Yahtzee Croshaw (Zero Punctuation, Fully Ramblomatic)

By all accounts it's great.

I can't wait to hear him review Assassin's Creed Origins, actually. Doesn't he usually respect franchise installments that shake up the formula?

Or in the case of a few franchises, returns to formula after failed experiments?

Also, I want him to retro-review the original Star Wars Battlefront II. Wonder what he'd think of it....

I always think it's funny that we always discuss his videos a week after they're uploaded.

Because most of us view them on You Tube, not on The Escapist's website.

I mean, I know why. It's just funny.

A while ago we were talking about how Yahtzee is the only person working for the Escapist. Well, the Escapist just fired all of its staff except Yahtzee. Yahtzee's job is safe for the moment, but it's not clear how much longer the Escapist will be around. Yahtzee is talented and well known enough to get picked up by someone else or even go independent if he so desires, but I have to wonder what would happen to his 10 years worth of episodes.

It's a sad affair overall. The Escapist used to be a great website and it sucks to see it as it is now.

Frankly, I only know of its existence through osmosis, as it were. I would imagine that most people, like me, mainly follow The Escapist on You Tube to watch ZP.

Looking at those comments... are there still people sore over The Hashtag That Shall Not Be Named? Or is it just the usual vocal alt-right infestation of the gamer community?

Am I reading that correctly? Escapist was pro-gg? What the actual hell

I read it as the Escapist forum moderation actively banning GG trolls and them getting all up in arms over it. Which matches very well with our experience here.

Not so much "pro" as simply apathetic. When other sites cracked down on that shit, the Escapist just let it go in order to soak up all those alt-twat pageviews. It's possible that they fired Moviebob over having, *ahem*, "strong" opinions regarding this new audience, but that's unconfirmed, and none of the content shown on the Escapist seemed to really go either way.

So officially, they just sort of ignored the whole thing.

But yeah, the Escapist has been dead for a while now. It's honestly amazing that Yahtzee stayed on that long. I understand preferring a monthly paycheck to internet busking, but surely he'd be able to find a place elsewhere?

edited 23rd Oct '17 6:18:29 AM by Kayeka

Yahtzee has been carrying the site for as long as he's been on it. He could write his own paycheck almost anywhere, as long as they don't try to exert editorial control. I suppose that's one of the biggest pitfalls to being a Caustic Critic.

edited 23rd Oct '17 6:22:31 AM by Fighteer

> Yahtzee is talented and well known enough to get picked up by someone else or even go independent if he so desires, but I have to wonder what would happen to his 10 years worth of episodes.

I have heard that the Escapist owns his brand,which would explain he can't just leave.

edited 23rd Oct '17 6:26:03 AM by Ultimatum

Well, that obviously depends on how dickish they intend to be towards him. If they've gone under to the point where ZP is their only meaningful content, then they can either sell/give it back to him or try to get value for it by marketing it to some other media company, which might not allow Yahtzee to maintain creative control.

As for the video content, unless Escapist literally takes down their You Tube channel, it'll still gather views. Kind of sucks for Yahtzee, though, because none of the ad revenue will go to him unless he manages to take control of the account.

If Yahtzee had been really smart, his contract would have a clause letting him reclaim ownership of his IP if Escapist folds. We shall see.

edited 23rd Oct '17 6:28:18 AM by Fighteer

It would add up with (some) of their other creators. Moviebob's shows all changed names when he left. Similarly, LoadingReadyRun's (Who are now making bank on Patreon, good on them) shows also changed name - only the stuff they did prior to the Escapist kept its name and logo. Jim Sterling kept his brand, as did the Extra Credit guys.

It's possible that even without clause he could get those back, if the Escapist cedes them to him before folding, or he gets them as part of their bankruptcy.

I'm sort of amazed the site still exists honestly. Considering that the Escapist has been plagued for most of its existence with a reputation for being terrible at paying its contributors on time (or at all).

edited 23rd Oct '17 6:44:26 AM by Ghilz

It's been a long, gradual decline. I remember last year if you went to the "games" tab it was nothing but a Trump/PC Gamer Master Race thing. I remember thinking "do you really just have that little comment that you have to drag out what I'm pretty sure was your April Fool's Joke?"

