UGO boss tells his side of the story; world listens

by Christopher Grant on Jan 7th 2009 7:30PM

It's like this: there are two sides to every story (even stories about things with more than two sides, apparently). Take last night's 1UP / UGO situation (UGO-gate? 1UP-ton?). On the surface, that certainly appeared to be a gruesome bloodletting, with the entirety of EGM's staff let go, the magazine shuttered, and much of 1UP's popular media production teams sent packing. That's certainly not good news for any of the affected, including Ziff's community.

But, inversely, it's no secret that EGM and other video game mags (not to mention the entire print journalism industry in general) aren't doing so well – one need only peruse themediaisdying for a moment to get the idea. From UGO's point of view, they weren't laying people off, but hiring 24 new employees and expanding the UGO workforce by 33%. Speaking with MTV Multiplayer, UGO chief J Moses says that "the simple reality is that we only wanted to buy 1UP and related sites" and that "closing EGM has absolutely nothing to do with UGO."

What about all those podcasts and video shows? 1UP's Sam Kennedy – who agrees that UGO is not the bad guy – tells MTV that "the Retronauts podcast will continue" and there are "some possibilities" regarding the future of the 1UP Yours podcast. As for the The 1UP Show video podcast? It's "more up in the air," according to MTV. So, dear readers (and angry 1UP / EGM fans), does this help you understand the situation? Empathize with UGO? Still gwumpy? Sound off in the comments.

Source

Tags: 1UP, breakingnews, UGO

Reader Comments (55)

They fired the people that MADE those shows, how can their future be 'up in the air'?

They can't expect to somehow revive them with different people, can they? Not if they expect to retain any of the old fans. (And not just piss them off further.)

Exactly
This is just really stupid

I like how UGO didnt mention the cut of the media production crew and most of the review crew and just said that they bought the network and not the website.

They didnt have to do that
They couldve done the opposite, seeing as what made 1UP popular was the 1UP show and its podcasts.

Whatever
I still love some of the people that stayed, like Garnett, but Im gonna need to give some serious thought to actually going back to 1UP.com since UGO thinks that Im going to remain a fan.

Meh, I still prefer the 1up network to UGO, but whatever they do is fine, it is just a business acquisition, and even though I love the magazine I knew it would end some day....I love you joystiq...

The guy said he kept the 'core' people that were important... that's BS. He pretty much is saying that the 30 or 40 people who lost their jobs weren't important. A$$ Hat.

Bleh. Its just UGO attempting to spin the news to make it sound better.

Got to move on now but it doesn't make it any better. Good people still lost their jobs. Even if shows that are thought to be canceled come back, they will not be the same.

Is it possible for Joystiq to keep us updated as to where the fired people end up working and what podcasts they are taking part in, if any?

Again, I wish the best of luck to all those in the layoffs yesterday.

I forget where it was, but I saw a list of twitters of the folks that got the sack. I think it may have been on neogaf? I'm not sure. Somewhere, anyway. Following their individual twitters would be the best bet.

There's no point anymore if the 1up yours podcast continues or not because of Shane leaving. The only way to fix this would be to have him appear as a "guest" weekly like they do with John Davidson. Then and only then could I get over my bitterness.

Shane "Butt-In"hausen was the one part of the show I hated the most. He just never knew when to shutup and almost always sounded like a pompous ass.

The only time I didn't mind him was when he would put Garnett in his place for sounding like an idiot.

As far as Garnett, John, and the rotating 4th chair, they will be missed.

Phillip Kollar, Nick Suttner and Anthony Gallegos just recorded a new podcast: Rebel FM
I think it will be posted here: http://www.eat-sleep-game.com/news/

I guess now would be a bad time to subscribe to EGM even though it is only $12 for a year.

I don't think the option's even open anymore since the January issue is their last.

Another one of my video game magzine subscription cancelled so what the hell are they going to do for subscribers

No. Nothing can make me forgive UGO. Ever.

Screw him! I'm going to miss my EGM subscription...and I want my bloody money back too :P

At least the other magazine I read that got canceled - PC Magazine - I didn't actually care about, it was a free subscription. This, however, sucks!!!

Is the server crapping out? Don't tell me Joystiq is going to die too!

The Podcasts were the best. They should have done everything they could do to keep them going.

