Kotaku
When long-time GameSpot reviewer and editorial director Jeff Gerstmann was let go from the site last November—with sources pointing to his review of Kane & Lynch: Dead Men as the catalyst for his termination—fingers were also pointed at executive Josh Larson, VP of games at parent company CNET. Larson, who replaced former Editor in Chief Greg Kasavin, was implicated by anonymous GameSpot employees to have had the "church-and-state separation between the sales teams and the editorial team" "cracked" under his tenure. Whether the VP, Jeff's supervisor at the time, was the key decision maker in letting Gerstmann go we can't confirm, but we can confirm that Larson will be leaving the company next week.
Internal communication informing employees of the cut were forwarded to Kotaku last night, indicating that a "new management structure means that Josh Larson's position as VP, Games is being eliminated and Josh will be leaving the company." CNET announced last week that it would cut 10 percent of its work force, about 120 employees. We contacted GameSpot Editor in Chief Ricardo Torres to verify the news this morning.
Torres confirmed that Larson's last day would be April 9, but declined to comment much further on the restructuring, citing the "internal" nature of the news.
It was clear that, at the time, Larson's capabilities as editorial lead weren't well regarded by some of the GameSpot staff. The anonymous "gamespot" commented at sister site Valleywag that Larson was "a suit [...] who had no editorial experience and was only involved on the business side of things." The anonymous commenter lamented that the presence of the sales team had become much more visible under Larson's watch, with other contributors going on and off record with less than favorable comments of CNET management.
In the months that followed Gerstmann's dismissal, GameSpot lost a sizable portion of its editorial staff, with reviewers Alex Navarro, Frank Provo, Ryan Davis, Brad Shoemaker and Jason Ocampo leaving for other, sometimes unspecified opportunities. Torres told us that GameSpot continues to bring on new editorial talent and plans to continue its coverage "with the same breadth and depth we have in our previous 11 years."
Comments
Hrm, maybe Gamespot will clean up it's act, and I'll start reading the site again.
Probably not, though. Kotaku is where it's at.
Justice is served.
*point Nelson style* HA HA!!!!
Gamespot will still blow.
gamespot was cool back in 1999...
A step in the right direction but the damage has already been done.
HUZZAH!
sweet - with all the layoffs and people quitting maybe I can get a job there if I offer to write advereviews.
/sarcasm
seriously though - I can't remember the last time I actually read gamespot.
Yeah, this is definitely a step in the right direction. Perhaps the site will return to its former quality.
@mcheddadi:
"Remember when Gamespot was cool?"
Gamespot was NEVER cool.
Karma wins.
too late, I just predict GameSpot will continue sinking now.
Looks like something has come out of that investigation we were promised.
Of course, it's not going to bring back all the GameSpot ex-staff.
fire one person...and others leave due to firing....internet breaks
or fire one vp and everything is still business as usual...
gotta love how management types always seem to hang on when the going gets tough...then the senior management go...oh shit...it hasn't gotten any better....lets fire the guys below us!
haha shit really does flow down hill!
@SanjiX - Has been on Kotaku for one year!: well, it's more like "remember when Gamespot had content? and employees?"
Justice.
Anyway, I've never had any complaints about Gamespot before this thing happened, so I guess I'll start reading it again.
hoorah?
Great, the guy who was likely responsible for Jeff's dismissal is gone. But who hired him?
As long as the people who created this situation in the first place are still employed by CNET, Gamespot and their other properties are not trustworthy sources of information, at least for me.
Nice first step. ...will wait a couple more years to see if they've truly changed their ways.
Yes...the planets are aligning. Gamespot is "d00med."
kind of reminds me of Monty Python and the Holy Grail's opening credits;
Those responsible for sacking
the people who have just been sacked,
have been sacked.
lol
Kane&Lynch 2
@MisterSleep:
Heh, yeah. I usually went to Gamespot when I needed a second opinion on a game, but even then the reviews still haven't been all that great. I just never liked Gamespot in general.
Gamespot has gone downhill. I use Giantbomb.com now. I prefer the old Gamespot crew.
@Sandbox_Emperor:
Damn you, I came in to specifically quote that.
47,000 Mexican Whooping Llamas?
lol @ gamespot.
giantbomb, this summer, will set us up a flea bomb. gamespot will die.
Fuck you Josh Larson
Gamespot = dead to me.
Giantbomb is where it's at. I predict great things from that site when it's fully up and running in the summer.
Yahtzee is the only reviewer worthy of my time. Zero Punctuation FTW!!!!
Can anyone say, "karma"?
