How is good vibes gaming?? I've subbed to them cause I love that squad but I just haven't gotten around to diving into their stuff. I hope they manage to grow their own channel in a healthier way, love them from when they were at GX
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Former GameXplain members talk about troubles with the company (heavy crunch, low pay) [Update: André Response]
- Thread starter Magic-Man
- Start date
And you just played through the game - dude also had to write a while ass review, record footage etc.
This is just brutal.
Where's Andre in this? Isn't he usually quick to get out quick on topics concerning other people and try to drag them through the mud and start spouting off his mouth? I'd imagine if this is fake he'd be going in guns blazing, right?
EDIT- Shit, he was deleting and locking the GameXplain reddit, wow.
EDIT- Shit, he was deleting and locking the GameXplain reddit, wow.
I can work for some. But a lot have either moved to Twitch full time or are doing Twitch and Youtube at the same time. In order to be really successful, you basically need to have guaranteed +100k views every video you put out. Probably a lot more than that. The time vs. profit ratio just isn't worth it for most people. There's probably a reason why GVC's content has mostly just been their nightly talk show. They don't require much editing, scripting, actually playing games, as say the typical GX review or analysis.
It's basically the discussions from GX, just as daily news roundups. There are some reviews and other content, but it's mostly the discussion format right now. If you liked it back when they were at GX, you will like the new channel.
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Friendship ended with GameXplain, Nintendo Life is my new best friend.
Guess you missed the details where their wives were begging them to leave GX for months due to the pay and crunch work hours.
GameXplain review of FF7R: April 9, 83,414 views, 15:25 long
Tim Rogers' review of FF7R: May 25, 234,438 views, 3:18:55 long
This is not to belittle GX's review, but there IS a market for late reviews. I would feel great about watching a late review if I knew it wasn't produced under crunch.
SpawnWave covers everything each morning but he focuses alot on Nintendo and the Switch as well. AFAIK the channel is only run by him and his friend Evan behind the scenes. NateDrake is a regular on his weekly SpawnCast too, great stuff.
And how much work do you think went into that 200-minute-long review, even if it was late?
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I can't think of any review channels, but there's people like Nin10doland and Switch Stop that are pretty okay.
EDIT: Oh yeah, Nintendo Life and NateTheHate are pretty great as well.
Content wise they're mostly doing these podcast style gaming news roundup videos during the week which usually consists of Derrick, Ash and Steve alongside a guest. They stream and record them during the night and post them during the following morning on the youtube channel, I find them to be a great way of starting off the day.
They've done reviews here and there and some streams as well.
Personally speaking, I wish the hype culture didn't preside over the review practice. Late reviews are usually more thoughtful and unique in their approach - there could be more interesting discussions had about games and this medium if they weren't all reviewed as quickly as possible like consumer products regardless of artistic intent.
As for launch day reviews - there should be some sort of industry-level standard for length of time before release that review copies are given. Journalists are more likely to give a positive or thoughtful review if they're not rushing through something.
Oh. a LOT. I simply wanted to point out the viewcounts. The person I quoted said they'd lose views if it was late. I don't necessarily think that's true and my post was my proof.
The old adage in journalism is if you can't be first, be best. There's always a market for late, but high quality content.
Glad I unsubscribed pretty soon after they left.
No time for companies that make their employees crunch.
No time for companies that make their employees crunch.
They absolutely would lose views if they were late with a standard 10-minute review. Tim Rogers can post his late, because his reviews are unique -- but they're also 20-times longer than a standard review, and intricately written and edited. Trust me, that dude ain't working regular 9 to 5s either.
It is extremely difficult to make money covering video games these days, unless you're an established big name that has been around for years, and even then I can't imagine it's easy.
I know from experience just how fickle the algorithm can be. I can spend 2 hours on a joke video that gets over a million views, then spend 2+ months editing something that's longer and more in-depth that's lucky to get 5,000.
In terms of text, long form analysis won't be read by as many people as two paragraphs about a goofy Pokémon plush. I've come to terms with it, as depressing as it is.
All of that said, if the income isn't great, don't force your employees to crunch. Let them treat it as a side-gig they do for passion, piling on any more pressure than that is downright cruel.
I know from experience just how fickle the algorithm can be. I can spend 2 hours on a joke video that gets over a million views, then spend 2+ months editing something that's longer and more in-depth that's lucky to get 5,000.
In terms of text, long form analysis won't be read by as many people as two paragraphs about a goofy Pokémon plush. I've come to terms with it, as depressing as it is.
All of that said, if the income isn't great, don't force your employees to crunch. Let them treat it as a side-gig they do for passion, piling on any more pressure than that is downright cruel.
Yeah, absolutely not defending them here - a channel as big as GameXplain can and should have done better - but it's incredibly difficult to make a living in covering games. There's a reason so many folks don't stick around, and either jump ship to game development themselves or PR.
Oh yeah, can't believe I didn't bring you up, I watch your podcasts as well. I just thought they wanted daily news and constant coverage, the kind GameXplain kind of provided.
GameXplain really does feel unsustainable. I know they tried Patreon, and they still have it (though to a much smaller extent than it seems was intended), but it doesn't seem like it worked out too well.
The only way it feels like they feel they can stay afloat is to churn out content, to which you need several people working their asses off, which means you can't pay them adequately for doing it. It's not sustainable.
The only way it feels like they feel they can stay afloat is to churn out content, to which you need several people working their asses off, which means you can't pay them adequately for doing it. It's not sustainable.
Was GX ever known for their reviews? To be honest, I haven't watched them since the Smash 4 days but I thought trailer analysis and speculation/reaction discussions were their bread and butter.
