The Escapist staff resign following termination of editor-in-chief Nick Calandra

Calandra shared more information on Discord, revealing that the “entire video team” has resigned in response.

This includes Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw, who created the video review series Zero Punctuation.

Confirmation from Yahtzee: nitter.net/YahtzeeCroshaw/…/1721687212541280425

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: discord.gg/uFNQKKh6Jq

From the linked Discord:

nickjcal24 — Yesterday at 5:47 PM @everyone since things are happening fast, the entire Escapist video team has either been fired or resigned as of tonight / tomorrow.

This Discord will become the place for what’s coming next.

More news tomorrow.

nickjcal24 — Yesterday at 6:22 PM Resignations and firings pinned here:

twitter.com/Darren_Mooney/…/1721683973506568532
twitter.com/TheOtherFrost/…/1721683636410261846
twitter.com/DesignDelve/…/1721677391368425571
twitter.com/nickjcal/status/1721640314203464045
twitter.com/YahtzeeCroshaw/…/1721687212541280425
twitter.com/JanjoZone/status/1721697403097542874
twitter.com/RexiconJesse/…/1721719792007090444
twitter.com/_mattjlaughlin/…/1721714880859042098
twitter.com/willcblogs/…/1721704228182274123
twitter.com/SigmaGears9/…/1721695395376415162
twitter.com/ParkesHarman/…/1721692595166794023
twitter.com/sassqueenamy/…/1721693823729066025
twitter.com/McBiggitty/…/1721922759368872016
twitter.com/Harlack/status/1721906693620273233

nickjcal24 — Yesterday at 8:28 PM @everyone we’re going to set the Discord to read-only for the rest of tonight so we can get other work done that we need to do.

Tomorrow you will know more about what our plans are for the future, along with a livestream on Wednesday at 11 AM CT.

We’ll share the links to where all that will be tomorrow afternoon.

Thank you SO MUCH for the support. It means a lot to the whole team and we’re excited for what we’re cooking up next.

Please be good to one another and keep the positivity up. What happened happened and if you’ve been with the new version of The Escapist since 2019, you know we just keep moving forward.

We’re excited and you should be too.

VentraSqwal,

How long has Gamurs owned The Escapists? I thought it was getting suspicious lately how many different things they were trying to get money so quickly.

They were putting more sponsor segments in ZP videos at different points and Nick would respond in the comments when people complained, trying to find a good place to put them. Then they started letting Yahtzee curse more and offering the uncensored version on their subscription service. And these changes were quickly one right after the other. I should’ve known something like this was coming, but I’m still sad about it. I hate capitalism so much. Why does these corporations have to ruin all my favorite things?

marco,
@marco@beehaw.org avatar

forbes.com/…/zero-punctuation-ends-as-the-escapis…

testman,

ZP ran for a very long time. At this point I am not even mad that it ends.
someone go check what are some longest running web series and where does ZP stand on that list

SilentStorms,

I didn’t even realise it was still running until recently. He had to have been close to 20 years.

tal,
@tal@lemmy.today avatar

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_Punctuation

Release: July 24, 2007 – October 25, 2023

So a little over 16 years.

Telorand,

Homestar Runner is technically still going (though maybe one or two episodes a year, now) and started in August 2001, so that puts it at 22 years.

altima_neo,
@altima_neo@lemmy.zip avatar

Also Ashens, he’s been at it forever.

Tigbitties,
@Tigbitties@kbin.social avatar

Croshaw will be able to go anywhere. I'm sure he can negotiate his team to sign with him. This was either very bad move from them or it's what they planned for some reason we don't know about.

comicallycluttered,

May have something to do with this.

To be honest, ever since that news hit, I’ve been expecting something like this to happen.

I’m actually surprised it took as long as it has.

mp3,
@mp3@lemmy.ca avatar

That’s a nice blocklist, thanks Gamurs.

sculd,

Sounds like a nightmare…

Tigbitties,
@Tigbitties@kbin.social avatar

Gross.

prole,

Prima games… I always knew Brady Games had the better strategy guides!

djsoren19,

Feels like a big kick in the nards considering they just released a new video series from Yahtzee like two weeks ago, and Frost recently began the video series Stuff of Legends. I’m willing to bet this was a major shock.

phuntis,
@phuntis@sopuli.xyz avatar

finally hated the escapist loved zero punctuation but it’s so annoying how it flooded my sub feed with a million videos I didn’t care about and never would I literally only watched the solo yahtzee stuff

itmightbethew,
@itmightbethew@beehaw.org avatar

As has been said I’m sure without Yahtzee the site is basically over.

