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Former GameXplain members talk about troubles with the company (heavy crunch, low pay) [New: Statements from Steve and Derrick]

Irikan

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
1,091
Man how fucked up can you be, and that phone story? what the hell is wrong with him lol. I'm really happy that they found a better place where they can actually have a livable wage and that they actually seem to like, they deserve it.
 

Theswweet

RPG Site
Verified
Oct 25, 2017
3,728
California
I mean I think harassment is generally wrong and I don't think anyone should be doing stuff like death threats or hounding him on social media constantly, neither is productive or helpful, but I definitely think given what's going on we should be encouraging people to stop watching/subscribing to GameXplain. I get the concerns this might hurt the other staff there, but frankly given what's been said I feel like staying on with GameXplain in the long run is probably not worth it for them either
Just to be absolutely clear, I am *not* suggesting that folks harass Andre.
 

Opposable

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,111
Manipulating big fans of yours with low pay and a carrot that they may become one of the full time members and then moving the goalposts, for me, shows that Andre wasn’t just a terrible boss making mistakes. Sounds like it was all well thought out on his end.
 

cw_sasuke

Member
Oct 27, 2017
16,106
Could also be hedging bets in terms of not hurting their chances of getting employment with other outlets if GVG doesn't end up working out for them
Or they are just decent folk willing to tell their side of the story without wishing harassment on another person.

Don't need to make it a bigger deal of it, just shows what kind of people they are and that they are being transparent now not for the sake of people harassing GX or Andre....but for answering questions the audience have.

In the end all of us can do what we want with the information we obtain from this thread but the ex-staff has made their own intentions clear.
 

Imran

Member
Oct 24, 2017
3,966
A... non-complete clause!? In entertainment journalism!? Like he's afraid you'll go a competitor with the secret technology behind the analysis machine? GX didn't spend millions in R&D on that machine just to let IGN get their hands on it!

There's plenty of other bullshit in that story but somehow that last detail by itself just screams paranoid control freak.
I will say I've had to sign a non-compete clause at every FT gaming journalism site I've worked, but they're non-binding in California so I kinda just...didn't care and didn't abide by it.
 

Seafoam Gaming

One Winged Slayer
Member
Nov 3, 2017
2,107
What has Andre been doing all day given that he assigns way too much work to Brandon, Derrick, etc., underpays them, and doesn’t really narrate any videos that are released on GX?
he sure seems to love tweeting about political stuff often and bitching about corrupt politicians, when ironically, he ended up being just as bad as the folk he hates. Absolutely disgusting he hasn't made a statement on this yet or tried to remedy this in any way, and only just made it worse with the reddit removals.

Or answer why the GX Patreon isn't disclosing the amount they make. I'm almost certain the reason the number is withheld is to prevent people from realizing just how much he made that could have gone to the staff.

Really worry about Tris and the remaining members. I think even if Andre changes his tune and ups their pay they'll likely quit due to the fact that the channel will implode over this: views tanked in recent months due to Ash and Co leaving, so GX's bad rep won't help them either
 

FormatCompatible

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,735
The statements are just heartbreaking to read. I truly hope for the best for crew that has parted ways from GX, but also to the staff that is currently Andre's employees.

Personally I'm not going to be watching videos from GX anymore, I just can't support someone like that.
 

Zen Hero

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,075
I have to admit I did not know who Brandon was until he started appearing on GVG, so yeah, I think he wasn't being credited properly before. I'm wishing the best for him going forward. I gave him a follow on Twitter, I really enjoyed his appearances on GVG and hope to see more of him!
 

Lozjam

One Winged Slayer
Avenger
Nov 1, 2017
1,535
With every story that we receive, the more it becomes clear that this is no mistake. This is a pattern of explicit exploitation, and cruelty. Andre is trying to make everyone who contributes to gamexplain, throw them into financial dissaray, and make them miserable. The amount of work he has done, doesn't simply add up, and he actively makes his employees jobs harder.

This is explicit, cruel, and intentional exploitation.
 

Watershed

Member
Oct 26, 2017
2,825
I unsubscribed. I honestly hadn't been watching much of their content since the old crew left. Andre should have tried to address this by now. Each statement portrays the same terrible management with some genuine maliciousness involved. Really sad to read.
 

Salamiaddict

Member
May 15, 2018
305
Northern Germany
I feel like shit. This can't be real. Damn, I used to watch every analysis and discussion religiously.
What does GVG Help the best? Watching their videos more often? Sharing them? Commenting on them? Or all of the above?
 

