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Jeff Gerstmann is leaving Giant Bomb

TwinB242

Member
While she was pretty damn woke at times I actually liked Jess so this is unfortunate. The Silent Hill and Silent Hill 2 playthroughs with her and Jan were pretty fun

As for Jason, I can't say im surprised he was let go despite his seniority. I feel like he has barely been in any of their on-camera content for the last few years. There were times where I straight up forgot he still worked for the site.

But I still think this is pretty disappointing and I wouldn't be surprised if the site was on its last legs.
 
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AV

We ain't outta here in ten minutes, we won't need no rocket to fly through space
Their model was surely not sustainable. Their GOTY video from a month ago is sitting at 18,000 views and there's EIGHT PEOPLE on the panel. By comparison Kinda Funny pulled in more than 3x that in 1/3 of the time with one less person. They simply don't have the mix of personalities that people want. Irritating people that talk over one another, people that don't actually play video games and people that sit quietly for 99% of the video. It's a mess.

There's no way this site can live on as-is. Surely they see the writing on the wall and should just go set up Patreons for their individual fans.
 

SJRB

Gold Member
Their model was surely not sustainable. Their GOTY video from a month ago is sitting at 18,000 views and there's EIGHT PEOPLE on the panel. By comparison Kinda Funny pulled in more than 3x that in 1/3 of the time with one less person. They simply don't have the mix of personalities that people want. Irritating people that talk over one another, people that don't actually play video games and people that sit quietly for 99% of the video. It's a mess.

There's no way this site can live on as-is. Surely they see the writing on the wall and should just go set up Patreons for their individual fans.

Man their YouTube page is depressing. Quicklooks get 5k, 6k views. That's wild.

Bombcasts, which are often 2+ hours hosted by at least 4 people also get like 6k views.

Some uploads barely get 1k views which is absolutely insane considering they have 250k subscribers. Which isn't a whole lot by Youtube standards but those sub numbers definitely don't translate to any actual views.
 

AV

We ain't outta here in ten minutes, we won't need no rocket to fly through space
Man their YouTube page is depressing. Quicklooks get 5k, 6k views. That's wild.

By contrast Gerstmann's pod from 2 days ago already has 7k views and that's if you want to look at a one man team talking to a camera for 3+ hours, most of us are listening on other services. Love him or hate him that guy's got the following to do it his way without resorting to becoming "a Youtuber". I'm really enjoying having undiluted weekly Gerstmann to get me through the cooking and cleaning. I tried to listen to some of GB's GOTY and it's an exhausting headache.
 
By contrast Gerstmann's pod from 2 days ago already has 7k views and that's if you want to look at a one man team talking to a camera for 3+ hours, most of us are listening on other services. Love him or hate him that guy's got the following to do it his way without resorting to becoming "a Youtuber". I'm really enjoying having undiluted weekly Gerstmann to get me through the cooking and cleaning. I tried to listen to some of GB's GOTY and it's an exhausting headache.
Also worth noting that Gerstmann has said that most of his audience is not watching on Youtube, but is actually listening.
 
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rkofan87

Gold Member
While she was pretty damn woke at times I actually liked Jess so this is unfortunate. The Silent Hill and Silent Hill 2 playthroughs with her and Jan were pretty fun

As for Jason, I can't say im surprised he was let go despite his seniority. I feel like he has barely been in any of their on-camera content for the last few years. There were times where I straight up forgot he still worked for the site.

But I still think this is pretty disappointing and I wouldn't be surprised if the site was on its last legs.
the sh playthroughs with jan are the only things i will miss about jess and the way jess got all butt hurt about fans mad at jeff g not getting a send off rubbed me the wrong way.
 

AV

We ain't outta here in ten minutes, we won't need no rocket to fly through space
the sh playthroughs with jan are the only things i will miss about jess and the way jess got all butt hurt about fans mad at jeff g not getting a send off rubbed me the wrong way.

I'd be fascinated to know what happened that she went from hired to fired in 15 months flat. I haven't kept up with GB at all since Jeff left, so I dunno what her output is actually like.
 

Evil Calvin

Afraid of Boobs
the sh playthroughs with jan are the only things i will miss about jess and the way jess got all butt hurt about fans mad at jeff g not getting a send off rubbed me the wrong way.
I think Fandom saw that 'Unprofessional Fridays' episode a couple weeks back when Jess played "The Professional' for an hour and a half and moving the body about 15 feet in that time. Fandom probably saw that and said "We're paying them for THAT?"
 

