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[Xdrive05]

I’ll echo some others here. This feels like saying goodbye to college friends at graduation. I checked out shortly after Metal Gear Scanlon, save for dropping in occasionally for a Quick Look or a presser feature. I had been there from the beginning, since Gerstmanngate and Arrow Pointing Down--hell, since the HotSpot days before that. I still file Greg Kasavin into the same partition of my brain as Giant Bomb, no matter how many awesome games he creates in his post-journo life.

Up until around 2015 I basically never missed a bombcast or video feature of any kind. I got to “know” these people and their flaws, quirks and sensibilities. They partied, got married, had kids and bought houses. They died.

From the way gaf describes the last few years of Giant Bomb, I left at just the right time. It sounds like they enlisted for the culture wars in an especially annoying way. I’m sure I would have found it insufferable and it would have made me genuinely disappointed at these people I invested so much time and attention in up to that point. Instead, I get to remember them in the way you remember your dorm-mates with whom you used to share endless hours of fun, before they would go on to become antisocially debilitated alcoholic divorcees in their late 30s.

Shout outs to:

• Jeff for getting fired for his principles. You did a whole thing. You took big risks at the right time and it worked. Your shit seems burned out these days, but you’re also the only dude to hold my attention for hours at a time using a Mason jar.
• Ryan for the boundless fun, being the heart & soul of GB, and TANG! Thank you for giving your life for justice.
• Vinnie for the classy video work, the fun stories about your life and family, and for your quirky gaming tastes and OCD tendencies, to which I’m sure many of us related.
• Brad for being the middling knowledge PC/tech enthusiast. At least you tried, and I always got the sense that you were genuine about that stuff.
• Alex for… doing that one funny video of a shitty truck racing game. That was your one lane that worked. I hope you are less miserable wherever you go next.
• Dan for bringing Giant Bomb back to life after Ryan. You did a lot to make it fun again.
• Drew for being a value adding intern, really establishing yourself in the group. And that boss ass gif.
• And to all the third-fiddle crew, you nebbish Jesse Eisenberg and Janeane Garofalo clones who hate videogames, and yet got hired there for your stunning personalities and mailing list memberships, well, congrats on the paychecks I guess. You filled a lot of air with painful mediocrity, which is a solid con.

 

[Oddvintagechap]

I have nothing positive to say, so ima going to say yes.

 

[Jezbollah]

So this week seems to have been the first opportunity to hand in notices if the new owner had implemented a six month "golden handcuff"/retention arrangement with the existing staff when their takeover was completed last year.

Between this, Alex, Vinny and Brad all handing in their notices at this first opportunity, it makes me think that (either or):

1) The takeover process was not a great experience for them and they were soured on the new company
2) The new owners wanted a shift in what Giant Bomb is/was - this is reflected by a little reading between the lines in the press-releases, and that all three of them "don't fit" with the "new vision"
3) Jeff, being a co-founder of Giant Bomb with Ryan, may have a longer retention period and/or some kind of share ownership that means he cant leave at this time
4) Staying the six months could mean they were financially rewarded, and allowed to take an extended period of leave to see what they do next

None of the above is by any means new in the corporate world. I think if anything, we will get more answers from this week's news whenever the three announce where and what exactly they will be doing next. I get the feeling that if they do end up at the same place doing a similar thing, then there's certainly more to this than we will hear about anytime soon.

 

[reksveks]

I have nothing positive to say, so ima going to say yes.

If only more people on the forum were like you, it would be a better place

 

[GymWolf]

I only barely watched modern giant bombs so nothing is loss for me tbh, they were kinda terrible...

 

[Little Chicken]

Abby grew on me because she played a wide range of games that others didn't.

I watched a Bombcast a few months ago to check in and it was Jeff and Brad talking while two other guys just kind of sat there and didn't contribute. It was weird and awkward.

 

[Inviusx]

So this week seems to have been the first opportunity to hand in notices if the new owner had implemented a six month "golden handcuff"/retention arrangement with the existing staff when their takeover was completed last year.

Between this, Alex, Vinny and Brad all handing in their notices at this first opportunity, it makes me think that (either or):

1) The takeover process was not a great experience for them and they were soured on the new company
2) The new owners wanted a shift in what Giant Bomb is/was - this is reflected by a little reading between the lines in the press-releases, and that all three of them "don't fit" with the "new vision"
3) Jeff, being a co-founder of Giant Bomb with Ryan, may have a longer retention period and/or some kind of share ownership that means he cant leave at this time
4) Staying the six months could mean they were financially rewarded, and allowed to take an extended period of leave to see what they do next

None of the above is by any means new in the corporate world. I think if anything, we will get more answers from this week's news whenever the three announce where and what exactly they will be doing next. I get the feeling that if they do end up at the same place doing a similar thing, then there's certainly more to this than we will hear about anytime soon.

