Jeff Gerstmann

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Jeff Gerstmann bigraphy, stories - Journalists

Jeff Gerstmann : biography

01 August 1975 –

Jeffrey Michael Gerstmann (born August 1, 1975) is an American video game journalist and musician. Former editorial director of the gaming website GameSpot and the co-founder/editor of the gaming website Giant Bomb, Gerstmann began working at GameSpot in the fall of 1996, around the launch of VideoGameSpot when GameSpot split PC and console games into separate areas. He shared his thoughts on a variety of other subjects every Monday on his GameSpot blog before his dismissal from GameSpot in 2007 following a scandal over his review of Kane & Lynch: Dead Men. As a member of Spike Video Game Awards’ advisory council, Gerstmann is 1 of 25 journalists responsible for voting the nominees and winners of the event. Complex magazine named Gerstmann in their top 25 biggest celebrities in the video game industry.

Career

Gerstmann began work in video game journalism in the early 90s, having been involved with the game industry since age 17 doing freelance work as well as working for a print magazine for under a year. He was hired as intern for GameSpot in 1996, eventually becoming editorial director.

Appearance on Good Morning America (1999)

Gerstmann appeared in a segment on Good Morning America with Diane Sawyer and Sega product analyst Dennis Lee in September 1999 to talk about the release of the Sega Dreamcast, playing NFL 2K and Ready 2 Rumble Boxing, notable for the Dreamcast crashing while live on national television in one of its first TV demonstrations. Gerstmann personally notes in an episode of the that he believes his appearance on the show wearing a FUBU Jersey contributed to the clothing company’s fall from popularity. The segment was also notable for the Sega product analyst’s many falsehoods, stating "You can actually see the snow slowly blanketing the ground, as the game goes on, the snow will blanket the field" features which were not present in the product.

Termination from GameSpot (2007–2008)

Gerstmann was dismissed from his position at GameSpot as Editorial Director on November 28, 2007. Immediately after his termination, rumors circulated proclaiming his dismissal was a result of external pressure from Eidos Interactive the publisher of Kane & Lynch: Dead Men which Gerstmann had previously given a Fair rating, which is relatively undesirable, along with critique. This was at a time when Eidos had been putting heavy advertising money into GameSpot, going as far as transforming the entire website to use a Kane & Lynch theme and background instead of the regular GameSpot layout, regardless of which game or page viewers were seeing. In accordance with California State Law and CNET Networks, GameSpot could not give details as to why Gerstmann was terminated.http://www.gamespot.com/news/6183666.html Both GameSpot and parent company CNET stated that his dismissal was unrelated to the negative review. However, a subsequent interview with Gerstmann in 2012 countered this statement, with Gerstmann claiming that management gave in to publisher pressure. Following Gerstmann’s termination, editors Alex Navarro, Ryan Davis, Brad Shoemaker, and Vinny Caravella left GameSpot, feeling that they could no longer work for a publication that was perceived as having caved in to advertiser pressure.

Shortly after leaving GameSpot, Gerstmann started an online blog saying: "I’m mainly starting this site up to give people a centralized place to hear directly from me, as all these bits and pieces that have gotten out to game news sites via interviews and the blog on my MySpace account aren’t really the best way to communicate. So if you’re interested in what I plan to do from here, this is the place. I’ll also be sharing my thoughts on games and the business that surrounds them, perhaps with an occasional video or two."

On the first episode of IGN’s "GameSages" podcast, Gerstmann stated that he was talking with "old friends" (later revealed to be Shelby Bonnie, the former CEO and Co-founder of CNET, along with other former CNET people who left shortly before Gerstmann and founded Whiskey Media) in regards to his future plans. On February 25, 2008, Gerstmann announced on his blog that he would be participating in an online podcast () with his former co-worker Ryan Davis. Another former co-worker, Alex Navarro, also participated. On March 5, 2008, Gerstmann revealed that along with his previous co-worker Ryan Davis, he would be starting a brand new gaming site named Giant Bomb, which launched on July 21, 2008.