Hendo Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 I'm on the phone so can't provide links but UGO has confirmed their buy of 1up.com and all the related sites including gamevideos.com, though the 1up Show looks unlikely to continue as Matt and Ryan (at least, could be more) have been laid off. Also, not confirmed yet, EGM is closing this month. Sad times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retroed Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 Wow. Here's Gamasutra's take on it, there's a fair bit to read: http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=21759 According to information obtained by Gamasutra, around 30 employees of Ziff Davis' Game Group were laid off immediately following today's announcement, including the staff of EGM Magazine, but also some elements of the 1UP Network's web staff, including podcast and video producers. Then you go on to 1UP.com and everything's hunky dory. http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3172156 Obviously, there are sure to be many questions as to what this deal means for the day to day of 1UP and its sites. To those, we can only say that we'll continue to produce the very best gaming content and support the very best gaming community as we always have, only now we'll have the backing of a fantastic publisher like UGO. Please join with us in celebrating this major news for 1UP. There's a large thread on NeoGAF, too. Has Shane walked? Parish is still there, as is Tina. Edit: FUUCCK, just saw this on GAF. Laid OffRyan O Donnell Matt Chandronait Andrew Pfister Philip Kollar Nick Suttner James Mielke Shane Bettenhausen Anthony Gallegos Add JayFresh to the canned list. Oh man. Another edit: Full list (40+) of those being laid off: http://www.joystiq.com/2009/01/06/assessin...-damage-at-1up/ Shane's 1UP blog isn't even on 1UP.com anymore, it's completely disappeared. As much as he's a dick at times, I like him. Garnett's Facebook status currently says: well, it really was a lovely holiday 1UP Yours special I think. By my count that was episode #163 Hey, that's a prime number. Nice way to go. :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hendo Posted January 7, 2009 Author Share Posted January 7, 2009 Garnett's Twitter says "there will be future confirmation of weekends". I hope so as currently there's only Diggnation left to look forward to each week. Might have to try the Giant Bombcast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimboxy Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 man, that sucks. The 1up's were the best of the gaming podcasts. I'm guessing all the people involved will still go on working in the game industry so it might not be the last you hear of them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RivaOni Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 Damn me for not using the "All new posts" feature as I just posted this in Random News. Came as a total surprise did that!I loved the 1up show and will definitely miss that, occasionally listened to 1up yours too. I imagine the key guys will all do something together or something, I dunno. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DANGERMAN Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 I'm not surprised people went, for the amount of staff they had they never seemed to have that much on their site daily. But it is a real shame, anyone losing their job is a shame (most of the time anyway) but some of the names on that list are very good at what they do. Hope they all manage to find something else Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RivaOni Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 I was gonna say it only really leaves me with Destructoid and their Podcastle podcast but Sterling's been a bit annoying lately. There's nothing specific he's done, he's just generally got on my tits a little. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retroed Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 Giant Bombcast is very good indeed. Sam Kennedy has posted on GAF now, to explain a few things. Hey guys, I haven't really read through this thread -- 50+ pages! -- and I probably won't ever be able to. But I did want to hop in here since, well, this is a pretty fucking big deal, I just lost almost half my staff, and God knows what sort of hate is flying around right now.There's no way to rationalize this for most people, and I don't want to sugarcoat anything. My blog (for anyone that actually read all of it) was sincere -- this is a great thing for 1UP. Lord knows we need some better infrastructure and backing. As for many of the podcasts and other shows that we worked so hard on -- and the people that produced them -- obviously, not so much. And I'm not saying that's OK, and I'm not saying you should even be remotely fine with that -- it kills me (and, to be perfectly honest, even the UGO people), that not everything could be preserved. And I'm not here to defend this. It freaking sucks. But from my vantage point, UGO did what they could to, what I consider, "save" 1UP. Obviously, all of us would have wanted to see things go differently -- most of all me, considering I just lost many of my closest friends as coworkers and employees today. A couple of things to realize, though: Fact: 1UP was a business that was losing money. Fact: This economy sucks and the ad market is diminished. Fact: Ziff Davis has been trying to offload 1UP for years. With those sorts of factors playing against us, something had to give. Everyone loved the stuff we did, but our business wasn't in the best of shape (see: Ziff-Davis files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last summer). My hope in all of this, over the last year or so, was that some company would come along and be able to buy 1UP -- the entire operation -- and run with it. And I think UGO had actually originally approached 1UP with those same hopes. But the reality of the market was that no company, including UGO, was willing to sustain 1UP as it was. And that includes Ziff Davis. I hate to to break it to you, but the sad fact was that there was little hope for 1UP to continue as it had been. Not in this economy. If any company out there would have been willing to support us as we were, they certainly didn't step up. The only company that really did was UGO, and they did their very best to continue 1UP. So like I said, while UGO may appear like the bad guy here, in a lot of ways, they just did what few, if any, other companies would. And, from everything they've indicated to us, they are completely supportive of 1UP and its people. Believe me, they were in the office today and were just as distraught about the losses of any of these shows and the people. Of course, that doesn't make things any better for any of us. Fact is, we -- as in, the games industry, not just 1UP -- are losing some great things today. I'm with you in mourning. But I have a commitment from the UGO guys that they -- now, actually, we -- are going to do whatever we can to help these guys out and look for ways to continue these shows with them and/or to look into possibilities for new shows in the future. I'm not saying everything will be back to "normal" as you knew it anytime soon, but I am saying there should be some good things to look forward to in the future. But anyway, now's not the time to think ahead -- certainly not for me, at least. Right now I'm just concerned about my friends. I