Giant Bomb is an American website and wiki about video games. It includes videos, news, reviews, and commentary created by former GameSpot editors Jeff Gerstmann and Ryan Davis. In 2011, Time magazine named Giant Bomb one of the Top 50 websites. In 2018, Variety Magazine said Giant Bomb had "redefined what it meant to be a video game website." The website was first part of Whiskey Media. In March 2012, CBS Interactive bought it. In 2020, it was sold to Red Ventures, and in 2022, it was sold to Fandom. As of 2025, the site is owned by Jeffinitely, LLC, a company created by Giant Bomb co-owners Jeff Bakalar and Jeff Grubb.
After leaving his job as editorial director at GameSpot, Gerstmann worked with web engineers to build a new video game website. He wanted to create a fun site that focused less on the business side of the game industry. The site’s main staff were former GameSpot editors. Giant Bomb started as a blog on March 6, 2008, and the full website launched on July 21, 2008. The offices were first in Sausalito, California, then moved to San Francisco in 2010. A second office opened in New York City in 2014. After the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, both offices closed, and the website moved to a remote work setup.
Content on Giant Bomb comes from the site’s staff and its community. The community helps update the site’s video game wiki, which is open to editing by all registered users. Staff members share news and new game releases through videos, written articles, and podcasts. Their weekly podcast, the Giant Bombcast, is posted every Tuesday and covers the video game industry and events at the office. Giant Bomb also creates regular video series, such as Quick Looks, which are 20–90 minute unedited videos of recently released games.
History
Jeff Gerstmann was fired from his job as the editorial director of GameSpot on November 28, 2007. After he was fired, people online began to say that his dismissal might have been because of pressure from Eidos Interactive, the company that published the video game Kane & Lynch: Dead Men. Gerstmann had given the game a bad review, but Eidos had bought ads for the game on GameSpot’s website. Both GameSpot and its parent company, CNET Networks, said his firing had nothing to do with the review. Later, this event was called the "GameSpot Exodus" by Joystiq. Several employees, including Alex Navarro, Ryan Davis, Brad Shoemaker, and Vinny Caravella, left GameSpot. Davis said he left in February 2008, partly because of Gerstmann’s firing.
Gerstmann said being fired made him feel very upset. He believed it showed other problems at the company that he had noticed over time. He also said that working at a large company like GameSpot meant dealing with a lot of rules and tasks that did not directly involve creating content. He noted that while some people thought the Kane & Lynch review was a major reason for his firing, he believed it was more of a side issue than the main cause.
After leaving GameSpot, Gerstmann decided not to work in game development or public relations. Instead, he joined Shelby Bonnie’s Whiskey Media to create a new website. Talking to Tyler Wilde of GamesRadar, Gerstmann said their goal was not to compete with GameSpot but to build a fun and high-quality video game website that they and users would enjoy. They considered more than 70 names for the website. Gerstmann wanted the name to be unique and catchy, avoiding the word "game" since many websites already used it. The website, Giant Bomb, started as a WordPress blog on March 5, 2008, and officially launched on July 20, 2008. Former GameSpot editors Shoemaker and Caravella joined in June 2008, and in November 2008, Drew Scanlon became an intern and later a video producer. Navarro left his job at Harmonix Music Systems to join Giant Bomb and its sister-site Screened in May 2010.
Gerstmann said Giant Bomb would focus on fun and commentary about important events in video games, not on business news or sales reports. He believed many websites had become too focused on the business side of games, making news feel unexciting. He wanted Giant Bomb to be a place where people could enjoy talking about games, not just reporting facts.
Patrick Klepek, a video game reporter who had worked for 1UP.com, MTV News, G4, and Electronic Gaming Monthly, contacted Giant Bomb in October 2010. Klepek, known for reporting on the 2010 conflicts between Infinity Ward and Activision, called Giant Bomb "the singular bastion of a truly independent voice" in video game journalism. In 2011, Gerstmann said that while news sites were not sharing as much information about the industry as before, they were posting more content. To create its own style of honest and original reporting, Giant Bomb hired Klepek as News Editor in April 2011.
In March 2012, Shelby Bonnie sold Whiskey Media in two deals. BermanBraun bought some websites, including Tested, Screened, and Anime Vice. Giant Bomb and its comic-book site, Comic Vine, were sold to CBS Interactive, the parent company of GameSpot. After the sale, Giant Bomb’s website was redesigned and launched on February 12, 2013.
