Gerstmann-gate 'villain' leaves CNET for advertising company

by Alexander Sliwinski { Aug 18th 2008 at 9:45PM }

GameDaily reports Joshua Larson, former VP of Games at CNET Networks and the man often blamed for GameSpot's Gerstmann-gate scandal, has been named VP of Business Development at in-game ad agency Double Fusion. Please let the deliciousness of that flow over you for a brief moment.

Double Fusion's President and CEO announced Larson's hiring along with several others, saying that the new folks share a love of games and a "history of strong results and success in their prior roles." Larson's previous role was to manage business strategy and product direction at GameSpot.com. He's been dubbed the point man in the firing of Jeff Gerstmann and the exodus which followed, leaving GameSpot an editorially tarnished brand. If "success" is determined through money and not reputation, then it's probably being used to describe Larson's small roll in CNET's purchase by CBS for $1.8 billion earlier this year.

Tags: gamespot, gamespot.com, gerstmann, gerstmann-gate, gerstmanngate, jeff-gerstmann, joshua-larson, larson

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Matias @ Aug 18th 2008 9:50PM

Politics Sucks >

IlyaG @ Aug 18th 2008 10:00PM

If Alexa's traffic stats are to be believed, Gamespot's traffic has been pretty much the same as IGN's since even before the scandal, following the same exact ups and downs throughout the year. So I guess this shows that this scandal didn't actually do a thing to their popularity.

At least this whole thing gave us a kind of bizarre web novelty in the form of GiantBomb.com so it wasn't a total loss. Though that site still has a long way to go before it comes even close to matching the amount of content Wikipedia has, but that's a different topic.

LordKelvin @ Aug 19th 2008 12:02AM

Traffic isn't really an accurate indicator in this case, I would personally say, since it doesn't indicate revenue. Factor in the "Blackout Monday" (I think that's what it was called) that everyone pulled on CNet and all the cancelled subscriptions to GameSpot's exclusive content (can't remember what it was called exactly), and you have an indicator for why CBS bought out CNet back in May. Hell, I can still say that I bring traffic to GameSpot at the same rate that I used to before Gerstmann-gate, but thanks to ad-block, they ain't getting a dime out of it.

Also, interesting factoid I found on Kotaku (couldn't find the story here), Josh Larson was actually fired from CNet in April, a month before CBS bought them out.

FatManIncNation @ Aug 18th 2008 10:04PM

Wow so he is done with reviewing crappy games and giving them high marks, and has moved on to advertising crappy products in good games. Not much of a streach for him is it

MCW @ Aug 18th 2008 10:20PM

Don't expect me to suddenly return to any CNET site. I will never go back. Bombcast all the way baby. Jeff Gerstmann is better without them.

Sigh @ Aug 19th 2008 5:40AM

Good riddance. Game sites are better without him...
and they'd also be better without Jeff.

That's right! I hate em both!

Obie @ Aug 18th 2008 10:31PM

Good riddance to bad rubbish, I suppose.

fischju @ Aug 18th 2008 10:40PM

mmm, tasty

SPAGHETTI @ Aug 18th 2008 10:42PM

cnet sucks

Scotto @ Aug 18th 2008 10:55PM

Yeah, I have to say... getting fired from Gamespot has turned out well for Gerstmann.

Giant Bomb is an awesome website, and the videos are funny as all hell. Even the video reviews.

- Scott

emotaku @ Aug 18th 2008 11:15PM

Visiting GameSpot now is just a guilty pleasure. The new design is delightful.

Cyxodus @ Aug 18th 2008 11:45PM

I stopped going to Gamespot because of what happened. Will I return, probably not. I don't trust a company that marks up a review and fires someone because of an advertiser. Their reputation is ruined for me.

TheOverlord#2 can has Animals Crossing? @ Aug 18th 2008 11:49PM

I clicked on the image like 100 times and all it does is take me to a GameDaily article.

Where's the free porn?!

nick @ Aug 18th 2008 11:52PM

Gamespot was a major company prior to the arrival of Larson. Whether or not he played a part in making it bigger is probably debatable. One thing for sure, he certainly managed to tarnish the brand while he was there.

LordKelvin @ Aug 18th 2008 11:53PM

"history of strong results"

Well, I must say, that was worded quite well. You could certainly call the shitstorm and subsequent loss of revenue to CNet because of Gerstmann-gate "strong" in most languages.

ScottG13 @ Aug 19th 2008 12:42AM

Is there a more despicable human in our industry? Probably not publicly. Good riddance, dirt bag. You make the rest of us marketers look bad. Well, maybe good by comparison.

giantenemycrab @ Aug 19th 2008 1:36AM

Who in their right mind would hire this guy?! "Hmm, let's see. It says here that at your last job you single handily destroyed a once thriving website. You sound like just the man we are looking for! When can you start?"

Tuefl @ Aug 19th 2008 1:37AM

FINALLE THE VILLAIN SHOWS HIS TRUE FACE TO THE WORLD AND JOINS THE RANKS OF EVIL MINIONS .

sinai @ Aug 19th 2008 1:57AM

what? weren't people saying that this douche didn't know dick about games? now he's a VP?

Automag @ Aug 19th 2008 2:30AM

Personally, ever since the Gerstmann incident, the exodus of good talent leaving, the creation and successful launch of Giant Bomb, and the lame replacements on the Gamespot podcast, I no longer turn to Gamespot as any sort of informational source regarding gaming. I tried, really. But they just come off as kind of desperate, forcefully obnoxious, and without anything special to say. They are just another corporate owned attempt at cashing in on the growing gaming market. At least over at EGM, ziff doesn't force the hand of editorial. The silver lining to all of this is Giant Bomb. Without that douchebag Larsen, Gerstmann would not have had started such a good gaming hub, which is thankfully completely independent.

Deozaan @ Aug 19th 2008 5:31AM

So was this just too obvious and that's why nobody is mentioning it or am I the only one who sees that the guy who fired Gerstmann because his review of Kane & Lynch didn't bode well with all the advertising dollars on GameSpot for the game is now VP of an advertising company?

I mean, the article here seems to allude to this, but doesn't outright say it, and none of the other commenters seem to be saying anything close to this.

Of course the advertising company is going to hire him. He earned a reputation for being unethical and slimy all in the name of advertisement dollars. They know exactly what he's after: and to him (and them) it sounds like Cha-ching!

Ian @ Aug 19th 2008 5:39AM

I dislike the idea of in-game ads and have no interest in supporting companies such as in-game ads agency Double Fusion. I will be boycoting games with in-game ads where possible. Most respected publishers and developers will have the confidence in their games ability to make money on the strenght of the title and not have to resort to tactics involving in-game ads.
P.S. I like the article picture of in-game ad hell.