening. I know they had equipment issues but they have what they need to record gameplay and talk over it so they're set for the more simple stuff.

I'm not calling them lazy or anything because I genuinely don't know how they spend their days, but other than QLs and the Bombcast not much content goes up on the site. With the size of their staff it doesn't seem unreasonable to say they're under producing to quite a bad degree from the outside.

I really hope that the latter days at WM (where we got a Random PC Game, LYLS, Breaking Brad, Jar Time, TNT, etc every week) aren't ultimately the glory years of GB. I can't believe that could be the case! The weekly Friday stream is pretty pathetic compared to that, especially when quality varies so much.
 
chickdigger802 said:
weird... did gaf just go back in time?

I'm pretty sure tested folks would come by for BLS. Would be ridiculous if they could get Adam or Jamie to come.

They probably still can do another dumb movie and maybe even get some Gamespot guys to do something.

show probably gonna be fine.

Octoberkast though... that's gonna rock this year.
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Really? Why would they? I'm sure that Will (and maybe Norm) could pass by to say hello and sit on one of the feature but why would they take a big chunk out of a workind day ontheir site to go promote and participate in another company's informercial? Sure they are friends which why they will probably show up but I really don't see why they would go on any official way. Same thing with the Gamespot guys unless they announce some kind of merger between the GB and GS subs.
 
The lack of proper QL's because they have EX's makes me not want to sub. Like, you're the one who said that this is a personality driven site, and you're lacking content, but you think the content without your personality is ok?

No offence guys, but I can listen to publishers talk about their games in other places and probably for longer periods of time... so, y'know. Maybe do some QLs of games you have QLEX's of.
 
Foliorum Viridum said:
I'd like to know the reason we're not getting a new piece of premium content every day. I'm sure there probably is a valid reason, but why can't at least two of the guys find 90mins/2hours a day to just record something and put it up? There are people that do that on smaller sites every day, so I'm curious why it's not happening. I know they had equipment issues but they have what they need to record gameplay and talk over it so they're set for the more simple stuff.

I'm not calling them lazy or anything because I genuinely don't know how they spend their days, but other than QLs and the Bombcast not much content goes up on the site. With the size of their staff it doesn't seem unreasonable to say they're under producing to quite a bad degree from the outside.

I really hope that the latter days at WM (where we got a Random PC Game, LYLS, Breaking Brad, Jar Time, TNT, etc every week) aren't ultimately the glory years of GB. I can't believe that could be the case! The weekly Friday stream is pretty pathetic compared to that, especially when quality varies so much.
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I think the truth is, losing the 'support cast' of the other Whiskey sites has hit GB pretty hard in terms of content, plus I don't think it helps they don't have any interns to do some of the behind the scenes grunt work.
 
I also wonder how much of the current lack of content is from having to put up with stupid corporate red tape. I think when it comes down to it, Petaluma GB was the best GB. Hopefully they will prove that wrong soon.

Megasoum said:
Was at PAX (can't remember if it was west or east).
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It was at PAX Prime last year, I know because I was there. :D
 
cjelly said:
I think the truth is, losing the 'support cast' of the other Whiskey sites has hit GB pretty hard in terms of content, plus I don't think it helps they don't have any interns to do some of the behind the scenes grunt work.
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Is there much grunt work though? Put on game, get the video recording ready, put a small overlay of the guys playing in the corner and make sure everything is working. Then leave them for however long until it's finished.

At least, in my mind, that's how easy it should be. Maybe I'm overlooking something that makes that not the case, but I can't think of anything right now.
 
AnEternalEnigma said:
The reality is that Giant Bomb should have had premium memberships from day one. I have no idea why they basically waited until all their investment capital was gone to start memberships. Unfortunately for them, they are now stuck in the trap of not being able to monetize their most popular content because of user backlash. Remember the digital riot that started when they discussed locking away an hour of the Bombcast for subs only? The backlash for withholding 720p videos from non-subs even when they moved all their content to YouTube? If they had done this immediately, people would have thrown money at anything Gerstmann did after what happened at Gamespot.

All they had to do was be honest and say, "Look, we have this pile of money to start this thing with but after a while, it's going to run out. Want to support the site? Premium memberships, bro. Trust us, you'll get cool stuff for it."

There was so much of an army behind Jeff that Giant Bomb really didn't need to "establish" anything. They could have zoomed right into premium memberships and people wouldn't have been able to throw Jeff enough money. They could have made a website devoted entirely to Jeff's old "POINTS!" videos and made mad bank.

But now they are stuck and it's become very clear in the past two years that they are incapable of creating consistently new, fresh ideas that anyone feels is worth $50/year or $5/month. I really hate saying that, but it's reality. The first year, they essentially had nothing for premium users other than Happy Hour (which was a weekly trainwreck). They didn't even really start trying to do anything with substance until it was time for all those yearly subs to expire. Even then, what they've done this second year has been really underwhelming as well. They started off strong, but it's really lagged behind in recent months. I'm sure a lot of that has to do with the CBSi acquistion, but it's been over five months now. When you're taking money from people, you've got a responsibility to produce for those people.

Then naturally, there is the question of "Do these guys really need the money now that they are owned by a mega-corporation like CBS?" While I'm sure CBS' coffers have not been swung open for Giant Bomb, it's still a valid question.

It's hard to find people that really feel like they are getting value for their money. A lot of subs are mostly people paying just because they like the guys. And that's fine. But at the end of the day, it's more of a donation than it is a geniune desire to get whatever's behind the paywall. All the real good stuff is free and everyone knows it.

