MovieBob leaving The Escapist

[Jacob Wisner]

Whatever you think of Bob, letting him go probably wasn't a statement on his relative performance or his twitter binges. "Escape to the movies" was the fifth most common google search term bringing people to the site, behind Zero Punctiation, The Escapist, Zero, and Escapist in that order (with Zero Punctiation and variations being around a fifth of all search hits).

http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/escapistmagazine.com


He may have represented something close to the second biggest personality left drawing views to the site based on alexa stats. Depending on what their parent company's goals are in this downsizing, that's the kind of thing that makes you increasingly stick out as rounds of layoffs and downsizing continue. The more low and mid earning coworkers of yours that are laid off, the more expensive you start to look as a portion of total payroll. I really hope that's not speaking towards a slow shuttering of the site, but given how many contributors have openly expressed interest in patreon or going independent I have to wonder if that's what they feel is happening.

http://www.findwebstats.com/escapistmagazine.com

 

[VanQ]

I read that second string as talking about the AAA games industry as slime, and not gamers. I might have missed something though. Maybe if you want to interpret the "pit of slime" as the audience for the AAA industry, you might have something by citing that one, but it's a bit of a stretch. I don't know anything about SVU (or what it even stands for) but if it's as you describe, that's FAR more damning than the slime pit comment.

SVU stands for "Special Victims Unit" and mostly deals with crimes regarding rape and sexual abuse. I haven't seen the episode though so I have no idea if that was the kind of violence depicted in it.

EDIT: Oh, and it also deals with crimes involving children and kidnapping.

 

[The Choke]

I read that second string as talking about the AAA games industry as slime, and not gamers. I might have missed something though. Maybe if you want to interpret the "pit of slime" as the audience for the AAA industry, you might have something by citing that one, but it's a bit of a stretch. I don't know anything about SVU (or what it even stands for) but if it's as you describe, that's FAR more damning than the slime pit comment.

SVU stands for "Special Victims Unit" and mostly deals with crimes regarding rape and sexual abuse. I haven't seen the episode though so I have no idea if that was the kind of violence depicted in it.

EDIT: Oh, and it also deals with crimes involving children and kidnapping.

I think you meant to say: In the criminal justice system, sexually based offenses are considered especially heinous. In New York city the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit. These are their stories.

EDIT: Oh, right. DUN DUN.

 

[Denamic]

I never liked moviebob before the GG shitstorm, but after he went totally batshit, any hope of me ever liking him in any way were completely down the drain. I stay away from his stuff on principle, and I can't say I'm sad to see him go.

 

[Mr. Q]

Ah, fuck! I just got back from watching Kingsman: The Secret Service (fun as hell movie, BTW) and just hearing about this sucked the joy out of my night. I hope this is not real and if it is, I've lost another reason to stick with Escapist. If Yahtzee ups and leaves, then I am fucking out the door with this site. The Big Picture, Escape To The Movies, and his articles are one of the many reasons why I came to this place. We lost Extra Credits, then Jim Sterling, what the flying fuck is going on? Is the Escapist going down or is the site under new management?

Fucking Hell!

 

[Jake Martinez]

Ruh-roh.

@TheEscapistMag [https://twitter.com/sh00ter_d] We are accepting pitches but not adding staff at the time.

— Alexander Macris (@archon) February 13, 2015 [https://twitter.com/archon/status/566363010147844097]


https://twitter.com/archon/status/566363010147844097

Him saying that Bob's cut was part of restructuring, yet them not taking on new people. Either they have new content planned yet are keeping very, very hush about it, whereas they probably should be assuring people that it is indeed coming if that were the case, or they're just not hiring replacements. This "restructuring" plan seems like its when that time I 'restructured" a tree with a chainsaw. I'm not trying to doomsay, nor do I want the site to go down, but I honestly can't see anything good happening, and this isn't the first time I've seen a site go down like this.

This quote from Alex seems pretty straight forward. Why would they fire staff and then decide to hire staff right afterwards?

I'd imagine any sort of capital they have laying around would probably go back into a content deal with some Youtubers. It's probably more cost effective and less risky to buy content from someone like (dreaming here) a TotalBiscuit or Jessie Cox instead of hiring staff...

