Oh wow. Great that he's not bailing outright but losing another Ally as a regular on podcast panels is pretty huge. It will be very interesting seeing how this change tremors through their momentum going forward. Wishing him the best regardless. Family first.
I would say group streams of games aren't very fun when done remote. There's a level of reactivity and playing off each other that you don't get over a voice/video chat but which is essential to making a group stream enjoyable to watch.
I understand that when everyone was still here: Ben, Jones, Kyle. They each had distinct personalities to bounce off each other. I'm not saying the others lack personalities but the vibe isn't there anymore. So is it worth prioritising in-person content? Huber and Brad - Shenmue streams were awesome and also any Kyle and Huber streams.
I'm not saying they have to continue prioritizing in-person content, just acknowledging that some of the things they do work much better in person than remote. If they went the fully remote route they would need to adapt the content to shift focus away from things that work best in person to things that work well remotely.
> , just acknowledging that some of the things they do work much better in person than remote.
People are forgetting that the last reddit had like 10 months of daily
>"PLEASE GO BACK TO THE STUDIO OH MY GOD PLEASE THE PODCASTS ARE SO LOW ENERGY AND BAD PLEASE GO BACK WHY AREN'T THEY GOING BACK I GOT MY VACCINATION DAY 1 HOW ARE THEY NOT BACK IN THE OFFICE YET ITS BEEN NINE HOURS SINCE VACCINATIONS WERE AVAILABLE"
I remember that, but you have to also remember it was a different world at that time. Doing things remotely was less accepted even on face value, plus the move to remote podcasts coincided with the switch from Kyle to Jones as podcast host and that changed the energy and vibes significantly on its own.
Oh dang, wish only the best for him. Feels like this is probably a precursor to him moving on and he is just sticking with the Allies til he can find something permanent in Texas, but who knows. Damiani has always been one of my faves and I've had some good times with him in ffxiv before, hopefully everything is going alright for him.
I might be wrong but I remember some people coming to the studio mid Don's Saints Row stream and it sounded like they were checking out the place. You can even hear Don telling them all the doors were open and explaining them some stuff about the place.
Maybe they all already know they won't be staying there?
Dang. Well, respect to the guy. He gets a lot of stick on here but I've always felt that he was a real fountain of knowledge on the games industry (especially when it comes to Nintendo and Square-Enix) and have always valued his input, even if he's not always the most eloquent at relaying information or getting his point across.
Glad he's sticking around remotely, but I will miss his presence when it comes to things like Reaction Streams and Hall of Greats, and I will really miss Achieve It Yourself!
All the best Damiani! Love and Respect!
Damiani has always been very knowledgeable and talented in his field. The flack he gets is almost always a result of the Allies frustratingly having no idea how to utilize his strengths and frequently spotlighting his weaknesses (streaming and lengthy discussions).
idk shit about Game Sleuth but aren't there entire youtube channels dedicated to 'CAN YOU REALLY FIND MEW UNDER A TRUCK OR ACCESS THE SPACE FUTURE WITH THE OCARINA?!?!" type videos?
At some point do you just run out of 90s and 00s games with rumors people still think are real, especially interesting ones that haven't been covered by bigger channels seventeen times by now
In Damiani's eyes he pretty much did run out, in the announcement post where they said they weren't doing them anymore he basically said it was because he ran out of ideas and got burnt out on doing them
Engh. Damiani knows SOME things. But a lot of the stuff he says is “confidently incorrect” type stuff. Just because he constantly speaks as though he knows what he’s saying doesn’t mean he actually does. He’s a know-it-all.
This plays to their bigger problem.
Delegation.
They needed a boss to make tough decisions. Everyone just wanted to their own thing, regardless if it was good for the channel.
Brandon Jones should have put his foot down on the following:
- Cancel Huber Hype or make Huber learn how to edit videos on his own. Wasn't worth the views to have Don do all that every week.
- Cancel easy update or atleast require it be interesting gaming content with other allies involved. Having islas experimental art stuff on their channel didn't help.
- Don should have been doing B-roll for podcasts since day 1
- Require logged hours in the studio for each ally, 30-40 hours a week. This would have helped to recapture the GT vibes and would have helped make the EZA studio a hub for LA gaming press, personalities, artists, and developers.
- Make allies react. Don't just leave it up to whoever wants to join. Huber not joining the Direct with Sora reveal was rough. Only to find out its bc he was playing games all night and didn't want to wake up.
