Six months since GB invoked The Ritual. How do you feel?

It honestly feels to me like the GB crew have been in full-on crunch for most of the last 6 months. That would be enough to deal with, but being purchased by a company that may not even care about the content side of GB, has them cancel/change plans at the last minute for one of the bigger pieces of content they make each year, and who is putting the outsourced content that filled much of the site on hiatus right before the holidays... It's not giving me warm fuzzy feelings.

I obviously love the forums but they've been quieter than usual lately. Hopefully game of the year gets people to come back.

In terms of video content, I echo what some others have said in that I feel an imbalance with the staff distribution. It feels like Grubb, Jan, and Jess are on everything and a lot of the other folks have kinda disappeared. I know this is absolutely unfair to say, but it gives me the impression that those three are giving it 110% and everyone else isn't engaged. And part of the reason for that impression is I'm not watching a lot of the content. I haven't seen UPF in forever because it's not the same concept anymore. I'm more likely to skip the Bombcast without some special circumstance. Blight Club is very entertaining, but the other feature weekly shows typically pass me by. Arcade Pit is great when I recognize most of the players. The highlights of the past year included the Neon White contest and the Hyrule Hustle - both Dan creations, and I wish there was more - and the in-person marathon, which goes without saying.

There was never really a time where I was watching every single new video on the site, but it's starting to lull for me. I don't engage with Gerstmann's stuff at all, and I enjoy Nextlander when the mood strikes. After everything, this site and brand still means a lot. But as for the thesis of "The Ritual" - that these nine people would be making exciting content we've never seen before - I'd say that promise has only been fulfilled in fits and starts.

It's just not doing it for me. I've given them several tries and at best I'm bored and at worst I'm annoyed.

I've said it before, but Eternal Darkness is what killed it for me. I was SO excited to watch a lets play of that game until it just became nothing but a soundboard of joke that stopped being funny after the first 10 minutes. Dan discovering voice modulation is a great example of why he should never be in charge of anything.

He desperately needs someone with authority to tell him when a joke isn't funny.

I've overall been very happy with how things are shaking out, and I hope it continues. I think as people have mentioned, I think there's just a strong desire for more. More content, more series, more faces and meet-ups, but I've been really enjoying what I've been seeing being tested and put out in the meantime.

I have noticed this community becoming fairly negative in terms of the direction, and people do bring up understandable points, but it feels like it's going pretty well and I hope it continues. I'm really looking forward to the GOTY discussions and to see what they do overall.

I've been enjoying it, the site really seemed in the doldrums in the covid era, and tbh Nextlander's current streams just feel like an extension of that, so I'm appreciating the energy and variety that new GB brings. Would like to see more Lucy and Tam, but happy we get what we get from them, as they must be super busy. Would love to see the return of The Very Online Show. Also, the new era has brought Mike Minotti to be a semi regular guest, which can only be a good thing.

@siamesegiant: The more Minotti appears, the more I like him. My first impression was kind of annoyed but nah, I was wrong, he's a treasure.

before: "meh, it's fine"

after: "meh, it's fine"

some time since: "meh, it's fi... *notices notification for premium autorenewing*... better make sure that never happens again without me knowing *disables* now where was i... meh, it's fine"

The 'ritual' itself was a dumb fun video. But the content itself that week is some of the worst and most cynical bullshit ever posted on this website about videogames.

Same as before honestly. Giant Bomb hasn't been the same since 2019. The secret sauce that made the site irresistible to me was the in-person videos.