 

[GrumbleGrump]

Considering that I don't like Bob very much and don't watch his stuff either, I say cool.

 

[Xman490]

I've heard a lot of people say "Now that X is leaving I have no reason to come to the escapist", never thought it'd be me. And it won't! At least not until Yahtzee gets the boot. And even then I'll probably come out of pure habit and for general gaming news.

It is quite a coincidence that they are leaving this website this year so far. While Bob said this has nothing to do with "hashtags", he may have a distaste to the "change in winds" of journalism that Jim cited as a reason for leaving. Whatever blasphemy Jim sees, I don't see here.

 

[runic knight]

Worth noting, that even if bob's recent departure is not directly related to a hashtag consumer revolt, do notive that the response to that revolt by a largely immature and self-destructive gaming media has poisoned the well for all gaming sites since the ad placement is no longer as valuable or as free of drama, so it means less money paid in for the same space. At the end of the day, it was heavily the result of attacks of the audience that weakened the value of the usual advertisement and cost the site funds. Similar in fashion as to use of the worst stereotypes and portrayal of gamers in the recent SVU being taken right from the headlines of the very games journalists who then called out the portrayal as the garbage it was.

I do have to wonder how long a patreon-based talent economy can last when the market is flooded as is quickly becoming the case, and I do have to wonder if a small fish like Bob can truly support himself off of it alone. Sadly, it seems that may be the very bed he helped make.

 

[Reasonable Atheist]

Great, it seems twitter has ruined something else i enjoyed. I have never even read a tweet. Never the less one of a movie reviewer I already watch for like 14 mins a week. Who cares about tweets? A great man once said "nothing typed with somebody's thumbs can ever be important" or something like that.

 

[Zen Bard]

Wow. Did NOT see that one coming.

With the growing amount content MovieBob was posting (two print, two videos) I used to jokingly refer to the site as "The Bobscapist".

I just figured he'd be around 'til it was time to turn off the lights and lock up.

Good luck, Bob.

GAMING SITES...ARE...WEIRD!

 

[EvilGenius224]

I'm sad to learn of Bob's departure from here.

I'd like to know the reason as to why.

 

[Scorpid]

He still didn't call gamers sub-human, though.

The subhuman comment was targeted at the "dude bro" persona... however "dude bros" are a big part of gaming culture, who after all is buying each and every call of duty, GTA and madden game comming out every year ensuring mind boogling sales numbers and massive profits?

So no, it can still be argued that he insulted gamers. Not all of them, but a significant group with alot of financial power.

That said... after reading some of the quotes of his posted in this topic:

His rhetoric eerily reminds me of racist/arian rhetoric, only "true" or "pure" gamers are "real" gamers.. those dudebros? They arent gamers.. they are cancer, subhumans... not worthy of the medium they drag down. And yes "subhumans" was a term that was usually used by nazis to describe those they deemed belonging to a "lesser race" and just like moviebob claimed that these dudebros are ruining gaming they claimed that it was those subhumans fault that germany was going down the drain in the 1920s (instead of you know... loosing the biggest military conflict the world had ever seen to that date and being made solely responsible for that tragedy) And then when the "subhumans" are "purged" (slithered away to infest some other thing) the "real" (arian) gamers can rebuild their utopia.

Its really ironic that someone who belongs to the liberal camp is using such incredible racist rhetoric.

And anyone is surprised that the escapist might not want to associate anymore with someone who uses such rhetoric to agitate a portion of their readership?

Wow that escalated fast. Dude starts with insulting some peoples purchasing habits and ends with concentration camps and the eradication of millions. I wish people would stop throwing in nazi's at things that aren't even in sniffing distance of nazi's or the intended meanings of the speaker.
OT: MovieBob was my favorite contributor to the site and he added more then Yahtzee does sooo this is terrible to me. I might really be done with the escapist other then to check in one ZP every now and then. Bob is going to land on his feet but this ruined my day. =(
The escapist has gone to crap ever since the GG bullshit happened and this is even more of that.

 

[ShirowShirow]

... Huh.

Well I mean. This is surprising. And kind of...

The writing's on the wall here. This site doesn't really need to exist for me anymore. It was a nice hub, but everything's basically gone now. A real shame. Bob WAS the last holdout reason I came here. Guess I'm gone now.

