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GameTrailers Is Closing Down After 13 Years

55 points by doppp 11y ago

danso 11y ago
Kotaku has a round up of related tweets and postings: http://kotaku.com/video-game-website-gametrailers-closes-after-13-years-1757939279 http://kotaku.com/video-game-website-gametrailers-closes-aft... I don't want this to sound like a snarky "Oh [some company the Twiteratti thinks is lame] is still around?" comment, but I truly had thought GT was dead, because of its notable layoff announcements in recent years: [Layoffs hit GameTrailers day after E3 (2014)](http://www.polygon.com/2014/6/13/5807898/gametrailers-layoffs http://www.polygon.com/2014/6/13/5807898/gametrailers-layoff...) [GameTrailers, GameFront and The Escapist Hit By Layoffs (2015)](http://www.craveonline.com/culture/813763-gametrailers-gamefront-escapist-hit-layoffs http://www.craveonline.com/culture/813763-gametrailers-gamef...) But looks like this really is GT's epitaph; this forum post dated today comes from GT's associate editor (according to Kotaku), and alludes to this being a sudden development: > Hi everyone, Ben here. I just wanted to confirm that GameTrailers is shutting down officially today. Everyone is being let go. We all found out mere hours ago, so we're still reeling a bit. Sincerely, thank you all for the tremendous support. http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=194642343&postcount=6727 http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=194642343&postcou... Best of luck to the GT former employees.
- traspler 11y ago
  It does seem very sudden. They just launched a complete site re-design/re-write (which went pretty horrible) and according to their shows they just (weeks ago) moved to new offices. The launch of the new website was absolutely horrible. Player often didn't work, comments broken, etc. and in retrospect the office move seems sub optimal as they did not appear to be happy with the new space they got.
SimeVidas 11y ago
I hope the guy who speaks their reviews gets to continue doing that job somewhere else. His voice is cool.
- creade 11y ago
  Brandon Jones! I always loved this blooper reel of his: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bei_xzstrtU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bei_xzstrtU
dexwiz 11y ago
I wonder what happened. Looking at their youtube page, most recent videos have between 10k-20k views. This is nothing compared other popular video game channels. What killed it? Streaming? Bad writing? Low production quality? They still got the same awesome narrator at least. https://www.youtube.com/user/gametrailers https://www.youtube.com/user/gametrailers
- minimaxir 11y ago
  More likely than not, the economics no longer work out due to the decreasing revenue from advertising. GT is not the first internet video company hit by this problem. (hence Patreon)
- Mithaldu 11y ago
  As a gamer, i don't know why anyone would watch their stuff. It is slow, boring and uninformative. Many of their videos are just them talking over trailers, which means they talk over the one piece in game advertisement that usually contains the most lies about the product. There's also horrible editing. Just watch the first minute of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1kwXSkkk90 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1kwXSkkk90 Over half of that could easily be cut. Or this: https://youtu.be/rnL76a2c2VA?t=266 https://youtu.be/rnL76a2c2VA?t=266 He starts talking about how excited he is, while showing literaly no excitement whatsoever. Are the "Trailer Score" videos literally them giving trailers scores?!
  - michaelbuddy 11y ago
    damn, their audio sucks in the first vid you shared, way too long and verbose. I think they didn't really spend any time on it. That said, they have 500000 yt subs. I would figure out a way to keep it up rather than just shut down.
    - Mithaldu 11y ago
      That's the problem though. After half a million youtube videos they should have the taste to make decent videos, but apparently they don't.
imkevinxu 11y ago
I'll still always remember Haloid back in 2007, the best Halo + Metroid mashup video ever https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL-mR79GErU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL-mR79GErU (re-uploaded on YouTube, it was originally on GameTrailers) It was created by the late Monty Oum (creator of RWBY and art director for RvB) and apparently it's still the most watched video GameTrailers ever had [0] [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJC5Ct9vXMM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJC5Ct9vXMM
kristofferR 11y ago
Damn, this is a shame. I loved their reviews - I just watched the Firewatch review a couple of hours ago. Turns out it was their last review ever.
iamcreasy 11y ago
That's a very sad news for me. I am long time GT audience, and still stop by there website for video reviews(no other videos). Also I've always found Brandon Jones's voice very soothing. I hope he continues to do game reviews.
AdmiralAsshat 11y ago
Jeeze, what a shame. The thing about Gametrailers was that their video reviews were never fantastic, they were just competent, which is more than I could say for the awful Gamespot and IGN video reviews. Also, their Retrospective features were top-notch. Seriously, go watch the Diablo retrospective now. I'll wait: http://www.gametrailers.com/shows/gt-retrospectives http://www.gametrailers.com/shows/gt-retrospectives