I fully support these guys, but I've been continously baffled as to why they waited until their investment capital was almost completely gone to start premium subs.

Of course, this is just my opinion and you are free to disagree with it. I'm sure someone out there really did like Happy Hour.
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I don't pay $50 a year for the premium stuff, I mostly pay it for the free stuff.
 
Foliorum Viridum said:
Is there much grunt work though? Put on game, get the video recording ready, put a small overlay of the guys playing in the corner and make sure everything is working. Then leave them for however long until it's finished.

At least, in my mind, that's how easy it should be. Maybe I'm overlooking something that makes that not the case, but I can't think of anything right now.
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The impression I get from Vinny and Drew is that video production is more complicated than it sounds.

SatelliteOfLove said:
I don't pay $50 a year for the premium stuff, I mostly pay it for the free stuff.
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Which is a terrible business model, albeit one that I subscribe to in part.
 
I actually hope the BLLSL doesn't focus on a ton of outside stuff like Tested, Baudin, etc. If its an advertisement for the site, they need to put on premium features that will actually show up throughout the year. 8 hours can easily be filled by random PC Game, scrub league, and flight club. I'm sure everyone agrees those features have produced the best content on the site (aside from Rogue Warrior QL of course).
 
Ughh so from Jeff's formspring...

How does John Davison's changing role affect GiantBomb and its staff?
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It's been great working with John, but honestly, it doesn't really change much at all. I'm still having regular (CONSTANT) meetings with the management team about where we're at, where we're going, and what we need to get Giant Bomb to where we want to be next year. I sat down with Ben (who's coming in from our UK office to replace John) last week and he's a sharp guy who understands how dramatically the Putting Content on the Internet game has changed over the last five years. He's the guy who brought in Danny O'Dwyer over there, so I'm pretty convinced that he understands what's important.
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All those management meeting are not reassuring. I bet they have a lot of buzzword and "cool ideas" flying around from the management guys...
 
im hopeing the BLLS is just them showing new premium segments as well as new line of shirts for the store. im probable going to unsubscribe till they get things going again.

i love how some poeple are still clinging to the just moved offices excuse still
 
Jintor said:
The impression I get from Vinny and Drew is that video production is more complicated than it sounds.
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Maybe for stuff like TNT where they're cutting etc, but there are some great YT channels out there ran by one guy who do the same thing as GB at a much more regular rate (and it's not even their job).

That's why I'm quite curious.
 
I think looking at the site when not logged in is almost enough to make anyone want to subscribe to get rid of the ads.

v9IwD.jpg
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I have no problem with them keeping the subscriber model around but they need to rethink it again.


Maybe remove the shirt and just offer a lower priced option.


Edit. Also did you know Screened.com is still a thing that people are writing content for?

Seemed pretty dead. all the stories all have less then 10 comments and a lot have less then 5.

The website itself hasnt been touched since the buyout. The bar at the bottom still has all the whiskey media stuff on it.

Maybe its one of those dark forgotten corners of the internet jeff was talking about a few weeks ago and people are just using the forums to deal drugs?
 
Jintor said:
Which is a terrible business model, albeit one that I subscribe to in part.
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It's definately my personal viewpoint.

All those management meeting are not reassuring. I bet they have a lot of buzzword and "cool ideas" flying around from the management guys...
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All it takes is one suit with a fetishtic need to change something to give off the impression that he's worth his salary and FWISH!
 
cjelly said:
I think looking at the site when not logged in is almost enough to make anyone want to subscribe to get rid of the ads.
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Yikes. I never visit the site as I just use their RSS feeds for the content I want. I don't think I'm going to resubscribe but that has more to do with my financial situation than the content they've been putting out.
 
chickdigger802 said:
They probably still can do another dumb movie and maybe even get some Gamespot guys to do somethinr.
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Not trying to sound like a dick, but I do not enjoy anyone from gamespot which is why I never go there. I would visit gb substantially less if they were in gb content consistently. Luckily so far it's just been a quiet guy in the corner during some tnts which seems pointless.
 
funkystudent said:
I have no problem with them keeping the subscriber model around but they need to rethink it again.


Maybe remove the shirt and just offer a lower priced option.


Edit. Also did you know Screened.com is still a thing that people are writing content for?

Seemed pretty dead. all the stories all have less then 10 comments and a lot have less then 5.

The website itself hasnt been touched since the buyout. The bar at the bottom still has all the whiskey media stuff on it.

Maybe its one of those dark forgotten corners of the internet jeff was talking about a few weeks ago and people are just using the forums to deal drugs?
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They do sell a membership without the shirt for 35 bucks. That's how I got mine. It's just silly that they sell them at random times of the year and make them "limited time offers".

And when BB bought the other WM sites, they only wanted Tested. It's probably why Rorie left Screened after a while anyway. Anime Vice is mostly a wasteland as well, to be honest. There is still content for both, but no one in charge cares about either site. Hell, going from the Tested thread, people aren't visiting the main Tested site anymore either. :p

As for what I'd like to see GB do... I think at this point, like everyone else, they should focus on making more videos over anything else. I don't use the site at all now that I can just subscribe to an RSS feed, so spending time "upgrading" the website isn't important to me, especially if it means Dave and Drew don't have time to make more Flight Club videos. Similarly, if it's a choice between having Brad write reviews or having Brad play more Doom 2, I'd rather he play more Doom 2.
 
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