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IGN gives TeamXbox Founder and Editor in Chief the boot. WTF?

D

Dreams-Visions

Member
txbbroken.jpg


http://forum.teamxbox.com/showthread.php?t=641068

FAIL.

IGN in 2003, upon acquisition of TXB:

IGN said:
I’d like to introduce myself. I am Richard Jalichandra, the VP of Business Development at IGN and I wanted to address some of the concerns raised here & ensure you that TeamXbox will remain editorially and operationally independent. We at IGN really love what TeamXbox has done to serve the Xbox audience and have every intention of giving them the resources necessary to continue serving you and providing you new & better Xbox information. We’re psyched to have such a great partner to work with and look forward to the great things to come.

Richard Jalichandra
VP, Business Development
IGN Entertainment
Click to expand...

Joystiq has obtained an internal IGN memo sent by company president Roy Bahat announcing layoffs at the media site today. We currently have no accurate estimate for the number of people let go today, nor do we know if any divisions have been shut down entirely.

Bahat states in the memo, "We're doing this to reduce costs. While we've been doing well -- we're profitable and our audience continues to grow -- we're still feeling the effects of the economy, and we need to make sure we can invest where there is opportunity. Over the past couple of years, we have been focusing IGN on areas where we can not only grow, but be best in the world: serving gamers online, and serving advertisers looking to reach men. To do that successfully, we have to be as efficient as possible in our core businesses. The difficult actions we're taking today get us to where we need to be."

We will continue to update this story as we learn more. If you're an IGN employee, you're of course welcome to contact us with any information you'd like to share. Find Bahat's full memo to employees after the break.

Full memo from IGN president Roy Bahat:

"Today's a hard day at IGN. We've had to reduce the size of our organization and are eliminating roles today in every part of the company. We are making every effort to be compassionate and fair to the people whose roles we've eliminated.

"We're doing this to reduce costs. While we've been doing well -- we're profitable and our audience continues to grow -- we're still feeling the effects of the economy, and we need to make sure we can invest where there is opportunity. Over the past couple of years, we have been focusing IGN on areas where we can not only grow, but be best in the world: serving gamers online, and serving advertisers looking to reach men. To do that successfully, we have to be as efficient as possible in our core businesses. The difficult actions we're taking today get us to where we need to be.

"We are losing colleagues who played an important role getting us to where we are -- #1 in games and men's lifestyle, and growing 40% over last year in the total size of our audience. We are deeply grateful to our colleagues for everything they've done. We as a company are absolutely headed in the right direction, and while today will be hard, it won't stop us.

"We'll have an All-Hands meeting later today to discuss this, and give you a chance to ask questions. Greg will be sending out a note with the exact timing, please be on the lookout for that.

"It probably goes without saying, but please keep this absolutely confidential to IGN. If you are approached by any member of the press, please direct them to Kris Sharbaugh.

"Thank you,
"Roy
Click to expand...

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU.
 
It's not 2003 anymore. I'm going to gather up some rage about this.... nope, can't seem to care. TeamXbox was a fluff site anyhow.
 
Teetris said:
That's unfortunate. What's the reason?
Click to expand...
economic climate. if you click in that thread, the founder is "Shockwave". He left a long post around post 100 or so.

jibblypop said:
Did he forget to give every hyped game a 10 or something?
Click to expand...
AFAIK, TXB game scores didn't do any meaningful deviating from the rest of the game-reviewing world.

which is funny when you think about it as you'd expect a site dedicated to a specific platform to be a bit more biased in their scoring on average. not so.
 
Look, this all sucks. I hate it more than any of you can possibly imagine.

This has been a long, hard but eventful road for me.

Do you people realize that this year marks the 10th anniversary of TeamXbox.com? Sad that this is happening in its 10th year of existance but whatever.

No this wasn't something I really saw coming so to speak, but thinking back there where signs and we're all aware that TXB hasn't really been what it once was at it's peak for some time now.

I'm not going to bother getting into all the logistics, politics or red tape behind those things, but it's safe to say that things haven't been running tip top for a while and the eventual demise was inevitable.

That said, before everyone goes saying we saw this coming soon as IGN bought TXB...let me assure that if IGN had never come along when it did and purchased us...we'd have been closed by the end of summer 2003.

