Hi everyone! Derrick has prepared a statement regarding this situation, but he doesn't have an Era account so I'm posting it on his behalf. I am also preparing my own statement which I will post later, but for now all I'll say is that I fully back everything Steve and now Derrick have said about the situation. It's all true.
That said, I would like to echo Derrick and Steve's reminders that it has never been our intention to have Good Vibes Gaming compete with or undermine GX. The new crew of Joey, Tris, and Chris (as well as my good friend Tom, who remains at GX) deserve the same love and consideration you all have graciously shown us over the years and we are NOT asking you to unsubscribe from GX or pull support from their Patreon. We'd also like to remind you that while we understand your desire for Andre to make a statement, we strongly ask that you don't harass him; we appreciate your sympathy and support, but we categorically do not want this to turn into a witch hunt.
And now, Derrick's statement:
Obviously, I’ve never posted to ResetEra before this, but I wanted to get some things out there that I’ve bottled up for some time now. I also want to provide some more context if possible, but these are just some of my experiences. First, none of us knew how much each other was making. All I knew was that I was making the most of all the employees as I had been there the longest. Each year, I would get a raise until I topped out at $5k/month in 2018. Despite asking for my yearly raise, Andre said that the channel couldn’t afford it as by that point Jon had been brought on. I didn’t mind though as having Jon on the team was a lifesaver. He was able to do updates and keep an eye on the channel, lightening my daily work load significantly. I felt expected to be on call at all times and would be nervous to even leave my home most days, fearing that some random Nintendo news would come out. This didn’t really go away until Jon joined and Aimee pushed me to take time for myself. Rarely did Andre handle an update and when it was just him, he would wait until either Jon or myself was free again to actually handle it. Before then, it always had to be done ASAP. As for GameXplain’s income, I was able to see the analytics for quite some time and the estimation is mostly on point though there were some months where it would dip below that estimation. But the high end always felt massive and I hoped that the rest of the team, especially Jon, was being compensated with that extra income. That said, I had to handle any work expenses myself for the most part, including consoles and equipment. The only part of my current setup provided by Andre is my mic. I paid for my flights to LA for E3 or trains to NY for Nintendo events while Andre would handle the cost of hotels if needed and meals if we were together. I never said anything as the expenses could be used as write-offs for my taxes and helped at the end of the year.
However, this year felt different as the team started talking more. I discovered that Jon was making less than half of what I did despite doing the same amount of work, Steve’s income has already been brought up, and Ash had stepped back from the channel for only occasional work. He would send invoices that Andre would eventually get to, but Andre always had to be reminded to send our paychecks out. We tried to get a calendar started so he could be more consistent but he resisted the idea. One other thing to know is that despite a Discord where we all chatted and coordinated, Andre would often DM each of us to ask specific things. Ostensibly it was so we could see them better, but often it felt like a way to strongarm for videos he wanted. There were many times when he wanted an update on something that I didn’t feel was worth the time as I was working on other things, but he would push until I relented. Sometimes he gave up, but that was rare. It got to a point where I would ignore or put off looking at his DMs if I was busy with something else or be more combative over the updates he wanted to put out. Andre was extremely controlling, seemingly timing things to directly disrupt plans. He gave Jon tons of work when his YouTube channel took off, making it difficult for him to make videos there. He also asked me to stop streaming to YouTube as he didn’t like old game playthroughs mixed in with our current events style. As a side note, any money I earned from Superchat had to be totaled by me and invoiced at the end of the year as a “bonus.” So leaving to Twitch served as a chance to earn money more immediately, especially with a baby on the way and Aimee still unable to work on her own projects due to the effects of COVID. I prepared people for the move for a while as I completed the final playthrough, but on the day of the final stream, Andre contacted me and asked that I stream to GameXplain’s Twitch instead.
His reason was that he wouldn’t be able to make me properly full-time if I streamed to my own Twitch, something he had been building toward through most of the year. If I streamed to my own Twitch, I would be considered a freelancer and immediately have my pay removed with rates estimated at $15-$20 per update and $100-$150 per feature or review. He said I could have full control of the GameXplain Twitch though so I felt strong-armed into taking the deal. I still got the money from subs and bits monthly but I had to go through him. It also felt like he dragged his feet to confirm Affiliate status because he thought me streaming would somehow turn people away from the new Game Club tier on the Patreon. Around September, he asked me to join a voice call where he wanted to discuss me at GameXplain going forward. I popped in at the appointed time and he asked to be on camera. It turns out he had prepared a PowerPoint where he ran down several things. How COVID had affected ad rates and lowered income, how he was still paying me the same despite this, how I was fighting him when updates had to be done, and ultimately, how I was bringing in less money for the channel then what I was being paid. It ended with a question of whether I was still loyal and still wanted an official full-time position. Again, with a baby on the way, I was scared to the point of meekness because I felt I couldn’t put Aimee and the baby in that position.
When Andre finally presented me with the full-time contract, I was in the middle of a nightmare moving situation where I could barely focus on anything. He pushed the fact that I had to make a decision as soon as possible due to timing, but I could not change my income situation without messing up my loan application. Ultimately, he gave me the time I needed and talked to the loan officers as my boss to help me get my loan. But in the intervening time, I was able to take a closer look at the contract. There were no defined set hours, no increase in pay, no overtime, no health coverage (not enough full-time employees), and overtime would only translate to extra time off, not extra pay. In addition, he wanted to approve where I appeared and when I streamed, taking away the one bit of control I had with the Twitch. It felt like I had no say in my life, everything had to go through him if I wanted to earn money beyond GameXplain. But worst of all was an NDA included with the contract. Tucked in the many points listed was a non-compete clause. Basically if I signed the contract and left or was fired from GameXplain for any reason, I would not be able to work in the same space for a year. I took this to mean no YouTube, no games media, nothing. I talked to a lot of people around this time, trying to figure out what to do. After speaking with all of them, including Aimee, Ash, Steve, and Jon, I ultimately decided to leave with Ash and Steve coming with me so we could pursue Ash’s idea of Good Vibes Gaming. It felt better to leave and attempt my own thing rather than deal with that contract and the general stress and pressure of GameXplain. Money is tight, but I am so much happier now.
I can only gratefully thank all of you who have supported Good Vibes Gaming so far whether as part of our Patreon, watching my streams, or subscribing to the channel. It means the world to me that I can happily pursue my ideas and I look forward to sharing them with our fans. Ultimately though, no matter what, I request that you don’t harass any of the new hires, Tom, or Andre. I merely want to provide more context and shed light on the position I was coming from. Thank you all for your support and take care.
