1UP director Sam Kennedy: UGO not 'the bad guy'
by Andrew Yoon 
{ Jan 7th 2009 at 11:29AM }
Sam Kennedy, director of the 1UP Network, may have come off as a bit too cheery in yesterday's press release. However, a post on NeoGAF reiterates his belief that UGO's purchase of 1UP is ultimately the best (and perhaps only viable) option left for the community. "There's no way to rationalize this for most people, and I don't want to sugarcoat anything," he says. "Fact: 1UP was a business that was losing money. Fact: This economy sucks and the ad market is diminished.
"UGO did what they could to, what I consider, 'save' 1UP. Obviously, all of us would have wanted to see things go differently - most of all me, considering I just lost many of my closest friends as coworkers and employees today ... If any company out there would have been willing to support us as we were, they certainly didn't step up. The only company that really did was UGO, and they did their very best to continue 1UP."
While things are obviously going to be shaky for the 1UP Network in the coming weeks, Kennedy is hopeful that affected podcasts and writers will be able to return in the future. "I have a commitment from the UGO guys that they -- now, actually, we -- are going to do whatever we can to help these guys out and look for ways to continue these shows with them and/or to look into possibilities for new shows in the future. I'm not saying everything will be back to 'normal' as you knew it anytime soon, but I am saying there should be some good things to look forward to in the future."
[Via Rosenberg's Ramblings, blog of UGO contributor]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Shagittarius @ Jan 7th 2009 11:33AM
First 1up, next Joystiq?
I hear AOL is skint!
Wiinterfang @ Jan 7th 2009 11:37AM
I will actually cry.
Andrew Yoon @ Jan 7th 2009 11:38AM
We're actually A-OK. But feel free to click on all our ads. All the time. Even the annoying ones that take over your screen and don't work. ;P
Dao Jones @ Jan 7th 2009 11:54AM
Yoon's comment made me "lol" out loud. Thank you for the much needed laugh!
Wiinterfang @ Jan 7th 2009 12:00PM
Why can't IGN die?
Mr Khan @ Jan 7th 2009 12:11PM
How soon we forget, eh?
the weblogs, inc., family sat on the edge of oblivion earlier this year. I think it was around the end of July
Hashbrown Hunter @ Jan 7th 2009 12:12PM
@ Dao Jones
You laughed out loud out loud? WHAT?!
Dao Jones @ Jan 7th 2009 12:17PM
@Hashbrown Hunter
I guess I forgot to add in "in real life". Damn. :(
Meddling kids...
Donald @ Jan 7th 2009 12:22PM
@ Wiinterfang: IGN is owned by News Corp, aka Fox. And Rupert Murdoch is one rich sonofabitch.
DrNicodemus @ Jan 7th 2009 11:45AM
Just how in the hell does 1UP broke, yet not only is UGO still in business, but, they have enough cash to buy 1UP? When the clock hit 2009, did this turn into Bizarro World or something?
Jcarpio @ Jan 7th 2009 11:47AM
Well actually Ziff is broke (which owns 1up). And UGO is owned by Hearst which is still in the black.
TwistedBishop @ Jan 7th 2009 11:51AM
The way I always heard it 1UP made money and was growing, while EGM was losing money and shrinking. The print mags were what kept dragging the Ziff Davis Game Group into the red.
BananaBoat @ Jan 7th 2009 3:23PM
The problem is that the advertisement market went bust, and 1up/EGM are almost completely dependent on advertisement dollars to stay in the black (subscriptions aren't enough anymore, clearly). When the economy is better, the advertisers will probably come back, and maybe a magazine or two will rise from EGM's ashes. You never know.
Right now I'm just a little miffed at Sam Kennedy's statement from yesterday that most of the shows (podcasts and video podcasts) would continue (to paraphrase). Obviously that wasn't going to happen, and I wonder if he just didn't know about the extent of the layoffs, or what.
Meh, just meh.
TwistedBishop @ Jan 7th 2009 11:47AM
"And I, for one, welcome our new UGO overlords. I'd like to remind them as a trusted internet personality, I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground sugar caves."
