Ziff Davis’ gaming media has had a rough stretch. For those that may not know, Ziff Davis Media owns EGM and its website 1up.com. First ZD filed for bankruptcy, then Games for Windows Magazine folded. Lately, it seems like all of the big “personalities” at 1up.com and EGM are jumping ship. Over the past year or so, a number of high profile writers, editors and podcast personalities have been jumping the 1up ship like it’s the titanic. Sure the remaining faithful have proclaimed that everything’s okay… but is it?
Is 1up’s day in the sun almost over?
Only those within the Ziff Davis sphere of gaming media know for sure, but it sure seems like there’s been a steady stream of high profile people leaving EGM over the past year. Since the ZD bankruptcy, GFW Magazine has folded, a number of staffers has left 1up including Sean Molloy, the highly regarded Editor-in-Chief Dan Hsu, the former Editor-in-Chief for GFW Magazine, Jeff Green, and a number of others.
The latest departure, announced on the GFW Radio podcast is Sean Elliott. He’s apparently leaving to be an associate producer for 2K Boston to work on an “unnamed project.” His departure follows the heels of Green’s departure that was announced about two weeks ago on the 1up Yours podcast. The question is whether he’s joking or not. While known for his practical jokes, this one appears to be the truth.
Should you care? I dunno. The bigger problem is the perception that things are falling apart over there at 1up.com. If you’re as big of a video game media junkie as I am, the fall of 1up.com may be a big deal for you. For a long time, a lot of people have held up 1up, EGM and GFW magazine an island of credibility and journalistic transparency amongst the ocean of industry insider BS. For a long time, THE reasons to read EGM, GFW magazine, 1up.com and THE reasons to listen to the 1up.com podcasts was the people working there. The people working there were entertaining and added their own personality to the discussion and reporting of video game news and reviews.
In my opinion, there’s a difference between reading a review from some intern on a big corporate Media website and reading a review done by a Jeff Green or a Dan Hsu. 1up.com built up their editors and writers into personalities. People that you can relate to and agree or disagree with. They allowed you to get to know these people and see where they were coming from with regard to their opinion on gaming and video game reviews. Through that “relationship” if you will, you come to like, or dislike their opinions as opinions coming from REAL people and not some faceless reviewers.
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I’m not sure if I’d say that another departure from the GFW show (all though it was the best one in the 1up family) is a sign that the site is sinking. Rather I take it as a sign that even the online portion of GFW was not immune from downsizing at Ziff Davis. And even more a sign that points to the fact that while PC gaming isn’t dying it now doesn’t have the strength to stand on its own that it once did a few years ago.
it’s not just the GFW guys that are leaving…
Listening to their “finale” episode of GFWpodcast now…. I havent known of these guys that long, but I do regret them disappearing. Basically these guys and here are and were my real sources of gaming data… well that I felt I could trust. (You guys still are… even as I know we will disagree from time to time… they are outright just gone.)
Huh. So that’s why I haven’t recieved any new episodes of the 1up show on Itunes for a while.
Lono, you made a pretty grave error in the headline. You misspelled “Gamespot” as “1up.” Also, this article is ten months late.
There is no 1up Show because the season is over. It will start again soon. As for the article…. I disagree. Yea people have left but most people that did went into development or their own projects. And they still come back on the podcast (John Davison, Mark McDonald). John Davis created his own site so he is running that, Luke went to Bungie, Jeff Green is going to EA…why not try something new. Are they suppose to do that their whole life. Seems like 1up was a stepping stone to development for them. So I don’t understand this artlicle.
Well Brandon, let me explain the article to you. If all of those talented people leave 1up, how can they keep working and providing content for it… John Davidson is the ONLY example of a returning guest for ANY of the 1up podcasts… So, yeah, in my estimation, after losing all of that talent, the shows are a shell of what they used to be and so is the writing… In my opinion.
NO no, he’s right, 1up sucks now, used to be the best, now they suck.
1up always sucked. egm was so so and gfw was all about tom vs bruce. green was cool but it has all gone piss up.
Uh, what about SeanBaby, isn’t he EGM or is he GameInformer? He’s so awesome…
As long as the duo of Shane Bettenhausen and Jeremy Parish are around, so am I.
I for one would be upset if the 1up network goes tits up , I have been reading them for years in print OPM , EGM , CGW/ GFW and even GAMER .
Although you might not agree with their opinion or reveiws ,you could relate to them as they did a good job explaining the industry to their readership , and wrote accordingly to the most important people in the industry us the consumer , a principle that was not for sale .
I dread the thought of the gapping hole that this would leave on video game Journalism , that will be filled by Corprations and the fan boys and making an unbiased review even harder to find.
As for the Milkman , Lono , he’s a decent writer who has had some turblant times a Ziff Davis , who like Cox both worked on the Gamer magazine that folded ,Cox went to OPM as Editor in Cheif , which went belly up shortly afterward ( mabey a year later ) . Mabey James Milkie is depressed to see a simmilar situation at EGM and is quickly using the reamaining time to show case his talents to future employers , who knows ?
Do you know what happenned to Shu ? what’s he doing now ? Just something i would like to know if any one knows .
Hsu has a blog at http://sorethumbsblog.com
Pretty good reading – enjoyed his discussion of publishers influencing review scores.