Vinny, Alex, and Brad Shoemaker Leaving Giant Bomb (RIP :()

[The Intergalactic Koala]

Vinny Caravella, Alex Navarro, and Brad Shoemaker, foundational members of the Giant Bomb team, announced today they are leaving the site.



During a live podcast recording on Twitch, the three announced that their last day is Friday. Giant Bomb founder Jeff Gerstmann is staying at the site for now.




Giant Bomb was established in 2008 by Gerstmann and fellow journalist Ryan Davis following Gerstmann’s controversial firing from GameSpot, and would eventually hire several former GameSpot editors like Caravella, Navarro, and Shoemaker to fill out its ranks. It set itself apart from other games media at the time by focusing on a subscription model that heavily relied on its hosts’ abilities to act as personalities rather than strict journalists.

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After getting off the ground in San Francisco, Giant Bomb opened a New York City office in 2014 known as Giant Bomb East, which produced a separate podcast and unique projects before the covid-19 pandemic and staff departures forced the team to condense into one group again. Other notable Giant Bomb employees over the years have included Patrick Klepek and Austin Walker, both of whom now work at VICE, as well as WWE podcast producer Dan Ryckert and living meme Drew Scanlon.


Kotaku has reached out to Giant Bomb for comment.

Update 05/04/2021 5:40 p.m. ET: In a statement to GameSpot, Jeff Gerstmann said, “I’ve spent a lot of the last year thinking about what’s next for Giant Bomb and most of those roads lead to a full-on rethink of what it means to be a Website About Video Games in 2021. While I certainly would have loved to solve these challenges with my longtime friends and coworkers by my side, it just wasn’t meant to be. I wish Vinny, Alex, and Brad the best. Meanwhile, we have a pretty exciting opportunity to broaden our horizons, rethink every facet of our operation, and get to a place where we’re truly able to build that bomb all over again... or die trying.”



GameSpot also published a statement from Giant Bomb collectively, which said,“There is a collective vision for what the future of Giant Bomb is and it involves both familiar and new faces. We’re already in talks with creators so that we can begin the next chapter. We’re fully aware that this marks a big change and we’re using this as an opportunity to rethink what this site is. It’s a chance to introduce new personalities from different backgrounds and explore categories and topics that we never have before.”

Vinny Caravella, Alex Navarro, and Brad Shoemaker Leave Giant Bomb [UPDATE]

The nail in the coffin. Things haven't been the same since Ryan Davis died. Giant Bomb kept trying to push along but the grim reality of Twitch, YouTube, Reddit, and social media really killed the whole need of a gaming website like Giant Bomb.

I remember hearing about Giant Bomb through Hip Hop Gamer when he did a interview with Jeff and instantly checked the podcast out. I was blown with how comical and raw them dudes were. Like it felt natural compared to the talking heads from Gamespot and IGN. Sadly, old age and cynicism got the best of Jeff and Brad that it felt like a chore to listen to them dudes. The Beast Cast was cool but meh. Overall, when the soul of Giant Bomb drifts away (Ryan), nothing can ever replace the feeling of hearing dudes saying "China Don't Care" or providing fukkery during E3.

It's a around mess for site

 

[Thavoiceofthevoiceless]

6 people have left that site in the past year and a half

 

[The Intergalactic Koala]

6 people have left that site in the past year and a half

Jeff Gerstmann Co-founder, editor-in-chief 2008–Present
Matthew Rorie Senior Community Producer [126] 2013–Present
Jason Oestreicher Senior Video producer [127] 2014–Present
Jan Ochoa Video producer 2017–Present



breh this is all the website has as of now

 

[Legal]

Sad to see this happen, but the last year has made this more of an eventuality than anything else.

The Rona parking everybody in the house hit the accelerator on burnout. Doesn't help that their work situation went from having a studio, to being in the house until the studio is safe, to getting sold and not even having a studio.