Serenity and I had gone through a divorce in 2002, neither of us had any money to keep the site going and we were up to our eyeballs and then some in debt. The site was on it's last leg then and IGN came along at the right time to keep it going.

Granted I wish some things could have gone down differently over the years, but it is what it is and that's that.

You guys really can't imagine what this place has meant to me over the years. It's as much a part of me as anything in my life.

Through all the crap and even some of you who continually drive me crazy, I still love it all and I really never wished to do anything else but this.

Sadly, that has come to an end because of reasons beyond my control. Bottom line is money. The economy sucks and IGN is cutting back like a lot of companies are and they let people go.

From their point of view, TXB is not IGN.com. They did what they had to do and I can't do anything about it.

From here, who knows what I'll be doing next. I'd love to rebuild a new site and start fresh, but that's a lot easier said than done, specially now. My head is still spinning and I don't think I've fully grasped it all just yet. I know this sounds lame, but it feels like someone very close to me died and I'm not quite ready to let go. But eventually I have to. Just posting this is killing me right now because it's something I never wanted to have to do and even now this place doesn't feel like it did when I woke up this morning.

I don't know what I'll be doing in the future, but I'll never give up. I'm going to try to see if I can get this place back somehow, but that could be complicated since FOX owns IGN, who owns TXB...but we'll see.

Other than that, I can't predict the future.

But seriously, and genuinely from the bottom of my very soul, I greatly appreciate everything you guys have done over the years to support this place and I thank each and every one of you for making it what it had become. It means more to me than you can ever know. I am who I am today because of this place and without you it never would have happened.

(And please, stop asking me if this is an April Fool's joke. It is not. This is real as it gets. This is my life.)

/Shockwave
Click to expand...
http://forum.teamxbox.com/showpost.php?p=13069222&postcount=98
 
DeadGzuz said:
It's not 2003 anymore. I'm going to gather up some rage about this.... nope, can't seem to care. TeamXbox was a fluff site anyhow.
Click to expand...
take that shit somewhere else.

the site in general and its forums in particular are among the best at any game site anywhere. It's one of the few that I respect.

period.
 
Dreams-Visions said:
take that shit somewhere else.

the site in general and its forums in particular are among the best at any game site anywhere. It's one of the few that I respect.

period.
Click to expand...

But a quote from 2003? That was 7 years ago and and the world is in a toilet, it sucks but frankly i'm surprised this didn't happen sooner.

Hope they get back on their feet soon.
 
NinjaFridge said:
But a quote from 2003? That was 7 years ago and and the world is in a toilet, it sucks but frankly i'm surprised this didn't happen sooner.

Hope they get back on their feet soon.
Click to expand...
my comment was less for his whole comment and more for his commentary about TXB being "fluff".

it's a good site with better people and moderation policies than most. mods who actually care about their posters.

compare with...say...the hell that is GameSpot.
 
Dreams-Visions said:
my comment was less for his whole comment and more for his commentary about TXB being "fluff".

it's a good site with better people and moderation policies than most. mods who actually care about their posters.

compare with...say...the hell that is GameSpot.
Click to expand...
Hey aj. :D

*wears TXB badge*
 
Dreams-Visions said:
take that shit somewhere else.

the site in general and its forums in particular are among the best at any game site anywhere. It's one of the few that I respect.

period.
Click to expand...
Dude you're expecting the regular posting members of one video game forum to mourn and revere a completely different forum?

You seem pretty upset about this, which is fine, but I think you're in the wrong place if you're looking for comfort.
 
Shurs said:
I wonder what the point of IGN owning an Xbox-only website is?
Click to expand...
There are a lot of specific xbox only website that do quite well so that is why I would imagine + back in 2003 IGN was far more a "camp website"where you had a team how played nintendo stuff, ps2 stuff, pc and xbox stuff.
They just keped the website around because it gets clicks bough on there and on ign for having txb.com.

Its the same with http://ve3d.ign.com you ask why do they keep a "pc" website alive when they have IGN as a hole who does pc stuff also, but the owner of that site has been around longer than IGN has exited on the web.

Anyway I feel really bad for everyone involved good luck to you all.
 
benita said:
So gaf basically thinks that every employee of every company deserves to keep their job for ever and ever?
Click to expand...

