IGN immediately lays off every non-UK person at their newly bought sites, including some key members like deputy editor Alice Bell ( aftermath.site )

Welp, this didn't take long.

It's especially interesting that they laid off a lot of people who were the only ones in their particular job, leaving entire jobs uncovered. I suspect this comes right before shutting them entirely or doing it all "with AI" 🤮.

Sad in particular about Alice Bell. She was fantastic, and it always felt like she kept the site going through all the shit of recent years. Plus being the driving force behind their podcast (the Electronic Wireless Show) of course also spells doom for that one though I hope that like Indiescovery they go rogue and run it independent of the site.

Bleak times. Fuck IGN.

Hadriscus ,

wtf. You can't fire Alice, she is RPS

supersquirrel ,

https://sopuli.xyz/pictrs/image/e204aa97-08ab-4fd4-8a00-b72e4adb35ae.webp

one of the best people in games journalism fired because......?

Seriously fuck late stage capitalism ughh

3volver ,

This is a part of the beginning of it. Centralization results in layoffs and worse products. This is why we have antitrust laws, now they go unenforced because of corruption. AI is going to replace a lot of jobs and we're going to get shittier products while the winning corporations continue to make more money. Winner take all system is bad for everyone.

LiveLM , (edited )

Buys publication
Immediately fires what makes it tick

???
I don't get it. Am I dumb? Are they buying other publications just for the branding?

ahriboy ,
@ahriboy@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

Quality worsens. Losing a lot of reliable sources for Wikipedia and other free content sites to use.

efstajas ,

Acquiring a company just for the brand or even just to make it disappear is pretty common in all of the corporate world.

supersquirrel ,

The violence is the point

p5yk0t1km1r4ge ,
@p5yk0t1km1r4ge@lemmy.world avatar

The recent layoffs at the company have been swift and impactful. Notably, several unique positions were affected, leaving entire job functions uncovered. This move suggests a potential restructuring or shift towards automation using artificial intelligence, which is concerning.

In particular, the departure of Alice Bell is deeply regrettable. Her exceptional contributions were instrumental in maintaining the company's operations during challenging times. Additionally, her leadership in the Electronic Wireless Show podcast was pivotal. It is hoped that, similar to Indiescovery, the podcast team will continue independently to preserve its value.

These developments paint a concerning picture of the company's future.

Fedizen , (edited )

Buying out competition and throwing out the workers confident that investors won't back a small dog against a big one

In an investor run economy, competition means you might lose a bet. For an investor its better to reduce competition than lose bets. This is originally why anti trust legislation was created: The market needs to be forced to compete or it will amalgamate into a giant blob of noncompeting assets.

High taxes exist to reduce accumulation of assets and slow down the snowballing effect of huge investors. This is what the trump tax cuts look like.

Theharpyeagle ,

Really hoping that we see more stuff like Second Wind, though that took some real name recognition (and I suspect some pre-planning) to pull off.

makingStuffForFun ,
@makingStuffForFun@lemmy.ml avatar

I'd say this is the perfect time to start a really regular and dedicated games review site. They have to start somewhere and if you're trusted and good then you'll get a following.

SendMePhotos ,

Yeah... Let's call it.. G4tv

Ashtear ,
@Ashtear@lemm.ee avatar

It's tough. A long-standing rule of video games media--even well before web publishing--is that reviews don't pay the bills. Hype gets clicks, as do guides now that independent guide writing has waned.

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