TwinB242

Member
I think Fandom saw that 'Unprofessional Fridays' episode a couple weeks back when Jess played "The Professional' for an hour and a half and moving the body about 15 feet in that time. Fandom probably saw that and said "We're paying them for THAT?"

i think the unprofessional fridays format in general changed way too much when they brought on the last wave of hires. Before they would take turns showing off a quirky new game they came across that they thought looked interesting and each person would give their own input on what they thought of it and what it reminded them of, etc. But then all of a sudden they started spending the entirety of those streams playing online multiplayer games like Overwatch 2 or Fortnite which did not make for entertaining content. It felt like they were trying too hard to emulate the typical twitch stream.
 

Umbasaborne

Banned
Their model was surely not sustainable. Their GOTY video from a month ago is sitting at 18,000 views and there's EIGHT PEOPLE on the panel. By comparison Kinda Funny pulled in more than 3x that in 1/3 of the time with one less person. They simply don't have the mix of personalities that people want. Irritating people that talk over one another, people that don't actually play video games and people that sit quietly for 99% of the video. It's a mess.

There's no way this site can live on as-is. Surely they see the writing on the wall and should just go set up Patreons for their individual fans.
Yep, honestly its such a far cry from the gb i came to love in 2008/2009
 

sn0man

Member
i think the unprofessional fridays format in general changed way too much when they brought on the last wave of hires. Before they would take turns showing off a quirky new game they came across that they thought looked interesting and each person would give their own input on what they thought of it and what it reminded them of, etc. But then all of a sudden they started spending the entirety of those streams playing online multiplayer games like Overwatch 2 or Fortnite which did not make for entertaining content. It felt like they were trying too hard to emulate the typical twitch stream.
This rings very true for me. UPF used to really nail some awesome stuff. You’d basically get a stream of the GB cast relaxing after a week of work organically showing you the new or weird shit.
 

SpiceRacz

Member
Man their YouTube page is depressing. Quicklooks get 5k, 6k views. That's wild.

Bombcasts, which are often 2+ hours hosted by at least 4 people also get like 6k views.

Some uploads barely get 1k views which is absolutely insane considering they have 250k subscribers. Which isn't a whole lot by Youtube standards but those sub numbers definitely don't translate to any actual views.

To be fair, Jeff stated numerous times that YouTube was never where most of their engagement came from. Bombcast still does well for them, as far as I can tell.
 

drganon

Member
Giantbomb isn't long for this world. It's a shame since it used to be so awesome, especially in comparison to the likes of ign, but all good things must come to an end.
 

Brute

Member
Jess was such a bad fit for the site, she just didn’t seem GB at all. Saying that, none of the current lot feel like GB staff apart from Dan who’s never there.

The rest of them are just tedious to listen to. It’s a personality driven site without the personalities now.

Rory is cool but 99% of his work is done behind the scenes I think. People like Jan should never be the face of the site as it’s like watching paint dry. When they were still in the office, Jan would produce the Bomb Cast and occasionally say something which was fine. But now there’s far too much Jan. Too much Pokémon. Imagine what Ryan would make of the site now?

It’s over anyway, It had a good run but there’s not a chance Fandom keep that going. Why have both GameSpot and Giant Bomb? They’re just the same thing these days.
 
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TheMan

Member
Man their YouTube page is depressing. Quicklooks get 5k, 6k views. That's wild.

Bombcasts, which are often 2+ hours hosted by at least 4 people also get like 6k views.

Some uploads barely get 1k views which is absolutely insane considering they have 250k subscribers. Which isn't a whole lot by Youtube standards but those sub numbers definitely don't translate to any actual views.
Speaking for myself I haven't bothered to unsub but I've watched maybe 3 or 4 vids total since Jeff left. And even before that the content suffered quite a bit during the pandemic.
 

Umbasaborne

Banned

Made me tear up a little, jeff, ryan, brad, Vinny, alex, and patrick got me through some of the hardest times of my life in highschool. Losing ryan was really devastating. I dont think anyone understood why I was so upset, i certainly didn’t know him. But when you listen to and watch someone nearly every day, they do become a part of your life. Ill continue to support jeff and the next lander guys on patreon, they were there for me when life was really tough without even knowing it.
 