I can at least appreciate this iteration of the crew trying different things, Arcade Pit is a nice addition.

i was higher on the site when dan came back n the others were officially added to the site's staff those months ago . i wouldn't say its bad around here or anything so much as idk mehh? i loved blightclub but i'm behind as of grubsy ep 3 , quicklooks happening more often again is nice but i skip more of those than i used to due to pure lack of interest in said game , years ago i feel there was just a better balance with that but there were more staff doing them too so thats a factor. bombcast i'm at least a month behind on and dump truck even moreso. the rotating guests idk kinda makes me care less about ppl talking on bombcast vs when its 'core staff' n there was a stretch of those where i was like why am i listening to this one? i don't even know these ppl ( jan n grubb aside). don't get me wrong now n then its cool when its just a fill-in but when its back to back its sorta ehh. that fork stuff they had a bit back for some weeks was just nonsense and while impressive of a one man show i just could not care less about it . in the tam n lucy department aside from a couple pods now n again i don't think i've seen them on anything other than bombathon specially since very online show appears to not had an entry since aug tho i fell off that this time last yr ...so i kinda don't really get how they're categorizing them as staff instead of sister site guests honestly .

that said bombathon was great n it really pepped the mood up around here pre-fandom purchase . since then i haven't paid much attention to content to judge it as much tho but it sounds like goty plans got killed so that sucks i guess only time will tell how things go . so far i'm enjoying the site a bit more video wise tho than the previous yr , podcasts less.

I gave it a shot. I fell off of the bombcast and dumptruck around the middle of summer. I stopped watching their videos about two months ago. I cancelled my sub as soon as they made clear they weren't going to be doing premium videos anymore (been a sub since I joined the site in 2011). The vibes just aren't right for me, and I don't feel connected to this crew the way I did any past incarnation of GB.

The one positive in my mind that has happened since Gerstmann left was getting Grubb on board. He seems like such a great guy, and as others have said, fits seamlessly into basically anything.

I'm just glad I have Nextlander, which has largely been what I wanted, and I've been following all of Gerstmann's stuff, though I do hope he gets someone else on board with him soon. I've also found myself way more drawn to waypoints stuff recently, Rob Zacny rules.

It's sad to me that what I thought of as Giant Bomb is clearly dead, but I've also had to face the facts that its actual death was a while before this change. No disrespect to those who are enjoying it, but it saddens me that I'm only still coming here based on pure habit.

I was actually pretty pumped for the gonzo public access angle they pitched after the Nextlander guys left, but the majority of that content either petered out (Borne to Run, Very Online Show, Reel Layers, Ranking of Evil, Hot Takeouts) or got axed after the Fandom acquisition (Albummer, Friday Night Forking). It seems the site has mostly settled into "hangout" style content, which I don't begrudge anyone for, but doesn't particularly excite me. Nextlander similarly waxed hopeful about doing new, experimental things at the start and then settled largely into playing games on Discord calls. I truly don't hold anyone's decisions about what content to produce and feature against them; whatever formula achieves a workable balance of material security and mental/physical wellness will always be the one I support. But I prefer a bit more of a driving concept to my shows (even if that concept is seemingly inscrutable, or leaves a lot of room for digressive riffage) than any Bombiverse-affiliated outlet is currently offering.

I let my Premium sub lapse and haven’t seen a reason to renew besides “tip jar for the site”. Seems like they’ve really been pushing for supporting the site outside Premium though (bits/following on Twitch, liking/subscribing on YT). I’ll wait until there’s a reason to renew my Premium.

I dunno, after watching that Game Awards stream... this team rules.

@csl316:Same, that has to be one of my favourite "we talk over" features since Weed 3. Jason is a fucking treasure and he needs to be in more stuff, I just love the man.

For what It's worth, I think the Bombcast itself is the best it's been since Ryan was still around. It's still not as good as the Beastcast was, but the CBS years of the Bombcast were all really dire and I mostly used the podcast as a way to fall asleep. And I do like the rotating chairs, as I feel like there have been a wider swath of games discussed instead of the few AAA boilerplate releases every time that a lot of gaming podcasts suffer from. I've also found myself liking one thing that I was vary of originally: the fact that the news part of the podcast only has NEW news instead of following along the developments. Especially with the whole Microsoft/Activision hulabaloo I'm glad that we don't get the same discussions every couple of weeks. Grubb has generally been good at choosing which news are worthy of a bigger round table discussion on the podcast.

As for the content, I agree with @theodoricfriedeon the Dan part. He's good in moderation but damn a lot of times he's like a child who keeps on doing the same joke and thinks it'll always be as funny as the first time.