Last one out, please turn out the lights.

 

[Jandau]

Wow... Is someone TRYING to sink the Escapist? Because they seem to be doing a good job...

Seriously, they've been dropping content creators left and right. There's very little left. The LRR guys are still here, but they do most of their work off-site, and the only thing of theirs exclusive to the Escapist is Unskipable (which they stated they'd continue in some form even if they left the Escapist) while Feed Dump is on YouTube as well. There's Zero Punctuation, but that's one show. And there's critical miss. That's it. (I never cared much for No Right Answer).

I'm not sure why this is happening, but if I had to hazard a guess I'd say that the people in charge of the Escapist aren't willing to accommodate any quirks in their content creators. This is all well and good, or at least it used to be, but with the rising popularity of various crowd- and add-funded business models that allow content creators to strike out on their own, there's no need for them to suffer overzealous oversight any more. Sure, a publisher can still browbeat an up-and-coming creator into submission, but as soon as they get a following, they can say "screw it!" and strike out on their own, taking their audience with them. People don't watch for the brand, people watch for the personality. Whoever is making the calls that drove Jim, Bob and others away is making a terrible judgement call. You can't simply replace people overnight...

As for Bob himself, while I'm not a huge fan and I often disagree with him (and he made a complete douchenozzle out of himself in that Twitter argument with TB), I do enjoy a lot of the content he makes, particularly The Big Picture. I hope he sorts something out and continues making stuff.

 

[Fieldy409_v1legacy]

Man Im pretty much here for Yahtzee and the forums now.

 

[Amaror]

Ruh-roh.


That said I don't wish the guy any ill will, I just wish he'd grow up, learn a little about why people consider Yahtzee or TB professionals and maybe try to stop acting like he thinks he is the smartest guy in the room who the audience should feel grateful to listen to.

They do because neither yatzee nor tb dares to have an opinion on the clusterfuck thats gamergator. Because if you dont have an opinion, cou dont have a wrrong opinon for dickwad on side A or B that would be enough for dickwad x from side A/B to justify a hatecampaign, doxxin or other sheit.

Its the easy way out, in a sense. Its safe, less chance to lose (subscribers, money, a job, your home and sense of safety etc) and also, well, those two have the easy difficulty, even if it doenst seem that way.

Haha, really?
TB has been really open about his support for gamergate and his dislike of the current state of gaming journalism. He's just not an insufferable prick about it. He also openly condems harrasment and personal attacks.
You can have an opinion and still be an professional about it.

 

[Bat Vader]

I hate to say it but between the two I would rather Bob have been fired over his opinions and not because of money. If it is money that means The Escapist could being falling on hard times. This is the only gaming site I visit with some people I actually like talking with. If The Escapist goes I will most likely not register for anymore gaming sites.

 

[faefrost]

I hate to say it but between the two I would rather Bob have been fired over his opinions and not because of money. If it is money that means The Escapist could being falling on hard times. This is the only gaming site I visit with some people I actually like talking with. If The Escapist goes I will most likely not register for anymore gaming sites.

There have been some rumors bouncing around that Bob was not planned as part of the purge. That he does good numbers and was not at risk from a costs sense. But the issue with him was likely his inability to not be a flaming asshole on twitter. To not antagonize elements of teh readership at a time when the Escapist really just wants to clean up all the broken glass and start fresh as a nice happy civil site packed with nerds of all stripes. I think they asked him repeatedly to turn down the twitter nonsense. To just walk away from it. To impart that it reflected badly on the site. And that it doesn't matter is you just attack Dudebro gamers or Gamergaters because they are part of that ALL Gamers demo that is the sites audience. Is money hurting around here? Probably yes and no. By all accounts the gaming properties are doing awful, but Defy themselves are doing fine. They have a fairly broad spectrum of specialty sites and offerings from sewing and crafting to things like ScreenJunkies and I think a few Wrestling sites. So Capital is less of an issue than the basic fact that they are not going to pour capital into a bleeding appendage that shows no sign of climbing out of the hole. You can parse Bob's twitter nonsense however you want, but the likely truth is it was an ongoing hindrance to The Escapists recovery plans. Hence Bob will not be part of those plans. His Twitter follies were likely making him a greater detriment than his good work was as an asset.