Gamers Nexus calling out Linus for monetizing on his own controversy

[BachChain]

I don't think Linus fully understands that his company is no longer five people working out of a house. It's grown past the point where "do no evil" is even possible to promise. Even if this didn't blow up now, it would've come back to bite him eventually.

[Lurking]

Louis Rossmann has a good take on this 

 

BTW, if you are interested in privacy or right-to-repair, his channel is great. 

 

Thinking a written warranty is not needed can be excused if the company is new and ran by a noob out of his mom's basement. There the owner can claim ignorance... but for a mature company with a few dozen employees and real business, there is no reason they didn't know what they were doing is wrong. 

 

GN is the only channel I know who at least appears to be independent and not just driven by profit. Unfortunately it seems 99% of the YT channels these days all say the same thing about a product, and never criticize. It is the only computer channel I'm subscribed to. I'm not a gamer at all, so I skip through some of the sections, but I still think they are of great value. 

 

GN and Linus still can be friends, Linus just doesn't get favorable treatment anymore. they now get treated like any other company. i hope Linus uses this to learn. A true friend tells you the truth, even if it hurts. 

 

Support the few remaining channels that are not afraid to be honest. 

[SkipRat]

On 8/25/2022 at 2:01 PM, Vishera said:

LMG is becoming more and more corporate by the day.

They should stop growing or this will get a lot worse.

 

Why do you think that Google,Amazon and Apple are soulless heartless corporations? - Growth.

This is a bit unfair.  They can't stop growing and need to keep developing and expanding.  It's the nature of the business, as they can't allow themselves to fall behind the competition.

And what exactly will get worse?  Investing and awful lot of time, money and effort into products to sell to their followes, customers or clients... However you want to describe yourselves, in order to generate more money to be reinvested back in to things like the labs and the equipment there in, so they can properly test consumer products to ensure us consumers are actually gettting what we are pay for.  As I for one am getting totally sick to death of spending £££ on companies that treat us like mugs and cash cows.

LTT made a mistake, so what, every company does, everyone does, but at least Linus is willing to talk about it and learn from such experiences.  So I would rather have companies like LTT that try do the right thing by their staff and customers, for the benefit of all, grow and develop.  Rather than supporting the like's of greedy comapanies coporations that shaft customers left right and centre for the sole benefit of their shareholders and their personal bank balances.

There is a right way to make money and wrong way, Linus is trying to do the right way.

And as for Steve's comments. Real friends tell you what you need to hear, not want you want to hear, so it's all good and Linus knows this.

[IPD]

3 hours ago, Lurking said:

Louis Rossmann has a good take on this 

 

BTW, if you are interested in privacy or right-to-repair, his channel is great. 

 

Thinking a written warranty is not needed can be excused if the company is new and ran by a noob out of his mom's basement. There the owner can claim ignorance... but for a mature company with a few dozen employees and real business, there is no reason they didn't know what they were doing is wrong. 

 

GN is the only channel I know who at least appears to be independent and not just driven by profit. Unfortunately it seems 99% of the YT channels these days all say the same thing about a product, and never criticize. It is the only computer channel I'm subscribed to. I'm not a gamer at all, so I skip through some of the sections, but I still think they are of great value. 

 

GN and Linus still can be friends, Linus just doesn't get favorable treatment anymore. they now get treated like any other company. i hope Linus uses this to learn. A true friend tells you the truth, even if it hurts. 

 

Support the few remaining channels that are not afraid to be honest. 

I have found very, very, VERY few things that I disagree with Louis Rossmann about.

[RoseLuck462]

Always monetize the haters and funny drama. 

[IPD]

40 minutes ago, RoseLuck462 said:

Always monetize the haters and funny drama. 

[MartinTheActor]

2 hours ago, SkipRat said:

This is a bit unfair.  They can't stop growing and need to keep developing and expanding.  It's the nature of the business, as they can't allow themselves to fall behind the competition.

I'd say that this is a radically incorrect statement. Take a look for example at the staff sizes of JayzTwoCents vs Gamers Nexus. Jay's staff level (at least publicly available) is a quarter the size of GN's despite Jay having twice the subscriber number of GN. Compare both against just LTT and the real difference isn't quality of video (which is difficult to objectively assess given the different styles of all three), instead it's video output. LTT is simply trying to put out more videos each week.

