What the hell is happening

5/14 update:

In what can only be described as a miraculous feat of negotiation, Giant Bomb announced at PAX East that it was able to buy its independence from Fandom. The whole team at GB is intact and are now co-owners of the brand, along with its social and YouTube channels. They've already resumed their regular podcast programming.

That's huge, and is very reminiscent of what Game Informer just went through. Happy for the team. But it should've never gotten to this point.

Original post:

I am beyond pissed. Both Polygon and Giant Bomb – two huge pillars in video game journalism, an industry where there aren't many pillars left – are now gutted and effectively dead thanks to layoffs.

And both incidents somehow occurred, tragically and incomprehensibly, within the same week.

It's a tale as old as time: corporate owners who don't care and don't give a damn about the media sites they own. In Polygon's case, Vox Media blindsided the team with a sale to Valnet – a company that's widely known among freelancers for being terrible to its writers (they blacklist anyone who speaks out against them).

There was even a big story recently on The Wrap where one writer described Valnet as a sweatshop with its absurdly low pay rates and high turnover. Vox Media literally couldn't have picked a worse owner for the brand.

And as for Giant Bomb – death by a thousand cuts from what I've been able to gather. A pioneer in gaming commentary videos and podcasts, one that started loooong before streamers and influencers became the norm. But again, corporate interference is to blame and the staff clearly weren't happy with the way things were going.

At the moment, it appears that both the Polygon and Giant Bomb brands will continue to exist in some form – in a statement sent to various outlets, Fandom said the shakeup at GB is part of a "strategic reset and realignment of our media brands" (whatever the hell that means) – but they certainly won't be the same.

I am just sad and angry on behalf of everyone who lost their jobs this week. I'm furious that talented creatives and writers continue to be treated like garbage by corporations. And I'm furious that the games media model is broken and that there's no way to keep it sustainable anymore.

What's it gonna take for things to change?