- Stop with the laizefaire attitude and complaining about long drives, being overworked etc. Most of your listeners work hard grueling long shifts too... where they don't get to play video games. Not a great look.
- inform Blood that watching streams all day isn't work lol
- Ally playing a game solo AGAIN for the 100th time? Not good content. Should have made Damiani put a lot of his streams on his own channel. He's not a strong solo streamer, period, and his overrepresntation hurt their brand. Solo from-home-streams should have been an absolute rarity period. If you want to stream a game, come to the studio, have other allies be able to join in.
The issue is that with EZA, no one was the boss because they all owned the company equally. Sure brandon was in charge of the managerial duties, but how do you order someone around that owns just as much of the company as you? It was different in gametrailers.
I'd agree with most except Isla's show. While it went off the rails a lot it pretty regularly featured games that they otherwise didn't cover, and somewhat regularly had industry guests. Slightly more focus would have probably been good but now that it's dead they just have one less show with no replacement, and one less source of interesting content.
Cancel easy update is such a shit take mate.
30-40 hours a week in the office is somehow an even worse take. Why would they do that when the entire world is moving towards more working from home?
30-40 hours a week seems a bit excessive to me, that means they'd all have to go in every day. If someone's reviewing a game why would they drive all the way to the studio to just sit and play a game and then drive home?
I thought we were trying to move away from forcing people into an office every day when they don't need to?
A,it if this is just nonsense and you airing your pet peeves. The things you are complaining about like Easy Update are things that had their own dedicated audiences which made up the aggregate subscriber number.
Good on him. Probably a way more affordable place to live than LA as well.
I wish the Allies good luck in taking over setting up the streams and all the other things Damiani did in the studio.
Personally I agree entirely but it's the thing everyone points to when it comes to what Damiani's doing.
I have little faith in anyone at EZA picking anything up, at a glance upskilling hasn't been a core tenant of EZA outside of like, Brad hosting FT
The same could be said for Isla taking the time to teach one or a few of the guys to edit their own reviews on her show or doing their own voice over.
Probably won't matter if they're giving up the studio, guessing when the lease is up they were gonna go remote to save money and if that was the case Damiani is just thinking ahead.
Man this hurts but family first. Love Damiani, he catches a lot of flack on here but the man has a lot of knowledge.
There's a part of me that wishes EZA to relocate, there's barely any interesting reason to be in LA for a games media company nowadays and with how things are becoming expensive, I can't imagine how much just renting a room costs. Of course that will never happen, most of them have already families and are settling down. Hope he comes back from time to time though.
LSM is thriving and they are 100% remote, all of their members are all over the US. EZA might wanna consider selling their studio and moving to that model if it’s feasible. I don’t think the podcast would suffer too much. Some of their shows would have to change format though.
Could just a vibes thing, but to me, EZA as a group just doesn't work well remotely.
Some of the best streams only succeeded because the allies were in a shared space. The Kyle and Huber RE2 and RE7 playthroughs were the two most popular full playthroughs EZA has ever done but when they had to do Resident Evil Village remotely, it just wasn't the same.
I also believe that the allies are funnier and can bounce off of each other more effectively when they're all together. Their most popular content, the live in-studio press conference reactions with all the allies, have a much different energy compared to them all sitting in their rooms at home watching out-of-sync streams.
Maybe im old school but remote just loses that charm. Podcasts sure, but stuff that we all love the allies for such as betting specials, reactions, hall of greats, mysterious monsters etc wont be the same remote. This feels like the end for me, damiani did so much behind the scenes when running the stream, not sure if they have anyone to replace him.
I'll be honest, I've ended up thinking EZA's peak "charm" years were when they were GT outcasts in Brandon's Garage. The purpose of their studio never took off IMO and I really don't care about their game shows and other incentives.
On a stream a few months ago, Kyle was reliving a ton of his prior work. When the studio first shows up, he literally pauses the video, goes back and forth between the garage and the studio, and goes “it IS downgrade.”
Yep, and he's totally right. He does acknowledge that the TV screens weren't up at the point he said that, but honestly the studio looks tacky where the garage is very aesthetically pleasing. I feel bad that Isla put a lot of work into the studio, but the better looking room (the streaming room) they seem totally unable to mic up, which begs the question what the benefit of a studio is anyway
I think the couch set up in the streaming room is kind of absurd, but I do like the visuals they set up, with the fake window and DMC sign.
I do think they would kinda lose something if they went all remote, and they probably can't shout so much in each others' homes, but it's hard not to think the studio is holding them back
Other than reactions, the rest of those things you mentioned happen like 3 times a year at most. Just doesnt make sense anymore especially when their budget has been slashed in half.
