1UP layoffs and the ripples therein
When half of the staff leave/are laid off from a gaming site as notable as 1UP, it affects essentially everyone within the industry -- as does the closure of EGM, one of the very best gaming magazines around. Their excellent coverage of games like Final Fantasy XI, Warhammer Online and World of Warcraft (to name just a few) have always been the sort of things we here at Massively strive for in our own features. Whether it was podcasts like Legendary Thread or the infamous live reading of a certain Age of Conan incident on GFW Radio, the group working at 1UP were always in it to entertain, inform and hopefully make everyone think a little bit about their favorite pasttime.
Understandably, the massive layoffs have created a sort of hate brush fire that's been roaring across the internet mostly via message boards fueled by a mix of ex-1UP Twitters and hearsay. While it pains us as fans to see so many talented and hard-working writers let go, there's some truth to the saying, "You can't win 'em all" in this situation. Our own searing anger was doused a little upon reading a lucid post detailing the why behind the whole debacle.
It may not be fair to say that it all came down to creating a realistically structured staff in terms of finances (take a look here for some breakdown on just how much 1UP cost), but that's the truth of it. Apparently nobody was able to pay for the amount of people required to maintain 1UP in its entire form, so it was either trim the tree for some kind of future or toss the whole thing into the chipper. With that knowledge in mind, the meta-net hate towards UGO seems a bit unwarranted.
So will the new 1UP be exactly the same as the old one? Sadly, that's not possible. But it doesn't mean that those who remain should be shunned for merely not being sacked. Especially when many who are still with 1UP seem to be determined to produce quality content, even in the face of such heartbreak.
We hope that everyone who lost their jobs will land safely on their feet, and that those who do remain will also find success in their future efforts. After all, their success is ultimately everyone's success, whether we write about MMOs, DS games or every single game out there -- even the bad ones.