J.Goodwin @ Jan 7th 2009 3:24PM
"Let me read a letter I recently received. 'Dear Sam Kennedy, Why has UGO seen fit to suppress our reproductive cycle? Sincerely, A Concerned Employee.' Thank you for writing, Concerned. Of course your question touches on one of the basic biological implulses, with all its associated hopes and fears for the future of the species. I also detect some unspoked questions. Do our benefactors really know what's best for us? What gives them the right to make this kind of decision for mankind? Will they ever deactivate the suppression field and let us breed again? Allow me to address the anxieties underlying your concerns, rather than try to answer every possible question you might have left unvoiced. First let us consider the fact that for the first time ever, as a company, solvency is in our reach. This simple fact has far-reaching implications. It requires a radical rethinking and revision of our genetic imperatives. It also requires planning and forethought that run in direct opposition to our natural pre-sets. I find it helpful at times like these to remind myself that our true enemy is Freedom. Freedom was our mother when we were an infant species. Freedom coddled us and kept us safe in those hardscrabble years when we hardened our sticks and cooked our first meals above a meager fire and started at the shadows that leapt upon the cavern's walls. But inseparable from Freedom is its dark twin, Employment. Freedom is inextricably bound to unreasoning impulses, and today we clearly see its true nature. Freedom has just become aware of its irrelevancem and like a cornered beast, it will not go down without a bloody fight. Freedom would inflict a fatal injury on our species. Freedom creates its own oppressors, and bids us rise up against them. Freedom tells us that the unknown is a threat, rather than an oppurtunity. Freedom slyly and covertly compels us away from change and progress. Freedom, therefore, must be expunged. It must be fought tooth and nail, beginning with the basest of human urges: The urge to reproduce. We should thank our benefactors for giving us respite from this overpowering force. They have thrown a switch and exorcised our demons in a single stroke. They have given us the strength we never could have summoned to overcome this compulsion. They have given us purpose. They have turned our eyes toward the stars. Let me assure you that the suppressing field will be shut off on the day that we have mastered ourselves...the day we can prove we no longer need it. And that day of transformation, I have it on good authority, is close at hand."
copa @ Jan 7th 2009 11:48AM
What a dick. I love how he concludes his press release with "Please join with us in celebrating" while 30 people who worked for him are getting thrown out on the street in a global recession.
Stay classy, Sam!
He could have been supportive of the new entity without announcing that yesterday was a day to celebrate (presumably because the important guy kept his job).
Draco Basileus @ Jan 7th 2009 11:48AM
As bummed as I am about the reductions at 1UP, I'm not sure all of the season veteran need to continue working in the games industry. I was beginning to get the feeling that most thought pretty highly of themselves and they were getting quite self indulgent on their podcasts and site content. It was pretty annoying to see and hear how "glamorous" their lifestyles were. To be honest, I didn't really care about WHO was reporting, so much as WHAT they were reporting.
Now the Joystiq guys are different. They could report on the Cat Fancy Best in Show Awards and I would eat that S' up, with relish!
Duke @ Jan 7th 2009 1:48PM
Well, glad you brought that up. The Cat Fanciers' Association named this cat as the 2007-2008 Best Cat http://www.cfa.org/awards/08nw/c01.gif
More on this story as interviews are conducted.
Alex @ Jan 8th 2009 9:35AM
Personally, I think the industry needs a cleaning of house if you will, gaming journalism will never be respected until they can get some serious reporters, granted snarky attitudes are the like of many in the gaming reporting world, such as joystiq, but few of them also have the maturity to handle it well, joystiq is one of the few examples I can think of, where that IS the case. I'm sorry but you turn on an IGN podcast, (and I listen to them all, every week) and it's typical 3 year old humor, with them just repeating rumors and speculation, I don't how many times I get frustrated with one of their editors repeating something wrong about a game, system, or piece of news, because they don't check their facts before they open their mouths. Joystiq has a much better sense of their position in the industry and you know that they know when to turn their "adult" hats on and off. Just compare how they write up an article compared to a similar one on joystiq. Sites like IGN are too big for their own good, and they overestimate their importance to the industry.
A site like joystiq doesn't try to overreach and fits its demo quite perfectly.
But right now, the gaming journalism industry is just way too buddy buddy, frat boyish, and immature for many of these sites to last. I think Joystiq is one of the few that will whether this storm. You look at the garbage that happened at gamespot or the relationship of IGN's Nintendo EIC and his wife (publicist for Nintendo) and those are immature improper things going on in the industry.
Well, that's my rant, not really 1up related, but sorta related on the topic of gaming journalism in general.