I'll Miss 1up FM, Retronauts, 1up Yours, and LAN party. Those were my "go to" podcasts everytime they came out.

so basically they're gonna take 1up from one of the best on the net and make it a little part of their amateurish site. Nice :(

I don't blame UGO; they did what they thought best for their business. But they shouldn't expect me to thank them for closing my favorite podcasts or booting my favorite hosts. Nor should they expect me to transfer loyalty because of a brand identity.

If this asshole hadn't posted such a bullshit announcement, "celebrating" and mentioning how awesome the personalities at 1up are while they are all getting canned, maybe he wouldn't be considered such a pile of shit by all the fans.

So of course, now, he's looking for some understanding, when UGO realizes that we aren't a bunch of mindless sheep.

When will these big companies stop underestimating the intelligence and loyalty of true gaming fans?

You know, technically that Twitter should be called, "The media are dying." Of course, maybe it's some sort of in-joke acknowledging that copy editors are often the first people laid off.

has any info come out yet about what actually went down that was so horrible or was it just the plain firings

Give EGM a final issue!!!!!

They are shipping a final issue, this month.

Well praise Jebus!!

Hey Swamp Donkey...where did you read they're shipping another issue? I read the January 2009 issue was their last. And that would be the issue that was sent last month. Give me some hope man!

Honestly I could care less. I rarely read 1UP, especially after Hsu left. It sucks for the people who lost their jobs but I'm sure in time they'll find new employment in time. 5 years from all now we'll all be lamenting UGO getting bought out by some other company, life goes on.

Why do people constantly say "could care less"? I hate it! Sarcasm is not conveyed well in text. You take it one step further by adding "honestly" before it, meaning you are using it in a literal way, which goes against what you are saying by implying that you do care! Why not just use "couldn't care less" and save me from furrowing my brow?!

[/rant]

I could have said "To be honest, I could care less", does that make it better?

Still gwumpy

wow, I'm out sick for 3 days and this shit happens without me knowing? Holy hell. So long, my free 2 year subscription to EGM due to Joystiq's awesome promo. I guess free things always do come with a catch.

no offense to Tfrog, but retronauts aint no 1upShow, or1upYours. Even if they bring back Shane as a special guest I'll still have a hard time getting over this and continuing to support 1up.

I'm kind of upset with all the hostility UGO is getting. I understand why people would be angry, but it was inevitable that 1UP and EGM were going to have to change. If they had stayed with Ziff Davis, the same thing could have happened, or worse, 1UP could have just been shut down. At least UGO buying 1UP means the future of the site isn't in question, and we can keep some of its former glory.

This is just the life when you have a failing business structure and a failing economy. It's not UGO's fault, it's just their fault that the select people were fired so soon.

As a loyal reader of EGM for almost 20 years I say fuck UGO.

At MonkeyDog:
But what's the point of 1UP Surviving if anyone I cared about is no longer there. Yes, I realize that 1UP could have died without the assistance of the UGO but what's the point of staying with them now.

I agree, without the cool people, 1up is just an empty shell *tear*

I hope that history repeats itself in the way that TechTV was acquired and then butchered: The sad loss of one networked spawned a series of independent podcasters and news sources comprised of former TechTV folks (Revision3, the TWiT casts, WebbAlert). Maybe the 1UP crew will pull together something awesome from the wreckage.

as much as i loved EGM i rarely read it and i was a subscriber. certain parts in it were great, but the combination of joytiq, kotaku, joystiq's sister fanboy sites and an RSS reader is what killed me caring about printed media for gaming news. I just didn't care to wait over a month to get the same information i could grab a few minutes after it became available. on top of that the state of EGM and other gaming magazines has been pathetic for years; the most recent issue of EGM i received was i believe under 100 and just littered with ad. i just felt i wasn't getting my value's worth compared to the massive sometimes 400 plus page issues of EGM from the 1990s.

sad day, but it was bound to happen very very soon if it didn't with ugo

I'm just curious...

What would people have to say if Ziff Davis simply went bankrupt and EVERYONE was laid off - not just 30-40 people? Who would be the "bad guy" then?

I don't care about UGO or 1UP one way or another, so I have to wonder where all the negative UGO sentiment is coming from. It's like people are forgetting that these websites (including Joystiq) are businesses, and sometimes businesses fail.

While it's a tragedy that so many people lost their jobs, I don't think there is a "good guy" or "bad guy" in this scenario. It's just business.

I completely see where you're coming from there, but I still have to disagree.