One thing I would like more is just Playdates or other features of just showcasing random games outside of quick looks. And you could then transform them to proper features if they hit.

Finally, I too, have been kind of disappointed with how little Tam and Lucy do on the site, because I love those two and they really need to be on more content. I get that they're still Gamespot employees, but make them split the two duties more evenly.

It’s all personal tastes but I’m fine sticking around. I may not renew premium next year but that is more a testament to my finite resources and the increasing number of talented people who have Patreons I want to sub to.

Even when I was a teen I rolled my eyes at my generation’s “YOU WOULDN’T GET IT OLD PEOPLE” stuff and in my mid-40s I hate it even more. Thus forking and the Reel Layers are content I just don’t like.

I ignore the non-gaming stuff. I acknowledge it’s good but I have never been a “listen to an album” person so I just ignore it and I’m glad they still make stuff I do love!

In short, I love the core crew and the rotating guests like Mike. I don’t get anything I used to get from GB when I hopped on in late 2011 but that’s okay; life changes! I still get cool gaming content and a different kind of fun so it’s good with me.

I will say - as an avid Trek fan if Fandom runs ads on this site like they do elsewhere in their webring, I’m OUT. Try Memory Alpha on mobile, ads will cover at least 70% of the screen. Full screen pop over ads. Bleh. So if I do have to go non-premium and that’s the experience, no. But otherwise I’m sticking around and still having fun, just different fun!

I let my Premium lapse after being subbed from just about the beginning. None of the new shows have clicked and the non-video game ones are of no interest. The Bombcast has been a staple of my life for over a decade and I've started to fall off. A few of the current staff can be decent hosts but none of them (save Dan) really have the criticism chops that the site used to. The game discussion has been shallow and meandering for a while and I have little interest in the idea of this crew's GOTY discussions when things like Nextlander and Waypoint exist. It's just not really a video game site anymore, it's an internet variety site that seems to be floundering. Grubb's news show was the most promising but it's just turned into Jeff and a friend skimming the same news articles I already read. I'm crushed that such an important place to me isn't it anymore.

@prometheum5: I've been seeing the non-gaming criticism stuff but that stuff's basically gone. Albummer just had its last show and the forking thing was only 4 episodes. I'm scrolling through the latest videos and the only active non-game thing is... I dunno, the VM dump truck?

The variety show thing was something they talked about last year but it didn't really take off, so they're back to their strengths. With the occasional anime or wrestling podcast or a limited guest thing (so basically what they had before the exodus).

@csl316: Fair enough, the balance has definitely swung back more game content in the past few weeks that I have not paid attention. Bigger problem for me I think is that I don't care to listen to a lot of the current crew's takes on those games.

@prometheum5: Which is fair. Really, GB is my third podcast in terms of priority (Vidjagame Apocalypse, then Nextlander, then GB). The old crew certainly had the edge in experience.

So how many complaining threads are we going to have?

The thrill is gone...has been for a long time. If you like it great I suppose but it's a shadow of its former self. The forums are embarrassing as far as moderation of spam ads. The whole thing feels unattended and kinda cringe.

I think the development of anything goes through stages of rise, stagnation and decline. Now I like the work of the site. As for the difference of opinion, everyone has the right to their own view and vision.

The crew is solid and the larger amount of content is great. All I'll say is that it feels like Dan and Jerf's presence is weirdly light. They're two super fun personalities (especially together) and it's a weakness that they're so occasionally present.

@zappymufasa: There's Eternal Darkness at the Heart of My Soul, but that has the worst dynamic for me. Dan is aggressively annoying and Bakalar is at his grumpiest. I get that the antagonism is the point in that context, but I don't find it all that funny or entertaining.

I prefer Bak 2 Skool, where Dan was receptivelyinquisitive and Bakalar was befuddled by his antics in a more positive light. Bakalar took on a mocking tone there, but he knows restraint, so it was not a constant dump on Dan for being ignorant.

Now Grubb is a better fit for Dan's trolling. He's more playful and goes along with bits more often. Even so, there are times in Grubbsy 3D that it's still too much. I'm fine with running gags, but not when they are run into the ground and pounded through the concrete. Very rarely does it loop around to being funny again to me.

