G4 shuts down after layoffs, Frosk firing, WWE deal falls apart
Though G4 has struggled all over 2022, the shutdown by itself was sudden. The Washington Post viewed an additional email sent Sunday from G4 head Joe Marsh to personnel that informed staff that G4′s Los Angeles facility would be closed until eventually Oct. 18 — and that all streams have been postponed. But that e mail did not mention the network’s shutdown. In addition, former G4 workforce who asked for anonymity owing to the signing of nondisclosure agreements told The Post that personnel were being locked out of interior conversation products and services like Slack and Google Drive without immediate clarification. This arrived right after crew from “Arena,” a present generated as component of a critical deal with the WWE, give up last 7 days, according to ex-workers.
G4 is Comcast’s try at reviving a community from the early 2000s that imagined what televised video clip sport protection and enjoyment could search like a long time in advance of articles creators on YouTube and Twitch commenced amassing hundreds of thousands of viewers. Inspite of repeated makes an attempt at bringing stated creators into the fold — shows this kind of as “Name Your Price” have been hosted by Twitch stars like AustinShow (who has not publicly divulged his whole name) — the community never ever identified its footing when competing from specific influencers, who by themselves were being impressed by G4′s primary, 2002-2014 iteration.
Expenses for visitor talent look to have performed a role in the closure. According to several G4 workforce interviewed by The Submit, some superior-profile creators demanded day costs of $25,000-$30,000 when invited to look as friends on G4.
Many events presaged G4′s demise. The nosedive that culminated Sunday began when then-president Russell Arons exited G4 at the stop of August. In September, G4 laid off more than 20 crew customers, numerous of whom labored on reveals like online video activity evaluate and commentary flagship “X-Engage in.” A week later on, Kotaku reported that a person of the revived G4′s most outstanding faces, “X-Play” host Indiana “Froskurinn” Black, was no for a longer time with the network. Afterwards that similar month, Kevin Pereira — a person of the major names to appear out of the first 2005-13 operate of geek society wide variety plan “Attack of the Clearly show,” who also hosted its reboot — also departed.
In Sunday’s memo, Scott expressed his regrets.
“I know this is disappointing information, and I’m upset, also,” he wrote. “I want to thank you and everyone on the G4 workforce for the hard get the job done and motivation to the network.”
