If you have an interesting perspective, you can release later and still get attention. I do think, judging by the few times I have watched GameXplain, that their (former?) staff do have interesting perspectives.
-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
Former GameXplain members talk about troubles with the company (heavy crunch, low pay) [Update: André Response]
- Thread starter Magic-Man
- Start date
As usual, the longer you have to wait for an apology, the more likely it ends up not actually being one.
Andre's statement was almost certainly made with a lawyer. Its sole purpose was to cover his own ass from possible litigation. It admitted no fault whatsoever, claimed no awareness, made excuses and deflected/distanced, and didn't even really say he was going to change going forward; rather, it read as a promise to stay the course, with the implication being that's always what he was doing. (So, basically subtle discreditation/gaslighting.)
He absolutely knows what he did, and he's not sorry in the slightest; he's trying to keep it from blowing up in his face. Well, at least legally. Professionally, socially, etc., not so much — no one's buying his bullshit, and he's going to be ostracized from many circles for a long time — but that's the path he chose. "Contractors" before "friends".
Andre's statement was almost certainly made with a lawyer. Its sole purpose was to cover his own ass from possible litigation. It admitted no fault whatsoever, claimed no awareness, made excuses and deflected/distanced, and didn't even really say he was going to change going forward; rather, it read as a promise to stay the course, with the implication being that's always what he was doing. (So, basically subtle discreditation/gaslighting.)
He absolutely knows what he did, and he's not sorry in the slightest; he's trying to keep it from blowing up in his face. Well, at least legally. Professionally, socially, etc., not so much — no one's buying his bullshit, and he's going to be ostracized from many circles for a long time — but that's the path he chose. "Contractors" before "friends".
Wow... there is actual fire going around. This is insane. I do hope that the GVG crew doesn't get burnout because of this cause I can also imagine they don't want this to follow them too much. Same goes for Jon of course.
That said, it is important that these matters come to light. And I truly hope Andre is a much better boss now.
That said, it is important that these matters come to light. And I truly hope Andre is a much better boss now.
Yeah, like i'm sure it's partly due to not getting a review copy, but Derick reviewed Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity on 24th December and i'm sure he enjoyed having a whole month to crank that out.
Kind of weird seeing Joey throw himself under the bus like that. Why wouldn't you just stay out of this matter?
Former GameXplain Discord mod statement. The plot thickens...again (read full thread)
Edit: oops, this may have already been posted. Apologies, i haven't kept up well enough
Last edited:
Before anyone goes after Ashley for espousing conspiracy theories, I can confirm that André definitely attempted to reach out (at least to me) and asked for positive statements about my experience with GX before he released his official statement. I did not respond to his message (unless you count blocking him as a response) so he eventually rescinded (deleted) his request.
Keep in mind that I had not decided to finally cease all communication with André until the moment I found out about the channel's real revenue and realized I had been well and truly swindled. Having said that, I'm still surprised he reached out to me considering the fact that he knew I've had complaints in the past about compensation and deadlines, and expressed disinterest in continuing to do more analysis videos in the past.
To be clear, I'm only sharing this info to provide some perspective, not to accuse the new hires of being held at gunpoint or anything like that. You all are free to draw your own conclusions about what happened behind the scenes based on my account, but just know that this is only my personal anecdote.
I'm not surprised at all by the statements from the new crew, and I don't blame them. They are super early on in their time on the channel, they're doing something they love, right now they're going to be feeling pretty good about their employment. It's clear from all the former GX members' statements that they didn't realise quite how bad it was until much later, but hopefully Andre does realise how his shit management style did affect people and works to be more collaborative and less deadline focused.
Additionally, he's almost certainly had to be more professional in the process of hiring a completely new crew to replace pretty much everyone who left. Hopefully they are and continue to be treated better than Jon and the GVG guys were in their time on the channel.
Additionally, he's almost certainly had to be more professional in the process of hiring a completely new crew to replace pretty much everyone who left. Hopefully they are and continue to be treated better than Jon and the GVG guys were in their time on the channel.