You might be right. 3 people don't just hand in their notices at the same time unless forced.

 

[Relativ9]

Man I used to love GiantBomb, since the founding of their site I had been a regular listener/watcher/reader...that is up until Dan Ryckert left and Abbie and Ben joined.

In the beginning it really seemed like Jeff and Ryan knew what Giantbomb should be, how it would stand out and survive. Gaming journalism was dying, and it's in it's last death ghasps now, and they understood this even way back then so instead of structuring the site around "hot scoops" and exlusive pre-release coverage like so many other outlets were doing, they structured it around the personalities. This was genius, especially when you have a cast of known and well liked personalities that have been tested and approved by the audience before you even got started (from their days in Gamespot). Jeff seemed to understand this so well, whenever new people the audience didn't know joined, he would slowly introduce them (like Drew) until the audience warmed up to them and got to like them (If you want a master class on how this should be done, see Linus Tech Tips). But more importantly than the slow introduction of new "cast members", Jeff made sure they were charimatic and likable people who could put on a bit of a character even before he placed them infront of a microphone (Dan), it didn't matter if their opinions and beliefs were insane or unpopular so long as they were coming from someone geniunly likable (where Giant Bomb succeeded for a long time, while places like Kinda Funny failed (post Moriarty)). Then at some point, GiantBomb decided to hire two completely wet-blankets of people (Ben and Abbie) who might be perfectly decent people with valuable things to day, but are the exact opposite of entertaining...which is made all the more apparent by joining shortly after their argubly most entertaining personality left (Dan Ryckert).

I stopped watching/listening shortly after Ben and Abbie joined (I hung in for 10 episodes or so), I gather there was some woke-stuff related to Abbie but I never heard any of it myself, I have nothing against her or Ben, but they were bad hires, or at least put in the wrong roles...these are behind the camera people who are best used to write reviews and features, or support the wiki ect. You can't build your site around marketable peresonalitis and then not hire charismatic and likable people to market.

 

[ozz ex machina]

Man I used to love GiantBomb, since the founding of their site I had been a regular listener/watcher/reader...that is up until Dan Ryckert left and Abbie and Ben joined.

In the beginning it really seemed like Jeff and Ryan knew what Giantbomb should be, how it would stand out and survive. Gaming journalism was dying, and it's in it's last death ghasps now, and they understood this even way back then so instead of structuring the site around "hot scoops" and exlusive pre-release coverage like so many other outlets were doing, they structured it around the personalities. This was genius, especially when you have a cast of known and well liked personalities that have been tested and approved by the audience before you even got started (from their days in Gamespot). Jeff seemed to understand this so well, whenever new people the audience didn't know joined, he would slowly introduce them (like Drew) until the audience warmed up to them and got to like them (If you want a master class on how this should be done, see Linus Tech Tips). But more importantly than the slow introduction of new "cast members", Jeff made sure they were charimatic and likable people who could put on a bit of a character even before he placed them infront of a microphone (Dan), it didn't matter if their opinions and beliefs were insane or unpopular so long as they were coming from someone geniunly likable (where Giant Bomb succeeded for a long time, while places like Kinda Funny failed (post Moriarty)). Then at some point, GiantBomb decided to hire two completely wet-blankets of people (Ben and Abbie) who might be perfectly decent people with valuable things to day, but are the exact opposite of entertaining...which is made all the more apparent by joining shortly after their argubly most entertaining personality left (Dan Ryckert).

I stopped watching/listening shortly after Ben and Abbie joined (I hung in for 10 episodes or so), I gather there was some woke-stuff related to Abbie but I never heard any of it myself, I have nothing against her or Ben, but they were bad hires, or at least put in the wrong roles...these are behind the camera people who are best used to write reviews and features, or support the wiki ect. You can't build your site around marketable peresonalitis and then not hire charismatic and likable people to market.

Amen to this. I am literally in exactly the same position as you.

I would fucking love to see activity on the site/subscription rates timeline, with all the events of staff joining and leaving. It's amazing how those two managed to ruin something for so many people who has GB as a core part of their daily routine for so long. I never thought I'd stop following GB. But it was amazing just how quickly I moved on with my life after those hires. The vibe was totally dead for me. And it's not even a woke thing. I liked Klepek and Austin. I may not have agreed with everything they stood for but I liked hearing their opinions. It's purely a chemistry/personality thing. Those two fuckers were just no fun (Ben & Abby).