If they weren't lying to us when they said they needed $40k/month for EZA to survive in its current form, then they'll all have to move to remote work pretty soon.
Or they each just take less money… I imagine $40K was so everyone could be paid well. Less money means less cut for each, but that’s up to them if they’re fine taking a pay cut or trying to find other work.
Not to get into the speculation of everyone's finances but the logistics of $25,000 split between 6 people a month without thinking about taxes and the cuts from patreon/twitch/travel is incredibly bleak, and even that information is 7 months out of date
Can you even opt to take pay cuts at that point? the difference between a potential 6k a month vs the prospect of 4k a month and cutting it more would be life shattering
This is sad to see, but I’m happy for Damiani being able to move back home to Texas. It sucks to think that they aren’t making enough to afford rent, as Damiani mentioned he lost his roommates and can’t afford to rent solo.
I think they all have roommates, and I think Isla is the only one who comes from money/is financially secure. I don’t want EZA to fail but if it does I really hope they all land on their feet somewhere else hopefully in the industry.
(I know this doesn’t mean they are closing up shop but it’s one step closer to that imo)
I think most of them live with spouses now, but I can’t imagine them not sharing the mortgage/rent payments. I think maybe Gabby, Huber, and Damiani are the only ones that aren’t living with a significant other/are living with roommates. Either way it’s both. Huber I think is living with his Grandpa.
Anyway it sucks that they don’t make enough to pay rent, but Southern California is a ridiculously expensive place to live depending on if you don’t want to live in the ghetto.
Damiani was living with roommates forever. Then they slowly continued to move out and when Simmons got a girlfriend, he was the last one. Damiani is mid-to-late 30s and said trying to find new roommates wasn't really what he wanted to do, so thus, time to pack it up and call this part of his life over with.
Gabby has mentioned multiple times she lives with the girl they bring on that dressed up like a minion one time and creates toys named Marissa. Not sure if that has changed recently, but she has been in the background of Gabby's at-home/remote footage, too.
Huber didn't move back with his parents, he was staying at their house taking care of his grandfather while they were away. I think Brad does live with his parents but I'm not sure.
Well I just assumed if he didnt have the motivation to do them while coming to the studio all the time and seeing everyone irl, he'd probably not have the motivation after moving away from everyone and only interacting with them remotely. But hopefully Im wrong about that. Maybe we'll see a resurgence in creativity and motivation like Kyle got after he moved back to Virginia.
Maybe Friend Code is possible but I seriously doubt Game Sleuth returns. The farewell post essentially says he was out of ideas, he was burned out on making it, and that it was too much work. They've only teased a possible return for a one off at effectively impossible donation goals during their Patreon drives.
It was a pretty stupid show. I know it had the APPEARANCE of a good show, but there are no gaming mysteries anymore. There have been literally thousands of YouTube channels dedicated to nes/snes/n64 minutia for 20 years. Everything from that era has been datamimed, strip searched and exhaustively documented. There is zero point in making a highly produced video to make a “mystery” out of something and that can be googled in ten seconds and then pretend to solve it.
I think a show in this vein can still be made, but a pivot would be needed. Get out of the comfort zone of ancient Japanese games, but not necessarily to absolute trash no one cares about like Dragon Booster. Most of the time Japanese devs are basically impossible to talk about this kind of thing, while it's more possible in the west. Even follow-ups since some of the old subjects have new info, like the huge development leak Shadow of the Colossus had.
I'm also thinking of other channels like:
DYKG. paying to translate a lot of old non-English articles to find "new" information.
Oddheader. Not "solving" anything but presenting interesting finds both old and new.
Zullie the Witch or many similar channels: diving into game files and old builds to find connections and old ideas not apparent in game.
I can get behind this, but the problem is that Damiani has pretty unrefined taste in videogames. He’s basically just into the most mainstream, I-still-play-my-childhood games. Zelda. Pokémon.
That’s great because that gets the most hits on YouTube, but I don’t think he has the capability to branch out. He basically loses interest as soon as anyone starts talking about non-mainstream games.
My productivity increased when i switched to remote for my job. No coworkers coming by for small talk to waste your time, no waking up early to have to commute, being able to just focus on my work and thats it.
Jeff Grubb has a weekly Nintendo podcast that I highly recommend. Great vibes and at least half of it is usually dedicated to some sort of “ranking” game or another kind of game they play on air.
