The Escapist staff resign following termination of editor-in-chief Nick Calandra

Original story, November 7, 2023: Journalists from The Escapist have resigned in response to the termination of its editor-in-chief Nick Calandra.

On Monday, Calandra announced on X that he was fired for "not achieving goals" reportedly set by the Gamurs Group, which acquired The Escapist last year.

"I was let go for 'not achieving goals' that were never properly set for us, and a lack of understanding of our audience and the team that built that audience," Calandra wrote. "I've watched many colleagues let go for the same reasons, and today was my day."

GamesIndustry.biz has reached out to Calandra and the Gamurs Group for more clarification.

Calandra shared more information on Discord, revealing that the "entire video team" has resigned in response.

This includes Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw, who created the video review series Zero Punctuation.

"Today, I formally resigned from The Escapist and Gamurs," Croshaw wrote today on X. "I don't have the rights to Zero Punctuation, but whatever happens you'll be hearing from my voice again soon, in a new place."

Contributors such as Amy Campbell, Parkes Harman, Darren Mooney, Matt Laughlin, and Design Delve's JM8 have also left the site in response to Calandra's termination.

Update, November 8, 2023: Calandra has provided more detail to GamesIndustry.biz about his termination.

"We were given unattainable goals in a very short amount of time after being sold to Gamurs by Enthusiast Gaming," Calandra said. "In addition to being editor-in-chief of The Escapist, I was a YouTube strategist for the last six months, tasked with helping build an entire video department from scratch that was asked to grow both in viewership, and get profitable, but with no plan from upper management to actually do so."

He added: "The entire Escapist team put their heart into every piece of work we put out, and the talent brought in was unmatched. That kind of talent isn't cheap, and my mission with The Escapist was to not be driven primarily by views, but by direct funding through premium memberships and livestreams.

"That was working, and we grew year-over-year for all four years I ran The Escapist. Unfortunately, while ultimately more sustainable in the long-run and not being reliant on shifting ad revenue from quarter to quarter, that kind of growth wasn't fast enough for Gamurs in the short-term despite our model clearly growing year-after-year."

Calandra, Croshaw, and other former Escapist staff announced on November 7 via social media that they are launching an independent outlet called Second Wind.

GamesIndustry.biz has reached out to Gamurs Group for a response to Calandra's statement.

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