 

[drganon]

GB east is all but dead and GB west if its going to continue needs new blood fast. You can't have a podcast with just Jeff and two of the most boring people on the planet and hope to survive.

Chances are though GB is already in the process of dying and Jeff is just sticking around for a little while longer than the rest for whatever reason.

I have found memories when Ryan and Dan were on the site. It all went downhill when they felt the need to split it across coasts and every hire except for Dan being terrible.

 

[drganon]

Double post

 

[Zimmy68]

I used to love the show and thought their best of the year segments were a must listen.
But they went out of their way to eschew popular games, shitting all over Cyberpunk and then spending 45 minutes on indie games.
I lost all interest.

 

[48086]

Get woke go broke.

All they had to do was play video games and joke around. Their audience was 18 - 40 year old males that just wanted to watch some video games and laugh every once and awhile. They had it made. The sad thing is, I believe Jeff knew that and wanted to go in that direction, but instead they decided to be good soldiers in the culture war. After awhile it was painfully obvious they started watching everything they said on podcasts in order not to get the retardera or twitter mafia to go after them for one little line taken out of context. When you're focused on offending anyone it's tough to make good content. I really enjoyed the bombcast when they would spend the first thirty minutes to an hour just shooting the shift and talking about life/old stories. I think they probably stopped doing that out of fear of the woke crowd going after them. Some of Jeff's stories were hilarious and probably did/would have offended someone.

I remember not really caring about the split of east/west, although I did miss Vinny and Jeff's chemistry. I think the company cultural downfall started when they hired Austin Walker. I still listened to the bombcast after that but tuned out for anything that had Walker in it. They then hired Ben who has a voice for print and a face for radio and Abby was actually fine to listen to but just didn't have very much video game knowledge at all. It's clear she was hired only for being a female. Which is fine I guess, but you get you get when don't hire based on quality. I stopped listening to the bombcast weekly when Ben joined. His voice was just too grating and I didn't really think he had that decent of input. It was bad per say but it just random commentary without insight.

I will say, Dan leaving was a big oof. I think he culturally fit in perfect with the GB crew and I enjoyed listening to him.

Overall, Jeff is really the only one who I care to follow. I hope he can turn things around get GB back on track. I know he isn't reading this thread because neogaf=nazis in the great video game culture war, but my one piece of advice is to drop the woke culture war bs, don't care about offending people, and make content where you play games and jack around with other guys. If that happens, I'll gladly subscribe to whatever service GB becomes.

 

[funkygunther]

too many of them just sitting on the webcams looking bored as fuck for the past year, shame because Brad and Vinny at least brought something to the party along with Jeff G and Danny...the rest though, made me wonder why I was watching/listening

 

[HotPocket69]

Nothing says “new lively crew” like Jeff, Jason and Jan

 

[AJUMP23]

You might be right. 3 people don't just hand in their notices at the same time unless forced.

They may not be forced they may just want to do something new. And with Bakular as the new gaming boss, Vinny, Alex and Brad may not want to work for him. But I can't see Bakular forcing out Vinny. They are genuine friends. Sometimes though you don't want you friend to be your boss. It can strain the dynamic.

 

[Reckheim]

I am just listening to the final Bombcast with Brad, Vinny and Alex, and even though I've outlined a bunch of quibbles that I have with Giant Bomb over the past few years, if you care about gaming at all, you owe it to yourself to listen to it. It's only an hour and a half, but it's a really emotional and sweet swan song for Giant Bomb, but also for anyone who grew up in and around the tech sector, as a worker or a hobbyist. And, Vinny's final goodbye to Ryan in the closing moments was extremely classy, kind, and impactful.

We all know how they ended up, but this week's episode is a really great reminder of how amazing Giant Bomb was all those years ago, and how much has changed (and we've lost) since then.

Although I haven't listened to them in while, I can't bring my self to listen to that. It would crush me. GB was a big part of my life when they first starter out.

 

[HotPocket69]

Although I haven't listened to them in while, I can't bring my self to listen to that. It would crush me. GB was a big part of my life when they first starter out.

It lasts two seconds. It wasn’t “impactful” at all.