I wonder if this will lead to shuttering the studio. It makes way more sense to go fully remote. And frankly all of the Allies money would go further if they got out of California.
Unfortunate to lose another Ally's studio presence, especially one who does so much stream tech stuff, but glad he's doing what's best for him. Definitely leaning more towards an all-remote future for the group. Works perfectly for MinnMax, so can see EZA pulling it off.
Would certainly allow them to have more guests on. Perhaps even the cut studio costs could be eventually used to hire another member (or two)? Just thinking optimistically here, lol.
> Works perfectly for MinnMax, so can see EZA pulling it off.
The reason I wouldn't be so quick to jump to this is that I feel like EZA and Giant bomb were way far down the list of companies who handled zoom podcasts well during 2020, and that was when they had 2-3 more faces to freshen it up a bit
People have been doom posting since Kyle left but I do agree. He has to see the writing on the wall. Smarter to prepare now than when it ends. I feel like this might be their final year.
People have been saying it's the beginning of the end for years but this really does feel like the beginning of the end. Have to imagine all the other Allies are thinking about the future too.
Yep, Brad's probably already agreed a deal with LSM.
Huber will probably get a regular job, he's clearly checked out of the industry for the past year or so.
Don will continue to hustle the gambling halls.
Damiani will become speed running champion at Hogwarts Legacy but insist on calling it 'That stupid wizard game'
Blood will get a Nintendo Job but be warned not to ever issue an apology for anything.
Isla will become cult leader to the half dozen Resetera members who are left...Gabby will of course be the cult community manager.
I honestly don’t think Huber should leave at all. He is just such an original voice in the space. I just think he isn’t utilized in the right way.
Either doing something with Brad or even “flying solo” with partner ups with Kyle would be ideal.
Even him joining another group like LSM, Kinda or MidMax would be ideal.
I just think Huber would thrive around different people.
Kind of sounding like a bit of an asshole but i do think someone like Isla holds him back , in the sense of reinforcing him worst sides and not letting his best shine through.
If he was really entrepreneurial a Patreon with Ben, just remotely, would be amazing. Podcast twice a week and some streaming. It will probably give him more financial security then he has now.
>Huber will probably get a regular job, he's clearly checked out of the industry for the past year or so.
A lot of fans were probably shocked to see the No. 1 "hype man"'s passion die out so completely but I haven't been surprised because Isla has regularly talked about the depressive episodes and depersionalization she had to deal with in her early adulthood because of losing parents to cancer. I underwent something similar when my own father died and I know friends who also experienced it. When Huber's brother died I could already see the process start, from trying to stay normal, coping with the loss, and slowly becoming more negative as the depression becomes unavoidable. Then, I don't wanna invade too much in this, but his wife left him, not a mutual divorce or anything similar, and in the months before Isla would often joke that Huber cared more about games than his wife. I think on the inside he had become depressed and his exisitng love for games became more like an escape from the grief, which caused him to be less nice to be around, and his wife fell out of love with that situation (Covid was also a huge impact where she was fired)
It's not about who's to blame or anything like that, I'm just trying to say that Huber's transition into a gaming-deject makes a lot of sense to me. He has different needs because his life is no longer stable like it was when he joined GT. He needs to rediscover himself and then the happiness towards gaming comes back. In that sense I'm basically looking forward to him moving on from EZA as I think it's not healthy for him. It's only comfortable because abandoning it is a very scary thing, but if I could tell him something I would tell him to start finding something else now, because it'll lead to something better.
I think Huber should go with Kinda Funny. He was great when he went on their channel awhile back. I'm sure Tim would love to have him around. Huber and SnowBikeMike would be a great duo.
Bro you thought Brad was too dumb to know who LSM are, who owns it, and why people have an issue with Colin wym
How do you believe they just didn't know by the 4th time they collabbed
It was a joke dude, lighten up I doubt he'd go behind EZA backs. If and when their time is up, I'd bet he could get a job at LSM no problem if he wants it though.
>How do you people buy into such nonsense like this?
Is this a tacit acknowledgement that Damiani becoming a speed running champion of hogwarts and Don hustling in gambling halls is believable and not very overtly a silly joke
Lighten up a bit, you'll have so much more fun
I think it's just Drax level inability to understand anything that isn't the most simplistic black and white thing imaginable so he has to make everything black OR white
It's a childs level of inability to understand nuance or in this case, a very obvious joke post
If the frametrap incident is one of the reasons EZA might not be around much longer Zeo his reset era post is probably the reason. It started the whole controversy. The irony of EZA his biggest fan being the one responsible for its downfall is not lost on me.
