GameTap fires editorial department, Read and Watch sections to shut down

GameTap is shutting down its relatively new editorial department and the entire staff has been given a couple of weeks notice. GameDaily reports that GameTap's Read and Watch sections, which are less than a year old, had a strong stable of veteran industry writers, but those sections will now be dismantled and integrated into the site's actual game pages.

GameTap VP Rick Sanchez writes on the community boards that the service has been happy with the editorial team, but has decided to focus on the company's main business, which is its game catalog. Details are still lacking about what the new vision for GameTap is, but being an all-purpose mega-site with games and news to rival Gamespot or IGN is obviously not it.

Update: We've placed GameTap's official statement on this issue after the break.

"GameTap is a brand that has established itself as a valued destination for the online gaming community. It is that community that we want to focus on more strategically and serve in the most effective way possible. Therefore, we are shifting GameTap from being a game portal to exclusively a gaming service with greater emphasis on GameTap's growing library of more than a thousand titles."

- Paul Condolora, senior vice president, digital for Turner Broadcasting's Animation, Young Adults and Kids Media group