Escapist fires central staff members, causing mass walk out, including ZP

[DeerDK]

Summary

Parent company of Online gaming media The Escapist fires central staff members, including editor Nick Caldera. This has caused a walkout including Frost from Cold Take and Yathzee Croshaw from the long time running Zero punctuation

 

Quotes

Quote

 

 

My thoughts

 Zero Punctuation is a YouTube stable going back to 2007, way before LTT. This mass walk out will probably cause The Escapist to implode, even if it's husk will be able to limp on. I don't know what will happen to all the IP that is involved. Some of the people are freelancers but central figures like Yathzee may loose the brand - disclaimer, I have no idea of the legal situation regarding this. 

 

@LinusTech are you guys planning to expand your gaming coverage?

 

Sources

Www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2023/11/07/zero-punctuation-ends-as-the-escapist-faces-mass-resignations-after-eic-firing/amp/

[Needfuldoer]

What was The Escapist doing these last few years? From my impression, it looked like Zero Punctuation was carrying the brand, and they had maybe a couple Let's Play live streams per week. Hopefully /r/datahoarder can grab an archive of the channel, just in case its parent company decides to take it down out of spite for business reasons.

 

Watch the brand get restructured into a mostly AI generated content farm full of bots trying desperately to break even on the green sheet.

 

Maybe Yahtzee could host GameLinked in the not too distant future?

[DeerDK]

25 minutes ago, Needfuldoer said:

What was The Escapist doing these last few years? From my impression, it looked like Zero Punctuation was carrying the brand, and they had maybe a couple Let's Play live streams per week.

 

Hopefully /r/datahoarder can grab an archive of the channel, just in case its parent company decides to take it down out of spite for business reasons.

 

Maybe Yahtzee could host GameLinked in the not too distant future?

I'd say that Frost was doing a great job as well, not to mention their weekly Slightly something else, although that again is carried by Yathzee 

[VicBar]

Summary

Yesterday Nick Calandra, editor in-Chief  of The Escapist announced on Twitter he had been fired. Subsequently Ben "Yatzhee" Croshaw  of Zero Punctuation fame also tweeted that he'd quit and didn't presently hold the rights to his long standing IP Zero Punctuation:

 

Quotes

Quote

Today, I formally resigned from The Escapist and Gamurs. I don't have the rights to Zero Punctuation, but whatever happens you'll be hearing my voice again soon, in a new place. Join this discord for updates in the coming days:

 

My thoughts

This felt like a huge bombshell to me... I've been watching Yatzhee since as long as I've been watching LTT. Yatzhee's take on video games and what he later taught me in his Dev Diaries was as insightful and valuable as the late TotalBuscuit's reviews.

 

If you don't know Nick Calandra, he took the reigns of The Escapist a few years back bringing it from nothing but Yatzhee's vids with a small core viewership that only cared about him and nothing else, to a vibrant community that was excited for every knew effort they made and series they launched. Nick had a excellent  communication with the community and they responded to him and really engaged with him. They expanded on ZP's style and created a ton of cool new things like, Slightly Civil War, Slightly Something else, a show where you could hear Yatzhee in a more casual setting discussing with creators, Extra Punctuation which changed the style of delivery and Yatzhee could talk about other topics, and most notably (for me ig) Adventure is Nigh, which was a D&D campained played by him and other from The Escapist and Dm'd by Jack Packard who is also great! Cold Take was also a great new addition with a great host and they all have left!

 

Nick really turned stuff around always communicating clearly and openly with the community and something just happened that they fired him and he didn't accept a Severance Package so they couldn't silence him (they wanted him to sign an NDA). Yatzhee promptly quit right after and so did a TON of members who Nick had brought on and given a platform...

 

They say to stay tuned for more, they have a plan to get back together and keep doing their good stuff but we'll have to wait and see for now.

 

Sources

[Kisai]

28 minutes ago, VicBar said:

Summary

Yesterday Nick Calandra, editor in-Chief  of The Escapist announced on Twitter he had been fired. Subsequently Ben "Yatzhee" Croshaw  of Zero Punctuation fame also tweeted that he'd quit and didn't presently hold the rights to his long standing IP Zero Punctuation:

Welp, nobody watched anything on the Escapist except ZP! after Sterling stopped doing work for them.

