Fandom Sells Giant Bomb to Independent Creators
19 comments
·May 11, 2025stevage
nilslindemann
Everyone who clicked the link is not on CIA's observation list.
thaumasiotes
Well, I didn't know about Giant Bomb, but the fact that the domain for the headline was fandom.com was a big clue for Fandom.
archagon
I want to live in your reality.
jpalawaga
Whiskey Media was top tier back in the day. A group of folks producing really fun content, and having a great time doing it. The community was top notch too. I have no idea where the diaspora ended up, since the forums and wiki are comparatively dead these days.
nubinetwork
Glad to hear, fandom is a horrible website to use
kevingadd
For those unfamiliar, Giant Bomb was one of the first video games press outlets to focus on premium video content. They offered monthly/yearly paid subscriptions for unlimited streaming/downloads: a mix of livestreams, review/criticism content, and Just Goofing Around pre-recorded content. They typically released a few hours worth of content a week at their peak, if I remember right, and the cost was something like $30-50 a year. This was before long form video was a big thing on YouTube; arguably sites like Giant Bomb were pioneers that showed a path forward (at least temporarily) for lots of creatives.
Their podcast has been running weekly for the entire time the site has operated alongside (intermittently) other podcasts, so they're approaching 890 episodes. Each episode was typically a few hours long as well.
When they were doing good they were a well-oiled content machine operating on a small budget with a small team. A lot of the stuff they put out was really special or unique in games press at the time - for example, one of their staff went to North Korea during a vacation so during one of their weekly live streams they devoted a time slot to him showing his photos and talking about his experiences there.
IG_Semmelweiss
Is it right to say that giant bomb is in social.media terms was equivalent of myspace, vimeo is something like a far smaller linkedin, twitch is the equivalent of twitter, and that YouTube is Facebook?
duskwuff
Not really. Giant Bomb is a content creator, not a social media network. They have some social features on their site, but it's all centered around GB and the content they produce.
As an aside, Vimeo isn't a meaningfully social site anymore. They pivoted to commercial video hosting long ago - there's still some commenting features on videos but it's not a significant part of what they do.
Trasmatta
The history of the site is wild, too. From the origin in the wake of Jeff Gerstmann being fired from GameSpot, the subsequent exodus from that site, to the death of Ryan Davis, to being bought by CBS Interactive and brought right back under the fold next to GameSpot, to being acquired by multiple other companies, to Jeff Gerstmann getting fired AGAIN, and now this. And all the fun times and weirdness and insanity along the way.
And a funny bit of trivia: likely the most widespread impact the site has had outside of gaming is that it was the origin of the "blinking white guy" meme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gb6BsegPewk
bigstrat2003
> to Jeff Gerstmann getting fired AGAIN
Hold up what? I didn't know that. It seems insane to fire the man from the organization he co-founded.
RevEng
It happens. Our CTO "resigned" about 6 years after we started our VC funded startup. He sold his shares to the rest of the investors. It wasn't his choice to leave.
cube00
Once the VCs get involved you will soon find the company you founded is no longer the company you work at.
randall
JEFF BAKALAR?!?!? THE 404 JEFF BAKALAR!!?!?!?!?
Insane. How times have changed.
c-hendricks
His arc at Giant Bomb is pretty great. From guest to co-owner.
Trasmatta
Great news. Giant Bomb is in some ways one of the few remaining relics of the older / weirder internet. I thought it was done for after the past week.
RistrettoMike
YOOOOO! Still a threat!
monster_truck
Thankful it's sticking around. I've always used "talks about Giant Bomb" as a signal that someone isn't worth getting to know better.
Boy that was a confusing headline. I did not realise that fandom or giant bomb were proper nouns.