Nope. Just in the games industry. Unless GAF doesn't like their output, in which case they TOTALLY DESERVE IT.
 
Galvanise_ said:
Chris Roper, Chief Editor for IGN PS3 and host of Podcast Beyond has been let go too. W.T.F.
Click to expand...
WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA??????????????????????????
link plz :O:O:O:O:O:O

(I listen every week to the podcast)
 
Sad stuff. Hope you can get back on your feel 'Shock'.

On another note, I never knew IGN is owned by FOX, fuck. When did FOX buy IGN?
 
Digital-Hero said:
WHAT!?

No more Roper Report on Podcast Beyond...
Click to expand...

I know. I'm absolutely gutted. He was a great guy to listen to and a really natural great host for the podcast.

D.d.d.d.d.dd.d.d.d.d.d.....time for some nneeeeeeewwwwwwwwwws!
 
Look, layoffs suck. No matter who gets laid off, it always sucks. But it really shouldn't surprise anyone when it happens. I've got as many problems with IGN as the next guy, but I'm sure they're not doing this to be big bad meanies. This shit's been happening globally for more than 2 years. I'm a victim of it myself. Companys aren't making enough money to be profitable.

But anyway, back to your regularly scheduled FFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUU IGN.
 
Galvanise_ said:
Chris Roper, Chief Editor for IGN PS3 and host of Podcast Beyond has been let go too. W.T.F.
Click to expand...

I didnt expect that.

Makes sense they would let go at least a couple long timers considering they must get paid significantly more than the new guys.
 
http://www.joystiq.com/2010/03/16/ign-layoffs-hit-all-divisions-of-media-giant/

IGN layoffs hit all divisions of media giant

Joystiq has obtained an internal IGN memo sent by company president Roy Bahat announcing layoffs at the media site today. We currently have no accurate estimate for the number of people let go today, nor do we know if any divisions have been shut down entirely.

Bahat states in the memo, "We're doing this to reduce costs. While we've been doing well -- we're profitable and our audience continues to grow -- we're still feeling the effects of the economy, and we need to make sure we can invest where there is opportunity. Over the past couple of years, we have been focusing IGN on areas where we can not only grow, but be best in the world: serving gamers online, and serving advertisers looking to reach men. To do that successfully, we have to be as efficient as possible in our core businesses. The difficult actions we're taking today get us to where we need to be."

We will continue to update this story as we learn more. If you're an IGN employee, you're of course welcome to contact us with any information you'd like to share. Find Bahat's full memo to employees after the break.

Full memo from IGN president Roy Bahat:

"Today's a hard day at IGN. We've had to reduce the size of our organization and are eliminating roles today in every part of the company. We are making every effort to be compassionate and fair to the people whose roles we've eliminated.

"We're doing this to reduce costs. While we've been doing well -- we're profitable and our audience continues to grow -- we're still feeling the effects of the economy, and we need to make sure we can invest where there is opportunity. Over the past couple of years, we have been focusing IGN on areas where we can not only grow, but be best in the world: serving gamers online, and serving advertisers looking to reach men. To do that successfully, we have to be as efficient as possible in our core businesses. The difficult actions we're taking today get us to where we need to be.

"We are losing colleagues who played an important role getting us to where we are -- #1 in games and men's lifestyle, and growing 40% over last year in the total size of our audience. We are deeply grateful to our colleagues for everything they've done. We as a company are absolutely headed in the right direction, and while today will be hard, it won't stop us.

"We'll have an All-Hands meeting later today to discuss this, and give you a chance to ask questions. Greg will be sending out a note with the exact timing, please be on the lookout for that.

"It probably goes without saying, but please keep this absolutely confidential to IGN. If you are approached by any member of the press, please direct them to Kris Sharbaugh.

"Thank you,
"Roy"
Click to expand...
 
Gamer @ Heart said:
I didnt expect that.

Makes sense they would let go at least a couple long timers considering they must get paid significantly more than the new guys.
Click to expand...

There are more old timers than those two, so I don't buy that theory.
 
I can't believe Chris Roper was let go. He was a classy guy. I also can't believe Greg Miller wasn't let go. God, I hate that fellow.
 
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