 

28 minutes ago, VicBar said:

Quotes

 

My thoughts

This felt like a huge bombshell to me... I've been watching Yatzhee since as long as I've been watching LTT. Yatzhee's take on video games and what he later taught me in his Dev Diaries was as insightful and valuable as the late TotalBuscuit's reviews.

 

If you don't know Nick Calandra, he took the reigns of The Escapist a few years back bringing it from nothing but Yatzhee's vids with a small core viewership that only cared about him and nothing else, to a vibrant community that was excited for every knew effort they made and series they launched.

 

Yahtzee is old school "two guys on a couch make a webcomic about video games" old.  Y'know Penny Arcade and PvP old.

 

I can't say I'm surprised though. The only value "The Escapist" has had for the company since Sterling left was Yahtzee's Zero Punctuation, and without him, ZP is dead, and so is the Escapist. They already lost "Extra Credits" by not paying them earlier. So there was basically red flags all around about contracting to the Escapist. You might not get paid, and you might get screwed at some point.

 

So I guess we are at 'at some point' now. I'll miss ZP, but there's nothing really stopping him from basically making the same content a different way. Like if Yahtzee came back as a PNGtuber and did exactly the same thing in a different art style, I'd be game for that.

 

[VicBar]

18 minutes ago, Kisai said:

Welp, nobody watched anything on the Escapist except ZP! after Sterling stopped doing work for them.

 

 

Yahtzee is old school "two guys on a couch make a webcomic about video games" old.  Y'know Penny Arcade and PvP old.

 

I can't say I'm surprised though. The only value "The Escapist" has had for the company since Sterling left was Yahtzee's Zero Punctuation, and without him, ZP is dead, and so is the Escapist. They already lost "Extra Credits" by not paying them earlier. So there was basically red flags all around about contracting to the Escapist. You might not get paid, and you might get screwed at some point.

 

So I guess we are at 'at some point' now. I'll miss ZP, but there's nothing really stopping him from basically making the same content a different way. Like if Yahtzee came back as a PNGtuber and did exactly the same thing in a different art style, I'd be game for that.

 

Yup that's exactly what it seems they'll do, continue doing it just somewhere else..!

 

I know what you mean about ZP and Yatzhee being all there was, but since Nick took over honestly it has grown a lot more. I was there for his first community post and saw all the people slowly shifting from "Shut up we're only here for Yatzhee" to being really appreciative of the clear and transparent communication he brought. Also he always gave Yatzhee his place and even encouraged him to do more which is how we got Dev Diaries, Extra Punctuation, Slightly Civil War, Adventure is Nigh etc...

 

There is actually a lot of stuff they put out that is great, ngl. It's not just Yatzhee anymore and you can tell because after Nick was fired the others "resigned" to join him, Yatzhee being one of them as well as the guys from Adventure is Nigh, 3 Minute Reviews, etc... even Cold Take which has great opinion videos that are different and fresh from Yatz's while bieng great in his own right.

 

I'd say check them out but FK The Escapist, maybe check them out to see if you like them and we'll see what they start next!

[DeerDK]

7 minutes ago, VicBar said:

Yup that's exactly what it seems they'll do, continue doing it just somewhere else..!

 

I know what you mean about ZP and Yatzhee being all there was, but since Nick took over honestly it has grown a lot more. I was there for his first community post and saw all the people slowly shifting from "Shut up we're only here for Yatzhee" to being really appreciative of the clear and transparent communication he brought. Also he always gave Yatzhee his place and even encouraged him to do more which is how we got Dev Diaries, Extra Punctuation, Slightly Civil War, Adventure is Nigh etc...

 

There is actually a lot of stuff they put out that is great, ngl. It's not just Yatzhee anymore and you can tell because after Nick was fired the others "resigned" to join him, Yatzhee being one of them as well as the guys from Adventure is Nigh, 3 Minute Reviews, etc... even Cold Take which has great opinion videos that are different and fresh from Yatz's while bieng great in his own right.

 

I'd say check them out but FK The Escapist, maybe check them out to see if you like them and we'll see what they start next!