 

[Saint1]

I really think Brad holds the show together. He balanced enough and knowledgeable. Geff is alright but he's too much of an old grump and needs someone to balance him out

 

[StraxStrax]

My fav. site ever. I'm deeply sad.

 

[Kingshango]

I think Jeff’s gonna follow soon enough since he’s got another kid on the way.

 

[THE 101]

That Jeff quote about the future of the site is worrying. Sounds like they're gonna try and adapt and shift into some Twitch style shyt

Little by little the internet of old is fading away

Even forums like this are on borrowed time....we're the last of a dying breed

 

[The Intergalactic Koala]

I think Jeff’s gonna follow soon enough since he’s got another kid on the way.

If anything dude going to probably fall back on his twitch stream and do some behind the scenes stuff. I really want to know what is popping in the background of Giant Bomb because its really a revolving door with the people they hire

 

[kdslittlebro]

I only started fw them when Dan came over from Game Informer, and stopped when he dipped. I’m kinda outta that whole space now, but that’s still rough, if not inevitable

 

[SCJoe]

There's was never any real money in print journalism for the average writer, dudes would have three and four roommates just to be an associate editor because most of the sites/magazines were in major cities. Thats cool when you are in your 20s and fresh outta college, but dudes get older and start families so a 50k salary to live in Los Angeles isn't worth it. Its even worse now because people would rather just watch a random with a 60d and Green screen parrot metacritic scores over actual journalists. I remember when Ziff Davis went under and let go basically everyone it was over as a viable career field. EasyAllies was a bit ahead of the curve on the crowd funding model.

 

[Legal]

If anything dude going to probably fall back on his twitch stream and do some behind the scenes stuff. I really want to know what is popping in the background of Giant Bomb because its really a revolving door with the people they hire

Just going from what everyone's said when they left, it's just varying degrees of burnout.

According to a podcast they did after CBS sold them, Gamespot, and CNet off, the company wasn't too keen on investing in them.

And on top of that, gaming journalism as we used to know it is dead. Most sites get used as defacto PR/marketing, and content creators have been used as such for so long from so early that most of them don't seem to either understand or care.

Between not having cash to fund anything out of the ordinary studio stuff (like podcasts, Quick Looks, and other forms of longform gameplay), and them not being interested in getting too deep into the content for marketing game, their output has gotten pretty stagnant. Could easily see how you could want to get out, especially if you've got a couple decades in like the three that just left.

 

[The Intergalactic Koala]

Just going from what everyone's said when they left, it's just varying degrees of burnout.

According to a podcast they did after CBS sold them, Gamespot, and CNet off, the company wasn't too keen on investing in them.

And on top of that, gaming journalism as we used to know it is dead. Most sites get used as defacto PR/marketing, and content creators have been used as such for so long from so early that most of them don't seem to either understand or care.

Between not having cash to fund anything out of the ordinary studio stuff (like podcasts, Quick Looks, and other forms of longform gameplay), and them not being interested in getting too deep into the content for marketing game, their output has gotten pretty stagnant. Could easily see how you could want to get out, especially if you've got a couple decades in like the three that just left.

Breh this is some scary times for gaming. Especially content creators being used to market a game. I remember Dr Disrespect was showing off a game on Twitch and majority of the comments were shytting on the game while Doc used buzz words like "interesting". It was pathetic

Its really going to get to the point where gaming is going to get treated like propaganda and it's up to gamer to understand what's really real.

 

[Legal]

Breh this is some scary times for gaming. Especially content creators being used to market a game. I remember Dr Disrespect was showing off a game on Twitch and majority of the comments were shytting on the game while Doc used buzz words like "interesting". It was pathetic

Its really going to get to the point where gaming is going to get treated like propaganda and it's up to gamer to understand what's really real.

The media side of it is, basically. And the sad part is that some of these folks out here are completely cool with it.

 

[-DMP-]

Never watched these guys but I do know they were a big thing in the online gaming culture.


hope they find successful, fulfilling entries elsewhere