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For those unfamiliar, Giant Bomb was one of the first video games press outlets to focus on premium video content. They offered monthly/yearly paid subscription

by kg 1y ago

For those unfamiliar, Giant Bomb was one of the first video games press outlets to focus on premium video content. They offered monthly/yearly paid subscriptions for unlimited streaming/downloads: a mix of livestreams, review/criticism content, and Just Goofing Around pre-recorded content. They typically released a few hours worth of content a week at their peak, if I remember right, and the cost was something like $30-50 a year. This was before long form video was a big thing on YouTube; arguably sites like Giant Bomb were pioneers that showed a path forward (at least temporarily) for lots of creatives. Their podcast has been running weekly for the entire time the site has operated alongside (intermittently) other podcasts, so they're approaching 890 episodes. Each episode was typically a few hours long as well. When they were doing good they were a well-oiled content machine operating on a small budget with a small team. A lot of the stuff they put out was really special or unique in games press at the time - for example, one of their staff went to North Korea during a vacation so during one of their weekly live streams they devoted a time slot to him showing his photos and talking about his experiences there.

Trasmatta 1y ago
The history of the site is wild, too. From the origin in the wake of Jeff Gerstmann being fired from GameSpot, the subsequent exodus from that site, to the death of Ryan Davis, to being bought by CBS Interactive and brought right back under the fold next to GameSpot, to being acquired by multiple other companies, to Jeff Gerstmann getting fired AGAIN, and now this. And all the fun times and weirdness and insanity along the way. And a funny bit of trivia: likely the most widespread impact the site has had outside of gaming is that it was the origin of the "blinking white guy" meme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gb6BsegPewk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gb6BsegPewk
- bigstrat2003 1y ago
  > to Jeff Gerstmann getting fired AGAIN Hold up what? I didn't know that. It seems insane to fire the man from the organization he co-founded.
  - cube00 1y ago
    Once the VCs get involved you will soon find the company you founded is no longer the company you work at.
    - bigstrat2003 1y ago
      Yeah I suppose. It just is shocking to me, because for me Giant Bomb was Jeff (and Ryan, may he rest in peace). Hard to fathom the site without him, but so it goes I guess.
      - lazide 1y ago
        Things change, and sometimes require you to change in ways you’re not okay with to stay/have it keep working. So either change yourself, leave (if you can), or get pushed out (if you’re not majority control). Or everything grinds to a halt. It isn’t just companies.
  - RevEng 1y ago
    It happens. Our CTO "resigned" about 6 years after we started our VC funded startup. He sold his shares to the rest of the investors. It wasn't his choice to leave.
  - riffraff 1y ago
    You're gonna be blown away if you read a bit of Apple's history ;)
  - phatfish 1y ago
    Jeff chats about some recent history on his podcast from a few days ago. https://youtu.be/bQiGkSCQN7o?t=165 https://youtu.be/bQiGkSCQN7o?t=165
IG_Semmelweiss 1y ago
Is it right to say that giant bomb is in social.media terms was equivalent of myspace, vimeo is something like a far smaller linkedin, twitch is the equivalent of twitter, and that YouTube is Facebook?
- duskwuff 1y ago
  Not really. Giant Bomb is a content creator, not a social media network. They have some social features on their site, but it's all centered around GB and the content they produce. As an aside, Vimeo isn't a meaningfully social site anymore. They pivoted to commercial video hosting long ago - there's still some commenting features on videos but it's not a significant part of what they do.
protocolture 1y ago
>For those unfamiliar, Giant Bomb was one of the first video games press outlets to focus on premium video content. They offered monthly/yearly paid subscriptions for unlimited streaming/downloads: a mix of livestreams, review/criticism content, and Just Goofing Around pre-recorded content. They typically released a few hours worth of content a week at their peak, if I remember right, and the cost was something like $30-50 a year. This was before long form video was a big thing on YouTube; arguably sites like Giant Bomb were pioneers that showed a path forward (at least temporarily) for lots of creatives. It would never occur to me to watch someone else talk about or play a game online, let alone pay for the privilege. It seems I am alone on that front.
- Aesock 1y ago
  [dead]
- astrange 1y ago
  Since gamers are a subculture, they want a mirror of any part of real life you can think of, except about games. There's a sub-subculture in this of video game journalists. There's a further subculture inside this of people who want to be writing for a video game review website (or a sports blog etc) but only ever actually write about their half-baked opinions about American politics.
- twixfel 1y ago
  You obviously are not alone. Sorry to break it to you.
- Brybry 1y ago
  I grew up in the 90s sitting on couches watching friends and family play games while we socialized. For me, watching other people play games on the internet is basically an extension of that but with the addition that I can also watch some of the best gamers in the world if I want to.
  - pier25 1y ago
    The social aspect is lost though.