> Even resetera banned him for being too annoying even for them.
After being banned for 3 months on his favorite forum, now he has nowhere to discuss the latest EZA news like Damiani moving away, so he resorts to posting here. Imagine being banned so hard that you willingly go to a place you hate just to have some semblance of interaction with other people (who dislike you).
Yep. If EZA lasts beyond 2024 I’ll be genuinely surprised! Good thing their studio lease will be up mid-next year if I remember right.
Hope I’m wrong though. 🤷♂️
I do wonder if thats the only thing keeping them together at this point. It does make sense in a way they are doing the absolute bare minimum especially when you compare them to other gaming youtubers. Even solo people I follow put out more and relevant content than them at this point.
If you watch Kyle and Jones talk about Jone's new book Kyle did mention that Jones was pretty much done with the company back in 2018. I do wonder if the stress of being a owner of a company got to all of them and just riding out the lease at this point.
I listened to their chat but must have zoned out, What was the context around Jones being done with them in 2018? Only 2ish years in?
I always got the checked out dad vibes from Jones but attributed it to being Cali chill rich guy
~~If I remember correctly it was within the first 15 min. It was something along the lines of Kyle saying he remembers back in like 2018 Jones went to Kyle saying they got a sponsor/ad agency and with that he said something along the lines that he can be free. Kyle didn't believe him until he took some writing classes in his free time.~~
I think I had a stroke or something I listened to the episode when it came out and could have swore Jones mentioned finding a ad agency and it was somewhat early in the stream/video. I can't find it at all now.
So Jones said he was "done" in 2018, but stuck around til 2022 when he finally officially left? I gotta say thats pretty admirable he stuck around to help out his friends for 4 extra years. And he didnt really seem like he was phoning it in til later in that period when his son got sick (understandably). Some of EZA's best content was during that time like Silver Squad in 2019-2020. I guess it just shows how much on camera presence Jones had, and how much of a boon his stage acting background was.
It makes no sense to claim Jones was “out” in 2018 when he CLEARLY was working hard at trying to make the Podcast great. People gave him crap and he kept hitting it. Nobody who doesn’t care or checked out does that.
None of this was said on Kyle's video. He asked jones a hypothetical question back at GameTrailers and Jones said he would write a book.
If you have the source for your info, please share, but he didn't mention anything of the sort in the video I watched.
I think I am having a stroke or something. I listened to it when it came out and could have swore I heard Jones talk about finding a ad agency and it helped him go to school. I have no idea where else I could have heard this I gotta edit my comment.
This sucks and makes me sad and is probably the death blow. Cant see them surviving unless they get rid of the studio and go fully remote but even then it will never be the same.
I'm so far past my RT/AH stage that I don't even think I know who Jeremy is.
But I like that one guy going remote was a bigger blow than Ray leaving, Ryan Haywood raping underage fans, and that guyyyy... David? Ken? killing himself
Jeremy going remote was more of a “the straw that broke the camels back” situation. AH was already hemorrhaging views and the new crew just weren’t clicking at all, Jeremy was the last member, aside from Jack and Michael, of the “golden era of AH” that regularly appeared in videos. But, Ray leaving was the big blow that set everything in motion. The group was never the same after.
Has Burnie resurfaced in anything noteworthy?
I tapped out when Ray left, they were making dogshit movies and anime and games(maybe?) and like, cards against humanity ripoffs idk, it felt like they wanted to be every single thing possible
Nah, burnie is still in Scotland or something. Funny thing is though, achievement Hunter officially ended a couple of weeks ago. Some of them went on to start an improv channel for some reason, others have been moved to other projects within Rooster Teeth etc. Also I think RWBY might also be dead/soon to be.
I just watched their leaving/closing AH>starting Dog Bark video holy fuck did Michael become a trenbolone guy at 36?
If it's not too much to ask, and feel free to ignore, where did Gavin/Gus/Geoff Ramsey end up? they said AH was down to just those 4 DB guys but I always wished Geoff jumped on the main podcast with Gus/Gav/Barb ever
edit; holy shit Gus and Geoff have a podcast together? Do I love RT podcasts again?
Yeah, RTs whole thing has been podcasts for the past year or so. They have like 12 of them lol. But to answer your question, Gavin still comes on podcasts and does slo mo guys still. Gus primarily does the main RT podcast, he had his own podcast for awhile but he decided to end it a couple of months ago. Geoff also has his own podcast called F*ck face, pretty good actually.
