Multiple staffers leave Giant Bomb as Fandom ruins more of the internet
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Giant Bomb’s future is uncertain following a showdown with parent company Fandom, which also owns GameSpot, over editorial interference. Creative director Dan Ryckert announced on a recent livestream that he would no longer be appearing on the Giant Bombcast and co-host Jeff Grubb confirmed on social media on Thursday that he’s no longer with the company. Giant Bomb content is currently on hold while Fandom engages in a “strategic reset and realignment of our media brands,” it confirmed to Kotaku.
We understand your frustration and appreciate your patience — we're actively exploring creative directions for the future of GB and look forward to sharing more with you soon.
— Giant Bomb (@giantbomb.bsky.social) May 2, 2025 at 6:31 AM
Giant Bomb for a long time famously seemed somewhat invincible to the normal pressures of games media. With a personality-focus and paid subscriber-base that helped fund more longform video and podcast content, the website was able to avoid some of the more grimy influencer and small-media obligations. The website almost invented the Lets Play format at a time when most publications were just producing small video reviews and has one of the biggest podcasts in gaming, the Giant Bombcast. It also used to publish genuine reporting news reporting from the likes of Patrick Klepek alongside its extensive longform video content and livesteams.
However it has also survived a lot of changes. Originally owned by Whiskey Media in 2008, the website sold to CBS Interactive in 2012. Co-founder Ryan Davis tragically passed away in 2013.
In 2020 the studio-based video content that Giant Bomb produced was forced to go remote, which shaved away some of difference between it and modern Twitch streamers, while CBS Interactive sold the website to Red Ventures, a SEO-loving company. The New York Times described the company with a headline "You’ve Never Heard of the Biggest Digital Media Company in America."
Shortly after this sale, in 2021, three staffers at Giant Bomb left the company to start an independent Patreon called Nextlander, posting very similar content.
In 2022 co-founder Jeff Gerstmann "got fired three weeks before [he] was going to quit" and created an independent podcast, YouTube channel and Patreon.
Multiple changes of ownership have left it in a very difficult place, with new owners that almost always don't understand the business - and don't want to.