And yeah, there's a market for late reviews but I feel like that only works when there's one strong personality behind the channel. People watch for their specific opinion rather than to actually decide if they want a game or not.
There is a place for channels that work, even as a business. You either keep it small, so that employee cost, overhead, lizenses, material, etc stays low. Or you scale it, but try to catch other monetizing options, diversifying the income.
Merch patreon and sponsoring are the standard youtuber cost, and people can only buy so many shirts and patronise so many on patreon... LTT are an example how you expand: huge team, facility, but the merch is more than the 0-8-15 tshirt, and they are doing video work for hire and, lending out their equipment and sets, running multiple channels with different aim, and do pc and workshop work for hire (custom builds, etc...)
This kind of thinking is kind of horrendous. Because really, there is plenty of cash around for the GX crew. We already know that Jon, Steve, and likely Ash and Derrick are making so much more for less content on smaller channels. It seems like Andre is really pocketing most of the money from gamexplain.
Like really, it's insane that GVG has been paying better, with a smaller patreon and like 1/25 of the average viewcounts on videos.
I think part of the issue here is that there analysis videos take a ton of work and time for a single video (which isn't even guaranteed to do well), so running the channel on those alone probably isn't feasible. They can do discussions and stuff, but because those tend to center around specific events they aren't putting those out on a regular basis. Most of their videos are small news updates that get almost no views, especially considering they're a channel with over 1 million subs.
Sad to hear about gameXplain. The draw of their content for me were the discussion videos post review, predictions or any sort of long analysis. Jon was my favorite and was disappointed seeing him leave and then everyone started leaving. It did seem odd that everyone jumped ship at once on good terms.
I forgot which GVG aftershow it was, but it was brutal hearing Derrick talk about his experiences working during E3. Derrick was mostly confined to a hotel room to catch any breaking news & treehouse announcements. While everyone else enjoyed the floor.
11/12/20 episode 1:13:30 (I won't link the video bc it's apart of their paid tier for the Q&A they do after the show, but this was the same ep they had Imran on.
11/12/20 episode 1:13:30 (I won't link the video bc it's apart of their paid tier for the Q&A they do after the show, but this was the same ep they had Imran on.
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I won't comment much but I feel those excusing "the algorithm" need to be more respectful to Steve. For more insight GX was looking to employ another full time person before we voiced any intention of leaving, I'm not sure why Steve was making $2 an hour if there was money to pay another body
This ^^^
Also, it's not as if Steve wasn't working full time for GX. He practically did 40 hours of work in 2 days, and he has been running so much of the show back then. So many news videos, and so many podcasts, and also that Game Club thing. That's at least like 15 hours of work, and that's before news, reviews, and discussions. He was working "full time" with non of the benefits or respect.
I remember when you were doing most of the legwork for the channel as well Jon. And you still weren't considered "full-time". I remember you talking about that in the GX podcast
I recently started a gaming and anime pod with my homies and I strictly want it to be a side gig for now. If we ever have a need to scale up then it'll be patreon. Split the bread evenly and just keep it non-committal.
Sucks to hear with GX. Sounds like they got more than they could handle smh.
Sucks to hear with GX. Sounds like they got more than they could handle smh.
I remember feeling like a rarely heard Andre anymore and a lot of the videos I watched were being voiced by Jon during a long stretch of time. I actually thought Jon was running the channel at one point because of it.
Ok then yeah, it's especially messed up
If you got the money, pay the people doing the work. If you don't got the money, don't force more effort than what you're paying for. It should be that simple.
I'm guessing it's less that the stated pay was $1-2 an hour and more that this was the effective pay because the workload was not realistically achievable for however many hours was agreed to be working for. So working a bunch of unpaid hours in order to finish things on time. Which obviously doesn't make the situation any better
$1-2 an hour is a horrible pay. Something must have changed if they (Derrick, Ashe) were able to deal with this for the almost decade long support of the channel.
I haven't paid much attention to the channel for probably around a year or so. Used to love the channel but the vibe I was getting from videos lately just wasn't the same as it used to be.
I like listening to the GvG channel just because its about the tone I used to like with the GX one before. Just wish they had smaller segments or more smaller videos like Easy Allies to break up the long news segments more
I haven't paid much attention to the channel for probably around a year or so. Used to love the channel but the vibe I was getting from videos lately just wasn't the same as it used to be.
I like listening to the GvG channel just because its about the tone I used to like with the GX one before. Just wish they had smaller segments or more smaller videos like Easy Allies to break up the long news segments more
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Tim Rogers operates a smaller operation through very dedicated Patreon support, and hour long reviews/analysis pieces are his stock and trade. Gamexplain's channel chase the algorithm, their audience and reach isn't the same. YouTube's algorithm is also just really unreliable and has been known for punishing channels that don't keep to their patterns.
It's also not a great comparison because Tim himself has admitted that he crunches really hard himself, albeit that's self-imposed.
(note: this isn't defending GX because the stuff here reads exceptionally terrible and is definitely not sustainable)
Oh, a rare guest =D hope alls good with the family.
The algorithm is a bad excuse even without that (since then it would just mean the concept does not work), but hearing that another person was planed for the team... yeah, that really does not sound fair and the reasoning behind it from a business perspective confuses me.
I would welcome that with open arms.
6 month post launch support games, already heavily discount would be a dream. I used Era a lot for that.
But editors won't give code to be reviewed 6 months later I guess.
This is seriously messed up. I had already quit the channel due to the exodus of Jon, Derrick and Ash (which was strangely unceremonious) and I didn't click with the new crew. I would like to hear what Andre has to say before making any final judgements though.
From old Gamespot and Giantbomb days, I got the message that anyone making videos and write-ups as it happens at E3 has no time to be on the floor.