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Power Pro

Member

That's so crazy if true, because Giant Bomb was still totally my go to, favorite site regarding not just games, but entertainment for me around that time. Wasn't always the strongest output, but the quality was still there to me, and it was on it's deathbed? Really would have been a shame if that happened, because who knows where every one would have landed up then.

Still, I don't know how much I believe Jeff on it shuttering completely in less than a year. Ryan was just getting married before he died, and he was going to enter that commitment with the idea of losing his job over his head?
 
That's so crazy if true, because Giant Bomb was still totally my go to, favorite site regarding not just games, but entertainment for me around that time. Wasn't always the strongest output, but the quality was still there to me, and it was on it's deathbed? Really would have been a shame if that happened, because who knows where every one would have landed up then.

Still, I don't know how much I believe Jeff on it shuttering completely in less than a year. Ryan was just getting married before he died, and he was going to enter that commitment with the idea of losing his job over his head?
Yeah, I find it seriously difficult to believe. They were THE site for video games coverage at the time acknowledged industry wide. There would have been numerous businesses willing to invest in it I would have thought.
 

CashPrizes

Member
As soon as Gerstmann left I unsubbed from GiantBomb everything. I was barely tolerating the podcast just for him. Jess and Jan are just the worst, not only do they have no personality but they talk up trash games non-stop. Bakalar has better taste and is occasionally funny but is also not a great personality.

They brought Dan Rykert back, who definitely has a fun personality but his taste is clearly trash, like you can't trust any judgements coming from him. I always enjoyed Jason but once again, not much of a personality, he was good as a quiet foil to Brad and Vinny and Gerstmann.

So yeah, that site is finished.
 

Fatbody

Member
The whole appeal of their brand was having them all in studio together hanging on those couches or in the podcast room for those marathon GOTY deliberations. They even flew in the east coast guys to be present for those for goodness sake. But that was all lost went they went to the zoom call in pajamas format. That might of been fine for the lockdown months, but in present day it just looks silly.

I understand why smaller, crowd-funded operations have to go that route, but for something like Giant Bomb, it was a little too “Unprofessional”
 

DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
Made me tear up a little, jeff, ryan, brad, Vinny, alex, and patrick got me through some of the hardest times of my life in highschool. Losing ryan was really devastating. I dont think anyone understood why I was so upset, i certainly didn’t know him. But when you listen to and watch someone nearly every day, they do become a part of your life. Ill continue to support jeff and the next lander guys on patreon, they were there for me when life was really tough without even knowing it.
I feel you, man. My Mrs was so surprised at the time. She couldn't get why I was so upset.

Watching giant bomb reviews, listening to the podcast without fail was the major plus for me in those times. It all felt so magical. Just hearing friends talk shit about energy drinks and whatever else. Ryan was like a golden aura that fed through the podcasts and videos. He was so positive and would just make you smile listening to him and them all together.

Giant Bomb for life .....the real giant bomb not the shell that was left once Vinny,Brad, Alex and Jeff left.

Jeff and nextlander will be the only people I pump money to through patreon etc for as long as I can.
 
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sn0man

Member
The whole appeal of their brand was having them all in studio together hanging on those couches or in the podcast room for those marathon GOTY deliberations. They even flew in the east coast guys to be present for those for goodness sake. But that was all lost went they went to the zoom call in pajamas format. That might of been fine for the lockdown months, but in present day it just looks silly.

I understand why smaller, crowd-funded operations have to go that route, but for something like Giant Bomb, it was a little too “Unprofessional”
Yeah GB played best as young adults messing around in the corporate world that they grew up in. Take away the in person delight and it’s just not the same.

The more I think about it. Jason A and Rory could join Jeff with guest hosts like Ben et. Al.

Simultaneously next lander just do their thing.

Then oversized grenade could form for goty podcasts in person between both groups. They would need a studio and just do 3 weeks of bits and fun together.
 

BennyBlanco

aka IMurRIVAL69
Yeah GB played best as young adults messing around in the corporate world that they grew up in. Take away the in person delight and it’s just not the same.

The more I think about it. Jason A and Rory could join Jeff with guest hosts like Ben et. Al.

Simultaneously next lander just do their thing.

Then oversized grenade could form for goty podcasts in person between both groups. They would need a studio and just do 3 weeks of bits and fun together.

Feels like there was some falling out between jeff and the nextlander guys. Nextlander regularly does stuff with the remaining GB and abby etc. Jeff also said he hasn't talked to any of them a while ago.
 
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