GameTrailers Employees Were Unaware of Closure and Layoffs Until Today

According to GameTrailers' associate editor Ben Moore, the employees at GameTrailers only found out about the closure earlier today, the very same day that the company is shutting down.

[GigawattConduit]

Wow. That's a complete dick move on their part.

[Christopher]

Pretty standard, though, when the job involves a media outlook like theirs. You risk telling people when they made the decision and then having people leak it or let people go on the day of (usually with some form of severance, but not sure here).

Edit: Also, remember, the company has a duty to not affect their ongoing advertising agreements by possibly presenting a situation that devalues their agreement in any way. So, leaking that info, definitely would have affected the site in that way.

[thekhurg]

Interesting, I never thought about the advertising part of it all.

[Kleptic]

yeah, its a shat move in that sense too...because the ad revenue goes to GT...so the agreements allow them to 'hide' closures and shut downs such as this so that they can continue collecting ad money from publishers until the minute they shut it off...

just saying...i'm aware of agreements like that, and generally how the contracts function...but keep in mind those agreements protect the collector, not the 'people looking to advertise'...GT presents stats to the publishers / ad agencies on the likely amount of traffic they will get...if that traffic dips, the publishers have leverage on the costs...so...a company like GT makes sure that even when the place is on fire...nobody knows until the very last second...so a handful of suits can pocket that incoming money before punching their final time sheet...so to speak, anyway...

[Godmars290]

Except that doesn't make much sense, unless the day it was done was at the end of their commitment to advertisers. Which the first day of the second week of a month doesn't sound like.

If ad dollars was the big concern this should be happening on the last or first of the month.

[Christopher]

***Except that doesn't make much sense, unless the day it was done was at the end of their commitment to advertisers. Which the first day of the second week of a month doesn't sound like.
***

It happened the day right before the latest game releases. Their advertising more than likely revolves around timing it for days that games are released.

Also, regardless of "when" it happens, there's still a duty to uphold advertising agreements. Otherwise they could get sued.

I'm also not saying "that makes it totally right" only that A) this is pretty standard and B) they do have things they are beholden to that the public doesn't even think about or care about.

[Sashamaz]

If you want to quit you have to give them a notice with enough time yet when they decide to close down they just slap it on you right on the day. Reminds me of CGhub shutting down over night.

[Christopher]

***If you want to quit you have to give them a notice with enough time***

Well, you don't have to, but usually it's best if you do.

[MJunior]

What a shame. I remember checking GameTrailers every night in 07/08.

[Bimkoblerutso]

July 8th?

[DragonKnight]

*womp womp*

2007/2008

[Bimkoblerutso]

But I remember checking Gametrailers every night last July 8th too.

[Theangrybogan]

I'm in Australia so I checked on the 7th of August

[Persistantthug]

Well,
You know the old saying,

Shit always rolls downhill.

[eyeDEVOUR]

Never liked GT because they always insisted on using that media player thats barely compatible with most devices.

[KingKevo]

They ran two YouTube channels since they were bought by DEFY to which they uploaded all of their content. Before that Viacom didn't allow them to use Youtbe and they were also the company behind that bad media player.

[L0wlifeGamer]

Unworthy. Im running out of words.

[Tallpine]

Dang. That sucks, I watched a lot of their shows.

[Ceaser9857361]

Use to watch E3 on GT.. From this year its gonna be on youtube only..

[DragonKnight]

Uh... twitch?

[TWB]

Weird enough, last E3 streamed better to youtube for me

[MasterCornholio]

That's terrible. And to think I just watched their Firewatch review the other day.

[Inzo]

Sooooo, they found out via N4G.

[DaGR8JIBRALTAR]

Dirty game out here folks...

[Heyxyz]

Whether you love(d) or hate(d) GameTrailers, you have to admit that this was a dirty move. The least they could've done is announce the closure at least a month in advance.

[psyduck]

Hell, a WEEK in advance would have been better than on-the-day. It's so unfortunate.