Any insightful look into the world of Youtube allows you to quickly and easily see that one of the reasons for LMGs expansion is this desire to simply do more. There's nothing wrong with that inherently. But given that other companies publishing to Youtube seem to have settled into a three times weekly release pattern one would assume that it's the golden number for weekly releases. My point here is that LMG have made a rod for their own back by creating the sheer level of output that they are. 

Here's the real issue though, LTT's audience is simply far less loyal than other creators. LTT viewer numbers as a ratio of their subscribers are pretty poor when one takes a critical look compared to the ratio of GN or Jay. That to me, as some who has spent time creating media (published books, and producing theatre) is a really concerning indicator that the majority of LTT's subscribers aren't interested in what LTT has to offer week in week out. In other industries that would signal an issue with the creative/programming team. In LTT's example that would presumably be the writing teams.

This is where the creators behind Standard and Nebula have instead created a better way to experiment with ideas and projects that only the most loyal of the base might be interested in. Likewise looking at Tom Scott's channel where his content has continued to solidify his niche and his watch/sub ratio is far, far higher than LTT's. So from an outsider's perspective Tom Scott (sole video host, with a relatively small team) is managing regularly far more views than LTT with almost triple the subscribers but less than half the regular viewers. 

The evidence that LTT/LMG 'can't stop growing and need to keep developing and expanding' feels then contrary to the evidence available to us and to myself, must like one of those typical monetarist ideologies that ultimately is more harmful than helpful to society at large. 

Let's be clear though, despite these criticisms LMG could decide to have shut down this thread that is hugely critical of the business and its founder's actions. That to me alone would appear to show how the organisation and its leaders is attempting to do the right thing and it is instead I would guess the reason behind wanting to expand. As someone who has hired and been responsible for employees of my own businesses, that weight of responsibility can be crushing. Sadly though, taking on full time staff changes your business requirements. Publicly at least it doesn't appear that profit or revenue related layoffs have happened within LMG which again would indicate LMG's leadership desire to do the right thing by their employees. Let's be clear though this is still a desire and not a need. LMG could shrink down to an initial niche or have decided not embark on Lab 32 as a project. Likewise they could look at their relatively low watch/sub number and begin to reduce output. That would naturally result in laying off employees rather than doing right by them.
 

[GameRetro]

2 hours ago, MartinTheActor said:

I'd say that this is a radically incorrect statement. Take a look for example at the staff sizes of JayzTwoCents vs Gamers Nexus. Jay's staff level (at least publicly available) is a quarter the size of GN's despite Jay having twice the subscriber number of GN. Compare both against just LTT and the real difference isn't quality of video (which is difficult to objectively assess given the different styles of all three), instead it's video output. LTT is simply trying to put out more videos each week.

Any insightful look into the world of Youtube allows you to quickly and easily see that one of the reasons for LMGs expansion is this desire to simply do more. There's nothing wrong with that inherently. But given that other companies publishing to Youtube seem to have settled into a three times weekly release pattern one would assume that it's the golden number for weekly releases. My point here is that LMG have made a rod for their own back by creating the sheer level of output that they are. 

Here's the real issue though, LTT's audience is simply far less loyal than other creators. LTT viewer numbers as a ratio of their subscribers are pretty poor when one takes a critical look compared to the ratio of GN or Jay. That to me, as some who has spent time creating media (published books, and producing theatre) is a really concerning indicator that the majority of LTT's subscribers aren't interested in what LTT has to offer week in week out. In other industries that would signal an issue with the creative/programming team. In LTT's example that would presumably be the writing teams.

This is where the creators behind Standard and Nebula have instead created a better way to experiment with ideas and projects that only the most loyal of the base might be interested in. Likewise looking at Tom Scott's channel where his content has continued to solidify his niche and his watch/sub ratio is far, far higher than LTT's. So from an outsider's perspective Tom Scott (sole video host, with a relatively small team) is managing regularly far more views than LTT with almost triple the subscribers but less than half the regular viewers. 

The evidence that LTT/LMG 'can't stop growing and need to keep developing and expanding' feels then contrary to the evidence available to us and to myself, must like one of those typical monetarist ideologies that ultimately is more harmful than helpful to society at large. 

