"Zero Punctuation" and "Dev Diary" by Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw - The only thing worth watching on The Escapist

[whatever I feel like]

I was right, I was fucking right. I'm pretty sure now since yahtzees gone the escapist is probably gonna try to use ai voices to fill in for zp cause everybody knows nobody watches the escapist for anything else. Yahtzee himself I think will create a new venture with Nick calandra since they seem to be very close friends. I hate to say it but I liked zp and this shit was written on the wall ever since they apologized to Zoe Quinn and rehired moviebob. It's like whatculture all over again. But the funny thing is that Jimbo sterling was able to get away with the jimquisition while yahtzee had to give up zp, he's still very talented and will land on his feet but it's a shame the inferior crap gets to keep on going.

JQ actually came from Destructoid first, Jim always owned it.

 

[SBG]

The thing is that it works in reverse, too. Yahtzee's in for a nasty surprise if he thinks that he's anything without ZP. None of Yahtzee's stuff has made any impact outside of ZP and most of it involves/involved the ZP avatar and setup.

His Patreon is now fucked since ZP was a major selling point, and Extra Punctuation would at the very least have to be rebranded and redesigned. Unless he's playing the long game and hopes to swoop in and buy back ZP for a pittance when the Escapist files for bankruptcy, he's screwed himself in the process.

Think he invested in a bar years ago, plus he has his writing. He’ll likely be fine transitioning to a new show setup if he’s wanting to do that.

 

[whatever I feel like]

Think he invested in a bar years ago, plus he has his writing. He’ll likely be fine transitioning to a new show setup if he’s wanting to do that.

The bar was in Australia, he sold it long ago. That said, its not like most people own their "life's work", anyway. Unless you own your own business or cheap out and say its your family or something.

 

[Radiaux]

Fuuuuuuuuuuuck

Does that mean Adventure is Nigh is dead? Yes I know they have current funds for that, but what about after? How much does the escapist own that?
Zero Punctuation is dead.
Who else walked?

About all I watched was 3 min review, Design Delve, Cold Take, and ZP. I would sometimes watch the stream content if I cared enough about what was being presented. I loved the heck out of Adventure is Nigh so I hope that is their own side thing and they just take it with them.

I don't think every thing they make is good but it certainly doesn't hold a candle to ZP

At least Yahtzee is famous enough he can just go do his own thing now.

 

[The tired cat]

What is with internet content creators and selling off their basic fuckin IP? At least this isn't quite as bad as Doug Walker selling off the Critic to some weirdo, since Doug is physically incapable of doing anything else. At least Yahtzee can just do a different game review show, just probably at normal speed instead.

So, basically that shit review show he had, that didnt last past a pilot and even he was embressed of?

 

[Pissmaster]

What do they even own, a yellow background and a stock photo of a plain man's face?

A whole back catalog of videos for slightly older games, many of which have dated political hot takes, and also an assurance that no new ZP content starring Yahtzee can possibly happen. It's the modern equivalent of keeping the rights to old news broadcasts. As for the brand, it's too tightly tied in with its creator to ever succeed with a different host. I'm sure Yahtzee doesn't have the draw to pull anyone on a brand new show he didn't get to promote on ZP itself. This just spells disaster for everyone.

Apparently his last episode was Sonic Superstars. Seems poetic that his show ended on a game from the most autistic series in the world. It's not up on YouTube or The Escapist at the moment, it's probably paywalled. Anyway, here's the transcription: https://antifandom.com/zeropunctuation/wiki/Sonic_Superstars (archive)

 

[Georgio Cocklord]

Think he invested in a bar years ago, plus he has his writing. He’ll likely be fine transitioning to a new show setup if he’s wanting to do that.

The bar closed in 2019 and the books sell okay at best, mogworld is the only thing which sells a lot I think others barely sell even.

 

[The tired cat]

The bar closed in 2019 and the books sell okay at best, mogworld is the only thing which sells a lot I think others barely sell even.

An only reason Mogworld sells is becuase its just Yahzees self insert rambling about WoW and everyone just re-affirms his rambles. His other books pretty much try to be Terry Pratchet or Douglas Adams books, but you can tell he doesnt have the talent for that.

 

[Get the rope Macaulay!]

Does anyone remember The Escapist from their There Will Be Brawl series?

some ongoing massive drama at The Escapist,

If its like what happened over at deadspin here's the basic jist: bloggers have been acting like the power mods over at reddit and doing whatever the fuck they want and shilling their woke bullshit even when its not called for; because the owners are so hands off they didn't realize this hurt the bottom line until it was way past that point and when they asked these people to tone it down for the first time in their entire lives they went apeshit and once there were consequences for their actions their buddies who they hired through nepotism and helped protect them from their actions reaching the higher ups until now left with them. And because its not 2009 corporations don't have these people by the balls anymore so they just take their fanbase with them to whatever new site they're on. It somewhat works depending on how much they're willing to sacrifice, IIRC the deadspin writers haven't really had a raise from their 2019 salaries, which was already pretty shit for NYC, everyone making about 70k. OTOH Cracked disbanded pretty soon after leaving their company but they weren't remotely as close knit as one would think and their attempt at their own site failed almost immediately, they truely were small beans.

The other reason this is similar to Deadspin's walkout is they too were a "X and friends" type deal. Much like how Yahtzee was the reason for probably most traffic to zero punctuation, Drew Magary was the star of deadspin and him staying loyal to his coworkers on the site instead of fucking off despite literally living 500 miles away from them is a big reason why their new site got enough subscribers to keep it above water.

do with the IP rights for Zero Punctuation?

last i checked they aren't unionized, they literally have hours of this guy's voice if they're truely that desperate. its not even his real voice, they could just have an AI actor or have someone do an impression. literally Rick&Morty style

What is with internet content creators and selling off their basic fuckin IP?

