The trailblazing video game website Giant Bomb has faced significant staff departures, as owner Fandom claims the brand will undergo “strategic reset and realignment”.
The news comes after weeks of uncertainty around the website, which abruptly ceased livestreaming content last month. Earlier this week, the 888th episode of the Giant Bombcast, one of the longest-running video game podcasts of all time, was published and then swiftly removed.
The episode included a lengthy section where the hosts mocked a series of overreaching brand guidelines given to the website by the current owner, Fandom.
These guidelines included rules on swearing and other restrictions on content, which were entirely different from the style of content that Giant Bomb has built its reputation on, hence the mockery from the cast.
On his Last of the Nintendogs podcast following the removal, Giant Bomb staff member Jeff Grubb said that while the decision to remove the episode wasn’t his decision, the decision to keep it down was.
Long-time staff member Dan Ryckert discussed the issues faced by the site during a stream on Wednesday, claiming he would never appear on Giant Bomb again, and that the direction that Fandom was taking the company was not one he would like to be a part of.
Ryckert insinuated on the same stream that he will continue doing “what he loves” in the future, in addition to his Fire Escape podcast.
Grubb also confirmed his departure, writing, “Well, that was a dream come true. Knew it wouldn’t last, though. Out of a job at the moment. But I’ll always be doing patreon.com/gamemess.”
Contributor Mike Minotti also confirmed he would no longer contribute to Giant Bomb going forward.
Giant Bomb owner Fandom has responded to the uncertainty around the brand.
“As you know, we’ve temporarily paused Giant Bomb live streaming and that content is currently available on demand for our audience,” a spokesperson for Fandom told Kotaku in an email.
“We understand this programming pause isn’t ideal for our audience, but it’s part of a strategic reset and realignment of our media brands. We have some creative ideas for the future of Giant Bomb that we’re actively working on that we’ll be able to communicate more about soon.”
Giant Bomb was launched in 2008 by veteran games journalist Jeff Gerstmann, following his termination from GameSpot. He, alongside Brad Shoemaker, Vinny Caravella, and Ryan Davis, served as the site’s original staff. A pioneer in video content in the video game media industry, Giant Bomb built a loyal following due to the staff’s unwavering honesty and the rapidly growing Giant Bombcast.
The website, alongside some sister sites, was acquired by CBS Interactive in 2012, reuniting Gerstmann with the company that fired him in 2008. It was around this time that Giant Bomb’s subscription model gained traction. The site offered fans the chance to pay around $5 per month for premium video content, essentially establishing the crowd-supported games media model years before the launch of Patreon.
In 2013, Ryan Davis passed away at the age of 34. “I think whether they realized it or not, most people who write about video games kind of wanted to be Ryan Davis,” wrote then-Polygon editor Justin McElroy. “I know I did. Ryan was that rare voice that was able to be brutally critical and frank and funny, and still be well-liked by basically everybody. How could anybody walk the line that well?”
In 2020, Giant Bomb was sold by CBS to Red Ventures as part of a deal that also saw the sale of CNET and GameSpot. The following year, Brad Shoemaker, Vinny Caravella, and longtime Giant Bomb staffer Alex Navarro announced that they were leaving the company. The three formed Nextlander, a Patreon-supported outlet.
In June 2022, it was announced that the site’s last remaining founder, Jeff Gerstmann, would be leaving the website. Gerstmann would later confirm on his new podcast, The Jeff Gerstmann Show, that he was fired, although he later said he had planned to leave the company prior to his termination.
In October 2022, Giant Bomb was acquired by Fandom Inc. Months later, two Giant Bomb staffers, including long-time video producer Jason Oestreicher, were laid off.
Giant Bomb’s entire library of premium content has been archived by fans, who have anticipated the closure of Giant Bomb for some time.