It took the grumpy guy's departure to make me realize that Grubb was the real threat all along.
Everything Grubb is in is great, and he makes anyone he co-hosts with shine their brightest — much like Vinny.

They've been around since the start of the forums and aren't going anywhere. The product keeps disappointing people because the site promises loads then delivers on twenty percent of it. Why wouldn't people be cross about that?

There's a lot to be bummed about. Much of the criticism is valid and backed up with thoughtfully worded examples. I remember when they were shutting threads down in the past for being" non-constructive". What's non-constructive is to dismiss these criticisms as being from outliers/trolls and doing nothing to address these concerns.

While I don't watch as many videos, though that is not due to GB, just not a whole lot of time or games I'm interested in. The podcasts on the other hand I've really enjoyed a lot. I do like that there is a bit of a rotation of crew on the shows to keep things fresh. Honestly I have been enjoying a lot of the stuff they all have been putting out in recent months than I have in years here at this site.

Honestly, I'm loving everything.

Gerstmann always had a bit different taste from me and was overly cynical especially in more recent times. Glad he seems to be doing well.

I am having fun with bombcast and other streams, I dont watch everything but I dont really have the time to.

If you are not digging the site anymore, maybe find something else to do.

@sombre: I'm just confused why people keep paying for something that they don't want.

Whatever floats your boat.

The definitions of wasted potential and Giant Bomb have refered back to one another for a long time. Always hopeful for the future and 35 bucks is basically nothing at this point in my life so idk whatever

@dooz: premium archives and morbid curiosity

I was primarily a podcast listener, and I was crushed when Brad, Vinny and Alex left and then again when The Ritual happened. This is the first time I've come to the site in months. I checked in on the podcast from time to time after listening to a few episodes after the split but it just wasn't the same. The "vibes" are wrong, at least for me and the energy and cohesiveness of the OG team isn't there. OG GB did a great job of bringing new people in to complement the long timers (Ben, Abby, Jan, etc were all great compliments to the OG crew) but the few people that are left from those days just don't do it for me and I don't like the direction of the newer content.

I love Jeff G. (OG) but I also have a hard time listening to him for 3 hours solo. He's at his best when he has people to bounce off of, and it sounds like he might want to have that again one day, we'll see what happens. Nextlander has, for me, become my new "go to". Perhaps it's just because I mostly listen to the podcasts, but it recreates a lot of the magic of the old Bombcasts, though Jeff and others absences are noticeable.

I wish the new GB crew the best and I'll probably check in from time to time, but I'm sad to say after more than a decade of weekly listening, they're no longer my go-to.

i only listen to the bombcast now because i have 40 hours to fill with audio every week, jeff jeffs ,VMDT, and blight club are good though.

I like it. I just wish they would stick to a schedule more often. Streams that are scheduled often get delayed to later that day (or the next day) and obviously we haven't had a Run To the Hills or Blight Club episode in a while.

And Voicemail Dumptruck is just fans desperate for attention telling boring stories.

I was excited when the change happened, and I don't dislike anyone on the current crew, but lately I found I wasn't clicking on videos as often, and the ones I did watch I usually wouldn't finish. I also feel like the discussions around games have become a lot less critical, a lot of criticisms (especially from Grubb) seem to be rather simplistic "this is/isn't fun" or "all games should do this" generalizations, nothing really substantial (except Jess, she gets it). Grubb also seems to make a lot of contradictory statements and never gets called out on it like saying "voting with your wallet does nothing" while also saying stuff about companies not caring because they already have your money, both things can't be true. It's also becomes so social media driven and as someone who tries to limit my engagement with social media, especially Twitter, that does not appeal to me at all.