Let's be clear though, despite these criticisms LMG could decide to have shut down this thread that is hugely critical of the business and its founder's actions. That to me alone would appear to show how the organisation and its leaders is attempting to do the right thing and it is instead I would guess the reason behind wanting to expand. As someone who has hired and been responsible for employees of my own businesses, that weight of responsibility can be crushing. Sadly though, taking on full time staff changes your business requirements. Publicly at least it doesn't appear that profit or revenue related layoffs have happened within LMG which again would indicate LMG's leadership desire to do the right thing by their employees. Let's be clear though this is still a desire and not a need. LMG could shrink down to an initial niche or have decided not embark on Lab 32 as a project. Likewise they could look at their relatively low watch/sub number and begin to reduce output. That would naturally result in laying off employees rather than doing right by them.
 

I just want to add that LMG probably benefits from more videos output in regards to being able to push more sponsor shouts per week in videos. If they did 3 videos that’s 3 sponsor shouts. 20 videos increases that significantly. So that may be the business model not just views ads revenue. 

[Blue4130]

5 hours ago, SkipRat said:

This is a bit unfair.  They can't stop growing and need to keep developing and expanding.  It's the nature of the business, as they can't allow themselves to fall behind the competition.
 

The competition all have less than 10 employees from what I can gather. (GN, Jays, Paul, Harware Canucks, HUB, Bitwit) and produce content that is often more engaging than LTT. What I see the problem being is output. LTT is simple trying to put out too many videos, so they are scraping the bottom of the idea barrel. I'd prefer less videos but with better thought out content.

[SkipRat]

16 minutes ago, Blue4130 said:

The competition all have less than 10 employees from what I can gather. (GN, Jays, Paul, Harware Canucks, HUB, Bitwit) and produce content that is often more engaging than LTT. What I see the problem being is output. LTT is simple trying to put out too many videos, so they are scraping the bottom of the idea barrel. I'd prefer less videos but with better thought out content.

And even then JayzTwoCents is overhauling his building, which costs money.

GamesNexus sells merch, nothing wrong with it.

[SkipRat]

20 minutes ago, Blue4130 said:

See my post that I just wrote. If LTT stopped posting low quality content every day and instead moved to a 3 video schedule of well planned and executed vids, I think there would be far fewer of the topics.

I wouldn't say that, but I think they need to do more in the way of tech reviews.  But then that is what the labs is going to be  for.

IF anything, I think you will find that the current video's are just filler until the labs are working done and then they can concentrate on test new stuff.  Like the arrival of the $133,000 power tester.  It only arrived a few days ago iot needs to be installed, tested blah blah.

People need to be patient and wait, he said he was going to up grade the labs etc a few months ago in order to do some real serious testing.  That takes time, you can't expect a massive overhaul project like that to be down at the click of the fingers. Whilst they are doing that, they are still trying to get content to try and keep you guys entertained.

I don't like and watch everything they do, but I am not going to knock them for it though or complain about it.

Especially after the last couple of years of COVID which has hammered the global markets, the war in the Ukraine which is making things a lot worse, with a very possible incoming global ression on the horizon.

Yeah, LTT is not 100% perfect, but they are still a little bright spot along with GamingNexus, JayzTwoCents in a world full of ^$%&*" at the moment. 

[GameRetro]

They'll never focus solely on just LAB and testing.

 

People that have the attention span to go through numbers and tests and reviews are far in between, no matter how "exciting" and Mr. Beast-like it's presented. Especially since it will be testing and not education based videos - so no Mark Rober, Tom Scott or Veritasium spin on it. The trick these guys use is change of scenery, animation and such to present an educational point.

 

Labs will be presenting results from testing (I PRESUME) - so no matter how you spin that you always end up with a GN Steve-like videos - a lot of talking, charts and empirical data driven points...

 

In order to continue the financial traction the current YouTube checklist includes clickbait titles, grimaced faces thumbnails and above all else high-on-energy content and over the top shouty excited hosts and stuff constantly going on... which, again, is not what I associate with tech.

 

So my conclusion is they'll never not focus on the main channel(s) too, but they'll continue to follow trends in whatever makes the YouTube algorithm "like" their content and push it to as many viewers (in past years that's mostly a young audience) as possible.

[Blue4130]

59 minutes ago, SkipRat said:

And even then JayzTwoCents is overhauling his building, which costs money.

GamesNexus sells merch, nothing wrong with it.

I never said that there was anything wrong with overhauling buildings or selling merch. Not even close.

