Fired or resigned, extremely incomplete list:
- Nick Calandra - Editor-in-Chief
- Yahtzee Croshaw - Zero Punctuation, Adventure is Nigh, Extra Punctuation
- Jack Packard - Adventure is Nigh
- Amy Campbell - Adventure is Nigh, 3 Minute Reviews
- KC Nwosu - Adventure is Nigh, 3 Minute Reviews
- Jesse Galena - Adventure is Nigh, 3 Minute Reviews
- Sebastian Ruiz - Cold Take, Stuff of Legend
- JM8 - Editor, Design Delve
- Darren Moody - Columnist
- Marty Sliva - 3 Minute Review
IP of Zero Punctuation belongs to Escapist, so that is dead as of now.
With a loss of people like that, The Escapist is dead too.
The pro gamer move would be to pick up the Zero Punctuation rights at auction.
Yeah, Yahtzee and ZP was what kept The Escapist alive (Pretty sure there was a point where ZP was their only content). Cold Take was the other thing that was interesting and they lost that too. I don’t think they have any other content without those guys.
Seriously what were they thinking? I’m literally only subscribed to their YT channel for Yahtzee stuff. Everyone who bought a membership is gonna cancel now.
They probably had no idea Yahtzee and co were that loyal to Nick. That said, I’m shocked Yahtzee was never given an ownership stake, as an insurance against… Well, this exact scenario.
I mean, it should have died years ago the last time they unceremoniously dumped talent over apparently ideological reasons, but they survived.
Granted, this time is different because now they are losing their primary breadwinner. They plodded along before because ZP still brought in people. This wound may actually be fatal.
Looks like Yatzee is losing access to the Zero Punctuation IP, so he’ll have to move to a different brand. Must be a bloody difficult move after being with ZP for almost 20 years.
“IP” feels like such a weird term here. It’s not that I disagree, it’s just weird to think about. Oh no, he will have to be mad at games with an English accent to slightly different clipart. He may have to find a new nu metal riff for his intro.
It was a recognisable brand, so he’ll definitely lose viewers in the transition who simply don’t know the two series are related. The Yatzee character was Yatzee to most people, so he’s almost having to give up his face. It’s not like Conan O’Brian moving to a new show where everyone already knows who he is and what he looks like.
I think most of the format are Yahtzee’s IP, because he made two episodes released on his own channel independently under the name “Fully Ramblomatic” before being picked up by The Escapist maintaining pretty much an identical formula under the Zero Punctuation name. I think there would be a case that the little black imp thing is his for the same reason.
The only reason I even knew The Escapist existed is because of ZP.
That title made me feel like I was having a stroke.
Well, good luck keeping the lights on without Yahtzee, he’s been the sole reason 90% of your audience even existed in the first place.
It’s more like 100%. The escapist is yahtzee. Was, rather. Now it’s a logo, a url, and a back catalog.
On the bright side, the entire team has banded together to launch “Second Wind”. Their new discord is popping and there will be a livestream tomorrow detailing the team’s plan going forward
Gonna be honest, since it seemed like Yahtzee was the only one who pulled in views I kind of always assumed he was like the channel owner? You know “Yahtzee’s shenanigans and he funds his friends trying to do stuff hoping something will stick”
But I’m just a super casual but long term watcher. I watch every zero punctuation, and like… yeah that’s it. Been doing that for a decade.
Wild they managed to piss off the reason people care about them.