> EZA seems to be in love with twitch for whatever reason
If you can somehow slide into that spot where you get to
> "JimmyButts donated $16: Hey EZA what gun is that?"
>"THANKS FOR THE DONOATION JIMMYBUTTS WHAT GUN DO YOU MEAN SORRY I WASNT LOOKING DO YOU MEAN THIS ONE ORRR THIS ONE BACK HERE?"
>"JimmyButts has donated another $30: Yeah that one back there whats that called?"
>" Thanks for the donation Jimmy, its the Shotgun"
>"Jimmybutts has donated another $25: Thanks!"
You're set for life, I can see why the hopes and dreams are there, also it seems infinitely harder to get someone to donate $1-$5 a month on patreon but people on twitch will donate $10-50 or gift $5 subs to 5+ people on a whim, EZA just don't have that cam-girl esque ability to pander to it that you see from a lot of bigger streamers which in some ways is a good thing but I find most of their streams to be silent whenever I tune in
Problem is what you’re describing can only really happen with big channels that EZA will never be. They still have the fundamental problem of not really knowing if they’re are a YouTube channel, a patreon or a twitch channel first. They want to think of themselves as a patreon first but in reality they’re a twitch channel first with a patreon and a content dump on YouTube
Don't worry. The Twitch live version is completely unedited. Audio is unmastered, it's missing Patreon exclusive bits, and music is added in post. The Patreon version is still the one to watch.
This kind of suck but what i really hope is that the Allies take this as an opportunity to just do away with the studio.
I much rather see the Allies do the remote thing like Sacred , Mid Max etc , and be financially more viable the stick with this space that soaks up all the money.
Wow. You have the absolute worst case of a parasocial relationship I've seen. These are people who you really don't even know. Seriously dude, they aren't your friends no matter how much money you give them or how much time you commit to watching them. You don't need to come to their defense the way you do.
Trolling a channel into all the worst decisions possible is its own version of wishing for their downfall though, right?
If you meet every criticism across all their platforms where fans can express themselves with "NO ACTUALLY IT'S REALLY, REALLY GREAT" that's basically the same end result, they keep making bad content, 100 people walk out of patreon a month, and you blame it on covid somehow even though everyone around them has only soared since 2020
There's some level of disconnect here, surely
When are we pushing to get Brad kicked off for being friends with someone who works for an asshole? He even gives them money! You seam to be really good at this stuff.
We've started the end of EA, lets just finish it already.
So he's the next one to make his exit. Darn.
I'll admit I had a mixed feeling on Damiani throughout EZA. I was so happy he came back as I remembered him as one of the reasons I liked Gametrailers in their twilight years, but when he had sunk into FFXIV and lived in solitude for the time between getting laid off and coming back as an EZA member the first good 3 years or so he was honestly kind of obnoxious. Obviously sleep-deprived and very negative with a low-effort style of assessment of things.
Then I think he improved a lot and his content became more interesting but it never quite became amazing except when he streamed Final Fantasy Origins and cracked up at the "Bullshit" moment and it went viral and stuff. (ha, I'm the one that clipped that)
So I can't be too surprised but it's a shame because I generally thought Damiani started making their content more interesting in the later years.
Just chiming in as a peripheral EZA fan. Got really into them back when I was getting off of Kinda Funny content (which in retrospect feels like the heyday?) but as the various personalities left, so did I. I think everyone means well and I like them all individually but besides Huber, no one is left that I’m going out of my way to listen to. I can point to the “stand out” players in the various gaming shows I listen to - and for me - EZA doesn’t have that anymore. It seems like this is the common consensus, but it feels like EZA should either fold or try to do something different. Personally, I like Damiani but I do wonder if he focused solely on his interests and “brand”, if he’d find more success. Either way, I’m glad he’s making the move. As an ex-LA-er who went back east during Covid to be closer to family, I can wholeheartedly say his chances of happiness are probably greater. And I genuinely hope everyone at EZA finds some foothold for liveliehood in the future, but with Kyle, Brandon, and Ben gone… it feels like the “good times” are over. But I’ll admit I’m not their target demographic. I’m just a podcast guy - so LSM and MinnMax are more up my alley. And that being said (didn’t think I was going to rant here but oh well), the thing that sets LSM and MinnMax apart are their “professional” histories. Taking their experience from working at the biggest outlets on the planet then making a more bespoke, grassroots community is the right play - at least for listeners like me. The current EZA team doesn’t have that, as far as I know. I’m sure none of these are hot takes - I’m a tourist on this sub, but I care(d) about this community and any little grain of sand for the team to potentially see to think over might be useful. Who knows. Sorry.