Quite frankly, if you find yourself losing talent like Extra Credit, Jim Sterling, and other guys who I don't really personally care a lot for yet are still strong draws, you probably shouldn't be running a media outlet.

Also the guy who owns the site is a bit of an asshat, so...

Yeah, the only other people left are the Escapist Twitch streamers - and they have to constantly deal with the more idiotic parts of Yahtzee's fandom because he also had a streaming slot for a while now and you basically get shit on by them if you dare to stream for the Escapist while not being Yahtzee.

Yeah, honestly, this isn't too surprising to me either. I also am kinda surprised it took this long. All things considered, I always got an odd vibe from The Escapist, but nothing else, they've supported Yahtzee pretty well. I remember finding it odd that Yahtzee could curse like a sailor on crack while Bob got his swears bleeped after the earliest of his videos and there was at least one moment where a segment had to cut away that might have been an intentional gag on his part, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was the Escapist.

Personally, I was happy Bob and Jim went their own ways. They seem to now be able to make their content the way they want to make it, which is probably how the fans would prefer it, and I'm more than happy to watch, and support them directly instead of them through the Escapist.

In terms of Yahtzee, if he ever does split off from the Escapist, I imagine he'll do fine. He did make some content before the Escapist, and he's got a very passionate fanbase that I imagine would follow him post Escapist. As for the brand, I never even considered that Escapist owns the brand (I think they might own the little cartoon gremlin, since they used it in advertisements and merchandise and such). However, Moviebob was able to keep Schlocktober, and Jim was able to re-release 2 (so far) Escapist-era installments of his show without losing much of anything in the process.

Even if he loses rights to Zero Punctuation he could continue as Fully Ramblomatic, which was the name of his show before he joined up. He did two reviews as FAR, I think?

Fully Ramblomatic was/is his own brand which he used for both game designs, his blog, and his initial 2 videos. It wasn't specific to the reviews.

Of course, I think that for Yahtzee, Zero Punctuation as a brand is worthwhile, It's what he's known for, and honestly, known as. Most people know him as "The Zero Punctuation Guy". Going back to his own channel and doing it as Fully Ramblomatic reviews would likely kill his view counts. Of course, being basically their only remaining legs, I suspect if they do go under, Yahtzee will either quit the gig altogheter, or make sure the rights for that particular brand fall back to him.

edited 24th Oct '17 12:17:44 PM by Ghilz

He does have a lot of bargaining power in that regard. But would they do it? Would they make him pay for it? Would they demand to keep the title and force ZP to pay royalties to them?

Would they be soulless enough to do that?

I mean, if they do, it's pointless, as the brand is completely worthless without Yahtzee. And depending on how the brand is trademarked, he might just get it when they go under from bankruptcy and need to release their assets.

Plus seeing as he's still basically the only person there, I'll assume they are in some form of good or positive terms at least.

edited 24th Oct '17 10:48:47 PM by Ghilz

Super Mario Odyssey

It seems that Yahtzee liked this game, but had some rather pointed criticisms for the multiplayer mechanics. I can't say that I blame him; it sounds like they were invented by someone who was suicidally depressed and wanted everyone to share in their misery.

I'm waiting for him to review Assassin's Creed Origins.

Assassin's Creed Origins

Big surprise here (not really): Yahtzee's tired of Ubisoft sandbox games that aren't really sandbox games. Well, I guess this one has more actual sand (ba-dum), but still... At least the microtransaction bullshit is relatively easy to skip here — I got through just fine without paying an extra dime, but the stapled-on RPG mechanics feel as, well, stapled-on as ever.

I disagree that there's no art or vision.

There's plenty of both, it just all gets packaged in "give us money" paper before getting shipped out.

The art is absolutely lovely, but the wrapping paper keeps distracting from it and pulling you out of the immersion.