Gerstmann said Giant Bomb had been looking for new owners to help the site grow. Talks with CBS Interactive began in December 2011. The editorial team, along with designers Dave Snider and Alexis Gallisá, moved to the CBS Interactive building in San Francisco, where they had previously worked for GameSpot.
As part of the new deal, Gerstmann was allowed to talk openly about why he was fired from GameSpot in 2007. In an interview with GameSpot, he said his firing was the result of a long conflict between GameSpot’s management and its editorial staff. He was called into a meeting three times between October 23, 2007, and November 29, 2007. The first meeting was about a reviewer’s score for Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, which led to threats from Sony Computer Entertainment America. The second was about Gerstmann’s score for Kane & Lynch: Dead Men, which caused threats from Eidos Interactive. On the third meeting, Gerstmann was told his contract was being terminated.
In July 2013, Giant Bomb announced that co-founder Ryan Davis had died on July 3, 2013, at age 34, days after his wedding to Anna Davis. His father, Richard Davis, said the death was due to natural causes.
Many in the gaming industry honored Davis through social media, articles, and videos. Prominent figures like Gary Whitta, Michael Pachter, Sean Vanaman, and Greg Miller paid tribute to him.
Main features
Giant Bomb's editorial content is described as more casual and less strict than traditional news and review video game websites. It focuses on video content meant to be funny and entertaining.
Giant Bomb videos are currently produced by Ochoa. These videos are hosted on Giant Bomb's website. Non-paywall videos are also available on YouTube and as a free channel on digital media streaming devices like Roku. In 2009, a weekly series called This Ain't No Game (TANG) featured Davis reviewing movies based on video games. Davis aimed to watch and assess every video-game movie ever made. The series name came from the marketing tagline for the Super Mario Bros. movie. Although TANG criticized the film Mortal Kombat Annihilation, Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon said the episode was fair, considering the film's reception.
The Endurance Run was a daily video feature where Caravella and Gerstmann played the PlayStation 2 game Persona 4 in real time, with their own commentary. The idea came from their interest in playing Persona 4, a game they wanted to try but didn’t have time for. In 2010, Gerstmann, Caravella, Davis, and Shoemaker split into teams to play Deadly Premonition, an Xbox 360 game. After the show ended, Deadly Premonition creator Hidetaka "SWERY" Suehiro visited Giant Bomb in 2011 and 2013. At a 2011 charity podcast, Davis and Klepek revealed they were the players of the 3rd Endurance Run, which involved playing the Super Nintendo Entertainment System version of Chrono Trigger. The feature paused for four years until September 2016, when Caravella, Navarro, and Ryckert announced a revival of Endurance Run, playing the Dreamcast game Shenmue.
Thursday Night Throwdown was a live weekly multiplayer show where editorial team members played games for viewers to watch and interact with via Twitch. Tim Schafer and Double Fine attended an episode featuring Iron Brigade (then called Trenched). Before the 2011 release of Bastion, Giant Bomb and Supergiant Games created a video diary series called Building the Bastion, documenting the game’s development, public showings at PAX Prime 2011, and Warner Bros.’ involvement as a publisher. Giant Bomb did not review Bastion.
In December 2011, before the launch of Star Wars: The Old Republic, Giant Bomb streamed the final 5 hours of Star Wars Galaxies before its shutdown. Kotaku reported events from the stream, including a player-versus-player event between Star Wars factions and an appearance by the Force Ghost of Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Other recurring video series include Unprofessional Fridays, where staff play random games together; Blight Club, where Ryckert, Grubb, and Minotti play poorly-received games; and Voicemail Dump Truck, a call-in show. After gaining independence, Giant Bomb stated most future videos would be free to view without a subscription.
The site regularly posts Quick Looks, 20-90 minute videos showing unedited gameplay footage of a single game, with uncensored commentary from staff members. John "TotalBiscuit" Bain, a YouTube celebrity, said Quick Looks blend entertainment and critique, similar to Let's Play videos. These videos highlight highly anticipated games, lesser-known games, or intentionally showcase bad games for humor. Developers or communities often promote Quick Looks of lesser-known games as a sign of recognition. Dave LeClair of MakeUseOf noted that Quick Looks focus on the entertainment value of Giant Bomb staff playing games, even those he had no interest in, like Euro Truck Simulator 2 and Wipeout: The Game.
