TunaMarshmallow
Member
Oh, I see. I just got the impression that they closed up the old offices well before there was even a deal struck.
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CBS Interactive (GameSpot parent company) buys Giant Bomb
- Thread starter snoopeasystreet
- Start date
Oh, I see. I just got the impression that they closed up the old offices well before there was even a deal struck.
infinityBCRT
Member
My own guess is that the deal with Giant Bomb and CBS was agreed in principle for a while (GB was the hot commodity so it makes sense that they were probably the first to get a deal in place). But Tested/Whiskey was probably still in negotiations until more recently. Its possible they had set up a deadline for the sale so the lease was up on a certain date and they *had* to move out before everything was finalized.
It was just a ton of moving parts. The Giant Bomb/CBS deal, the Tested+Whiskey/BermanBraun deal, the office lease, and the Tested Redesign. I'm sure they wouldn't have rushed it if they didn't have to.
For the endless love some of you guys seem to profess for Giant Bomb, you seem to think they're awfully fucking stupid people, don't you?
Very weird.
Shalashaska
Member
Pretty sure those guys would prefer a paycheck instead of getting kicked to the curb when the time inevitably comes where that decision will be made to combine the 2 together.
<3 drew just walking by with a piece of the wall
That's a cubicle panel... happens at work all the time when there's people moving desks.
Hot Coldman
Banned
The non-CBS guys.
This is true. But the CBS guys have Dave so everything is going to be okay
So does that mean Giantbomb is losing the wiki and overall site design? I never really used the Giantbomb wiki because the site was always way too slow, but seems like a significant loss.
transience
Member
I think I saw Will saying in that thread on Tested that they weren't ready to talk about the wiki yet.. so I think that went with Giant Bomb? dunno.
infinityBCRT
Member
From what I understand, they are going to rebuild the site from scratch. I wouldn't expect the looks or functionality to change much.
EricDiesel
Member
So who's more doomed? Nintendo or Giant Bomb?
Seriously, the hysteria over this is ludicrous. As it is now, under current ownership, Giant Bomb is fine. If some higher up gets fired/quits, that's when I may start worrying. I trust John Davison knows what he's doing.
Seriously, the hysteria over this is ludicrous. As it is now, under current ownership, Giant Bomb is fine. If some higher up gets fired/quits, that's when I may start worrying. I trust John Davison knows what he's doing.
Why would this mean comicvine losing the wiki? They went with CBS Interactive (aka, with Giant Bomb).
Exactly, it appears they will keep the database for both wikis but just have it in a new redesigned site. Plus they have Dave - all is going to be 'A'OK
AuthenticM
Member
Yup, exactly. If only the same could be said for Screened and Tested.
famousmortimer
Banned
If Giant Bomb wasn't making money before what makes people think CBS is gonna 'let them do their thing' now? Of course they are going to say that, but they are a company and if Giant Bomb isn't making them money things will change. These are facts.
I don't particularly care for Giant Bomb, so it doesn't matter to me. But people are delusional if they think this will have no effect. For further proof, take a look at 1up being gutted after being bought out. They said the same thing at that time as well...
I don't particularly care for Giant Bomb, so it doesn't matter to me. But people are delusional if they think this will have no effect. For further proof, take a look at 1up being gutted after being bought out. They said the same thing at that time as well...
Cerebral Assassin
Member
Plenty of companies do things that don't make them money(& how do you know that GB won't make money with better advertising staff?). Also I don't think you can use 1UP as any sort of proof, pretty sure they weren't bought by CBS.
SteveWinwood
Member
They got all the Top Men. They'll be fine.
cartoon_soldier
Member
The people that left Gamespot due to integrity issues there are not owned by the same company as Gamespot?
snoopeasystreet
Member
So other guys got coonce?
Wasn't this sellout more due to the fact that GB was the only really successful Whiskey site and that GiantBomb, by itself, couldn't support the company and the other websites alone?
It makes sense that CBS bought the two top viewed sites of WM.
