Game Informer
GameStop
GameStop abruptly shut down one of the most respected outlets for video game journalism yesterday, firing its entire staff, with the announcement being made via a statement that could entirely be believed to have been written by an AI.
Losing your job would have been bad enough, but what happened soon after was discovered by writers past and present was that not only had Game Informer been shut down, but the entire website had been wiped from the Internet. Not only the home page, but all of the historical links to Game Informer articles going back decades now redirected to an AI-generated “goodbye” message.
As a writer, it’s hard to comprehend how devastating this is. Not only is it terrible to lose your job, but it’s also terrible to not be able to reference your past work while you’re trying to move on elsewhere, not to mention the loss of thousands of great features over the years from an outlet that is so important to the industry. The only reason this makes sense is because GameStop is trying to cut down on URL hosting costs, a move that has been described as “evil” by many.
This doesn’t just affect recently laid-off employees; the site and magazine were already gutted by previous layoffs, but anyone who has written for Game Informer has seen their articles lost. There’s likely no remedy for this, since GameStop technically owns that content and is unlikely to simply turn the lights back on out of goodwill.
So there are efforts underway to preserve what can be preserved through things like the Internet Archive, but given the amount of material we’re talking about here, it’s going to be a massive project that will take years to complete.
GameStop has yet to directly comment on Game Informer’s closure, again only releasing a “goodbye” message without providing any reason. I was able to easily reproduce part of this message in ChatGPT with very little wording changes:
Statement: “It is with a heavy heart that we announce the closure of Game Informer, an exciting magazine that has brought you the latest news, reviews and insights from the ever-evolving world of gaming for 33 years.” ChatGPT: “It is with a heavy heart that we announce the closure of Game Informer after 33 illustrious years of history.” Statement: “From the dawn of pixelated adventures to the immersive virtual worlds of today, we have been honoured to share this incredible journey with our loyal readers.” ChatGPT: “Over the years, we have witnessed the evolution of the gaming industry, from the dawn of 16-bit graphics to the amazingly immersive worlds of today.” Statement: “Our printing presses may stop, but the passion for games that we developed together lives on.” ChatGPT: “Game Informer may be closing, but the memories and connections we have made will remain.”
If you keep telling me to correct it, the words change but the structure is all the same. Terrible.
Shutting down Game Informer is bad enough, but destroying over 30 years of history with the push of a button is unjust, and redirecting it to an AI statement is emblematic of the state of the industry as a whole. We hope someone is held accountable for this, but at this point, we don’t know how.
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