55 points by doppp 11y ago

danso 11y ago

Kotaku has a round up of related tweets and postings: http://kotaku.com/video-game-website-gametrailers-closes-after-13-years-1757939279 http://kotaku.com/video-game-website-gametrailers-closes-aft... I don't want this to sound like a snarky "Oh [some company the Twiteratti thinks is lame] is still around?" comment, but I truly had thought GT was dead, because of its notable layoff announcements in recent years: [Layoffs hit GameTrailers day after E3 (2014)](http://www.polygon.com/2014/6/13/5807898/gametrailers-layoffs http://www.polygon.com/2014/6/13/5807898/gametrailers-layoff...) [GameTrailers, GameFront and The Escapist Hit By Layoffs (2015)](http://www.craveonline.com/culture/813763-gametrailers-gamefront-escapist-hit-layoffs http://www.craveonline.com/culture/813763-gametrailers-gamef...) But looks like this really is GT's epitaph; this forum post dated today comes from GT's associate editor (according to Kotaku), and alludes to this being a sudden development: > Hi everyone, Ben here. I just wanted to confirm that GameTrailers is shutting down officially today. Everyone is being let go. We all found out mere hours ago, so we're still reeling a bit. Sincerely, thank you all for the tremendous support. http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=194642343&postcount=6727 http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=194642343&postcou... Best of luck to the GT former employees.

traspler 11y ago
It does seem very sudden. They just launched a complete site re-design/re-write (which went pretty horrible) and according to their shows they just (weeks ago) moved to new offices. The launch of the new website was absolutely horrible. Player often didn't work, comments broken, etc. and in retrospect the office move seems sub optimal as they did not appear to be happy with the new space they got.

SimeVidas 11y ago

I hope the guy who speaks their reviews gets to continue doing that job somewhere else. His voice is cool.

creade 11y ago
Brandon Jones! I always loved this blooper reel of his: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bei_xzstrtU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bei_xzstrtU

dexwiz 11y ago

I wonder what happened. Looking at their youtube page, most recent videos have between 10k-20k views. This is nothing compared other popular video game channels. What killed it? Streaming? Bad writing? Low production quality? They still got the same awesome narrator at least. https://www.youtube.com/user/gametrailers https://www.youtube.com/user/gametrailers

minimaxir 11y ago
More likely than not, the economics no longer work out due to the decreasing revenue from advertising. GT is not the first internet video company hit by this problem. (hence Patreon)
Mithaldu 11y ago
As a gamer, i don't know why anyone would watch their stuff. It is slow, boring and uninformative. Many of their videos are just them talking over trailers, which means they talk over the one piece in game advertisement that usually contains the most lies about the product. There's also horrible editing. Just watch the first minute of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1kwXSkkk90 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1kwXSkkk90 Over half of that could easily be cut. Or this: https://youtu.be/rnL76a2c2VA?t=266 https://youtu.be/rnL76a2c2VA?t=266 He starts talking about how excited he is, while showing literaly no excitement whatsoever. Are the "Trailer Score" videos literally them giving trailers scores?!
- michaelbuddy 11y ago
  damn, their audio sucks in the first vid you shared, way too long and verbose. I think they didn't really spend any time on it. That said, they have 500000 yt subs. I would figure out a way to keep it up rather than just shut down.
  - Mithaldu 11y ago
    That's the problem though. After half a million youtube videos they should have the taste to make decent videos, but apparently they don't.

imkevinxu 11y ago

I'll still always remember Haloid back in 2007, the best Halo + Metroid mashup video ever https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL-mR79GErU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL-mR79GErU (re-uploaded on YouTube, it was originally on GameTrailers) It was created by the late Monty Oum (creator of RWBY and art director for RvB) and apparently it's still the most watched video GameTrailers ever had [0] [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJC5Ct9vXMM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJC5Ct9vXMM

kristofferR 11y ago

Damn, this is a shame. I loved their reviews - I just watched the Firewatch review a couple of hours ago. Turns out it was their last review ever.

iamcreasy 11y ago

That's a very sad news for me. I am long time GT audience, and still stop by there website for video reviews(no other videos). Also I've always found Brandon Jones's voice very soothing. I hope he continues to do game reviews.

AdmiralAsshat 11y ago

Jeeze, what a shame. The thing about Gametrailers was that their video reviews were never fantastic, they were just competent, which is more than I could say for the awful Gamespot and IGN video reviews. Also, their Retrospective features were top-notch. Seriously, go watch the Diablo retrospective now. I'll wait: http://www.gametrailers.com/shows/gt-retrospectives http://www.gametrailers.com/shows/gt-retrospectives