Known as the Giant Bomb Couch, Giant Bomb @ Nite is an annual set of daily talk shows live-streamed at E3, a trade show event. Grubb currently hosts the show, following Davis and Gerstmann. From the website’s start, Davis aimed to provide daily long-form content at E3. The show features rotating guests from the video game industry discussing their work and industry trends, including Phil Spencer, who talked about cross-platform play in Fortnite during E3 2018 and Sony’s absence from E3 2019.
The show stopped airing when E3 became a virtual event in 2020. In 2023, Bloomberg News confirmed Giant Bomb @ Nite would return at Summer Game Fest, where Phil Spencer and Matt Booty discussed Starfield, following Microsoft’s acquisition of Bethesda. An extra show was produced in December 2024 at The Game Awards. Giant Bomb @ Nite is well-regarded in the industry, with Screen Rant calling it "iconic" in 2021 and Aftermath calling it "beloved" in 2025.
In April 2012, video game localization company 8-4 partnered with Giant Bomb to host their bi-weekly podcast. In September 2014, Giant Bomb partnered with Midroll, a podcast advertising company.
The Giant Bombcast is Giant Bomb’s weekly podcast, released every Tuesday. As of June 2022, it is hosted by Ochoa and co-hosted by Grubb, with weekly guests Bakalar, Ryckert, and Minotti. The podcast discusses games played over the weekend, industry news, recently released games, and listener emails. Staff have recorded shows in Tokyo, Japan, for the Tokyo Game Show, and during events like E3 and Penny Arcade Expo. In 2011, the podcast had over 100,000 listeners. Since July 2016, Giant Bomb has live-streamed the podcast in video format.
In June 2015, Giant Bomb launched a second weekly podcast, The Giant Beastcast, released every Friday. It was recorded in Giant Bomb’s New York office and hosted by Caravella, with weekly guests.
Corporate affairs and culture
Giant Bomb is known for its unique way of reporting on video games. It focuses on covering topics that its small team of editors chooses, rather than following the usual methods used by larger websites. This approach gives more importance to the individual writers and focuses on in-depth, personal coverage. Jeff Gerstmann, who worked as an editorial director at GameSpot until 2007, helped create Giant Bomb in 2008 with others. He described their goal as highlighting the best games and helping players discover lesser-known titles through videos and a wiki database. Gerstmann was fired from GameSpot in 2007 after a disagreement between the editorial team and management. He later joined Whiskey Media and launched Giant Bomb. Gerstmann was also a member of the VGX awards advisory council, which selects winners. He was fired from Giant Bomb in June 2022.
In 2000, Jason Davis began working at GameSpot. After Gerstmann left in 2007, Davis joined him at Whiskey Media to start Giant Bomb. Davis became the main host of Giant Bomb and its video content. He died on July 3, 2013, from natural causes shortly after his wedding. His death was announced on the Giant Bomb website five days later.
Giant Bomb and MinnMax are both independent websites. Their staff makes decisions without being influenced by others. This allows them to express strong opinions on issues, even if those opinions might not align with some audiences.
In 2011, Giant Bomb hosted a Pac-Man tournament and interviewed Jerry Buckner and Gary Garcia, who were promoting their music. Davis joked about wanting them to write a song about Giant Bomb. Later that year, the duo released a song called "Found Me the Bomb" as part of their Pac-Man Fever project. Gary Garcia died in November 2011.
In January 2012, Giant Bomb opposed the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) by participating in a 24-hour blackout with other websites. This was part of a larger protest against these laws.
In 2012, Molyjam was a 48-hour game-making event inspired by a parody of game designer Peter Molyneux. It was organized by Anna Kipnis of Double Fine, Patrick Klepek of Giant Bomb, and Chris Remo of Idle Thumbs. Over 30 cities participated. In 2015, Alex Navarro, who reviewed the game Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing for GameSpot, speedran it at the Awesome Games Done Quick charity event.
In 2026, Giant Bomb partnered with MinnMax to host a charity livestream called "ICE Out" to support people affected by immigration enforcement. This was possible because Giant Bomb is an independent company.
In 2014, Giant Bomb released a video where Gerstmann and Ryckert played Super Mario Bros. 3 on a roller coaster while using a Nintendo 3DS. They followed strict rules, such as not using hidden items. The A.V. Club compared their challenge to a quote from President John F. Kennedy about difficult tasks.