UGO, subsidiary of the Hearst Corporation, came in, bought 1up / EGM, and talked about all the great personalities there.... and then fired most of them. If it were just "business is business - there's no other solution" I'd be upset, but I'd let it go after a while. Take a closer look at the situation. Read some of the stuff over at UGO (if you can find the content buried under all the ads)The writing is terrible - the articles are amateurish at best. So why do those asshats continue to draw a paycheck, while the talent from 1up / EGM is jobless? This was a bad business decision on UGO / The Hearst Corp's part. They could have merged the two staffs, had some lay offs (probably the hacks over at UGO) and come back with two strong websites. Instead, UGO went untouched, and a lot of very talented journalists are out of work. The long term repercussions aren't going to be pretty either - the internet is pretty pissed at UGO - I expect they'll see a couple weeks of high traffic, then a significant dip off on both UGO, and 1up as fans migrate away from them.

Well like I said I'm not real familiar with either site, so I can't make judgments on either site's quality. But if what you say is true then I still don't see it as "good guy, bad guy" but more like "broke guy, guy with money but incredibly bad business sense" lol

EGM had 550,000 PAID subscribers. It just came down to Ziff davis really wanting to get out of print and UGO wanting a website, not a magazine.

Joystiq is my new permahome or until AOL dies...

I think the whole situation sucks in general (especially the layoffs), but what's the point of blaming UGO? It's business. Add to the fact that 1up.com would likely vanish into eventual bankruptcy along with the rest of Ziff-Davis had UGO not stepped in (and been the only ones willing), and complaining about the whole thing just seems silly.

i hope the 'acquisition' ends up costing them an a$$ ton and the site flounders like a fish out of water. the 1up network was popular because of a culture and a group of likeminded people, UGO has no interest in keeping the readers who that site originally targeted so i hope that traffic finds it's way to another deserving place (wish i knew where that was) rather than feeding this dis-interested $&*%#$ of a company.

The reason they fired all the podcast people, despite how important, is because they only have at most 3 ads per podcast. It's just not making money. I think it's horrible that they completely disregard the fan-base and fire almost everyone that's adored by the fans. I mean Shane, Ryan Scott, Ryan O'Donnel, and Anthony? This is ridiculous. 1up Show is dead. Check the credits, and you won't find anyone besides the (for lack of a better word) "actors" who's still at 1up. I'm really disappointed with Ugo. THey acquisition a popular, great website and magazine, and completely screw it over. It's sad how they don't care about the fan-base. It seems like the only podcasters who made were Garnet and Teenah.

Apparently UGO like to thing we were born yesterday. The only ones who don't fucking understand is them! UGO, let me make this crystal-fucking-clear: The reason we all liked 1UP's podcasts and show was for the PEOPLE who made them and NOT for whatever TITLE the shows in question had! Sure, you can have a podcast named 1UP Yours or a show named The 1UP Show, but that DOESN'T make it the same great program!

Can I ask the obvious selfish question? I'm a EGM subscriber with over 2 years left on my remaining subscription. Are they going to pawn us readers off to some other magazine or am I due a refund in the mail? Or worse, are we subscribers just screwed and left with nothing?

Any info on this would be appreciated.

I've been reading for almost twenty years, this is kinda sad. Farewell EGM, I'll miss you.

Former 1up podcast fans: it's time to listen to a REAL podcast, not that cutesy, idiotic garbage from 1up. TAPEZILLA.net!

Here's the thing - UGO has some TERRIBLE writers. People who have clearly never held a controller in their life. I read a L4D casting call there yesterday that had an old, prerelease render of the witch as the ref pic for her, and most of the actors they mentioned were dead. The whole thing was poorly constructed, and mildly offensive the the now deceased actors mentioned. So why is the author of that post still drawing a paycheck while Shane Bettenhausen is standing in the unemployment line? What? You want to save money, but laying off UGO staff is out of the question? That's dumb. They could have fired the asshats working at UGO, and replaced them w/ the staffers cut from 1UP / EGM.

Don't get me wrong - I'll miss EGM, but it's true - print mags are dying. I'm far more bothered by the fact that all that talent was fired for no good reason.

Oh, one other thing - if you're mad about all of this, talk with your money. The Hearst Corporation has a lot of holdings - if you subscribe to any of them, I suggest you stop - talk with your money, 'cause they'll only listen with their wallet.

check out the wiki for a full list of their holdings
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hearst_corporation

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UGO boss tells his side of the story; world listens

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