by kg 1y ago

Trasmatta 1y ago

The history of the site is wild, too. From the origin in the wake of Jeff Gerstmann being fired from GameSpot, the subsequent exodus from that site, to the death of Ryan Davis, to being bought by CBS Interactive and brought right back under the fold next to GameSpot, to being acquired by multiple other companies, to Jeff Gerstmann getting fired AGAIN, and now this. And all the fun times and weirdness and insanity along the way. And a funny bit of trivia: likely the most widespread impact the site has had outside of gaming is that it was the origin of the "blinking white guy" meme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gb6BsegPewk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gb6BsegPewk

bigstrat2003 1y ago
> to Jeff Gerstmann getting fired AGAIN Hold up what? I didn't know that. It seems insane to fire the man from the organization he co-founded.
- cube00 1y ago
  Once the VCs get involved you will soon find the company you founded is no longer the company you work at.
  - bigstrat2003 1y ago
    Yeah I suppose. It just is shocking to me, because for me Giant Bomb was Jeff (and Ryan, may he rest in peace). Hard to fathom the site without him, but so it goes I guess.
    - lazide 1y ago
      Things change, and sometimes require you to change in ways you’re not okay with to stay/have it keep working. So either change yourself, leave (if you can), or get pushed out (if you’re not majority control). Or everything grinds to a halt. It isn’t just companies.
- RevEng 1y ago
  It happens. Our CTO "resigned" about 6 years after we started our VC funded startup. He sold his shares to the rest of the investors. It wasn't his choice to leave.
- riffraff 1y ago
  You're gonna be blown away if you read a bit of Apple's history ;)
- phatfish 1y ago
  Jeff chats about some recent history on his podcast from a few days ago. https://youtu.be/bQiGkSCQN7o?t=165 https://youtu.be/bQiGkSCQN7o?t=165

IG_Semmelweiss 1y ago

Is it right to say that giant bomb is in social.media terms was equivalent of myspace, vimeo is something like a far smaller linkedin, twitch is the equivalent of twitter, and that YouTube is Facebook?

duskwuff 1y ago
Not really. Giant Bomb is a content creator, not a social media network. They have some social features on their site, but it's all centered around GB and the content they produce. As an aside, Vimeo isn't a meaningfully social site anymore. They pivoted to commercial video hosting long ago - there's still some commenting features on videos but it's not a significant part of what they do.

protocolture 1y ago

>For those unfamiliar, Giant Bomb was one of the first video games press outlets to focus on premium video content. They offered monthly/yearly paid subscriptions for unlimited streaming/downloads: a mix of livestreams, review/criticism content, and Just Goofing Around pre-recorded content. They typically released a few hours worth of content a week at their peak, if I remember right, and the cost was something like $30-50 a year. This was before long form video was a big thing on YouTube; arguably sites like Giant Bomb were pioneers that showed a path forward (at least temporarily) for lots of creatives. It would never occur to me to watch someone else talk about or play a game online, let alone pay for the privilege. It seems I am alone on that front.

Aesock 1y ago
[dead]
astrange 1y ago
Since gamers are a subculture, they want a mirror of any part of real life you can think of, except about games. There's a sub-subculture in this of video game journalists. There's a further subculture inside this of people who want to be writing for a video game review website (or a sports blog etc) but only ever actually write about their half-baked opinions about American politics.
twixfel 1y ago
You obviously are not alone. Sorry to break it to you.
Brybry 1y ago
I grew up in the 90s sitting on couches watching friends and family play games while we socialized. For me, watching other people play games on the internet is basically an extension of that but with the addition that I can also watch some of the best gamers in the world if I want to.
- pier25 1y ago
  The social aspect is lost though.