Giant Bomb Bomb-All

skeletonframes wrote:

I’ll be tuning into Twitch in 10 minutes for the inaugural stream. Like I said before, I’ll follow Vinnie wherever he goes. Good to know we’ll have these fella’s (and hopefully a guest or two’s) take on the E3 and Summer of Games events.

They mentioned on their episode 0 podcast that they were doing E3 stuff with the Waypoint crew.

billt721 wrote:
skeletonframes wrote:

I’ll be tuning into Twitch in 10 minutes for the inaugural stream. Like I said before, I’ll follow Vinnie wherever he goes. Good to know we’ll have these fella’s (and hopefully a guest or two’s) take on the E3 and Summer of Games events.

They mentioned on their episode 0 podcast that they were doing E3 stuff with the Waypoint crew.

Ahhhh that’s cool. I’ll be paying attention to that, then. Thanks for the heads up, I haven’t checked out the podcast, yet. Is that where Austin Walker is? I’ve never checked out Waypoint.

skeletonframes wrote:
billt721 wrote:
skeletonframes wrote:

I’ll be tuning into Twitch in 10 minutes for the inaugural stream. Like I said before, I’ll follow Vinnie wherever he goes. Good to know we’ll have these fella’s (and hopefully a guest or two’s) take on the E3 and Summer of Games events.

They mentioned on their episode 0 podcast that they were doing E3 stuff with the Waypoint crew.

Ahhhh that’s cool. I’ll be paying attention to that, then. Thanks for the heads up, I haven’t checked out the podcast, yet. Is that where Austin Walker is? I’ve never checked out Waypoint.

Austin has been the host of Waypoint Radio since he left GB. A couple of years ago he stepped down as EIC of Waypoint and is only a podcast contributer there now. Austin, Vinny, and, GWJ friend, Rob Zacny did a Warhammer Skulls stream last week and it very much felt like an old GBEast stream with a guest.

Nice. I’ll give that a spin.

This live stream is a mess, so far, and I’m here for it. Amazing how 3 guys that have pretty much lived in front of the Internet for the past decade seem awkwardly unsure of what to do first. It’s pretty refreshing.

UpToIsomorphism wrote:

That’s very true, but that seems like what would be said regardless of what was actually happening on behind the scenes. This is pure baseless rampant speculation, but it seems to add that three of the four, for lack of better word founding, members of the site, All came to the same decisions about their personal lives, and decided to resign on the exact same day.

I'm going to call this a win.

I'll be honest, I'm excited because I get Vinny back on a podcast, but I'm not sure I'm gonna pay anything for that at the moment. Maybe in a month or so. I'll keep an eye on their Twitch stuff, see if they post to YouTube, but I'm not jumping in at the ground floor.

IMAGE(https://media4.giphy.com/media/OIArkOTMPwU0M/giphy.gif?cid=ecf05e47i9uqzrdrryzj7xc96abwdxh1lkjz1swqyzuvyv10&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g)

Brad looks like he got a hair cut. Quite a few, even.

I found myself being surprisingly emotional about the news. I've drifted away from video games media for a while - it's felt for a few years like the folks whose perspectives I jibed with and who I tended to follow were all gradually aging out of the space, with Vinny and Alex being some of the last two. So it's exciting and I'm really glad that this is the next step for them, and I hope it goes smoothly. Feels like I hold onto this aspect of my past that was once very important to me for a little longer.

I guess my confusion is just about timing. Did they organize and decide to leave to do this? Was it something they decided to do after they saw so many people expressed sorrow? Did Jeff know this was happening? I guess I just have a lot of questions.

Just speculation at this point.
1. Jeff probably knew. I bet there isn't any ill will between them.
2. The thought that corporate overlords was probably tiresome. Plus they get to be in Jeff's initial position creating something they own.
3. They all left at the same time so of course they planned this.
4. The betrayal angle is silly. It's not wrestling.

Sometimes, people just want to move on and focus on something else, and their friends (that are/were co-workers) totally understand and support them.

Knowing how tight knit these guys are, that’s my suspicion.

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I’d guess they asked Jeff to come too, but with a second kid on the way he stuck with the sure fire paychecks.

8000+ patrons already. Not sure what kinda costs are associated but I imagine that makes for a pretty sweet paycheck.

Really happy this is happening. Giant Beastcast was one of my favourite shows the last few years.

Blind_Evil wrote:

I’d guess they asked Jeff to come too, but with a second kid on the way he stuck with the sure fire paychecks.

And health insurance.

billt721 wrote:
Blind_Evil wrote:

I’d guess they asked Jeff to come too, but with a second kid on the way he stuck with the sure fire paychecks.

And health insurance.

Plus a bunch of factors. They’ve started an LLC which has setup costs. Monthly there are payroll taxes, remittances, expenses, contingency fund, software costs, bookkeeping, patreon’s cut, marketing, and bank fees. There’s also yearly accounts going fees. In the podcast they talked about getting small business bank loans. These add up to quite a bit.

Signed someone who started a small business in 2018.

Jeff probably has contractual obligations to Red Vine Media too. Maybe once those are over and he gets tired of the corporate overlords, he too will join (which would be hilarious that he's no longer the boss - but maybe he would cherish that.)

But, he's a family man now. Who knows.