Shimrra @ Jan 7th 2009 11:56AM
Sucks that it happened I wish them all the best and hopefully they will all find something even if this economy sucks right now.
teknohed @ Jan 7th 2009 11:52AM
1Up without the podcasts is not 1Up. I think we are getting to the point where, at least for me, the podcast is the flagship about which a gaming site is built.
In the pre RSS feed days I used to read Kotaku, Gamespot, and GameBiz Daily. Now I RSS feed-read mainly Joystiq, 1Up (especially the Retronauts editors personal blogs), and Giant Bomb. This is primarily because I LOVE thier podcasts so much and I'd a lot rather read articles by Justin McElroy or Jeff Gerstmann since I feel an afinity that has been built over a few months of listening to their hilarious antics.
If retronauts goes off the air it will be a truly sad day.
Elmanjo @ Jan 7th 2009 12:46PM
The experienced professionals who provided their honest personal opinion with an extra layer of insight will be missed. It allowed a point and direct counter point discussion not found in the single author review structure.
This was a merger of intellectual property only, not experienced personnel which makes this "merger" just a re-badged UGO portal down the road.
Levi @ Jan 7th 2009 11:53AM
I'm quite torn about this issue. On one hand, I find Kennedy to be one of the most honest journalists in the industry. If Sam Kennedy says not to worry, we shouldn't worry.
On the other hand, years of playing Final Fantasy games has taught me that big old corporations are bad and will more than likely use the 1up servers to conjure up some nearly unstoppable mystic force in order to conquer the world.
Blue_Falcon @ Jan 7th 2009 11:54AM
The only thing that I find bizarre about this scenario is UGO to be honest. I've heard of them before, but hardly on a level in which they were in a position to outlast a well known gaming site such as 1up.
Mike @ Jan 7th 2009 2:36PM
I believe they're owned by Hearst, who own a buttload of magazines and such.
Kennedy pretty much HAS to say that stuff.... you know, if he doesn't want to be the next lay off. 1up is officially dead to me, and I will now enter a period of mourning where I drink scotch, listen to old eps of 1up yours, and cry for no less than two weeks.
deaddays @ Jan 7th 2009 11:55AM
Nope. Not buying it. Eff UGO.
lowlight @ Jan 7th 2009 12:03PM
They aren't "saving" anything by taking out almost every single reason I visit the site. After today, the only thing I will ever go back for is Jeremy Parrish's podcast and blog.
Wiinterfang @ Jan 7th 2009 11:58AM
Mergers always sucks the company is never the same again, just look a SEGA after the sammy merger all they do is lose money :(.
geminibros @ Jan 7th 2009 12:16PM
Yes, but Sega is starting to turn around. This year is shaping up to be a monster one for them. MadWorld, Empire: Total War, Alpha Protocol, The Conduit, Bayonetta, Stormrise, Aliens: Colonial Marines... lots of really tantalizing stuff. I'm sure not all of this will arrive in 09, but it's at least proof that the publisher is once again on the upswing.
Mr Khan @ Jan 7th 2009 12:12PM
Mergers just don't work as well as many hope. Often hidden incompatibilities surface
Wiinterfang @ Jan 7th 2009 12:20PM
I'm not saying SEGA sucks, I'm saying that Sammy is holding them down, they don't have huge budgets for making the games and almost never can afford delays, most of their gamers are make in 1 year and sammy is losing billions of money on pachinko machines every year.
I mean what can SEGA do is the make 2 billion dollars only to lose 40 to the sammy's machine?
borland502 (SDF Macross) @ Jan 7th 2009 12:20PM
"Mergers just don't work as well as many hope."
Whaaa? Just look at TimeWarner/AOL, ATI/AMD, and Square/Enix before you judge so hastily.
J.Goodwin @ Jan 7th 2009 3:26PM
Pretty much everything that SEGA is publishing lately worth buying are externally developed IPs.
Pretty much all that 1up will be able to produce will be provided by freelancers. Sounds pretty much the same to me.
Russ @ Jan 7th 2009 12:08PM
Wow, I saw this coming and I knew there would be layoffs but I can't believe Shane and Milkman were both let go.
Good for Shoe, Crispin, Jennifer, and Bryan for jumping ship when the time was right.
Jcarpio @ Jan 7th 2009 12:06PM
I guess in a one way, we should blame ourselves.
