Breaking: CBS Snags GameSpot In $1.8 Billion CNET Acquisition

CBS Corporation just announced an agreement to buy CNET for $1.8 billion dollars. Through the deal, all of CNET's network sites, including GameSpot, TV.com mp3.com, CNET news.com, UrbanBaby, CHOW, Search.com, BNET, MySimon and TechRepublic all become property of CBS.

CBS' existing online network already includes CBS.com, CBSSports.com, CBSCollegeSports.com, MaxPreps.com, CBSNews.com, last.fm, Wallstrip, MobLogic, and the CBS Radio and CBS Television Stations digital media
platforms. CBS says its distribution net, the Audience Network, comprises 300 partner sites and reaches 82% of U.S. web users.

"CNET Networks operates some of the most important premium online brands, serving the most sought after online audiences," said CNET CEO Neil Ashe. "Today's announcement brings together two organizations that complement each other and working with Leslie, Quincy and the talented people at CBS, we look forward to taking our business and our brands to the next level."

Full announcement follows the jump.

The Man Who Fired Jeff Gerstmann From GameSpot Has Been Sacked

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.

In the wake of GameSpot's fairly publicized shake-up in their reviews department, the Cnet owned company is on the prowl for a number of new reviewers.

Tom's Games points out that the company posted three job listings over at JournalismJobs.Com from Feb. 15 through Feb. 27 for copywriter; associate editor, reviews; and associate editor II, PC previews and reviews.

Hit the jump for some of the responsibilities for each job. On a side note, I was a little disturbed to read that their copywriter position might include the unholy wedlock of advertising and editorial, with the person being responsible for writing banner ads, print ads and, perhaps, headlines?

Update: I hear from friends over at GameSpot that the copywriter job is in fact advertising and marketing only and that there will never be any editorial hanky-panky. Good to know.

GameSpot Loses One More Editor

Ryan Davis, an associate editor, experienced reviewer and nearly 8-year GameSpot veteran, has become the latest to quit in the wake of former editorial director Jeff Gerstmann's termination. GameDaily.biz reports today that it has confirmed with new GameSpot editor in chief Ricardo Torres that Davis will follow Frank Provo and Alex Navarro as the latest casualty to the site's editorial staff. News of the most recent resignation comes two months to the day that we warned of a mass walkout at the CNet Networks owned site.

Gerstmann and Davis appeared to have been close cohorts, with the pair performing as the musical outfit Suburban All-Stars. Davis wrote in his GameSpot blog within days of Gerstmann's firing that "I would not be in the video game business at all were it not for Jeff Gerstmann," adding that the controversial termination "absolutely breaks my heart" and signaled "the end of an era for both GameSpot and myself."

The GameSpot Exodus Continues as Ryan Davis Leaves [GameDaily.biz]

GameSpot Names New Editor In Chief

CNet Networks announced today that GameSpot veteran Ricardo Torres has been named the new Editor In Chief of the online publication, replacing former site lead Greg Kasavin in the role. The site had been without an official EIC since Kasavin's departure in January of last year to work at Electronic Arts. Torres, who shared editorial director duties with former GameSpotter Jeff Gerstmann, has been with the site since 2001 and has been focused on previews and worldwide event coverage.

Torres, who spoke to us recently about the departure of longtime reviewer Alex Navarro, said of the new responsibilities via press release "I'm eager to continue the site's tradition of excellence and I'm confident we can move forward into 2008 and set a new industry standard for how video games are covered." Torres recently set editorial standards for wearing cornrows, pictures of which we desperately wish we had in our possession.

We wish Torres the best in his future endeavors at GameSpot. Full statement from CNet after the break.

The SNES Was The Best Console EVAR

CNET just published a story by Don Reisinger claiming that the Super Nintendo was the greatest console of all time. He argues that the console was the ultimate successor, "a follow-up that was worthy of the 'Super' moniker and gave developers the license they needed to create the legendary titles that we still play today." Personally, I'd agree with his casually argued logic—there's a reason I'm anxious to port Super Mario World to every device on the planet but bored by the thought of playing PSOne games on the PSP. Of course, this is all just one man's opinion and many of you won't agree. So go ahead and vote below before elaborating in the comments.

