From a poster on the giantbomb forums who happens to work for Red.
You know how Jeff and company are always joking about trying to Slack famous people like David Letterman and such? I guess thats how ill feel about seeing @jgerstmann and @bshoemaker show up in MY company slack. I've been a GB fan/premium sub for a long long time, and its extremely strange waking up to all of this.
The cult comment above makes me laugh. I've been an engineer at Red Ventures for 4 years now. Aside from them giving us a lot of company tshirts (seriously, its how we celebrate. something gets launched? we make tshirts. someone takes a particularly good shit? we make tshirts.) i dont really feel the desire to drink too much koolaid.
I can't speak to how these changes will affect GB at all. A. I'm just an engineering manager in a division of the company far from where Gamespot (and possibly GB?) will end up. I dont know shit. B. Even if i DID have some knowledge about the purchase, i wouldn't speak on it anyway cuz i like my job. All i can say is:
1. The company is wildly different from how the local folks think of it. 5 years ago, it was basically a marketing firm for internet companies. We ran websites, knew how to SEO like the best of them, and basically said 'we'll sell your product better than YOU can sell your product'. And we did. We have a pretty sick campus by Charlotte, North Carolina standards. Since then we've taken that 'sell your shit better than you can' mentality and realized maybe if we sell our own shit we can be better off. So we started buying our own shit. So far, this is the biggest thing we've ever done. Most of the other acquisitions (bankrate, healthline, yada yada) are doing better now than they were before. The whole call center way of business is largely being downplayed infavor of all this new stuff.
2. Whats it like to work here? Pretty damn good. I've gotten offers for more money elsewhere in the area (lots of SF tech is making satellite offices in Charlotte rn like CreditKarma and others) but I stay cuz i like it a lot. The CEO came right out and said 'no one is getting fired due to covid.' We're not getting raises, but we haven't had any layoffs. Shortly into my career here, i started tutoring/volunteering at our Road2Hire program (https://roadtohire.org/) which takes people who haven't had opportunity (growing up poor usually) and teaches them to program and then gets them jobs in the area. This past year I helped a young man go from supporting his brothers and sisters with multiple gas station jobs to a jr. developer at Bank of America. Half of my engineering staff came up through this program. And WE pay THEM a monthly stipend to do this. Our CEO (Ric Elias) legit gives a shit. Hes stupid rich, but spends fucktons of his own cash trying to make Charlotte suck less. We have a huge scholarship program for DACA students https://www.goldendoorscholars.org/ and before lockdown we were growing https://lifesports.org/.
3. When the BLM stuff hit, the company response was pretty quick and damn good. CEO himself came out and said 'we hold you to a high standard, but we've been shit to you for ignoring this'. Since then they've made major major changes to our HR policy, put a ton of money in the right hands, gave us the opportunity to help the community in the right ways (i put on a Q&A panel with the Southern Poverty Law center and it was AWESOME) and now the company itself is pushing all of us to VOTE. Seriously, its awesome. I'm black, and never in a million years did i think the company i work for would come to me and go 'JESUS CHRIST WE FUCKED UP LET US HELP' and then actually do something tangible.
I guess most of that post makes me look like im sip-sip-sippin on the koolaid. I'm not an idiot. Corporations aren't our friends. The second im not contributing i know my ass is out. THAT SAID, if i have to crank the capitalism grindstone, i dont mind doing it here.
The Cnet assets would include their office space and equipment, right? Because if it included one or the other, having to deal with all that shit during covid would be a little nuts.
... spoilers for a significant turn in the lastest MBMBAM I guess...?
The McElroy Bros (or I guess, just Justin) buying and selling human teeth from a listener who is strapped for cash and is selling their wisdom teeth is a wild turn towards leaning into our current dystopia
I can't say for certain but this doesn't seem like the same sort of private equity firm that's systematically destroying online journalism. Time will tell, I guess
Seeing Casey Malone posting about getting texts from a bunch of friends this morning with really bad news has me worried about GB because ever since I was laid off a few months ago I basically have Corporation redundancy PTSD.
It's very rarely about cutting costs. It's always about reshaping the corporation to best capitalize on these new emergent initiatives, etc etc BS etc etc.
+19
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Indie Winterdie KräheRudi Hurzlmeier (German, b. 1952)Registered Userregular
edited September 2020
it's all gambling and ego, masking as innovation and talent
isn't giant bomb largely self-funded through subscriptions and podcast ads
I don't doubt it is profitable. The question is if your new overlords think it is profitable enough.
There's also the question of the tech stack. Currently GB hosts their own video, and I bet a ton of their costs are tight to that. The hosting costs, the tech behind it, the engineers that work on it. All of that is tied to the premium model. It's an expensive hobby. And I wonder if it can be moved out of CBSes infrastructure.
Perhaps a bigger worry is that they simply don't care. Because GB is the the 10th most important thing in this acquisition. It's 10 people doing podcasts and streamer content. Maybe they'll cut it off, maybe they'll let it flounder, maybe they merge it with GS.
