GRcade

Just announced during the podcast, big news if you are a fan of the site

Jeff still sticking around for now

Honestly gutted about this. The Beastcast is a highlight of my listening week and the Quick Looks were always excellent.

I like Jeff, but Vinny, Alex, Dan and Abby were the heart of the site for me, now they're all gone

Any reason as to why?

It has to involve the buyout, surely?

who is even still there now apart from Jeff?

Tafdolphin wrote:Honestly gutted about this. The Beastcast is a highlight of my listening week and the Quick Looks were always excellent.

I like Jeff, but Vinny, Alex, Dan and Abby were the heart of the site for me, now they're all gone

I loved listening to the Beastcast too, great weekend pod to chill out with

Cuttooth wrote:Any reason as to why?

No idea, I’m wondering if it’s to do with them being bought by Red Ventures?

Tafdolphin wrote:It has to involve the buyout, surely?

That was my first thought but I’d have assumed Jeff would be going too if that’s the case.

Cuttooth wrote:

Tafdolphin wrote:It has to involve the buyout, surely?

That was my first thought but I’d have assumed Jeff would be going too if that’s the case.

Someone pointed out on twitter he might be contractually obliged to stay for a bit but he's said on they'll have more news this week.

There's no way around it though: the site as it once was is dead

Tafdolphin wrote:

Cuttooth wrote:

Tafdolphin wrote:It has to involve the buyout, surely?

That was my first thought but I’d have assumed Jeff would be going too if that’s the case.

Someone pointed out on twitter he might be contractually obliged to stay for a bit but he's said on they'll have more news this week.

There's no way around it though: the site as it once was is dead

Ah ok that would make sense.

Hopefully there is a third iteration of their work if that’s what they’re pursuing.

That is a crying shame - I did wonder why they were letting the Abbey and Ben vacancies sit while they desperately tried to fill slots with guests on the podcasts.

I wonder what they will go on to do.

twitter.com/HoegLaw/status/1389648500124790788

Harsh to say but no surprise - the site had been dying a slow death. I was a huge fan of it in the late PS3/360 days and a subscriber. They had a hilarious 2.5 hour weekly podcast, informative reviews, actual 'quick' (25-30 mins) Quick Looks and amazing GOTY content, including full sketches.

As time went on, Jeff's answer to everything seemed to be 'longer, lazier'. So you end up with two 3+ hour podcasts, Quick Looks easily touching 2 hours, zero reviews, a lack of content for big titles on launch day, incredibly jaded streaming reaction videos, GOTY content that was rambling (I recall one final day deliberations clocking in at 7 hours) and exposed the leaky ship Jeff was running (staff arguing about games they hadn't played at all or barely played).

I only jumped into the site on occasion for segments of the weekly Bombcast and even that doesn't include timestamps. Lazy, lazy, lazy. Must have been the easiest video games media job in the world - no writing, no interviewing, no news, no need to play games. Amazed it lasted this long in the Twitch era and still had subscribers paying actual money to watch a guy release one video of himself play Kingdom Hearts each week.

Such a shock. Gutted. Really hope Vinny, Brad and Alex stay in games media in one form or another.

Gutted. Their content got me through some bad times over the years. Falling asleep watching quick looks the night my dad died. Watching the Mario party party that they did live in a bar the night I moved into my house with no furniture.

Always seemed to be a dynamic site for filling in departures but this is three tent poles gone. I’ve not been watching much during the COVID era because I prefer the studio but I was looking forward to things going back to normal.

strawberry float Red Ventures and strawberry float CBSi for selling up.

twitter.com/XboxP3/status/1389673789122772992

Is a shame, they always had some of the best E3 coverage, particularly Jeff's late night shows.

twitter.com/VinnyCaravella/status/1389680248275546115

Sounds like he’s burnt out?

Mafro wrote:

twitter.com/HoegLaw/status/1389648500124790788

twitter.com/VinnyCaravella/status/1389675755592994828

I guess we'll never know the complete truth of it, but it doesn't seemed planned. Jeff Bakalar just jumped ship from CNET to join the Red Ventures Gaming Group (which includes Giant Bomb) as he was essentially part of the Giant Bomb crew already. Can't imagine him doing that if Vinny and Alex knew they were going to walk away. The second tweet quoted by Milner up there seems to back that up: he doesn't have anything else to go to. Sounds a little like they were either let go or Red Ventures made their staying on untenable.

EDIT: People also suggesting RV was going to make them relocate to Charlotte in North Carolina. Anyone who's listened for any length of time knows Vinny wasn't going to up sticks and move.

Also, looks like GB will continue in some form;

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/alex- ... 0-6491009/

Bit of a gut-punch this one. Really gonna miss these guys and all the hours of entertainment they've been kind enough to provide us with. I don't doubt wherever they go in the future will be very lucky to have them. Gonna be interesting to see what's next for the site.

Yeah, gutted also. I have been listening to the Beast Cast (and occaisonally Bomb Cast) nearly every day for the last 3 years or so. I also enjoyed their lets plays etc. They had firmly taken my no 1 spot for gaming content and chatter (Replacing EZA). Very best to all 3 of them, hope they pop up again together in the future.

See, I have never been a massive fan of Giant Bomb, I find Jeff and Brad can be a bit of a grump sometimes. Beast cast was the content I like from them, Vinny, Alex, Dan, Bakalaar had some great banter and it had a great energy to it.

Be interesting to see where they all go from here