 

[NinjaMouse]

They may not be forced they may just want to do something new. And with Bakular as the new gaming boss, Vinny, Alex and Brad may not want to work for him. But I can't see Bakular forcing out Vinny. They are genuine friends. Sometimes though you don't want you friend to be your boss. It can strain the dynamic.

Yeah, I'd doubt they were all pushed out, too. I figure they reached the end of some minimum guarantee in terms of their original compensation, were then offered what they considered to be a shit deal to stick around and turned it down. Very common in acquisitions.

 

[Hari Seldon]

A generalist gaming podcast just doesn't work these days. I tried on a few occasions to listen to GB. The problem I always had with it is that when they are talking about a game or genre you give absolutely no shits about, say fighting games which they would often discuss, it was mind numbingly boring. There is just too much competition with specialist youtube/twitch channels.

The only solution to this was to be so entertaining that people listen despite not liking all of the content. This relies on carefully selecting the personalities that mesh well together. They hit gold with Dan but not so much with the other new hires and even some of the long time people that needed to be carried (Alex and Brad).

Also the woke craze really crushed them. Trying to be entertaining in today's environment is very hard, especially doing it live. You basically have to be at Bill Burr skill level if you are trying to be funny, or give up entirely and just be informative. There is absolutely zero space for a non professional trying to be simultaneously funny and not be cancelled with live shows. Zero. It cannot be done.

 

[Svengoolie007]

Wow. My premium membership is just about to renew too. I guess I need to cancel it. I saw Vinny post about it on Twitter but didn't realize they were all leaving. Jeff must be calling it quits.

 

[SpiceRacz]

 

[Relativ9]

Amen to this. I am literally in exactly the same position as you.

I would fucking love to see activity on the site/subscription rates timeline, with all the events of staff joining and leaving. It's amazing how those two managed to ruin something for so many people who has GB as a core part of their daily routine for so long. I never thought I'd stop following GB. But it was amazing just how quickly I moved on with my life after those hires. The vibe was totally dead for me. And it's not even a woke thing. I liked Klepek and Austin. I may not have agreed with everything they stood for but I liked hearing their opinions. It's purely a chemistry/personality thing. Those two fuckers were just no fun (Ben & Abby).

Yeah I liked Klepek and somewhat Austin (though he did take the woke stuff a bit far). They were sometimes not good fits with the others because how seriously they wanted to take everything, but then I believe you need a good strait man to make the goofballs shine. But yeah Abbie and Ben were just so mind-numbingly unappealing to listen to.

 

[ChuckeRearmed]

End of era

 

[PuppetMaster]

Gonna miss the beastcast for sure.
It is the only gaming related podcast I still listen too. But I 100% expect Vinny will start some kind of new podcast. And I will be there for that.

A lot of good memories from giantbomb. I really loved a lot of their older stuff. Persona 4 and Deadly Premonition endurance runs. Etc.

And ya RIP Ryan Davis.

 

[Maiden Voyage]

I love Dan.

 

[FluffShake]

Fuck do I watch now?

 

[ozz ex machina]

Jesus christ Dan was there for 6 years?! Felt like he came and went in like 3 years. He was smart to get out when he did.

 

[Fushitsusha]

Reading this thread there seems to have been some interesting content over the years. What are some of your favorite videos?

 

[AJUMP23]

I love Dan.

If only there was community thread to discuss his stuff.

 

[HotPocket69]

Reading this thread there seems to have been some interesting content over the years. What are some of your favorite videos?

No particular fav vids of them gaming, but man I find myself going back to the Bombcast eps where they were ripping apart Wii U and the state of Nintendo at the time.

Giant Bombcast 11-20-2012

We give thanks for a short work week, Home Run Pies, Assassin's Creed III, Hitman: Absolution, the Wii U launch, the evolution of Mario, PlayStation All-Stars, Mass Effect 3, Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm, Grand Theft Auto V, and more!

www.giantbomb.com

Oh and when Brad finally finished Mass Effect 3

 

[The Wheel of Fortune]

There goes GiantBomb, then. Funhaus will follow them any day now, especially after their change in staff and ridiculous rebranding. These last few years I've transitioned from using my now more limited free-time actually playing games instead of reading/talking about them, and I presume the same goes for a lot of people as well. Kids these days don't like these sort of personalities, sadly, so it's time to move on to a new era.

Never forget the glorious meltdown all over the internet after that infamous 8.8 review lol

 

[BadBurger]

There goes GiantBomb, then. Funhaus will follow them any day now, especially after their change in staff and ridiculous rebranding. These last few years I've transitioned from using my now more limited free-time actually playing games instead of reading/talking about them, and I presume the same goes for a lot of people as well. Kids these days don't like these sort of personalities, sadly, so it's time to move on to a new era.

