Zero Punctuation's Yahtzee resigns from The Escapist.

Dang. I love Yahtzee. Not having Zero Punctuation in my life is going to be weird. I can't imagine that bodes well for the Escapist as he is the main draw. I know they'd been struggling with their reviews (3 Minute Reviews) and broke those off onto another channel to try and see if they'd gain more traction. End of an era.

edit: most of the talent seems to have resigned and Nick declined severance after being terminated so I'm guessing they'll just reform and create their own thing.
 
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bender said:
Dang. I love Yahtzee. Not having Zero Punctuation in my life is going to be weird. I can't imagine that bodes well for the Escapist as he is the main draw. I know they'd been struggling with their reviews (3 Minute Reviews) and broke those off onto another channel to try and see if they'd gain more traction. End of an era.

edit: most of the talent seems to have resigned Nick declined severance after being terminated so I'm guessing they'll just reform and create their own thing.
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It's been around for 16 years so, yeah. It's a bit of a bummer.
I doubt Escapist will manage without him, considering how they they desperately rubbed his [way too colourful metaphor for GAF] all over the other talent.
 
Never watched/heard/read him but his freeware vidya games are pretty damn awesome, he should set up a studio and go and make more. Trilby: The Art of Theft in particular I think could find a paying audience, but with a half decent indie budget so could his horror (and other) adventure games.
 
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Holammer said:
It's been around for 16 years so, yeah. It's a bit of a bummer.
I doubt Escapist will manage without him, considering how they they desperately rubbed his [way too colourful metaphor for GAF] all over the other talent.
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He has a big personality obviously and some of the cockiness is part of his schtick but that big personality is going to overshadow most. The only other personality that could rival Yahtzee is Frost's and it looks like he resigned as well.



Nick was fired and all the talent is going to follow him to the next adventure is nigh.
 
Escapist was the site I used the most when I was in high school. Last I remember it basically died and then was reborn but more slacktivist than before?
 
ByWatterson said:
I don't know any of these words. What are the Cliff's Notes here?
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A young Ben 'Yahtzee' Croshaw uploads this video to the tubes 16 years ago.



The format and fast paced delivery makes it a viral hit and Escapist gives him a boat load of money. He keeps doing these reviews almost weekly, until now.
 
Faust said:
Escapist was the site I used the most when I was in high school. Last I remember it basically died and then was reborn but more slacktivist than before?
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Purchased in 2018 by the same parent company that owns Destructoid and sold to Gamurs (looks like they have an eSports presence) in 2022. It's weird that they have a parent company with how they operate (a lot of live streaming and donation goals for things like: in person The End is Nigh (their D&D group run by Jack Packard who is probably best known for his guest appearances in RLM content) or personality A and personality B play game series X). I imagine transitioning to an independent operation is going to be fairly easy as their paying audience is already used to how these operations generate revenue.

Holammer said:
A young Ben 'Yahtzee' Croshaw uploads this video to the tubes 16 years ago.



The format and fast paced delivery makes it a viral hit and Escapist gives him a boat load of money. He keeps doing these reviews almost weekly, until now.
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+inventing the term PC Master Race and then PC nerds using it unironically. :p
 
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I still quote Yahtzee whenever Ron Perlman is brought up. "Ron FUCK-MOTHERING Perlman?!"

He'll land somewhere else very soon.
 
Man, what a way to not-so-accidentally kill off your own brand. Great move, corporate guy in charge.

They were actually producing some pretty good ZP videos and adjacent content lately, so that's a shame, but yeah...I'll check out whatever comes next from Yahtzee and friends.
 
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I honestly thought Yahtzee was the Escapist. I had no clue they did anything other than Zero Punctuation.
 
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Not to shit in the punch bowl but like Perturbed Joseph and AVGN his shtick got old long ago. But, he has an audience and I dont know who reads the Escapist anymore, or for the past 5+ years.
 
I have no idea if there was a legitimate business reason to fire this fella (Nick), but goddamn, you gotta admire the loyalty he commanded. People quit their jobs for him despite not having a new one lined up, including the star of the show. It sounds like they are going to go into business for themselves. That's a lot of responsibility to carry.

In any case, good luck to them. I always admire the entrepreneurial spirit. If it's a success, GAMURS Group made a huge mistake. If it fails, then I guess he should had been fired. They have a lot of wind in their sails, energy and a sympathetic audience. Reminds me of when Conan was fired from NBC. He parlayed the goodwill into a tour and eventually a successful TV show.
 
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Valonquar said:
His first few books were pretty good. I really liked JAM!
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I was wondering if anybody was going to bring up his novels. He also does the audiobooks for all his stuff, and it's hilarious. All his books seem to be comedic versions of this meme.

e37.jpg
 
diffusionx said:
Not to shit in the punch bowl but like Perturbed Joseph and AVGN his shtick got old long ago. But, he has an audience and I dont know who reads the Escapist anymore, or for the past 5+ years.
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You got a memojible reaction of fire for "Perturbed Joseph." Bravo!
 
Corporate executive morons strike again.

The Escapist was just starting to become good again. Apart from Zero Punctuation, they had a few other good series i was into such as Extra Punctuation, Cold Take, Design Delve, Stuff of Legends, 3 minute reviews, Slightly Something Else podcast, etc. All good content.

Now if i am reading all the tweets correctly, almost everyone responsible for the above content has left, including Yahtzee, after their chief editor Nick Calandra was fired unceremoniously. Nick apparently commanded great respect and loyalty from all the other creators. Good on him.

So basically Rest in Pieces, the Escapist. I will look forward to whatever Nick, yahtzee and the crew come up with next.
 
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Zero punctuation was funny when I was like 16. It really was just cinemasins for gaming though.

Impressed he has had a long career.
 
He has spawned at least one long-term enduring internet meme. That's an impressive feat worthy of entry into internet Valhalla.
 
The guy has his charm but he has incredibly terrible takes in games especially JRPGs and he shits all over MGS which should make this boards blood boil. I remember him being bigger than he was, seeing the ZP twitter account is kinda sad with the low numbers.
 
End of an era, sure, but Ben's going to do very well setting up his own Patreon. The escapist Youtube channel IS Zero Punctuation.

He'll probably kick himself for not doing it sooner.
 
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