Yup. No more SSX Cooncing.
Probably. The technology was worth money, but it wasn't making it. And they said that something like 90 percent of all subscriptions originated on GB.
StopMakingSense
Member
98.
Seraphinianus
Banned
that is definitely the problem-- they always say everything will be just fine to calm the bad PR and silence questions. I don't think the actual GB guys are lying, I just think CBS would present themselves as completely non-intrusive, whether they intend that or not.
Maybe Whiskey grew too fast. :/
It's weird. Without Screened or Tested this probably wouldn't have happened but they're also the reasons why this breakup is so sad.
I wish Whiskey could have just dropped Anime Vice but even that site had more traffic than Tested and Screened and it was probably cheaper to run without any full-time employees.
It's weird. Without Screened or Tested this probably wouldn't have happened but they're also the reasons why this breakup is so sad.
I wish Whiskey could have just dropped Anime Vice but even that site had more traffic than Tested and Screened and it was probably cheaper to run without any full-time employees.
billy beane
Banned
I think Whiskey Media selling everything had to do more with all the other sites not doing so well. Could be wrong.
Inferno313
Banned
Please watch the Gerstmann/Davison interview. Jeff has no problem with Gamespot, he was fired by new management that haven't been with gamespot in a long time.
http://www.whiskeymedia.com/
- #1 most followed independent Roku channel
- 100k downloads each week for the bombcast podcast
- 621k user submissions to our structured games database
- 8hrs of original video content produced each week
- 1.7MM videos are watched every month
- 352k hours of video watched every month
- 70k quests get unlocked every month
Right the fact that Giant Bomb has a good brand image, all they need is better people to sell the adspace. And of course it won't stay the same Jeff mentioned this they are going to make a bigger more crazier version of GiantBomb.
snoopeasystreet
Member
I really do hope it all works out. As long as the bombcast and quicklooks remain the same, I'll be fine with it.
ZombiePlatypus
Member
Wasn't the entire appeal of Giant Bomb that it was a smaller, more frank, independently operated effort that didn't have to deal with the PR-talk and politics that the bigger competitors were associated with?
yea lol why did anyone get the idea CV is losing the wiki? I mean Giant Bomb isn't why on earth would they? 90% of the work is already done.
I hate to say it, but I think launching Screened was a mistake. It still feels like they developed a site solely to employ their friends.
Movies and TV is a crazy overpopulated web presence, and the wiki couldn't really compete with either Wikipedia or IMDB.
I think Alex could have just joined GB and that would have worked. Still would have left Rorie out in the cold, but I'm not sure where he could fit.
I also hate to say it but I think they squandered that first year of memberships. The Happy Hour was so hit and miss, and there was not much else to justify the price beyond wanting to help these guys. They figured it out after the BLLSL2, but I think that was too late.
They still don't.
ZombiePlatypus
Member
Don't you think that's more or less inevitable? (Not saying it wouldn't have happened regardless, but I think something like this will probably speed up the process.)
Nope I honestly don't, but honestly it depends on what you mean by PR-politics, because they still have to follow NDA's etc. like the bigger sites do. If you mean advertising with scores, well if you think Jeff would allow that your crazy.
funkystudent
Member
Ricardo left a year or two ago.
Ryan McDonald is apparently still there pushing buttons and doing things.
famousmortimer
Banned
Maybe i'm wrong and maybe Giant Bomb is a money maker, but if it was why wouldn't they stay independent? If they can make money on their own why would that staff even stay there?
This is a business, I know you guys love Giant Bomb but seriously, if it doesn't make money it's going to change drastically. There is no way around that. Maybe i'm wrong about it not making money, that's possible. But the fact that they begged for money to keep the whole thing afloat doesn't point to it being all that successful.
Yeah, maybe other parts of whiskey media did worse, but wouldn't whiskey media just ax those and keep GB if GB was a money maker? Having a long time success is always better than the quick selloff.