Giant Bomb participates in Extra Life, a charity event where people stream video games for 24 hours to raise money for sick children. In 2013, they raised $122,972. In 2014, they exceeded their $175,000 goal, raising $122,972 more. By June 2017, they had raised a total of $923,797.
Reception
In 2011, Harry McCracken of Time magazine named Giant Bomb to its Top 50 websites, stating that the site offers "news, reviews, and video — all looser, funnier, and more opinionated than much of the content found on game sites owned by larger media companies." In January 2012, Vox Media announced it had hired several well-known individuals from gaming journalism to launch a new website called Polygon. Among those hired were Chris Grant and Brian Crecente, who previously served as editors-in-chief of Joystiq and Kotaku. When asked why he believed there was space for another video game website, Grant explained, "The only site I would really look at and say they have impressive technology is Giant Bomb; no other site has anything as impressive."
Criticisms and controversies
During an interview on MSNBC Live, Brianna Wu spoke out against Giant Bomb for not sharing news about the Gamergate harassment effort targeting women in the gaming industry. At that time, Giant Bomb's staff was made up entirely of white men. On the same day, an article by Patrick Klepek about Wu's experiences with harassment related to Gamergate was published. The BBC reported on this event through its BBC Online service, and Wu later discussed it in an interview with PBS NewsHour.
Impact
Giant Bomb is recognized as a pioneer in video game journalism, successfully avoiding many challenges faced by other companies in the field. While some companies have had to reduce their size or shut down entirely, Giant Bomb has continued to grow. The use of ad blockers on websites has made traditional advertisements less effective. Websites like Giant Bomb, ScrewAttack, and Penny-Arcade have been praised for their successful subscription services, where users pay to access content. As print-based gaming journalism was replaced by online platforms, major websites such as IGN and GameSpot now face challenges from YouTube creators and gamers who stream video game content live on Twitch.
Greg Miller mentions that the original values of Giant Bomb and conversations with Jeff Gerstmann influenced his decision to leave IGN and start Kinda Funny in 2015.
Date
Giant Bomb is an American website and wiki about video games. It includes videos, news, reviews, and commentary created by former GameSpot editors Jeff Gerstmann and Ryan Davis. In 2011, Time magazine named Giant Bomb one of the Top 50 websites. In 2018, Variety Magazine said Giant Bomb had "redefined what it meant to be a video game website." The website was first part of Whiskey Media. In March 2012, CBS Interactive bought it. In 2020, it was sold to Red Ventures, and in 2022, it was sold to Fandom. As of 2025, the site is owned by Jeffinitely, LLC, a company created by Giant Bomb co-owners Jeff Bakalar and Jeff Grubb.
After leaving his job as editorial director at GameSpot, Gerstmann worked with web engineers to build a new video game website. He wanted to create a fun site that focused less on the business side of the game industry. The site’s main staff were former GameSpot editors. Giant Bomb started as a blog on March 6, 2008, and the full website launched on July 21, 2008. The offices were first in Sausalito, California, then moved to San Francisco in 2010. A second office opened in New York City in 2014. After the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, both offices closed, and the website moved to a remote work setup.
Content on Giant Bomb comes from the site’s staff and its community. The community helps update the site’s video game wiki, which is open to editing by all registered users. Staff members share news and new game releases through videos, written articles, and podcasts. Their weekly podcast, the Giant Bombcast, is posted every Tuesday and covers the video game industry and events at the office. Giant Bomb also creates regular video series, such as Quick Looks, which are 20–90 minute unedited videos of recently released games.
History
Jeff Gerstmann was fired from his job as the editorial director of GameSpot on November 28, 2007. After he was fired, people online began to say that his dismissal might have been because of pressure from Eidos Interactive, the company that published the video game Kane & Lynch: Dead Men. Gerstmann had given the game a bad review, but Eidos had bought ads for the game on GameSpot’s website. Both GameSpot and its parent company, CNET Networks, said his firing had nothing to do with the review. Later, this event was called the "GameSpot Exodus" by Joystiq. Several employees, including Alex Navarro, Ryan Davis, Brad Shoemaker, and Vinny Caravella, left GameSpot. Davis said he left in February 2008, partly because of Gerstmann’s firing.