Never forget the glorious meltdown all over the internet after that famous 8.8 review lol

Wow imagine how gigantic of a fucking dork one has to be to get that angry over a video game review. Jesus Christ.

 

[Evil Calvin]

Goodbye Giant Bomb

Well, CBS buying them was the beginning of the end....then Drew leaving and then Dan.....adding Abby and Ben was a misfire....then Red Ventures buying them...........never seems to end well after buyouts

 

[Dave_at_Home]

Holy shit. I just unsubscribed from Giantbomb a few days ago after only a handful of visits to the site over the past two years. Not worth spending the money. They were once the gold standard, but Twitch and all the other gaming centric YouTube channels had long since surpassed them. It was clear for a really long time that they lost all passion and creativity. Sad, but things change and hopefully onto better things.

 

[Optimus Lime]

It lasts two seconds. It wasn’t “impactful” at all.

Wow. You sound pretty hard core and badass.

 

[Evil Calvin]

Oh man this is wild news. Also kind of wild that Jeff Bakalar just joined a few weeks ago, and now this? That's gotta suck for him.

It's sad, while it hasn't been my favorite podcast in a good long while, I did still enjoy Beastcast.

Jeff B has been on every Beastcast. I consider him more of a regular than Rorie. I don't think I've every heard Rorie on a podcast.

 

[HotPocket69]

Wow. You sound pretty hard core and badass.

You’re cute. Just being honest

 

[Optimus Lime]

You’re cute. Just being honest

No, you're being a prick. For no reason. But, you're some powerless asswipe on the internet, so it's par for the course for someone like you to show up and shit on something in a brainless and vapid way. So, I guess, well done for following your genetic imperative.

 

[chriskun]

Good listen. Only 20 min and Hoeg is a corporate lawyer

Yeah, this is probably it. They probably were given the option to work with reduced salaries and they said fuck it. Also, excluding Vinny, Brad and Alex dont have the following and are redundant. Makes sense they kept all the production people.

Im like alot of people on here and stopped listening to the show religiously 2-3 years ago then completely stopped this year. The show got so repetitive and predictable, every year the same seasonal convos going on as scheduled. Same thing has happened to Rogan, just rehashing the same shit like Ari’s puppy youtube experiment. Its why Dan was such a valuable addition, you had no idea what crazy shit was going to come out of his mouth. It sounds like they werent too fond of him from this podcast though lol.

 

[HotPocket69]

No, you're being a prick. For no reason. But, you're some powerless asswipe on the internet, so it's par for the course for someone like you to show up and shit on something in a brainless and vapid way. So, I guess, well done for following your genetic imperative.

Listen to it yourself dummy. It’s a brief thanks and a nice gesture but you aren’t going to be moved to tears by it.

Or maybe you will seeing as how thin skinned you are here.

 

[Optimus Lime]

Listen to it yourself dummy. It’s a brief thanks and a nice gesture but you aren’t going to be moved to tears by it.

Or maybe you will seeing as how thin skinned you are here.

Still running with this, hey?

My god, dude. Stop posting. You're embarrassing yourself.

 

[HotPocket69]

Still running with this, hey?

My god, dude. Stop posting. You're embarrassing yourself.

Sorry you’re having a bad day, honey

 

[Optimus Lime]

Sorry you’re having a bad day, honey

I'm not. But, for some reason, you've chosen to shit up a thread which was going well - for no reason.

Why would you do that?

 

[HotPocket69]

I'm not. But, for some reason, you've chosen to shit up a thread which was going well - for no reason.

Why would you do that?

I didn’t shit anything up. You’re the one that came at me. Optimus Tard.

 

[Optimus Lime]

I didn’t shit anything up. You’re the one that came at me. Optimus Tard.

Tell you what. If you'd like to continue this, why don't we take it to private message? Then, the thread can continue without you acting like a total fuckwit, and I can speak a little more freely.

The mods are going to jump in and end this any minute, and rightly so, so that seems like a fairly reasonable course of action.

 

[SJRB]

Get a room, you two.

 

[Optimus Lime]

Get a room, you two.

Already tried.

 

[HotPocket69]

Tell you what. If you'd like to continue this, why don't we take it to private message?

Sure I’d love to waste my final hour at work talking to such a friendly chap like you

 

[Optimus Lime]

Sure I’d love to waste my final hour at work talking to such a friendly chap like you

Great! Message sent!