G4 Is Dead, Again

The last batch of layoffs at G4TV, wherein droves of writers and gaming personalities were let go, was a portent of the eventual shuttering of the network. As you can see below, a memo has been sent to all remaining staff and editors at G4 that the network is closing operations "effective immediately."

I know the normal reaction is to say "lol, G4" but please be considerate of the fact that the network closing means hundreds of jobs are now gone. Also, the network did a decent job of bringing in a diverse group of writers and personalities at its start before firing most of them this September. Jirard The Completionist also replied to Wario64 that their Tweet breaking the news was how they first learned they had been laid off. Additionally, with gaming media already undergoing a contraction period, with fanbyte and other publications announcing layoffs earlier, it means there are even fewer ways for someone to get into games media.

Nonetheless, while I did check out the channel once or twice as a passing curiosity, I never watched it for even the entirety of a programming block. Likewise, I never tuned into any of their Twitch streams or even check out their revived YouTube account. What say you?

The only thing I knew about the new G4 is that Abbey took a job there. I never tuned in and was not sure who it was for. Too bad it didn't work out for people who worked there and I hope they can get some new work lined up quickly.

condolences for those about to enter a job market in games media that feels like it's shrinking all time.

i caught bits and pieces of a few of their streams on twitch- and their numbers always looked unimpressive given the cultural weight they're perceived to have.

i still think there's a place for an outlet that does 'shows' and original programming with editorial- this very site does its own take on that. but the 'new G4' felt like it was starting from a position of enormous overhead with big hires and a big studio before they proved the audience was still there.

someone will do it again, maybe that's Kinda Funny now with their new studio?

This was never a viable business model. I'm sorry for the people who lost their jobs, but this venture never made sense to me.

People finding out they lost their jobs through the press is always shocking too. How hard is it just to contact everyone all at once? And did this happen today, on a Sunday? Why couldn't it wait until tomorrow?

This was a bad idea that had some pretty serious stumbling blocks along the way, but again I'm sorry for the people directly affected.

Unfortunately, I just don't know how you make G4 work. The money just isn't there for the cost of all that production and staff. I mean you could just a take a couple of folks and try to make it on twitch, youtube, and patreon, but you'd never be able to churn out the same type of content, and at the same frequency, with a team small enough to survive on fan donations.

Surprised it lasted as long as it did. G4 is a relic of bygone times that are best left forgotten. Even back in the day when the show premiered on cable tv in comparison to Tech TVs much more straightforward X-Play, G4 did stuff that was at best eye roll worthy and at worst straight up embarrassing. This new iteration certainly swung for the fences and tried some new things but it's a tough market out there and the promise of doing G4 but in 2022 wasn't going to get people to tune in. Adam Sessler and Kevin Pereira aren't the hot gaming celebs crowds are going to flock to these days either and the rest is a colorful staff that has potential but no real built in fanbase to help grow the channel. Pretty tough time to be out of a job in the gaming space right now as several major sites are shutting down and with few positions open and a ton of new potential hires looking for a spot it's going to be real rough unless you decide to branch out into different fields which is easier for some than others.

G4 reboot was not great but it had its moments, especially when they just chilled out and played games recalling the glorious days of Giant Bomb. I love Jirard but had mixed feelings about this whole venture. It would have been like if Gerstmann left Giant Bomb in 2012 to join IGN, leaving behind all these friends and chemistry he built up in favor of a bigger platform. It's not exactly like that since Jirard didn't completely leave his company and G4 was more about his childhood dream than money, but I hope he can gracefully return to Super Beard Bros and start contributing again because their chemistry is just the best. So in a way this whole G4 thing is over, selfishly, as SBB content is so, so much better than anything G4 managed to put out. Sadly, SBB also struggles to pay the bills. It's sad how much crap gets massive numbers and real gems like SBB or MinnMax (both of which feel closer to GB than GB these days, tbh) barely scrape by.