Yeah, I tuned in weekly for Slightly something else, and Frost was just nailing it

[VicBar]

UPDATE:

 

Nick Calandra, former Editor-in-Chief has announced their new project:

 

Yatzhee retweeted it, so he's sure to be involved as well as all those who resigned after his firing:

Jack Packard (Adventure is Nigh (DM and creator), Slightly Civil War, more)

Amy Campbell (3 Minute Reviews, and Adventure is Nigh)

Marty Silva (Slightly Something Else, Adventure is Nigh, more)

KC Nwosu (Adventure is Nigh, 3 Minute Reviews, more)

Darren Mooney (Movie Reviews, more)

Parkes Harman

Matt Laughlin

Will Cruz

.. and more

 

 

[DeerDK]

Damn, the news has made it to BBC

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-67348861

[divito]

4 hours ago, DeerDK said:

Summary

Parent company of Online gaming media The Escapist fires central staff members, including editor Nick Caldera. This has caused a walkout including Frost from Cold Take and Yathzee Croshaw from the long time running Zero punctuation

 

Quotes

 

My thoughts

 Zero Punctuation is a YouTube stable going back to 2007, way before LTT. This mass walk out will probably cause The Escapist to implode, even if it's husk will be able to limp on. I don't know what will happen to all the IP that is involved. Some of the people are freelancers but central figures like Yathzee may loose the brand - disclaimer, I have no idea of the legal situation regarding this. 

 

@LinusTech are you guys planning to expand your gaming coverage?

 

Sources

Www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2023/11/07/zero-punctuation-ends-as-the-escapist-faces-mass-resignations-after-eic-firing/amp/

I don't know what any of these words mean. 

Is someone able to add some context or comparisons?

[starsmine]

My question is going to be how much Gamurs cares.

If they fired the editor in chief for not meeting goals (which were never communicated to him) and with how much money websites like these make at this point. Losing all the staff may not hurt them as much as a stunt like this should hurt them. When they could probably make just as much money farming it out to an SEO AI posting bullshit. 

[TetraSky]

Zero Punctuation is the only thing I cared to follow as far as The Escapist went.

 

Also, they didn't just "walk out". A walkout doesn't imply leaving the job altogether. It's usually used to put pressure on employers. They outright left... And made their new channel , with hookers and blackjack

https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/ex-escapist-staff-found-new-games-media-website-second-wind

 

Second Wind channel : 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1wZGocgLvopgOqBUFCyIJA

 

@DeerDK Did you forget to include a quote from the article there or is it just missing for me for some reason ?

Spoiler

[Mark Kaine]

 

... its a yt channel?  omg what are we going to do??

27 minutes ago, TetraSky said:

with hookers and blackjack

ah, damnit

 

 

27 minutes ago, TetraSky said:

And made their new channel

BIG NEWS tho

[Arika]

18 hours ago, VicBar said:

Yatzhee retweeted it, so he's sure to be involved as well as all those who resigned after his firing:

i hope he makes a new series called "Some commas" and the only difference is the background is blue.

[DeerDK]

4 hours ago, TetraSky said:

Zero Punctuation is the only thing I cared to follow as far as The Escapist went.

 

Also, they didn't just "walk out". A walkout doesn't imply leaving the job altogether. It's usually used to put pressure on employers. They outright left... And made their new channel , with hookers and blackjack

https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/ex-escapist-staff-found-new-games-media-website-second-wind

 

Second Wind channel : 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1wZGocgLvopgOqBUFCyIJA

 

@DeerDK Did you forget to include a quote from the article there or is it just missing for me for some reason ?

  Reveal hidden contents

I was in a bit of a hurry when I posted the story so forgot to add it after pasting in the link 

[DeerDK]

5 hours ago, Mark Kaine said:

 

... its a yt channel?  omg what are we going to do??

ah, damnit

 

 

BIG NEWS tho

Its a gaming media. Zero punctuation is a very popular long time running show, with view pro vid usually clocking in somewhere between 400k - 700k.

Whether you personally care, well, that is up to you.

 

7 hours ago, starsmine said:

My question is going to be how much Gamurs cares.

If they fired the editor in chief for not meeting goals (which were never communicated to him) and with how much money websites like these make at this point. Losing all the staff may not hurt them as much as a stunt like this should hurt them. When they could probably make just as much money farming it out to an SEO AI posting bullshit. 