 

46 minutes ago, SkipRat said:

IF anything, I think you will find that the current video's are just filler until the labs are working done and then they can concentrate on test new stuff.  Like the arrival of the $133,000 power tester.  It only arrived a few days ago iot needs to be installed, tested blah blah.

And this is exactly my issue. Too much useless filler. The PSU tester arrival video was terrible. With a little time, they could have written a script, had usefull information, had it be engaging. But it appeared to be a random filming with no forethought. It was chaotic and all over the place. I guess that is what the kids like these days. But it doesn't cut it for me and many others.

 

If this is the style that LTT wants to go with, more power to them, I'll go watch something else. No harm to me or them in the end. Loss of one view isn't going to change their income in any way.

[lostcattears]

There were a few merch items that i most definitely felt that they were monetizing on for the wrong reason. Though, I wish they shouldn't have to but I can see why they have to at almost every single opportunity. I think people seriously underestimate how much cash flow they require to actually keep on functioning as a company. 70 people currently when they expect to have like 100 people before next year, expanding into their 3rd building... The lab32 seems like a money sink but something i feel quite a bit of people actually want.

 

The warranty thing, as long as the product comes to me perfectly that is the only thing I should expect that goes the same for all other companies. 99% of all warranties out there are trash. Usually take weeks if not months to get anything solve or they just toss you away. Just that do you trust LTT to have your back? Yes their stuff IS expensive no question but is the "SMALL" attention to detail worth it to you. To a ton of people Small details matters a ton, at the same time small details takes the most amount of money to solve/fix/perfect. If you have watched one of the videos this is the first product the engineering team that consisted of 2-4 released in 2 and a half years. That is almost 1 million dollars just on R&D. Who the hell spends that much developing a screwdriver and have the screw driver half produced in Canada?

 

When they released their official warranty statement... it was basically exactly what I expected from any company. 

 

Usually linus owns up to his own mistakes, some of the decisions weren't even his. Yea he might be out of touch with the avg joe. But I personally would give him some benefit of the doubt. But also yea, sometimes the community need to blow things up in his face to get him back to reality.  

[MAXBattle]

I find it curious that GN decided to go after LTT's merch right as Linus is ramping up Lab32 in direct competition with GN's niche on YouTube for serious PC testing.

 

If GN suddenly does a 20-minute teardown of the new LTT hoodie, we'll know why.  Steve: "We reached out to Linus about the fact that the advertised 'French terry' isn't actually from France, but received no reply as of the shooting of this video."

[Poinkachu]

2 hours ago, MAXBattle said:

I find it curious that GN decided to go after LTT's merch right as Linus is ramping up Lab32 in direct competition with GN's niche on YouTube for serious PC testing.

 

If GN suddenly does a 20-minute teardown of the new LTT hoodie, we'll know why.  Steve: "We reached out to Linus about the fact that the advertised 'French terry' isn't actually from France, but received no reply as of the shooting of this video."

Maybe they would, if the word "French Terry" was made by LTT, falsely claims that it's directly from France, and if it's not a weaving technique name.

Linus did a "hot take" by not providing written warranty on (expensive) backpack, GN being GN, hammering down on things in PC comunity that doesn't lean toward customer. Coincidentally all this happens as Lab is powering up.

[Zodiark1593]

14 hours ago, SkipRat said:

This is a bit unfair.  They can't stop growing and need to keep developing and expanding.  It's the nature of the business, as they can't allow themselves to fall behind the competition.

And what exactly will get worse?  Investing and awful lot of time, money and effort into products to sell to their followes, customers or clients... However you want to describe yourselves, in order to generate more money to be reinvested back in to things like the labs and the equipment there in, so they can properly test consumer products to ensure us consumers are actually gettting what we are pay for.  As I for one am getting totally sick to death of spending £££ on companies that treat us like mugs and cash cows.

LTT made a mistake, so what, every company does, everyone does, but at least Linus is willing to talk about it and learn from such experiences.  So I would rather have companies like LTT that try do the right thing by their staff and customers, for the benefit of all, grow and develop.  Rather than supporting the like's of greedy comapanies coporations that shaft customers left right and centre for the sole benefit of their shareholders and their personal bank balances.

There is a right way to make money and wrong way, Linus is trying to do the right way.