I read this as "I'm sorry you're upset about the way they were treated. To avoid this in the future, I will require all contractors to sign NDAs."
Because I assume that's what is going to happen after this.
Can verify Brainchild is telling the truth (not that there's any room for doubt)
Going around asking people to say something positive about him now is hardcore manipulation. Good that it's failing.
What a shitty thing to to, can not say I'm surprised after everything that has come to light, though. It's fucked up you guys were, and still are being treated that way.
Nothing but love and support for the entire former GX crew from my end.
Yeah, I get the impression he was more interested in trying (and failing) to protect his and GX's image rather than actually apologising and showing remorse.
Geeez, he's had like 4-5 days to think about this and to look what people have been saying and he somehow didn't even notice you were one of the people who expressed issues?
Joey's had a big side eye from me since his condescending Bakugan Switch review and his tweet not-so-subtly parodying the departure tweets. Fuck him.
I brought it up twice in my OG thread about this before it was spun-off:
Something's going on with GameXplain?
Tweet's gone, but this looks much worse now. Plus Andre blocking Shesez as an "accident". Edit: So Joey's tweet was that he did mispronounce Mabe's name as pointed out before (I found the post!): TwitLonger — When you talk too much for Twitter But this was literally in the wake of departures...
www.resetera.com
His tweet is gone, but thanks to my Edge history, it kept the tweet text in its log!
Joey Ferris on twitter said:
This was on Nov 9th literally just after the crew had left.
Some seem to think it was only about the thing he says in the twitlonger, but the timing, and obviously with him blocking Steve's wife. It's too obvious IMO.
And to clarify in case you missed it, Ash (and I think Derrick?) posted their departures via similar tweets:
Edit: Joey's twitlonger message incase he deletes it:
Last edited:
...It seems to be very difficult for people to make a real apology. I don't get it. You only make things worse for yourself when you come out with things like this. Be a man and admit that you were/am a douchebag and enjoyed getting money while other did like 80% of the work. Say you are going to fix the issues that were made known to the public(And follow up on that later, to show you actually did) and make a arrangement with your past employees to compensate them more fairly. The exact amounts of money doesnt have to be known for everyone, that is something you can arrange with your former employees.
But no instead he is hiding in his tower, making non-statements written with help of a lawyer instead of from his own heart. This doesn't show remorse at all. I can forgive someone who admits his/her mistakes and do everything they can to fix the shit he/she has caused, but no André this isn't it.
But no instead he is hiding in his tower, making non-statements written with help of a lawyer instead of from his own heart. This doesn't show remorse at all. I can forgive someone who admits his/her mistakes and do everything they can to fix the shit he/she has caused, but no André this isn't it.
I brought it up twice in my OG thread about this before it was spun-off:
Something's going on with GameXplain?
Tweet's gone, but this looks much worse now. Plus Andre blocking Shesez as an "accident". Edit: So Joey's tweet was that he did mispronounce Mabe's name as pointed out before (I found the post!): TwitLonger — When you talk too much for Twitter But this was literally in the wake of departures...
His tweet is gone, but thanks to my Edge history, it kept the tweet text in its log!
This was on Nov 9th literally just after the crew had left.
Some seem to think it was only about the thing he says in the twitlonger, but the timing, and obviously with him blocking Steve's wife. It's too obvious IMO.
And to clarify in case you missed it, Ash (and I think Derrick?) posted their departures via similar tweets:
Edit: Joey's twitlonger message incase he deletes it:
Wow....that is eye opening...
About Joey Ferris saying he had bad bosses in the past, I can tell you a story:
A story about the Zelda oriented youtube channel Commonwealth Realm, where Ferris used to work.
I'm a huge Zelda fan myself and a video editor of various things as a job. So they had a vacancy in the summer of 2018 and I applied for it.
I sent an extense and polite mail because back in the day I was a subscriber of the channel and I enjoyed the crazy Zelda theories.