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GameSpot Owner CNet Eyed for Hostile Take Over

The New York Times is reporting that a consortium of "prominent investment funds" have managed to grab up 21 percent of CNet and are now working to kick out the company's directors and take over the majority of the company's board.

The Times piece is based on people who were privy to a memo sent from the consortium to the board about two weeks ago. Among CNet's assets, of course, are gaming site GameSpot and tech site TechCruch.

The consortium is led by Jana Partners and includes Sandell Asset Management, a venture capital firm and entrepeneur Paul Gardi, the guy behind Ask Jeeves tech.

No word on if or how this could possible impact GameSpot.

Investors Said to Seek a Takeover of CNet [NYT]

Longtime GameSpot Reviewer Leaves, Cites Gerstmann Firing

Game Publishers Hold Enthusiast Press in Contempt

Still having trouble making sense of this whole Eidos-CNet-Gamespot clusterfuck? Newsweek's N'Gai Croal does a nice job of summing up what it all means. N'Gai writes:

The reality is this: publishers generally hold the enthusiast press in utter contempt, and they have for a long time. This disdain began as scorn for the enthusiast media's roots in videogame fandom, rather than traditional journalism from "respectable" publications, but it has since metastasized into a veiled but nonetheless seething anger over the advent of the Internet and with it the rise of fan sites, forums and blogs over which publishers can exert little pressure, let alone control. The contempt emanating from the publishing community, by the way, is not limited to the enthusiast press. In our view, it extends to publicists, whom certain executives believe can and should be able to dictate the nature of their coverage and secure review scores of a certain magnitude. It even extends to their own developers, for whom Metacritic and Game Rankings scores can dangle as precipitously as the sword of Damocles, as if these executives were incapable of determining for themselves the quality of their games and taking action accordingly.

CNET Employee Responds To Gamespot Controversy, CNET Starting Investigation

The entire GameSpot craziness that we've seen for the last week or so is bad news for the site. But the repercussions could be just as bad for GameSpot's equally trafficking though possibly more famous/influential tech-reviewing parent site, CNET.

Yet CNET hasn't said a word. And according to a trusted source within the organization, none of CNET's writers are all that happy about the delay despite CNET higher ups launching an investigation on the matter.

GameSpot May See "Mass Resignations" Over Dismissal

Speaking with a Gamespot employee yesterday who asked not to be named for this story, we've learned that, despite the neutral nature of the Gamespot news item on the matter, the editorial staff is said to be "devastated, gutted and demoralized" over the removal of former editorial director Jeff Gerstmann. While the termination of Gerstmann, a respected fixture at Gamespot, was pitched to his remaining colleagues by management as a "mutual decision", it was anything but, we're told.

The confusion over the reasons for Gerstmann's termination, compounded with a lack of transparency from management has created a feeling of "irreconcilable despair" that may eventually lead to an exodus of Gamespot editorial staffers. "Our credibility," said the source, "is in ruins." Over the course of the previous days, a "large number of Gamespot editors" have expressed their intentions to leave. Tales of emotionally deflated peers, with no will to remain at the site, were numerous.

Unless cooler heads prevail or concerns are addressed, Gamespot could see "mass resignations", our source revealed.

Gamespot Comments On Gerstmann Departure

While Ash is our resident jubblies expert in his Kotaku After Dark segments, we felt it our duty to report that CNET Networks (whom some of you may know better as the parent company of GameSpot) is taking on magazine veteran Stephen Colvin as Executive Vice President of their Entertainment & Lifestyle division. Colvin was formerly at Dennis Publishing where he was behind projects like Maxim, Blender and Stuff. We can only hope that the completely obvious is going to happen, and that the charming, but not so bikinilicious staff at GameSpot will be replaced with coked-out models wearing dental floss modified to resemble soccer jerseys. Hit the jump for a piece of the in-house memo on the topic.

Ed Note: my wife wanted to know what the hell this picture was doing in Photoshop. My explanation was—apparently— not good enough.

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