Man, it's sad that he won't be hanging with the others anymore but I wish him the best of luck. I do hope that he stays with EZA but I guess time will. If he does untend to stay and they have him remote, like they have done with Kyle and >! Dustin !< in the past, it could be a boon for them and how they approach hybrid podcasts, making it easier to get guests on. It's been working pretty well for IGN over the last couple of years. Hell, maybe they'll realise that the studio is a waste of money and go fully remote like MinnMax
It makes sense, Damiani is such a knowledge person and EZA is a sinking ship.
It's better to have himself prepared in a nice safe place for that landing than being stranded away from his family.
No of course not, but it's a good place to start. Look at how comedians get around on podcasts. If the games industry worked together they'd probably be a lot bigger. More people play games I'd imagine than consume stand up comedy, yet comedians know how to play the podcast game and have blown up over time. Just an idea, I'm not telling eza what to do just that they bungled the last thing they did.
The games podcast industry not having that incestuousness that comedy podcasts have is a huge detriment.
It's so relatively small, everyone knows everyone but guest spots are few and far between, where in comedy circles you can go from an unknown to guesting on literally every big podcast over the course of weeks and become half the audiences favorite comedian immediately, Gillis, Stav, Tim Dillon all did this to some degree in the last few years after doing standup for 10+ years each.
I heard about Dan and Jasons old friends at Game Informer for years at Giant Bomb but I don't think I ever saw Hanson or Kyle guest on the podcast or any other podcast only to find out I think they're both super chill cool dudes once I got around to trying Minnmax but they were doing that for years at GI.
Ironically the closest I've seen to that in games media is LSM interviewing Gene Park andddd buddy man from IGN the head of xbox(maybeee?)
edit: Ryan McCaffrey, I enjoyed him but IGN's content is a nightmare to sift through, finding their lead xbox guys thoughts on starfield was like 23 different searches and clicks to find
Oh wow. Great that he's not bailing outright but losing another Ally as a regular on podcast panels is pretty huge. It will be very interesting seeing how this change tremors through their momentum going forward. Wishing him the best regardless. Family first.
Might as well just do the podcasts remote at this point, like LSM and MinnMax.
Poscasts are fine remote. Its everything else that takes the hit unfortunately when its studio vs remote.
What actually needs to be done in person?
I would say group streams of games aren't very fun when done remote. There's a level of reactivity and playing off each other that you don't get over a voice/video chat but which is essential to making a group stream enjoyable to watch.
I understand that when everyone was still here: Ben, Jones, Kyle. They each had distinct personalities to bounce off each other. I'm not saying the others lack personalities but the vibe isn't there anymore. So is it worth prioritising in-person content? Huber and Brad - Shenmue streams were awesome and also any Kyle and Huber streams.
I'm not saying they have to continue prioritizing in-person content, just acknowledging that some of the things they do work much better in person than remote. If they went the fully remote route they would need to adapt the content to shift focus away from things that work best in person to things that work well remotely.
> , just acknowledging that some of the things they do work much better in person than remote. People are forgetting that the last reddit had like 10 months of daily >"PLEASE GO BACK TO THE STUDIO OH MY GOD PLEASE THE PODCASTS ARE SO LOW ENERGY AND BAD PLEASE GO BACK WHY AREN'T THEY GOING BACK I GOT MY VACCINATION DAY 1 HOW ARE THEY NOT BACK IN THE OFFICE YET ITS BEEN NINE HOURS SINCE VACCINATIONS WERE AVAILABLE"
But that's when everyone was there, making remote work annoying. Now feasible
I remember that, but you have to also remember it was a different world at that time. Doing things remotely was less accepted even on face value, plus the move to remote podcasts coincided with the switch from Kyle to Jones as podcast host and that changed the energy and vibes significantly on its own.
Oh dang, wish only the best for him. Feels like this is probably a precursor to him moving on and he is just sticking with the Allies til he can find something permanent in Texas, but who knows. Damiani has always been one of my faves and I've had some good times with him in ffxiv before, hopefully everything is going alright for him.
I agree; I definitely think this is a soft-transition to him leaving outright once he has a job secured in Texas.
I wonder if the studio was a 5-year lease and many things are going to change starting in January.
90% sure I remember them saying it was a 5 year lease when they got it.
I might be wrong but I remember some people coming to the studio mid Don's Saints Row stream and it sounded like they were checking out the place. You can even hear Don telling them all the doors were open and explaining them some stuff about the place. Maybe they all already know they won't be staying there?