Now I don't think that'll be the case per se, GB has a loyal audience and people understand personality driven content in 2020. And GBs audience spends money. They can be valuable.
yeah honestly rolling it into gamespot seems like the more likely thing
like i'm a bit surprised that never happened with CBSi. If i'm a number-cruncher at a big company i feel like it would seem obvious to me that we don't need two separate video game websites, especially when they frequently collaborate anyway
isn't giant bomb largely self-funded through subscriptions and podcast ads
That means nothing when you're owned by a larger corporation. They are not independent, regardless of their revenue streams.
sure, i just mean that like
if that's the case then you're not exactly cutting costs by axing them
Yeah but imagine how much money you can get for liquidating all their physical assets while stripping all the other subsidiaries to the bone before saddling the parent company with all your debt and running way to kill yet another sustainable business.
And earlier I was talking about CBSI as a whole with the layoffs possibility. GB is probably more able to immediately give themselves a leg up via their subscription revenue, reputation, and on-air personalities, which may help.
What worries me about the Gerstman quote above is that the meetings are happening FAST. Which likely means there's already a plan in place for what will happen. I've been through so many acquisitions in my career that I am really pessimistic about them in general.
Also, Jeff not knowing, when he has so many meetings on his calendar is not a good thing in my experience.
Again, I'm incredibly pessimistic about this kind of stuff and am still reeling from a corp layoff (despite me now being back at said company) but I have a bad feeling.
Of course 2020 would put me into a position about worrying about the fate of my favorite videogame website. Of course.
+6
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Munkus BeaverYou don't have to attend every argument you are invited to.Philosophy: Stoicism. Politics: Democratic SocialistRegistered User, ClubPAregular
It's very rarely about cutting costs. It's always about reshaping the corporation to best capitalize on these new emergent initiatives, etc etc BS etc etc.
Also like, exerting your power, making changes because you can and because it makes your mark, etc
Humor can be dissected as a frog can, but dies in the process.
If this goes bad for Giant Bomb, I could see Jeff, at least, going independant again.
It would probably be a lot easier for him to do now than it was back in 2008.
+1
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Librarian's ghostLibrarian, Ghostbuster, and TimSporkRegistered Userregular
I just realized amoung us is a lesser version of space station 13
I mean that's strong wording but Hmm I was playing this game 10 years ago is all, looks rad I miss the good old days but this also probs rules as well so I'll bite
In terms of positive Giant Bomb stuff, there new movie commentary, Mickies and Whiskeys, is great. They watched Brink! today, and it’s great. I really loved Jan pointing out the obvious chemistry between the main character and his rival. It definitely feels full of subtext watching it now.
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The Cnet assets would include their office space and equipment, right? Because if it included one or the other, having to deal with all that shit during covid would be a little nuts.
There’s also the possibility they’ll try to uproot the CBSI offices and move them to NC.
Molon labe my fuckin teeth mcelroys just try it!!!
you know, that sure seems like it would solve some problems for about half of their staff
http://www.audioentropy.com/
That means nothing when you're owned by a larger corporation. They are not independent, regardless of their revenue streams.
sure, i just mean that like
if that's the case then you're not exactly cutting costs by axing them
http://www.audioentropy.com/
I don't doubt it is profitable. The question is if your new overlords think it is profitable enough.
There's also the question of the tech stack. Currently GB hosts their own video, and I bet a ton of their costs are tight to that. The hosting costs, the tech behind it, the engineers that work on it. All of that is tied to the premium model. It's an expensive hobby. And I wonder if it can be moved out of CBSes infrastructure.
Perhaps a bigger worry is that they simply don't care. Because GB is the the 10th most important thing in this acquisition. It's 10 people doing podcasts and streamer content. Maybe they'll cut it off, maybe they'll let it flounder, maybe they merge it with GS.
Now I don't think that'll be the case per se, GB has a loyal audience and people understand personality driven content in 2020. And GBs audience spends money. They can be valuable.
like i'm a bit surprised that never happened with CBSi. If i'm a number-cruncher at a big company i feel like it would seem obvious to me that we don't need two separate video game websites, especially when they frequently collaborate anyway
http://www.audioentropy.com/
Yeah but imagine how much money you can get for liquidating all their physical assets while stripping all the other subsidiaries to the bone before saddling the parent company with all your debt and running way to kill yet another sustainable business.
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
And earlier I was talking about CBSI as a whole with the layoffs possibility. GB is probably more able to immediately give themselves a leg up via their subscription revenue, reputation, and on-air personalities, which may help.
Also, Jeff not knowing, when he has so many meetings on his calendar is not a good thing in my experience.
Again, I'm incredibly pessimistic about this kind of stuff and am still reeling from a corp layoff (despite me now being back at said company) but I have a bad feeling.
Also like, exerting your power, making changes because you can and because it makes your mark, etc
It would probably be a lot easier for him to do now than it was back in 2008.
finally the 24/7 rayman content I crave
Games coverage that is delicious
so sweet
and so cold
YES
the plum is out
I mean that's strong wording but Hmm I was playing this game 10 years ago is all, looks rad I miss the good old days but this also probs rules as well so I'll bite
I got Amber-Ale Assembleaux, some how. Given that I am neither a robot, nor an industrialist, nor Cajun, I am puzzled by this outcome.