You all bitch about the ads on the sites and don't click on them.
Less ad clicks = less money = advertisers leave
Wiinterfang @ Jan 7th 2009 12:24PM
As today I'm gonna do my part, and start clicking on those phone advertisements.
boomsilent @ Jan 7th 2009 12:51PM
um, you cant blame consumers for a crappy business model. ive worked in the web space for 10 years, and damn near everything is based on views/hits/whatever.
the problem is, is that the product they make money from- PEOPLE HATE THEM AND FIND THEM ANNOYING.
so the industry uses scale to their advantage because you cant sell something no one wants. they make money just by the ads appearing on the page.
Jcarpio @ Jan 7th 2009 12:55PM
I've worked in online advertising for that long, so I have some knowledge to work from here. Don't get enough impressions, move on to places where they can.
usagi704 @ Jan 7th 2009 12:07PM
"...and they did their very best to continue 1UP."
Well, clearly their best is questionable. Especially so since they got rid of the very best of what 1UP was, namely their podcasts and show.
Hashbrown Hunter @ Jan 7th 2009 12:14PM
Yeah this is coming off as very suspicious. If UGO wants to cover their ass and fix this without losing a HUGE amount of 1UP fans they'd better get an explanation out the door ASAP.
Sora @ Jan 7th 2009 12:33PM
Well, they did their best to keep the 1up brand afloat, but they didn't do squat to keep what was associated with it...
Stix Remix @ Jan 7th 2009 12:13PM
1up was good, but it definitely wasn't perfect. Maybe after this merger, the website can actually become better.
Who knows? We'll have to wait and see...
Hashbrown Hunter @ Jan 7th 2009 12:16PM
At the cost of everything that made it great? No thanks.
Stix Remix @ Jan 7th 2009 12:21PM
Come on, "at the cost of everything that made it great" ?? Really? You think everything good is being removed?
Maybe I just never liked 1up as much as others, but I hardly feel everything great is being taken away.
borland502 (SDF Macross) @ Jan 7th 2009 12:22PM
The only way I could have faith in 1UP now is if they hired Phil Harrison. A man that can turn Atari around is a corporate Jesus.
Donald @ Jan 7th 2009 12:25PM
"1UP director Sam Kennedy: UGO not 'the bad guy'"
Joystiq commenter Donald: Sam Kennedy forced to lie to save his job
topherisagopher @ Jan 7th 2009 12:28PM
Agreed. I mean at this point it is just damage control for the hardcore and softcore gamer crowd who knew about these people. They will keep rolling on with their lives just as gamespot did and become even more corporate.
It is ok if you are doing that, just don't lie about it. Liars annoy me even more than wrong-doers!
Donald @ Jan 7th 2009 12:30PM
Jeff Green nailed it.
"But since he's obviously hamstrung by having to put a happy face on this bloodbath, I'll just say what would have been nice to read, instead: "Our website is decimated. Our new owners failed to recognize the talent we had, which comes as no surprise since their own website values lowest-common-denominator pandering over quality content. We will do our best to do what we can, despite the fact that they gutted us. This fucking sucks.""
http://jeff-greenspeak.blogspot.com/2009/01/no-youre-not-same-1up.html
topherisagopher @ Jan 7th 2009 12:26PM
lol, yeah right; not the bad guy!?!?!
I am not sure how this even makes sense. They fire 3/4's of the crew there, frontmen and behind the scenes and get rid of any of the personality which made 1UP and EGM special in the first place.
I am not sure about you other guys here, but I went and still read every EGM issue just for the editorials, reviews, and other coverage by the staff just because I liked a lot of them and valued their opinions. Putting a bunch of new or frelancer journalists is not really going to win me back since I have not really connected with any of them nor do I really care about their opinion in anyways which I did of Chuf, Suttner, Crispin, Shane at times, Jeff Green and most of all; Shawn Elliott!
Long live RebelFM/RebelRadio!!!
Floordje @ Jan 7th 2009 12:26PM
Wow.... I had been annoyed with 1up podcasts recently because of the inane dronings of Tina "duuuh cod" Sanchez. The only silver lining to this mass-firing, to my mind, was that I would never have to hear Tina "I'm sure she's a nice person" Sanchez again.... but OMG... if you go by that list of 30 odd names the one person they HAVE decided to keep on is Sanchez... this does not bode well for UGOUP.Com