15 years ago most of these people were making shit for free and slapping it on youtube, they just saw that a company reached out and didn't read the terms and just signed the contract.

Unless you own your own business

even then its only worth what someone else might want for it. why would someone buy your 7/11, subway, or vape shop when they can open up their own?

 

[reptile baht spaniard rid]

The only thing I ever remember about this jogger is that voice over of the Witcher trailer. Probably can’t be done today.

 

[Fagnacious D]

last i checked they aren't unionized, they literally have hours of this guy's voice if they're truely that desperate. its not even his real voice, they could just have an AI actor or have someone do an impression. literally Rick&Morty style

I'm trying to imagine woke AI-voiced yahtzee reviewing a game. Imagine far less cursing, constant virtue signaling and, "jokes" about white men. Zero punctuation becomes zero charm.

 

[Get the rope Macaulay!]

. Imagine far less cursing, constant virtue signaling and, "jokes" about white men

you don't have to imagine, just check out the latest episodes!

 

[Xarpho's Return]

even then its only worth what someone else might want for it. why would someone buy your 7/11, subway, or vape shop when they can open up their own?

Location, location, location. Plus, for small businesses, even chain ones, they have their clientele and the people who frequent it, building another one elsewhere means that you're working from scratch. (Plus Subways and 7/11s are notoriously inconsistent between locations).

As far as the Internet goes, there's no concept of "location" but SEO does matter. Zero Punctuation will still get more clicks than whatever Yahtzee will do in the future.

 

[Georgio Cocklord]

It would be funny if Yahtzee creates a new show called Fully Ramblomatic which was the original title for Zero Punctuation before it got bought by the Escapist. I think he has decent dev skills and will probably do games but he also has a bad habit of trying to write books which hes not that good at. Calandra seems like a soyboy though so if the operation were to tank, I think he will be the one to neuter everybody.

Edit: I just realized DSP outlived another one, how does he keep doing it.

 

[Mordecai "3 Finger" Brown]

If its like what happened over at deadspin here's the basic jist:

The other reason this is similar to Deadspin's walkout is they too were a "X and friends" type deal.

Yes, very similar to the Deadspin meltdown.

Deadspin was a once popular sports blog under the Gawker media banner along with Kotaku.

It was populated by insufferable leftist writers that would pen A&N-style navel-gazing articles raging about Trump and complaining about city life that had very little to do with sportsball.

After Hogan took down Gawker, the Deadspin brand was sold off to some venture capitalists. The new owners installed a new boss who wanted to change the focus to actual sports journalism as opposed to smarmy diatribes.

The new boss sent out an infamous "Stick to Sports" memo that made all the writers on staff go REEEE that their right to write about anything but sports was being infringed upon.

Their editor IIRC quit in response, followed by their entire staff quitting en masse on Twitter.

Their Twitter mob then started yelling "scab" at any freelance writers that put their name in the byline for these freshly-vacated positions.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

I'm just waiting for it to be revealed that either the person in charge that fired the guy was a tranny, or the guy being fired was q tranny. Maybe both.

 

[Soda Can]

It would be funny if Yahtzee creates a new show called Fully Ramblomatic which was the original title for Zero Punctuation before it got bought by the Escapist. I think he has decent dev skills and will probably do games but he also has a bad habit of trying to write books which hes not that good at. Calandra seems like a soyboy though so if the operation were to tank, I think he will be the one to neuter everybody.

Holy shit, I forgot Fully Ramblomatic was a thing. Maybe he could dip deep into ironic nostalgia and make more terrible animations bitching about trigger happy account bans on Neopets.

 

[IDanceonTrannyGraves]

I was right, I was fucking right. I'm pretty sure now since yahtzees gone the escapist is probably gonna try to use ai voices to fill in for zp cause everybody knows nobody watches the escapist for anything else. Yahtzee himself I think will create a new venture with Nick calandra since they seem to be very close friends. I hate to say it but I liked zp and this shit was written on the wall ever since they apologized to Zoe Quinn and rehired moviebob. It's like whatculture all over again. But the funny thing is that Jimbo sterling was able to get away with the jimquisition while yahtzee had to give up zp, he's still very talented and will land on his feet but it's a shame the inferior crap gets to keep on going.

They can't use AI voices to emulate Yahtzee, because that would probably be a likeness rights issue, and I highly doubt they got him to sign that.

 

[Ghostse]

the reason given by Nick is that he was fired for "not achieving goals", which can mean anything.

Old unwoke world translation: Our financials are in the shit, you aren't helping hit the bricks so we can find someone who can. Or a boardmember's nephew to finish killing this place

Current woke world translation: The number of tranny cocks you've sucked in the trailing 4 quarters is in sufficient, and you didn't suck the with level of enthusiasm that meets the standards set in the KPI. Kill yourself, white cishet goy.

 

[The Cunting Death]

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Random thought here with the biggest reaction image being trans flags. In his 2013 review of Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons there was a joke that went "the gameplay is best described as single-player co-op, and I know that sounds like saying 'I'm not gay, I only suck off pre-op transsexuals' but is" (the video was reuploaded within a week with "pre-op transexuals" replaced with "pantomime dames"). The joke caused a shitshow on the Escapist's forum and it was one of my first run ins with transsexual degeneracy. I distinctly remember the abject shock I felt after I saw the dude on page 4 who claimed sucking his "girlfriend's" cock was a completely heterosexual act. Thank you Mr. Croshaw for sending me on the path that led me to this lovely farm.

Here's the post on the forum you mentioned, read dramatically by Demolition D.