Lozjam

One Winged Slayer
Avenger
Nov 1, 2017
1,535
I feel like shit. This can't be real. Damn, I used to watch every analysis and discussion religiously.
What does GVG Help the best? Watching their videos more often? Sharing them? Commenting on them? Or all of the above?
Yes yes yes. And subbing to their Patreon. That is seemingly where they get most of their revenue. So yeah.
 

brainchild

VFX Artist/Consultant
Verified
Nov 25, 2017
7,920
Minnesota
I have to admit I did not know who Brandon was until he started appearing on GVG, so yeah, I think he wasn't being credited properly before. I'm wishing the best for him going forward. I gave him a follow on Twitter, I really enjoyed his appearances on GVG and hope to see more of him!
What's sad is that for a while I didn't even know who he was and when I wasn't able to do the video editing for a script I wrote, André didn't even tell me that he was the one who was working on it. I had to find out in the description box after the video went live (thanks to Steve for making sure he eventually got credited).
 
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Soltis

Member
Feb 28, 2019
147
Yikes. Each updates just makes this look worse and worse. All of this certainly demands some type of accountability from Andre.

I worry for the newer GameExplain crew members. They’re not in great spots right now.
 

darz1

Member
Dec 18, 2017
3,764
Some really shitty practices there like no set hours for full time staff and lowballing freelance workers. Basically sounds like people were overworked and underpaid across the board

I would understand the request for using the GX twitch account for streaming if it was on the company’s time, but if there are no set work hours, that is some bullshit.
 

MicH

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,665
Jesus, that statement from Derrick is heartbreaking to read.I’m honestly lost for words. Derrick put in so much work and got treated like absolute crap. Disgraceful.

The phone story is just the Cherry on this shit sundae. Andre sounds like a horrible person that doesn’t represent any of the liberal values he so likes to tout on Twitter.
 

cw_sasuke

Member
Oct 27, 2017
16,106
Such a Watergate situation where the cover up results in a much bigger blow up and investigation. Because the way the Steve, Derrick and co. phrased it during the GVG episode ...while factual was still somewhat harmless and didn't put Andre in that bad of a light. Only once Andre went ahead and started deleting the reddit posts shit got real. So yeah these are all consequences of his own actions that could have been prevented if he just owned up to his questionable behavior.

Karma.

You can see that the ex-staff really didn't wanna have to expose him like that but in th end they are talking about their own situation and he hasnt been forthcoming with his stance.
 
Oct 25, 2017
7,832
GameXplain's twitter activity has slowed considerably since this thread went up and today is going to be the first day (including Xmas!) since I don't know when that there hasn't been a tweet. Maybe a coincidence.

If there's one outcome from all of this, I hope it's that current staff gets promised better conditions and pay. By all accounts it sounds like that should be possible given how popular and profitable GX is.
 

Buzzth

Member
Jan 15, 2018
470
Japan
I was really bummed when Jon said he wanted to leave, really felt like they made the ultimate group of people discussing games all together. So when almost all of them decided to leave it was clear something was definitely wrong at GX.

With all due respect to the new members, I just haven't been tuning in as much anymore. Just feels like I'm watching a different channel. Such a shame things turned out to be this way from behind the scenes.
 

IronFalcon1997

One Winged Slayer
Member
Jun 11, 2018
1,014
i really should have known. I had a bad gut feeling a while back, but didn’t want to believe it. I had a really bad feeling after everyone left but decided to still keep an eye on it. I was so wrong, and this is despicable. What a hypocrite. What a manipulative, lying, greedy man. He needs to learn how truly be selfless
 

Aerith

Black Girl
Magic ☆
Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
4,142
I hadn't been watching GX for some time anyway, but...yeah after reading about all of this I unsubscribed. Hadn't heard of GVG but checking out a few of their videos I subscribed. You guys deserve a lot of success. Sorry about what you had to endure. I'll definitely be a regular viewer from now on.
 

YellowBara

Member
Oct 26, 2017
765
No response this whole time says a lot about Andre to me, considering how quick to the jump he normally is to shit talk about other people caught doing wrong. Gonna actively avoid GX videos from now on tbh.
 

Phendrift

Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,871
A big reason this hurts is because I the old crew were all great friends and enjoyed listening to their discussions from that perspective. It was so wholesome. Never would’ve imagined this was going on behind the scenes.

I guess I was too naive.