[Mikeyy]

Home town buffet did the same thing last week, closed it's doors and didnt notify any staff. They all showed up for work to a note on the door.

73 locations, talk about disrespect. There is no reason why staff can't be notified in a decent matter. Yet everyone demands 2 weeks notice if you want to quit.

[Zeref]

Damn imagine how many lives they ruined

[nix]

sad. sad. sad. very sad move.

[SynestheticRoar]

That mess up. That's cause for anybody to lose your shit.

[gamer7804]

that really sucks, but hopefully they get some kind of reverence to make up for it, companies like 2 weeks notice if employees quit, but need to do the same if they layoff or monetary compensation.

[Relientk77]

I can't believe that GameTrailers is shutting down

[k2d]

Sincerely hope the GT crew start up again under a new venture. I'd be happy and willing to support them on, for instance; Patreon.

[FAT MAN GO BOOM]

Man Game Trailers was a great sight. I am sad to see them go... at least they created content. ... and had some of the best trailers for down load right away most times...

I also enjoyed their reviews... I always found them mostly tone on the level and pretty damn close to my tastes as a gamer so it was one place I have had a little more faith into...

sad to see them go.

[FullmetalRoyale]

The closest experience I have to this when I got hired at Circuit City. My first day of work they told me what I would be doing, and that they wouldn't be open through the year, so I walked out. They should have told me when hiring me that it was a throwaway hire. And the trash in charge at GT damn sure should have told their employees about this, well ahead of time. Whichever individual, or individuals, that decided this should be ashamed of themselves. Says a lot about their character, or lack thereof. I never really visited GT, but that's not the point. Piss poor human being(s) that did this to families.

[no_ripley]

Not telling your employees about the closure is the worst thing ever.

Now please someone shut down Geoff Keighley!

[Atomicjuicer]

I wish all the team every success in the future. I watch every day on youtube and this is a massive loss.

[zarbor]

I used to watch Gametrailers quite a bit for their E3, Bonus Round and their reviews. I thought their E3 coverage was late and other sites were way better. Bonus Round is just about gone and the reviews have been off. However, the worst thing about Gametrailers are those shows.

Invisible Wall, Final BosMan, HuberHype and the rest of those ridiculous shows. Good riddance. It was embarrassing.

[DivineAssault]

That is messed up! No consideration for their employees lives.. Maybe a bigger company will hire them

[bligmerk]

That was quick, CEO became chairman also, less than a week ago.

http://phys.org/news/2016-0...
CEO Dauman takes over chair at Viacom, replacing Redstone

[MoveTheGlow]

ScrewAttack knew last night, they posted their old GameTrailers opener with a "One more for the road" title to it on YouTube. Some people had to have known then...

[Orionsangel]

Some saw the writing on the wall and left early. Things like this have happened before. Adam Sessler for example left G4TV a year before it went under. He knew what was coming. Kyle Bosman here though stayed until the end and went down with the ship. Bravo.

[zodiac909]

These guys deserve better than that!

[DarthJay]

Makes me feel fortunate that my company gave me a four month warning of my impending layoff.

[blakstarz]

Damn...that's really F'ed up.

[Negativecool]

What is happening to all of the sites I used to go to? Is facebook taking over somehow that these sorts of sites aren't as popular? I really truly loved GT back in the AVGN days. I don't understand the internet anymore.... :( I'm old. I really hope N4G lives on for as long as I expected GT to. Sad.

[jznrpg]

That sucks, the business world can be a bitch

[Wallstreet37]

Messed up to hear. This was the only site i really trusted with reviews. For some reason their reviews always fell in line with my opinion.

[ThePhantomHaircut]

In my opinion, the recent GameTrailers crew were the best personalities in gaming journalism. It breaks my heart that they woke up to find they're unemployed. I hope they all find success.

[NerveGearneeded]

suprise mothafucka dank memes incoming.