I don't normally like to comment on games journalism. Either because I can't really find a nice thing to say about it - different people have different tastes and what not. Personally, I've never been a fan of Jeff Gerstmann (before and after that whole saga), but most people like to think of him as some kind of reviewing messiah. Don't get me wrong, he's a funny dude, but I never saw the appeal in him. Actually, it's kinda funny I bring up Jeff - it serves a kind of link between what I'm really talking about here. But I'll get to that in a moment.
Though if you still haven't gotten it yet, I'm referring to 1UP.com and EGM being sold by Ziff Davis and purchased by Hearst Publishing (yes, the inspiration for Citizen Kane), and has become a part of UGO. The basic story is that while both properties were sold off, Hearst/UGO made some broad, sweeping changes to the organization. Specifically, EGM, which had been running for nearly 20 years, was closed down. The GameVideos team, and a HUGE amount of the staff from 1UP and EGM were let go, with about ten or so keeping their jobs (mostly senior writers and the two latest hirings).
Let me explain just how big of a deal this is.
Aside from losing their video team and a good portion of their editorial staff, 1UP runs a podcasting network that is second to none. If I hadn't been exposed to 1UP Yours, I probably would have never gotten into podcasting. As well as that, the other podcasts were top notch - for a while, the GFW Radio (aka 97.5: The Brodeo) podcast was almost essentially weekly listening, and more so when their magazine closed down. For the longest time, 1UP had been the king of gaming podcasts, and as part of the cuts...the podcasts are dead.
You're probably still wondering why the hell I brought up Jeff earlier. Much like Giant Bomb, I've got my problems with 1UP that most people seem to let slide. Stuff like GameVideo's not even considering to put anything less than HD content on their site, or not even considering that most people outside of the US don't have less than 250GB download limits, as well as putting filters into their videos to make them look edgy...but did nothing except try to look like something that was meaningless. Then there's various editorial decisions and comments that I thought were...questionable. For instance, one writer on the site (which I absolutely detest...and is one of the people staying on instead of some of the more talented writers/podcasters) mentioned that although Gears 2 looked good...it looked too good. And this dude's a huge Gears fanboy also.
Granted, with the struggles that 1UP have had recently, it's not a surprise that something like this happened, but with Hearst taking reins and essentially killing off the company....yeah, no-one really saw that one coming. It's a tragedy, and here's hoping that all those who lost their jobs do find some steady employment.
Except that one writer who still has a job. He doesn't deserve it.
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