Gerstmann said being fired made him feel very upset. He believed it showed other problems at the company that he had noticed over time. He also said that working at a large company like GameSpot meant dealing with a lot of rules and tasks that did not directly involve creating content. He noted that while some people thought the Kane & Lynch review was a major reason for his firing, he believed it was more of a side issue than the main cause.
After leaving GameSpot, Gerstmann decided not to work in game development or public relations. Instead, he joined Shelby Bonnie’s Whiskey Media to create a new website. Talking to Tyler Wilde of GamesRadar, Gerstmann said their goal was not to compete with GameSpot but to build a fun and high-quality video game website that they and users would enjoy. They considered more than 70 names for the website. Gerstmann wanted the name to be unique and catchy, avoiding the word "game" since many websites already used it. The website, Giant Bomb, started as a WordPress blog on March 5, 2008, and officially launched on July 20, 2008. Former GameSpot editors Shoemaker and Caravella joined in June 2008, and in November 2008, Drew Scanlon became an intern and later a video producer. Navarro left his job at Harmonix Music Systems to join Giant Bomb and its sister-site Screened in May 2010.
Gerstmann said Giant Bomb would focus on fun and commentary about important events in video games, not on business news or sales reports. He believed many websites had become too focused on the business side of games, making news feel unexciting. He wanted Giant Bomb to be a place where people could enjoy talking about games, not just reporting facts.
Patrick Klepek, a video game reporter who had worked for 1UP.com, MTV News, G4, and Electronic Gaming Monthly, contacted Giant Bomb in October 2010. Klepek, known for reporting on the 2010 conflicts between Infinity Ward and Activision, called Giant Bomb "the singular bastion of a truly independent voice" in video game journalism. In 2011, Gerstmann said that while news sites were not sharing as much information about the industry as before, they were posting more content. To create its own style of honest and original reporting, Giant Bomb hired Klepek as News Editor in April 2011.
In March 2012, Shelby Bonnie sold Whiskey Media in two deals. BermanBraun bought some websites, including Tested, Screened, and Anime Vice. Giant Bomb and its comic-book site, Comic Vine, were sold to CBS Interactive, the parent company of GameSpot. After the sale, Giant Bomb’s website was redesigned and launched on February 12, 2013.
Gerstmann said Giant Bomb had been looking for new owners to help the site grow. Talks with CBS Interactive began in December 2011. The editorial team, along with designers Dave Snider and Alexis Gallisá, moved to the CBS Interactive building in San Francisco, where they had previously worked for GameSpot.
As part of the new deal, Gerstmann was allowed to talk openly about why he was fired from GameSpot in 2007. In an interview with GameSpot, he said his firing was the result of a long conflict between GameSpot’s management and its editorial staff. He was called into a meeting three times between October 23, 2007, and November 29, 2007. The first meeting was about a reviewer’s score for Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, which led to threats from Sony Computer Entertainment America. The second was about Gerstmann’s score for Kane & Lynch: Dead Men, which caused threats from Eidos Interactive. On the third meeting, Gerstmann was told his contract was being terminated.
In July 2013, Giant Bomb announced that co-founder Ryan Davis had died on July 3, 2013, at age 34, days after his wedding to Anna Davis. His father, Richard Davis, said the death was due to natural causes.
Many in the gaming industry honored Davis through social media, articles, and videos. Prominent figures like Gary Whitta, Michael Pachter, Sean Vanaman, and Greg Miller paid tribute to him.
Main features
Giant Bomb's editorial content is described as more casual and less strict than traditional news and review video game websites. It focuses on video content meant to be funny and entertaining.
Giant Bomb videos are currently produced by Ochoa. These videos are hosted on Giant Bomb's website. Non-paywall videos are also available on YouTube and as a free channel on digital media streaming devices like Roku. In 2009, a weekly series called This Ain't No Game (TANG) featured Davis reviewing movies based on video games. Davis aimed to watch and assess every video-game movie ever made. The series name came from the marketing tagline for the Super Mario Bros. movie. Although TANG criticized the film Mortal Kombat Annihilation, Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon said the episode was fair, considering the film's reception.