I'm just glad I can see them do their thing still. I'll happily chip in $5.

JohnKillo wrote:

4. The betrayal angle is silly.

I didn't mean to imply there was any kind of betrayal. I also don't think that them leaving together implies this plan was created while they were still at GB. It's likely, sure, but it's just as likely they all left because of the buyout and didn't want to have to deal with the stress of new bosses. They also didn't give any hint of this on the last GB podcast. IIRC, they said they didn't really have plans. I get that they couldn't plug the new thing, but I got the impression they were taking a break and just going to see what comes up. I dunno.

In the long run I am happy that I am still able to hear their voices.

I think the most likely scenario is that some changes are coming to Giant Bomb and the old guard, minus Jeff, decided that whatever the new direction is they weren't interested in that type of content. Given everything they've put out on day one, Nextlander is focused on continuing with the Giant Bomb way of making videos. We are supposed to get some clarity on the future of Giant Bomb in today's podcast too.

So the big news today is the future of the site.

As expected, they'll be bringing on contract employees. They core GB crew will continue their normal output (UPF, Quick Looks, etc.) and will be supplemented by a show format. They've been moving down this path for a while and GBeast really focused on it.

The contract employees will be seasonal. Jeff Grubb will be the first. Dan Ryckert will come in during the summer and do a new show with Jeff Bakalar. Danny O'dwyer is also on contract but will be closer to the core group. The Gamespot people (Tamoor and Lucy James specifically) will have a greater presence and contribute.

I... don't know if I love the idea of short-term hires, and it feels too much like television show "seasons."

Time will tell. Change is scary initially.

Vrikk wrote:

I... don't know if I love the idea of short-term hires, and it feels too much like television show "seasons."

I think that's exactly what they're doing. I imagine it will be closer to Burgle My Bananas-style shows. There's a start and end point. It sounds like Jeff Bakalar will be used as the connective tissue for a few of these to start as he'll be on with James & Tamoor and with Ryckert in the summer.

There will still be the regular content. I haven't listened to all of the podcast (just catching bits and pieces) so I don't know all the details.

A couple of comments by Jeff and Rorie in the chat:

Jeff:
Because most of these people already have jobs. We'll also be looking at the size of the internal team. we probably need at least one more full-time, front-facing "on camera" type of person and definitely more producers, too. We'll get that.

Rorie:
I spoke to Vinny yesterday and congratulated him! seems like it'll be a lot of fun

From Danny O’Dwyer’s Twitter:

SOME PERSONAL NEWS

I had a few spare hours a week so I'm gonna use it making some cool stuff @giantbomb. This won't effect any of my other creative projects, other than making them better cos I'm happy and excited as hell.

Details in the VLOG:

From a pinned comment by Danny on the video:

TL:DR - I’m on the Bombcast going forward and also developing some new shows over there. No change to Noclip or Shift+F1 or anything.

He basically will dedicate 8 hours a week to Giant Bomb with 4 of those hours meant for the Giant Bombcast. He'll be part of the core crew but will do shows.

carrotpanic wrote:

Runway cleared for Ryckert. They can finally afford him with these three additional openings. I think that'll be about 4 headcount of salary for Ryckert if my math is right. Worth every penny imo. He can do a one man show where he plays Mario Party against himself (one controller each limb) and call it Mario Party Solitary Confinement.

trueheart78 wrote:
carrotpanic wrote:

Runway cleared for Ryckert.

Too early for this gag. IMAGE(https://emojipedia-us.s3.dualstack.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/thumbs/240/apple/279/frowning-face_2639-fe0f.png)

Reminder that he also left to work for his dream company, WWE. He wouldn’t come back.

carrotpanic wrote:

Ryckert always has a price, don't you know?

Line up here to get dunked on, nerds

IMAGE(https://media1.tenor.com/images/cba477b469b77f92c4bcfa8db64d4b08/tenor.gif)

Call this man Jodi Arias because he a killer

Call this man Scott Spencer Storch because he's a root causing a ruckus.

carrotpanic wrote:
carrotpanic wrote:

Runway cleared for Ryckert. They can finally afford him with these three additional openings. I think that'll be about 4 headcount of salary for Ryckert if my math is right. Worth every penny imo. He can do a one man show where he plays Mario Party against himself (one controller each limb) and call it Mario Party Solitary Confinement.

trueheart78 wrote:
carrotpanic wrote:

Runway cleared for Ryckert.

Too early for this gag. IMAGE(https://emojipedia-us.s3.dualstack.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/thumbs/240/apple/279/frowning-face_2639-fe0f.png)

Reminder that he also left to work for his dream company, WWE. He wouldn’t come back.

carrotpanic wrote:

Ryckert always has a price, don't you know?

Line up here to get dunked on, nerds

You were partially right (summer of Dan), and it will be cool for him and Bakalar to work together. I never hated on him, he just didn’t fit in with the West like he did with the East. In all honesty, I was more irritated by you coming off as an ashhole before anyone had time process the fact that 3 pillars of the site were leaving at the same time.

IMAGE(https://media3.giphy.com/media/UQ6QoQpYQQJHVpYuhi/giphy.gif?cid=5e214886bz34hdu23halxrq5nprqf61e9slnb45b85nm7i4x&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g)

you a good dude

I don’t know if/when we start a separate thread, but here’s this: