Malf on 22/5/2024 at 13:11
Looks like RPS are part of the initial casualties too, with at least Brendan and Alice being laid off. The way James Archer and Nic Reuben are posting over there, I suspect they're gone too.
True, RPS has been in decline for a few years now, but it didn't deserve to die this way.
Thirith on 22/5/2024 at 13:24
Eep... I had heard of the acquisition, and I knew that Alice had been laid off, but I'd not yet seen those posts on RPS. While I've gone off RPS to a largeish extent in recent years, I definitely wouldn't have wanted something like this to happen to them, and I am not looking forward to seeing the impact this will have on Eurogamer.
Rami Ismail wrote on Twitter: "I really do appreciate IGN, I really do, but this sucks. We need a diverse games press with different goals and perspectives and tolerances and grievances. We need more, not less. Everything keeps becoming less." While I may not agree with every individual part of that statement, I couldn't agree more with his conclusion. We've already seen pretty much everywhere what it does to print media if everything is bought up by an increasingly small group of owners.
Sulphur on 22/5/2024 at 13:45
Some of the reasons I used to frequent RPS were because it was funny, thoughtful, and the writers had real appreciation for all of PC gaming stretching right back to its roots. These days I find it to be less so on all counts, but it's still a place with occasionally good and fun articles (the two Alices were always on the top of that for me, and Edwin's been doing a brilliant job at this whole writing thing for a while now), so this hurts a bit. Fuck Ziff Davis and media consolidation.
RPS at least has clapped back with a (
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-best-alices-in-pc-games) cheeky article about IGN's laying AliceB off before the ink on the contract could even dry.
henke on 23/5/2024 at 04:41
Yeah this sucks. First Alice O, now Alice B. I don't read the site much, tho that's more to do with my changing lifestyle patterns than with their quality. I tune into the podcast occasionally. It was a big hit when they lost Matthew, now Alice is gone as well? Maaaan, I wonder if they'll even keep it going. :erg:
WingedKagouti on 23/5/2024 at 08:52
Quote Posted by henke
Maaaan, I wonder if they'll even keep it going. :erg:
It seems probable that IGN wants the site name, so that will likely stay around even if the entire old staff leaves.
henke on 23/5/2024 at 09:02
I was referring specifically to the podcast, the Electronic Wireless Show. I assume RPS will still be around, in some form.
But yeah. I pretty much grew up on PC Gamer UK. Buying single issues of the magazine was expensive as heck here in the mid-90's, but I still bought em and read them cover to cover. It was a glimpse into a larger world of gaming that I couldn't get anywhere else until getting internet access a few years later. When a bunch of the PCG writers formed RPS in the late noughties it felt like my kinda site. It's not been quite the same since the original staff trickled out, but I still feel warmly about the site.
WingedKagouti on 23/5/2024 at 09:32
Quote Posted by henke
I was referring specifically to the podcast, the Electronic Wireless Show.
I misread your post, but for a similar podcast your best bet would likely be to look up what the staff that left are doing now, in case any of them are trying to do a "Get the old gang back together" style podcast. I expect an IGN run podcast would (slowly) introduce a new permanent roster, inevitably changing the style to something quite different.
Malf on 23/5/2024 at 10:07
A lot of the original staff are now writing for or developing games, or in the case of Kieron Gillen, he's now writing comics.
I'm not sure the current crew are driven enough to form a new site or join something like Second Wind, but I'm hoping they find something outside of SEO-driven corporate bullshit.
henke on 23/5/2024 at 10:30
Quote Posted by WingedKagouti
I misread your post, but for a similar podcast your best bet would likely be to look up what the staff that left are doing now, in case any of them are trying to do a "Get the old gang back together" style podcast.
As it happens I was just listening to The Back Page, which is Matthew Castle and Samuel Roberts podcast. A lot of RPS readers might've missed Matthew's stuff, since he did video and podcast content, but I think he's one of the funniest guys to have been part of the site.
I'm sad that Mystery Steam Reviews has not been resurrected in some form cause it was fun as hell and the kinda gameshow that catered to the exact type of nerd I am. I got a lot of the answers right.
[video=youtube;mC_BwtyMTHU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mC_BwtyMTHU&list=PL8bDjLl3h2vdi0aJDxXWXdezgZawkwVhZ[/video]
EvaUnit02 on 24/5/2024 at 11:38
If anyone is looking for "The Flare Path" simulator/war game column by Tim Stone, it can be found here:
(
https://tallyhocorner.com/)
