Today, Giant Bomb announced that the website’s co-founder, Jeff Gerstmann, was leaving the popular video game website after nearly 15 years. In a blog post announcing the departure, it was explained that “Giant Bomb and Jeff Gerstmann have agreed to go our separate ways.”
In a lengthy blog post shared on Giant Bomb’s website, staff explained that they were going to be “transparent” about Gerstmann’s departure, calling it “heavy-hitting news” and a “big moment” for the site and its future.
“Jeff has shaped Giant Bomb in profound ways and he’s also been a key part of bringing on board the voices that have defined the site through its different eras. To this day, Giant Bomb’s influence on the way video games are covered on the internet is still as pervasive as ever, and Jeff remains inseparably attached to that legacy.
But things change: life unfolds; priorities shift, and people come and go. And the same goes for Giant Bomb.
As for why he was leaving today, neither Giant Bomb nor Gerstmann shared any specific details, only stating that an agreement had been reached between the parties to “go our separate ways.”
The former GameSpot editorial director confirmed the news via his own personal Twitter announcing that today, June 6, was his last day with the company. He also hinted at more details and info coming tomorrow via a stream on his own Twitch channel.
In the blog post announcing the news, Giant Bomb also talked about the future of the site following his exit, stating that this departure won’t lead to a “Giant Bomb 2.o” and that it still planned to be a “weird and welcoming corner of the internet.”
Change can be difficult to adjust to. But we are still building the bomb, and you’ll get a much more detailed announcement about how on June 7th’s Bombcast, so be sure to tune in. Starting tomorrow, there will be a renewed focus on a core group of nine Giant Bomb crew members, and we’ll be giving updates regarding future content, the plan for Premium and hopefully addressing most of the questions you might have, and maybe even a few you didn’t know you had yet.
We are more excited about what’s to come than ever and we hope you will be too.
There is no 2.0. There is just Giant Bomb. See you tomorrow.
Gerstmann’s sudden exit today continues a trend of older staff leaving the popular video game site.
Last year in May, three of the legacy members of the site, Vinny Caravella, Alex Navarro, and Brad Shoemaker left. They went off and started their own thing called Nextlander.
These departures all came after the news in September 2020 that the former parent company of GameSpot and Giant Bomb —ViacomCBS— had sold the sites to digital marketing company Red Ventures. While Caravella tried to squash rumors that it was this new owner that had led to an exodus of employees, rumors among fans and longtime viewers of the site still persist.
Update 6/7/22 11:10 a.m. ET: Giant Bomb has now revealed its core lineup of personalities moving forward after the site’s co-founder, Gerstmann, left yesterday. It was also announced that former Giant Bomb staff member Dan Ryckert will be returning to the site full-time as its new Creative Director.
“I’m back full-time at Giant Gomb as Creative Director,” tweeted Ryckert. “And I can’t wait to start making a whole bunch of fun dumb shit again.”
Here is the complete crew line-up as revealed in the video posted by Giant Bomb earlier today:
- Jeff Bakalar
- Jeff Grubb
- Tamoor Hussain
- Lucy James
- Jess O’Brien
- Jason Oestreicher
- Matt Rorie
- Jan Ochoa
- Dan Ryckert