just came back from a night of drinks at our regular spot, where lots of the games industry showed up to show their support for the guys. Honestly, it was so great to see everyone come out for the team. While a part of me is certainly happy about what UGO/Hearst has just done for 1UP -- because, like I said, it could have been a lot worse -- today was the worst day of my life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RivaOni Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 Nick Suttner's stated that a first episode of "Rebel FM" will be airing tomorrow, wether thats something to do with those that have lost their jobs or not I don't know. Will keep an eye out for it though. Dunno if I've ever mentioned it before, bu Interactive Distractions is a pretty good podcast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sambob Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 Big news, just as I was getting into 1Ups podcasts as well, its a shame, but the actual people that were doing the stuff are still out there, they are still respected within the industry so theres nothing stopping them from getting back in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 This kinda sucks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hendo Posted January 7, 2009 Author Share Posted January 7, 2009 It sucks a big one as I still regard the 1up Show as the best videogame show out there (they could do with dropping the awful "acting" attempts though) and 1up Yours as definitely the best audio show. Retronauts was good in theory but dragged down by them talking over each other, some snidey comments about their own community and the general feeling that most didn't want to be there. In fact I often waited for the day that Parish would open an episode up with "Hey welcome to Retronauts, also known as Contractual Obligation." 1up FM wasn't great, in fact the writing was on the wall for EGM when they changed their podcast name and structure. Regarding Shane, the man needs a personality overhaul. A 32 year old man acting like a 12 year old at times, dragging the respectability of the journalists down most times he opened his mouth. There's been times when it's been hard to listen to him, like when he was practically giving Denis Dyack a reach-around. The best eulogy for his credibility came from the little snippet Mark MacDonald recorded that they play now and again - "Hey! Thank you for paying for this episode of 1up Yours - oh wait, you didn't because it's free, just like every good online console service should be. This is Shane Bettenhausen, signing off................playstation 3." The irony of the games news reporters making the gaming news isn't lost on me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sambob Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 Ah well, we all know theres only room for one gaming podcast and it looks like the big boys are starting to realise that for themselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hendo Posted January 7, 2009 Author Share Posted January 7, 2009 Big up yourself. Right I'm gonna try out Giant Bombcast - I did try it when they started but the sound was bad and they were all over the place. John Davison started a What They Play podcast over Christmas and it's 3 episodes long now, not bad, just him on his own though they're quite short. I remember trying out the Joystiq one. Oh those were dark days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retroed Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 I recommend the Gamers With Jobs (GWJ Conference Call) podcast as well, it's really quite good. Jenn Frank did a write up about 1Up/EGM on her blog. It's very very nice and complimentary, which is classy considering she could be cackling and rubbing it in that the people who fired her not 6-8 months ago are now out of a job as well. http://www.infinitelives.net/2009/01/07/eu...nd-egm-sort-of/ A great piece right there, really well written. Philip Kollar has written his final thoughts on his 1UP blog. Oh, and EGM RIP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimboxy Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 that video made me cringe it is bad and what not, and i know people are going to bitter and the likes, but... its one of those things. It sounds like 1up had been poorly managed and running at a loss for a while, in all honestly it was bound to happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phooey Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 Just noticed on NeoGaf... http://www.eat-sleep-game.com/news/ http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=348125 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 that video made me cringe it is bad and what not, and i know people are going to bitter and the likes, but... its one of those things. It sounds like 1up had been poorly managed and running at a loss for a while, in all honestly it was bound to happen. The writing's been on the wall for ages now. Ziff went chapter 11 last year. Even though it'll strictly still exist, I can't imagine UGO's 1up just feeling the same. No 1up yours. They've got rid of everyone great there, except a select few who I can't remember right now. From what I hear, UGO is shit, it might've not been such a big deal if someone else bought them out. I'm not American, so I've never read EGM, but some people seem really sad about that. I guess it could only compare to like GamesMaster going away. I know it's not great, but it's been going for so long it wouls seem weird not seeing it on the shelfs, even if I haven't actually read it in ages. Ah well, hopefully having a gimped 1up is better than not having one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retroed Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 Just noticed on NeoGaf... http://www.eat-sleep-game.com/news/ http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=348125 Downloading and have left a comment on the site, will be listening to at work later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RivaOni Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 that video made me cringe it is bad and what not, and i know people are going to bitter and the likes, but... its one of those things. It sounds like 1up had been poorly managed and running at a loss for a while, in all honestly it was bound to happen. The writing's been on the wall for ages now. Ziff went chapter 11 last year. Even though it'll strictly still exist, I can't imagine UGO's 1up just feeling the same. No 1up yours. They've got rid of everyone great there, except a select few who I can't remember right now. From what I hear, UGO is shit, it might've not been such a big deal if someone else bought them out. I'm not American, so I've never read EGM, but some people seem really sad about that. I guess it could only compare to like GamesMaster going away. I know it's not great, but it's been going for so long it wouls seem weird not seeing it on the shelfs, even if I haven't actually read it in ages. Ah well, hopefully having a gimped 1up is better than not having one. I wouldn't say GamesMaster Maybe CVG before Future got their hands on it, hence owning GamesMaster's rival, turning into GM mark 2 then scrapping it all together At least EGM went out on a high for those that read it compared to CVG. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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