Which is too bad I really enjoyed extra punctuation and the Slightly Something Else podcast. The whole point of having a subscriber model is that you’re not beholden to advertising or the algorithm or nebulous corporate goals, as the hosts have aid many times.

I guess it goes to show getting acquired by a corp only ever benefits the corp

blargerer,

The entire video team has moved here:
https://twitter.com/SecondWindGroup
https://www.twitch.tv/secondwindgroup
https://www.youtube.com/@SecondWindGroup

theangriestbird,

how many names can there be left for outlets that rose out of the ashes of other outlets? Second Wind, Remap, Aftermath, Nextlander…i didn’t think I would see this kind of name become a “genre” in my lifetime.

tal,
@tal@lemmy.today avatar

Given how much time they’ve had to think about branding, I’m not sure that this is necessarily the name that they’ll stick with. But I think that it’s probably – while this is in the news – a good move to get people looking at some channel that they do control, so that if they come up with something else, they can tell people about it.

theangriestbird,

no i mean to be clear, i know that names are hard! you have to think of something that’s catchy but also unique enough to google but also doesn’t sound stupid and also kind of signifies what your outlet is about…it’s hard! And most of the outlets i named also had to come up with their names within a 2-week period where they had no jobs but had to scramble to pick a name while their names were still in the news. You and I are on the same page here.

theangriestbird,

This reminds me a lot of what happened to Waypoint with Vice. They were running on an ad-based model since their inception, and then they launched Waypoint Plus (their subscription model) to basically save themselves from extinction. Then Vice itself hit the bankruptcy wall, so the Waypoint staff were all laid off because, while Waypoint Plus was profitable and sustainable, it wasn’t growing.

Then the laid off staff just launched their own subscription-based small business and, at least for now, it seems like they’re better off. Based on other comments, it looks like that is what the Escapist Staff is doing with Second Wind.

itmightbethew,
@itmightbethew@beehaw.org avatar

Is that Aftermath? I just started reading it today.

I’m also a fan of 404 media, started by motherboard defectors.

I worry about subscription fatigue setting in, but I do think it’s exciting that breakway independent media is seemingly having a moment right now

theangriestbird,

Haha Aftermath is ex-Kotaku staff, although they do have Gita Jackson, who was with Vice and Motherboard for a while after she left Kotaku. The ex-Waypoint staff is Remap!

I’m with you on subscription-fatigue, I love the Remap crew and maintain my sub with them for now. The thing is, I think this whole thing works better if all of us gaming enthusiasts continue to read and share everything from every subscription-based outlets, and then only sub to our favorite one or two. The problem with the ad-based model was that there was not enough money to go around, even if the engagement from individual users was high. Ads were paying less and less, and a small, highly-engaged audience can only generate so many clicks. With the subscription model, everyone subscribes to their faves, and then outlets are rewarded for catering to a niche. This is what most of these small outlets were doing best anyway, so i personally think it works out well. Eventually there has to be an upper limit to how many of these outlets can survive, but i think the ceiling is a little higher than most people think.

lobut,

The Cold Takes videos makes me feel like I’m getting some scotch and sitting down and listening to an old friend talk about games in a 1950s detective style bar.

Tearcell,
@Tearcell@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

@lobut @itmightbethew ya, cold take actually turned me on to the escapists as a brand rather than just a ZP fan. Was my favorite show they had.

GammaGames, (edited )

And they just started uploading Zero Punctuation (same-day) to YouTube! Ah well, guess I’ll unsubscribe. Sad to see

undeffeined,

What do you mean? Zero Punctuation has been on YouTube for more than 10 years.

GammaGames, (edited )

They were uploading it staggered a week to try to get people to watch the brand new episodes on their site. It didn’t work, so they decided to put them on YouTube same day earlier this year.

Edited to make it clearer

undeffeined,

Ah, I get it now.

ugmug,
@ugmug@kbin.social avatar

I hope these guys reorganize and get back to it quickly. I enjoy almost everything Nick and company have been doing over the past few years. I can't imagine the Escapist YT channel will stay afloat without Yahtzee.

DoucheBagMcSwag,

They’re gained 6,000 subscribers from their initial discord post less than an hour ago

ugmug,
@ugmug@kbin.social avatar

Looks like their YT channel is up too. Good news!

tal,
@tal@lemmy.today avatar

As of this writing, their YouTube channel has 12.7k subscribers, and they haven’t uploaded anything yet.

DoucheBagMcSwag,

Hell yes. Fuck The Escapist

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