The Endurance Run was a daily video feature where Caravella and Gerstmann played the PlayStation 2 game Persona 4 in real time, with their own commentary. The idea came from their interest in playing Persona 4, a game they wanted to try but didn’t have time for. In 2010, Gerstmann, Caravella, Davis, and Shoemaker split into teams to play Deadly Premonition, an Xbox 360 game. After the show ended, Deadly Premonition creator Hidetaka "SWERY" Suehiro visited Giant Bomb in 2011 and 2013. At a 2011 charity podcast, Davis and Klepek revealed they were the players of the 3rd Endurance Run, which involved playing the Super Nintendo Entertainment System version of Chrono Trigger. The feature paused for four years until September 2016, when Caravella, Navarro, and Ryckert announced a revival of Endurance Run, playing the Dreamcast game Shenmue.
Thursday Night Throwdown was a live weekly multiplayer show where editorial team members played games for viewers to watch and interact with via Twitch. Tim Schafer and Double Fine attended an episode featuring Iron Brigade (then called Trenched). Before the 2011 release of Bastion, Giant Bomb and Supergiant Games created a video diary series called Building the Bastion, documenting the game’s development, public showings at PAX Prime 2011, and Warner Bros.’ involvement as a publisher. Giant Bomb did not review Bastion.
In December 2011, before the launch of Star Wars: The Old Republic, Giant Bomb streamed the final 5 hours of Star Wars Galaxies before its shutdown. Kotaku reported events from the stream, including a player-versus-player event between Star Wars factions and an appearance by the Force Ghost of Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Other recurring video series include Unprofessional Fridays, where staff play random games together; Blight Club, where Ryckert, Grubb, and Minotti play poorly-received games; and Voicemail Dump Truck, a call-in show. After gaining independence, Giant Bomb stated most future videos would be free to view without a subscription.
The site regularly posts Quick Looks, 20-90 minute videos showing unedited gameplay footage of a single game, with uncensored commentary from staff members. John "TotalBiscuit" Bain, a YouTube celebrity, said Quick Looks blend entertainment and critique, similar to Let's Play videos. These videos highlight highly anticipated games, lesser-known games, or intentionally showcase bad games for humor. Developers or communities often promote Quick Looks of lesser-known games as a sign of recognition. Dave LeClair of MakeUseOf noted that Quick Looks focus on the entertainment value of Giant Bomb staff playing games, even those he had no interest in, like Euro Truck Simulator 2 and Wipeout: The Game.
Known as the Giant Bomb Couch, Giant Bomb @ Nite is an annual set of daily talk shows live-streamed at E3, a trade show event. Grubb currently hosts the show, following Davis and Gerstmann. From the website’s start, Davis aimed to provide daily long-form content at E3. The show features rotating guests from the video game industry discussing their work and industry trends, including Phil Spencer, who talked about cross-platform play in Fortnite during E3 2018 and Sony’s absence from E3 2019.
The show stopped airing when E3 became a virtual event in 2020. In 2023, Bloomberg News confirmed Giant Bomb @ Nite would return at Summer Game Fest, where Phil Spencer and Matt Booty discussed Starfield, following Microsoft’s acquisition of Bethesda. An extra show was produced in December 2024 at The Game Awards. Giant Bomb @ Nite is well-regarded in the industry, with Screen Rant calling it "iconic" in 2021 and Aftermath calling it "beloved" in 2025.
In April 2012, video game localization company 8-4 partnered with Giant Bomb to host their bi-weekly podcast. In September 2014, Giant Bomb partnered with Midroll, a podcast advertising company.
The Giant Bombcast is Giant Bomb’s weekly podcast, released every Tuesday. As of June 2022, it is hosted by Ochoa and co-hosted by Grubb, with weekly guests Bakalar, Ryckert, and Minotti. The podcast discusses games played over the weekend, industry news, recently released games, and listener emails. Staff have recorded shows in Tokyo, Japan, for the Tokyo Game Show, and during events like E3 and Penny Arcade Expo. In 2011, the podcast had over 100,000 listeners. Since July 2016, Giant Bomb has live-streamed the podcast in video format.
In June 2015, Giant Bomb launched a second weekly podcast, The Giant Beastcast, released every Friday. It was recorded in Giant Bomb’s New York office and hosted by Caravella, with weekly guests.