Then a few weeks ago my premium renewal was almost up and for a number of reasons, I decided not to renew. I stopped listening to the Bombcast about a month ago, the Nextlander and NoClip podcasts are currently filling that hole, I wasn't watching a lot of QLs or UPFs, and the ones I did start I usually wouldn't finish. I've enjoyed Sonic 06, Bubsy and Sekiro-choa, but Sekiro has massive gaps between episodes that I might as well wait 6 months and binge the whole thing when it's done. It also kind of feels like my premium sub isn't worth much anymore, now that they focus more on Twitch streaming I'm still going to be inundated with ads (and that's getting so bad if you aren't a sub), and the premium content just isn't there for me to feel like I'm getting something for my money. I'm still subbed on YT but there has been less and less reason to visit the site. I'm not done with the site yet, but frankly I wouldn't be surprised if that sub gets dropped the next time I do my annual YT sub cleanup.

Wow, time flies so fast. I didn't even notice it's been six months.

Came back to the site for something in the wiki and I figured I'd poke around a bit since I never come here anymore. I sort of can't believe there aren't guest top 10s this year - maybe there's some rationale somewhere on the site, but without knowing what that rationale is, it's making it seem like I made the right choice to move on.

I think they said something about it during the GOTY podcasts and that they hope to have them back next year. General question though....wasn't Alex the one who always handled those, year in year out?

I dunno. I'd be perfectly fine if the guest lists didn't come back. They were like Christmas decorations - fun for awhile, but then no one took them down and they just cluttered the front page until about mid-February.

Yes and no. I agree that they fit in well anywhere, and work best when they have others to play off of.

Gerstman's knowledge of games and experience in covering them is unparalleled. Grubb has his own unique style and strengths, and he's been a great addition to the site. But I think that's what the site is missing right now is the critical view of a game based on extensive knowledge of the industry and games in general.

That was the kind of insight that attracted me to the site in the first place, and it was the kind of analysis that Gerstman brought out in others. Sometimes it was harsh, but he almost always backed it up with a why and history lesson. Other times it led to debates that I appreciated, even if they got ugly like in past GOTY discussions.

When Gerstman got excited about a game, it always prompted me to check it out because there was something noteworthy in its design or execution to check out... because he'd tell you in detail!

Anyone can sit in a Zoom call and talk about the games they just played, but hardly anyone can do what Gerstman does. This is not to diminish anyone on the team, who all have different strengths.

@nillock: I don’t think he would want the position, but your post reminded me that I think Gerstmann would actually make a very good lecturer in some kind of “History of Video Games/Video Games Criticism” sort of course at a college/university level.

His level of experience in the industry is pretty extraordinary, and unless his opinion has recently changed it sounds like he doesn’t want to be some kind of consultant who shadow-reviews pre-release games for a publisher so they know what to expect on their Metacritic or whatever. Maybe Jeff wants to keep in the hustle and keep on with his Patreon, but his experience/general wisdom around the industry, combined with his capacity for public speaking could lend itself to education, but I can’t imagine he’d want to deal with all the other BS of being a college instructor.

@nillock: Yeah, while I rarely agreed with original Jeff, I liked listening to him explain his side. Occasionally I'd think he was dead wrong, but most of the time he could at least make a compelling argument. There were times where he'd dismiss any critique to the contrary (opinions as facts) but it comes with the territory on the internet.

Haven't followed his solo stuff and it's this weird hole now. And it's making my time following gaming stuff a little more... surface-level, I guess? I'm watching videos more for the entertainment value than the critical analysis. Sometimes I'll think "it's video games, anyone can talk about them" but Jeff G1 really does stand out.

There should be enough staffers to handle guest top 10 even with Alex having departed. The overall management of the site is just not where it used to be.

I visit every few days to check out ‘This Day in Giant Bomb History’. Then find something to put on in the background whilst working. Don’t remove this feature from the front page!

Today it was the end of Star Wars Galaxies and Ryan’s restless leg syndrome! Great memories.

I mostly consume the audio stuff. I really wish we heard more from Dan, Lucy, Tam, Rorie. I think the Bombcast is a lot worse, and the rotating cast is a bit frustrating for me. That said, I'm stoked the QLs are back with frequency, as they're basically the only video content I consume. I hope that when they chat about next steps for Premium we hear more.

More quick looks. More shows.