@SanjiX - Has been on Kotaku for one year!: yeah, and not to mention that lately it's getting increasingly more difficult to even find a review on a game that's been out for days or even weeks. Pretty much the only time I go to Gamespot anymore is when I misstype "Gamestop."
Gamespot died when Greg left, ever since its been lacking in content, especially features and news, and especially ones worth reading.
...and just like that, Gamespot is now the best place to work in the games industry.
you know, this reminds me of Batman Begins with Morgan Freeman (the man btw)
"You've been 'let go.' Didn't you get the memo?"
it still doesn't bring me back. Man, i forgot about gamespot after the whole kane and lynch fiasco. I haven't looked at that page in a while. Anyway, Gamespot has always been a sinking ship in my eye. It's just getting lower and lower. I was never a big fan of the site even with kassavin there. O well, there are more prevalent videogames websites out there. It's too bad for the employees that have been sacked because of management incompetence. I wish them the best going foward.
wtf is gamespot? is that anything like [www.giantbomb.com] ? =)
Yeah, CNET as a whole has become too reliant on advertising dollars. I avoid the whole smash of sites offered by CNET for this exact reason. I don;t even look to CNET for electronics reviews. Too much fluff.
Gamespot was fun while the ride lasted, but it's over for me for good.
Kotaku FTW!
@aka Bitter: seconded
serves that b@$#@rd right
I dont go near Gamespot. Not after what they did. All the good people have left now as well. TBH I dont see the site staying around for much longer at this rate and if it does, it will be a very different place.
I use 1UP as my major source for news etc now.
Well, I deleted Gamespot from my bookmarks since the whole Kane & Lynch fiasco and never went back there. I don't think this new development will change that.
ehh so...thanks to him, he started a whole bunch of bitches about gamespot. FACE IT! GESSTMAN WAS A BAD REVIEWER!!!!
It's a start, but I still won't read Gamespot.
Well, sure. When your new VP is the catalyst for causing your core editorial staff, all experienced and established, to find work elsewhere, you might start looking at some of his other work more closely.
Gamespot is done for me as well.
To little to late gamespot this is what you should of done the moment this story broke rather than releasing those lame press releases that no-one believed. Gamespot has ruined it's reputation and it can never be repaired now, I used to like going to gamespot but as soon as they changed there review system I new something was up. Why change a system that shows you where the marks for the review come from in number form to one where they just give an end score?
I'm not convinced that this termination actually means anything just yet. It feels like so many other stories, where, just when you thought the story was resolved, there was still one more twist waiting around the corner.
You never know. Maybe Larson was pressured to put the pressure he applied onto Gamespot. Maybe he's getting replaced by the originator of that pressure.
It's too early to call. That's the important thing here. It's just too early to call.
BTW, for all your Jeff Gerstmann and Ryan Davis(and more to come) needs, visit their new site at Giantbomb.com
I hope larson gets aids in his eye socket
Too late to save your site now Gamespot.
I'm still not reading anything there.
Karma is a bitch.
But have you seen gamespots new video reviews with their new reviewers? It's not fun to watch anymore...
Nhaa Nhaa Nhaa Nhaa. Nhaa Nhaa Nhaa Nhaa. Hey Hey Hey GOODBYE!
@Jurai: Was that really necessary?
@balls187++: qft. this news is great and GS used to be my #1, but not anymore. i will visit more often now though, after this whole gerstmann thing. bye bye larson, you will not be missed
Havent been to gamespot since the gerstmann thing, wont be going back anytime soon. I only go to Ign, Kotaku and 1up for news features and podcasts and of course random shite
I didn't particularly like Gerstman, but I liked what he stood for. He did have integrity. I have yet to return to that site since his dissmissal. I still won't but goddamn if this isn't just deserts.
people often have too much confidence in businessmen. This is a prime example of this, as this man had absoloutly no grasp of how things work when you run an internet website. and because of that, gamespot has suffered greatly.
Ain't karma just a mother fucking bitch?
@foamking: ...and just like that, Gamespot is now the best place to work in the games industry.
You mean... except for all the layoffs?
Kinda tough to work for a company where you don't know whether to plan on actually getting up in the morning or not.
I was right. I said this when the controversy began...that it was far from over. The constant resignation from respective editors started to follow as Jason, Alex, Brad, Ryan and other editors quit Gamespot. It looks like it might finally be over since the source of the problem is eliminated. However, the damage has been done and rebuilding their reputation is going to take years or even as long as decade due to poor PR.
Maybe Gerstmann and Ryan Davis can give him a job doing the marketing for GiantBomb... Nah.
i know i stopped wasting time there, i wonder how many people did the same.
enough to cause people to lose their jobs i guess.
now i kinda feel bad.