And as for Steve's comments. Real friends tell you what you need to hear, not want you want to hear, so it's all good and Linus knows this.

Linus has been in the mindset of a “Scrappy Media Company” for so long, that I’d imagine transitioning to a much more corporate, and professional mindset is likely going to come with some teething pains. Playing with the big leagues ultimately means holding yourself to a higher standard, and I feel this the point that Steve wanted to get across. 
 

Given the massive investments and projects made, and the company itself evolving rapidly, I feel this is probably going to be a difficult time for Linus and Yvonne, mentally speaking. The company has gone well beyond having a life of its own. However, I’ve confidence that they, and LMG will come out all the better for it. 

[Stahlmann]

8 hours ago, SkipRat said:

And even then JayzTwoCents is overhauling his building, which costs money.

GamesNexus sells merch, nothing wrong with it.

Not to mention GN just moved to a way bigger place and completely renovated it during the last months. Plus they're also investing into new insanely expensive equipment like the fan tester and still they're improving the quality of their videos. Seems almost like making quality over quantity content can also pay off 

[SkipRat]

7 minutes ago, Stahlmann said:

Not to mention GN just moved to a way bigger place and completely renovated it during the last months. Plus they're also investing into new insanely expensive equipment like the fan tester and still they're improving the quality of their videos. Seems almost like making quality over quantity content can also pay off 

Exactly, all three of them are expanding their outfits for the benefit of us the consumer.

 

By ensuring manufactures hold up to their claims and stop mugging us off and provide us with the quality of product we should rightfully expect.  As such, putting the power in our hand to make an informed choice on what we purchase.

 

This is all for our benefit and not their own personal gain.

[dogwitch]

3 hours ago, SkipRat said:

Exactly, all three of them are expanding their outfits for the benefit of us the consumer.

 

By ensuring manufactures hold up to their claims and stop mugging us off and provide us with the quality of product we should rightfully expect.  As such, putting the power in our hand to make an informed choice on what we purchase.

 

This is all for our benefit and not their own personal gain.

yet steve not investing in new skilled employees in the field. instead, he think himself  can do everything or the other 2 people that work for him never gets credits for their work(none video production).

 

but  he is poor mans pugent systems..

 

before you go on a rant.

dude could not even do a basic nas build. for god sake bit wit was able to set one up very easily.

steve no wendell,lawence system or a few other i know.

 

hell my uncle .

use to run a whole hospital system.  . where talking a billion plus org. dude know his  stuff and i bonce off stuff in my field i do. with him.

he never ever took Gn serous. way to many issues across the board with the channel.

 

 

end of day linus was able to  delegate aspect to his bussiness to people experience in those fields.

steve simple wont and even stated that in a video years ago.

 

 

[Blue4130]

2 minutes ago, dogwitch said:

end of day linus was able to  delegate aspect to his bussiness to people experience in those fields.

steve simple wont and even stated that in a video years ago.

 

 

Linus' experienced people made whonnock, then when that failed made whonnock2, and then when that failed made whonnock 3.... Not sure I really go to them for relaible builds

[dogwitch]

3 minutes ago, Blue4130 said:

Linus' experienced people made whonnock, then when that failed made whonnock2, and then when that failed made whonnock 3.... Not sure I really go to them for relaible builds

1 field due to hardware issue. others have been software related stuff. that said software. Should have report etc isuse. but did not.

but nice try there.

[Blue4130]

2 minutes ago, dogwitch said:

1 field due to hardware issue. others have been software related stuff. that said software. Should have report etc isuse. but did not.

but nice try there.

Do you know why the software did not report? User (administrator) error. This is your experts at work.

[dogwitch]

Just now, Blue4130 said:

Do you know why the software did not report? User (administrator) error. This is your experts at work.

wow trying real hard there to insult or something to me. When i called your lord and savior steve ego.

hard pass with anymore gatch comments. you will whatabotism it.

[Blue4130]

2 minutes ago, dogwitch said:

wow trying real hard there to insult or something to me. When i called your lord and savior steve ego.

hard pass with anymore gatch comments. you will whatabotism it.

I said nothing about steve, That was you. I just pointed out your error in praising linus and his experts. And I said nothing about you. You take my comment about Linus as a personal insult? These tech Youtubers are not gods. All of them are regular people, don't think so highly of any of them, be it Linus, Steve, Jay, Kyle, Paul or anyone else.