Oh, I totally agree they sound like they just try to moneyfarm rather than actually conducting journalism. Especially with their conduct in other of the outlets they own. My personal belief however is, that this AI bubble and money farming will collapse at some point. Maybe there are still years left in it, but it is unsustainable. We will probably see a decentralization of the gaming media with smaller outlets shooting up here and there while the older crumbles, and the cycle of decentralization and consolidation starts a new round

[DeerDK]

1 hour ago, Arika said:

i hope he makes a new series called "Some commas" and the only difference is the background is blue.

And every character gets a fake mustache 

[TVwazhere]

-Topics merged-

[Kisai]

10 hours ago, DeerDK said:

My personal belief however is, that this AI bubble and money farming will collapse at some point. Maybe there are still years left in it, but it is unsustainable. We will probably see a decentralization of the gaming media with smaller outlets shooting up here and there while the older crumbles, and the cycle of decentralization and consolidation starts a new round

 

Nah, I think what is going to happen is that websites that engage in AI content farming will just get de-indexed by search engines, and blacklisted by legitimate ad services. Thus the only junk advertising on AI-generated content will be the same junk that advertises on piracy and porn sites. Stuff nobody looks at, nobody clicks on, and block-by-default's, because of the nasty behavior these ads have. 

 

This is what happens right now when you visit low-quality websites full of stolen content, you usually get redirected, sometimes multiple times, every time you click on anything. Even trying to read the content will usually activate the redirect as soon as you scroll the page.

 

That is the future of AI-generated content farms.

 

But that's not the only stuff that needs to die. There's also content farms within youtube (notoriously 5-minute *rafts) which just posts content that the algorithm likes, but the actual content is terrible, often fake, and sometimes malicious, because they just glue together different videos to fake having made the thing. If it's deceptive, then it should be flagged as deceptive. That applies equally to human-made and AI-made content farming that didn't actually do the work.

 

[TetraSky]

 

 

Nick and Yahtzee are doing a livestream to introduce their new channel.

[DeerDK]

1 hour ago, TetraSky said:

 

 

Nick and Yahtzee are doing a livestream to introduce their new channel.

It was good. I hope they can get through this with their heads above water. 

[DeerDK]

2 hours ago, Kisai said:

 

Nah, I think what is going to happen is that websites that engage in AI content farming will just get de-indexed by search engines, and blacklisted by legitimate ad services. Thus the only junk advertising on AI-generated content will be the same junk that advertises on piracy and porn sites. Stuff nobody looks at, nobody clicks on, and block-by-default's, because of the nasty behavior these ads have. 

 

This is what happens right now when you visit low-quality websites full of stolen content, you usually get redirected, sometimes multiple times, every time you click on anything. Even trying to read the content will usually activate the redirect as soon as you scroll the page.

 

That is the future of AI-generated content farms.

 

But that's not the only stuff that needs to die. There's also content farms within youtube (notoriously 5-minute *rafts) which just posts content that the algorithm likes, but the actual content is terrible, often fake, and sometimes malicious, because they just glue together different videos to fake having made the thing. If it's deceptive, then it should be flagged as deceptive. That applies equally to human-made and AI-made content farming that didn't actually do the work.

 

But if nobody watches/visits, won't they stop using it, or are they exploiting the mechanics? 

[Kisai]

30 minutes ago, DeerDK said:

But if nobody watches/visits, won't they stop using it, or are they exploiting the mechanics? 

It's basically exploiting something I refer to as "scraping the bottom of the garbage bin"

 

Because legitimate sites actually put a floor on the ads they're willing to accept, advertisers exploit this by putting a ceiling on what they are willing to bid. So if you didn't set your CPM to 0.01, then all these garbage ads target "less than 0.01 CPM", and when there is nothing out bidding them, the garbage ads surface. 

 

No legitimate site out there should be setting their accepted CPM below 0.10 for text content, 1.00 for image content or 3.00 or video content. 

 

[VicBar]

23 hours ago, TetraSky said:

 

 

Nick and Yahtzee are doing a livestream to introduce their new channel.

They already got almost 100K subs~!

 

Also people found the patreon even before they had even officially anounced it haha

https://www.patreon.com/SecondWindGroup/posts

 

The livestream was nice and I was glad to hear that they are really hitting the ground running with everything!

[YellowJersey]

Shame, in addition to ZP, I really like Cold Take and The Stuff of Legends.