This is a business, I know you guys love Giant Bomb but seriously, if it doesn't make money it's going to change drastically. There is no way around that. Maybe i'm wrong about it not making money, that's possible. But the fact that they begged for money to keep the whole thing afloat doesn't point to it being all that successful.
Yeah, maybe other parts of whiskey media did worse, but wouldn't whiskey media just ax those and keep GB if GB was a money maker? Having a long time success is always better than the quick selloff.
infinityBCRT
Member
Its a complicated thing from all angles. Giant Bomb was a hot commodity because they were covering games in a new way, and people were liking them and making a connection to them so much that they were willing to subscribe. They may not have the overall reach that GameSpot or IGN has in page views, but most of those page views GameSpot and IGN get are through SEO (random searches from google) and by people who wouldn't be willing to pay a premium membership.
But Giant Bomb was being anchored down by having to carry the rest of the WM sites and they didn't have a good sales team in place. They were never able to sell ads they way they wanted to. They just didn't have the reach nor the sales expertise to do so.
So this whole deal kinda gets them out of having to carry the other WM sites without putting those guys out on the street. They get the additional resources from GameSpot for ads. They get additional resources in terms of cameras, more access to developers, events and early games (GB still has to buy a bunch of games from stores instead of getting it sent to them). They have the potential to get much more revenue due to better ad deals, plus GameSpot will be pointing people to Giant Bomb for things that make sense (according to Davison) which will also give them more page views. And they also save money by not having to pay an office lease any more.
And because they will likely have bigger revenues and more money saved, they probably will have the chance to travel and be on location more than they currently are.
From the other side, its not CBS, the big giant corporation, thats trying to assimilate Giant Bomb. Its John Davison, who was behind 1up.com and was really a podcasting pioneer, who wanted to buy Giant Bomb. He pushed personalities and thats what made 1up so great. So he really likes what Giant Bomb is doing and probably wants GS to take from GB rather than the other way around. You just need to read this blog post of his to know his point of view: http://blog.jwhdavison.com/2012/01/5-days-to-40.html
CBS bought GameSpot around the same time Giant Bomb started (several months after Gerstmann-gate) and they fired the management responsible for Gerstmann-gate. John Davison was hired about 18 months ago to run GameSpot & Metacritic.
Tested was awesome, but unfortunately they just didn't get the page views to justify their existence as is. If Giant Bomb & Whiskey wanted to stay independent, the alternative would have been to shut down Tested, Anime Vice and Screened.
Just go back to 1up and listen to some old episodes of GFW Radio and 1up Yours. Things are going to be alright.
I doubt they would have had to shut down Anime Vice, because the overhead had to be very low. They were pretty much just paying for bandwidth, weren't they? There was no staff, and the fans were generating all the content.
infinityBCRT
Member
I believe Ryan MacDonald, Brendan Sinclair, Kevin VanOrd, and Tom Magrino are all still there from before Gerstmann-gate. Not sure if Tom McShea is from before or after.
LumpOfCole
Member
Where's my I Love Mondays? GIANT BOMB ALREADY RUINED.
I Love Mondays brought to you by Two and a Half Men and 2 Broke Girls, Mondays on CBS.
I Love Mondays brought to you by Two and a Half Men and 2 Broke Girls, Mondays on CBS.
Don't forget Justin Calvert, who has been their a long time and is great as well, hell I wouldn't mind if he wnt over to GiantBomb and did nothing but Retro Quicklooks about British games.
StopMakingSense
Member
Yeah before you know it Jeff will be doing walk-ons on Big-Bang Theory, hocking Little Caeser's pizza.
Hot Coldman
Banned
I'd watch it! Let's face it, Jeff needs to be on TV more. GMA isn't enough to hold the power of Dr Tracksuit
It's like I've been warning you guys: I'm not expecting GB to get back to normal until mid-April.
They have to finish moving, get set up and then there's PAX East, then there's the final split from Whiskey....
Mr. Enigma
Member
It was very clear when they offloaded all their video content to YouTube that something was up.