The boss there, Konrad, replied me with just "Ok, here is the task and needs to be done by sunday morning" (He mailed me late night on a friday). And just attached some videos and an audio recording. Just that, no payment for the work, no details for the job. Nothing, just "edit my video because Im on vacation and you MAY get the job or not"
I answer him that I think that's no way to treat an aplication. You have to let me know the conditions and show some respect and education.
He just mailed me back: "I'm on vacation"...what an asshole.
I unsuscribed from the channel in that precise moment...
Have proof of everything said if someone is interested.
A story about the Zelda oriented youtube channel Commonwealth Realm, where Ferris used to work.
I'm a huge Zelda fan myself and a video editor of various things as a job. So they had a vacancy in the summer of 2018 and I applied for it.
I sent an extense and polite mail because back in the day I was a subscriber of the channel and I enjoyed the crazy Zelda theories.
The boss there, Konrad, replied me with just "Ok, here is the task and needs to be done by sunday morning" (He mailed me late night on a friday). And just attached some videos and an audio recording. Just that, no payment for the work, no details for the job. Nothing, just "edit my video because Im on vacation and you MAY get the job or not"
I answer him that I think that's no way to treat an aplication. You have to let me know the conditions and show some respect and education.
He just mailed me back: "I'm on vacation"...what an asshole.
I unsuscribed from the channel in that precise moment...
Have proof of everything said if someone is interested.
Last edited:
He's the one posting right above you, and is a genuinely swell human being.
End of September to go to NintendoLife. As a matter of fact he posted right above you! The rest of the gang left a few weeks later.
Edit: d'oh.
He was the first domino to fall, and that domino caused the dam to erupt.
Man this is honestly really hard to digest after following GX for almost 10 years. A part of me was genuinely willing to give Andre a second chance if he had showed real remorse, actively tried to compensate for what he did, and openly disclosed how he would ensure the same type of toxic, authoritarian, reckless and cruel work environment would not repeat to the new team. All the previous statements made a coffin but his frankly pathetic statement was the final nail. I hope the best for the new GX team but I am done with the channel.
Thank you!! It's ok. I'm sorry for the person who probably had to accept that behavior due to necessity.
And sorry you had to live those experiences in gx, because you are amazing mate!
Happy for your parenthood and position in nintendo life!!
Yup, I wanted to type something similar. "Get legal advice first, respond later" seems to be the MO when you're a scummy YouTuber
or ditto US President.
It's good that this is coming out, and I hope in the future more folks speak up when being exploited. The only way to hold scumbags like this accountable is to publicise their exploitative behaviour.
What I don't get about Andre's stance is that surely it completely ruins him as far a social media and forums are concerned? He's now always going to get a ton of crap for how he behaved but with a proper apology and a promise to change he may have slowly rebuilt his image. He's instead cemented himself as a really bad manager which I don't see the benefit of at all. It's just bizarre from someone who acted like they were a true social justice warrior and instead he ends up having more in common with those he criticised than you would ever believe. So so weird.
Yup. And I do believe he loved Pokemon Snap also!
Boy, imagine if Nintendo announced a new Stunt Race FX...and he couldn't respond!!! 😂😂😂
Absolute clownery on Andre's part. I just hope their current staff is alright.
No, he has the nasally sounding one.
He had to choose between money and the internet. If he apologises, more people would forgive him, but he could then be held accountable legally. But if he chose this legal "apology", his money would be safe, but more people will hate him.
At least that's how I see it. It would make sense, since his greed is kinda proven and he doesn't feel any regret despite knowing what he's done. He wants to keep the money all to himself.
Pardon the slight derailment, but do you still do analysis videos or any other public content that you could share? You had an awesome way of describing and contextualizing fundamental game graphic technologies for laymen that I don't even get out of places like Digital Foundry. Massive condolences for the disrespect for your craft. :(
Terrible statement.
This entire situation is so disappointing. I used to love the channel but knowing now how the videos were produced.... It sucks.
This entire situation is so disappointing. I used to love the channel but knowing now how the videos were produced.... It sucks.