Kotaku Australia Is Shutting Down And Woke Video Game Journos Are Losing Their Minds
by Jack Dunn
In March, Fandom Pulse reported that Jen Glennon, editor-in-chief at Kotaku, resigned because of a management decision to prioritize gaming guides over the news. Then, on March 7, Levi Winslow disclosed on X that he and three more staff members were laid off from Kotaku. However, layoffs affected not only the video games industry and video games journalism but also the tabletop games journalism industry, and last month, Dicebreaker, the board games, RPGs, and tabletop games website, was shut down.
It has been reported that Nine-owned Pedestrian Group CEO Matt Rowley is leaving the publisher in a major restructuring and cost-cutting effort, including shutting down woke Kotaku, Vice, and Refinery29 in Australia. It has been reported that up to 40 jobs will be cut across the Pedestrian Group. In an e-mail to staff, Matt Rowley wrote: “We’ve made the tough decision to focus on our wholly owned Pedestrian brands where we control the strategy, the content, the product, the sales, and the outcome – the entire business. This will impact roles within the group and I appreciate the uncertainty this change creates, so we will be in contact immediately with those people.”
The Australian Pedestrian Group licenses Kotaku, Vice, and Refinery29 to republish in Australia. According to The Guardian, Matt Rowley blamed the license partners for facing financial headwinds and corporate instability, as well as a decline in the broader advertising market and the growth of TikTok and Instagram as part of the decision. Matt Rowley could have said, “Go woke, go broke.” It would appear that the propping up and endless money supply for woke gaming journalists is finally ending.
The woke journalists aren’t taking it well. Kotaku Australia’s Managing Editor David Smith wrote on X: “Folks, I have some sad news to share. Today, the story of Kotaku Australia comes to a sad and abrupt end. It has been one of the great joys of my life to wake up every day and run a site I love with all my heart.”
Ruby Innes had an epic meltdown: “i would not be where i am today without kotaku australia, without the guidance of @RhunWords, and without the support and love of everyone working in kotaku/gizmodo/lifehacker/vice/r29. my heart goes out to all of my editorial besties caught in the redundancy bomb. and you all may be very cordial but i am not. fuck these corpo dogs for running these well-run and unique websites into the ground, they never deserved any of the talented writers/editors that came through their doors.”
The shutdown of these websites may be bad news for Globohomo and its lackeys, but it is good news for alternative gaming, comic and culture websites like Fandom Pulse.
What do you think of Kotaku Australia shutting down? Leave a comment and let us know.