At least friend of the site Xavier Woods got to live his (other) dream for a bit.

Sadly, I knew this would happen the moment I saw how G4's programming was going down, especially with the lack of shows. And their known main show X-Play was all over the place, not to mention certain people hating it for their so called "woke" presentation with the diversified cast. It is sad that a lot of people lost their jobs, but certainly people had to see that they were boarding a sinking ship. Maybe they'll try yet again in the future, or maybe someone else with better vision will come along and do better. However, it looks like social media and streamers killed any chance of a video game cable channel that is impactful. Not the mention the major push away from cable television in general.

Speaking of X-Play, I do believe it will have some success after G4 as an online Youtube channel, with its nearly 500K subs and it being the main place Adam Sessler does videos on. So maybe those whom were a part of the show like The Black Hokage will still be able to make videos and earn some money. He claims he was gone from G4 since August.

YO! WHAT THE FUCK?! It's now being reported G4 allowed prominent Twitch/YT streamers and influencers to change daily rates of $25-30,000?!

@zombiepie: Its really not surprising. The influencers knew G4TV needed them to get people to watch their cable channel, so they took full advantage of the situation. That's what happens when negotiations happen from a place of weakness.

I'm not surprised at the outcome, but I am surprised at the speed with which this happened. I expected this thing to suffer a slow, years-long decay.

G4TV was never a thing for me back in the day, living in Europe, so I had no nostalgic urge to tune in for the renewal. Abby joining them for a while was the only reason I watched one video from them and it really didn’t make me want me to watch any of their other content.

Obviously this still sucks for the people involved.

I can't feel that bad because staff made SERIOUS bank and I think everyone was in on the joke that this wasn't going to last. When Jirard joined he was a main host and put out a video announcing it where he was very much like, "This is a dream come true and yeah I know this probably isn't going to last so going to enjoy while it does." (paraphrasing) which I though was a very weird attitude to have. That'd be like when Dan joined GB this year if he was like "Yeah, so going to do this for a year and then move on probably." (even if that is what happens you don't announce that and you hopefully have faith in the product).

Sounds like a mess. No real vision for the thing or any real confidence behind it, by the sounds of it. Just a rooftop reunion in the hope that would justify itself. Plus they were running it on a TV budget. Presumably they had to use that budget to get made in the first place.

The site I wrote for also called it a day over the weekend but in much more amicable terms. This industry is a sea of fishes from influencers, review sites, cable shows, youtube channels, etc. To stand out amongst that is a downright impossible task. Even for G4, their audience has long since moved on and the influencers drafted in were obviously brought in to bridge that gap.

I keep thinking about British equivalents but the likes of the GamesMaster revival and VideoGaiden's last run were confined to online platforms. Might seem like a negative but that meant it was cheaper to run and only a few episodes. Plus you get your intended audience more than a 11:30pm slot on BBC Scotland or whatever.

I never understood what G4's business model was, except somebody wrote: 1. Nostalgia, 2. ??????, 3. Profit!

Especially in this area, I feel like it's opening a restaurant -- yeah, it would be nice to be an instant hit, but, if you don't want to trust in luck and fate, you need to be prepared to work for at least a few years, build your audience, find a distinct voice and hope you can carve a niche. Not easy, especially in this current creator environment -- but expecting to turn the lights back on and say "we're back" and expecting hundreds of thousands of people to come flooding back for a brand that never really seemed to have a ton of nostalgia around it... that's just naive.

Good luck to all the people let go. :(

I can't believe this would happen to Rooster Teeth. Wait, I mean G4. What a truly incredible first day of the week for streaming content providers. Jesus Christ.

A collective group of video game players (and I call them that because I have no idea what the job title is anymore) just doesn't make sense in an age where any schmuck with a camera and microphone can put up a stream for anyone to watch. I kind of bite my fingernails over Giant Bomb these days. Not because of anything that the team is or isn't doing, but just because the business model of video game coverage by a large entity seems to be failing.