Corporate affairs and culture
Giant Bomb is known for its unique way of reporting on video games. It focuses on covering topics that its small team of editors chooses, rather than following the usual methods used by larger websites. This approach gives more importance to the individual writers and focuses on in-depth, personal coverage. Jeff Gerstmann, who worked as an editorial director at GameSpot until 2007, helped create Giant Bomb in 2008 with others. He described their goal as highlighting the best games and helping players discover lesser-known titles through videos and a wiki database. Gerstmann was fired from GameSpot in 2007 after a disagreement between the editorial team and management. He later joined Whiskey Media and launched Giant Bomb. Gerstmann was also a member of the VGX awards advisory council, which selects winners. He was fired from Giant Bomb in June 2022.
In 2000, Jason Davis began working at GameSpot. After Gerstmann left in 2007, Davis joined him at Whiskey Media to start Giant Bomb. Davis became the main host of Giant Bomb and its video content. He died on July 3, 2013, from natural causes shortly after his wedding. His death was announced on the Giant Bomb website five days later.
Giant Bomb and MinnMax are both independent websites. Their staff makes decisions without being influenced by others. This allows them to express strong opinions on issues, even if those opinions might not align with some audiences.
In 2011, Giant Bomb hosted a Pac-Man tournament and interviewed Jerry Buckner and Gary Garcia, who were promoting their music. Davis joked about wanting them to write a song about Giant Bomb. Later that year, the duo released a song called "Found Me the Bomb" as part of their Pac-Man Fever project. Gary Garcia died in November 2011.
In January 2012, Giant Bomb opposed the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) by participating in a 24-hour blackout with other websites. This was part of a larger protest against these laws.
In 2012, Molyjam was a 48-hour game-making event inspired by a parody of game designer Peter Molyneux. It was organized by Anna Kipnis of Double Fine, Patrick Klepek of Giant Bomb, and Chris Remo of Idle Thumbs. Over 30 cities participated. In 2015, Alex Navarro, who reviewed the game Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing for GameSpot, speedran it at the Awesome Games Done Quick charity event.
In 2026, Giant Bomb partnered with MinnMax to host a charity livestream called "ICE Out" to support people affected by immigration enforcement. This was possible because Giant Bomb is an independent company.
In 2014, Giant Bomb released a video where Gerstmann and Ryckert played Super Mario Bros. 3 on a roller coaster while using a Nintendo 3DS. They followed strict rules, such as not using hidden items. The A.V. Club compared their challenge to a quote from President John F. Kennedy about difficult tasks.
Giant Bomb participates in Extra Life, a charity event where people stream video games for 24 hours to raise money for sick children. In 2013, they raised $122,972. In 2014, they exceeded their $175,000 goal, raising $122,972 more. By June 2017, they had raised a total of $923,797.
Reception
In 2011, Harry McCracken of Time magazine named Giant Bomb to its Top 50 websites, stating that the site offers "news, reviews, and video — all looser, funnier, and more opinionated than much of the content found on game sites owned by larger media companies." In January 2012, Vox Media announced it had hired several well-known individuals from gaming journalism to launch a new website called Polygon. Among those hired were Chris Grant and Brian Crecente, who previously served as editors-in-chief of Joystiq and Kotaku. When asked why he believed there was space for another video game website, Grant explained, "The only site I would really look at and say they have impressive technology is Giant Bomb; no other site has anything as impressive."
Criticisms and controversies
During an interview on MSNBC Live, Brianna Wu spoke out against Giant Bomb for not sharing news about the Gamergate harassment effort targeting women in the gaming industry. At that time, Giant Bomb's staff was made up entirely of white men. On the same day, an article by Patrick Klepek about Wu's experiences with harassment related to Gamergate was published. The BBC reported on this event through its BBC Online service, and Wu later discussed it in an interview with PBS NewsHour.
Impact
Giant Bomb is recognized as a pioneer in video game journalism, successfully avoiding many challenges faced by other companies in the field. While some companies have had to reduce their size or shut down entirely, Giant Bomb has continued to grow. The use of ad blockers on websites has made traditional advertisements less effective. Websites like Giant Bomb, ScrewAttack, and Penny-Arcade have been praised for their successful subscription services, where users pay to access content. As print-based gaming journalism was replaced by online platforms, major websites such as IGN and GameSpot now face challenges from YouTube creators and gamers who stream video game content live on Twitch.
Greg Miller mentions that the original values of Giant Bomb and conversations with Jeff Gerstmann influenced his decision to leave IGN and start Kinda Funny in 2015.
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