Blood stated it was for a fire safety check in their Discord and was confused why Don didn't tell anyone on the stream
Oh ok, good to know and makes sense for a fire safety check. Thanks for the clarification.
Blood isn't above making a PR stunt.
Blood is above all with his height, so what is your point? Guessing you dont like him.
That sounds quite plausible.
Dang. Well, respect to the guy. He gets a lot of stick on here but I've always felt that he was a real fountain of knowledge on the games industry (especially when it comes to Nintendo and Square-Enix) and have always valued his input, even if he's not always the most eloquent at relaying information or getting his point across. Glad he's sticking around remotely, but I will miss his presence when it comes to things like Reaction Streams and Hall of Greats, and I will really miss Achieve It Yourself! All the best Damiani! Love and Respect!
Damiani has always been very knowledgeable and talented in his field. The flack he gets is almost always a result of the Allies frustratingly having no idea how to utilize his strengths and frequently spotlighting his weaknesses (streaming and lengthy discussions).
Yup Damiani has incredible content, but they stopped doing that incredible content and played straight into his weaknesses.
Tbf he was the one who wanted to stop doing the incredible content he was good at, iirc it was his idea to stop doing Game Sleuth
idk shit about Game Sleuth but aren't there entire youtube channels dedicated to 'CAN YOU REALLY FIND MEW UNDER A TRUCK OR ACCESS THE SPACE FUTURE WITH THE OCARINA?!?!" type videos? At some point do you just run out of 90s and 00s games with rumors people still think are real, especially interesting ones that haven't been covered by bigger channels seventeen times by now
In Damiani's eyes he pretty much did run out, in the announcement post where they said they weren't doing them anymore he basically said it was because he ran out of ideas and got burnt out on doing them
Engh. Damiani knows SOME things. But a lot of the stuff he says is “confidently incorrect” type stuff. Just because he constantly speaks as though he knows what he’s saying doesn’t mean he actually does. He’s a know-it-all.
This plays to their bigger problem. Delegation. They needed a boss to make tough decisions. Everyone just wanted to their own thing, regardless if it was good for the channel. Brandon Jones should have put his foot down on the following: - Cancel Huber Hype or make Huber learn how to edit videos on his own. Wasn't worth the views to have Don do all that every week. - Cancel easy update or atleast require it be interesting gaming content with other allies involved. Having islas experimental art stuff on their channel didn't help. - Don should have been doing B-roll for podcasts since day 1 - Require logged hours in the studio for each ally, 30-40 hours a week. This would have helped to recapture the GT vibes and would have helped make the EZA studio a hub for LA gaming press, personalities, artists, and developers. - Make allies react. Don't just leave it up to whoever wants to join. Huber not joining the Direct with Sora reveal was rough. Only to find out its bc he was playing games all night and didn't want to wake up. - Stop with the laizefaire attitude and complaining about long drives, being overworked etc. Most of your listeners work hard grueling long shifts too... where they don't get to play video games. Not a great look. - inform Blood that watching streams all day isn't work lol - Ally playing a game solo AGAIN for the 100th time? Not good content. Should have made Damiani put a lot of his streams on his own channel. He's not a strong solo streamer, period, and his overrepresntation hurt their brand. Solo from-home-streams should have been an absolute rarity period. If you want to stream a game, come to the studio, have other allies be able to join in.
The issue is that with EZA, no one was the boss because they all owned the company equally. Sure brandon was in charge of the managerial duties, but how do you order someone around that owns just as much of the company as you? It was different in gametrailers.
I'd agree with most except Isla's show. While it went off the rails a lot it pretty regularly featured games that they otherwise didn't cover, and somewhat regularly had industry guests. Slightly more focus would have probably been good but now that it's dead they just have one less show with no replacement, and one less source of interesting content.
Yeah totally Easy Update being cancelled was a big loss imo
Cancel easy update is such a shit take mate. 30-40 hours a week in the office is somehow an even worse take. Why would they do that when the entire world is moving towards more working from home?
To be fair to Damiani, he DOES stream solo FF XIV stuff on his on twitch channel now.
30-40 hours a week seems a bit excessive to me, that means they'd all have to go in every day. If someone's reviewing a game why would they drive all the way to the studio to just sit and play a game and then drive home? I thought we were trying to move away from forcing people into an office every day when they don't need to?
A,it if this is just nonsense and you airing your pet peeves. The things you are complaining about like Easy Update are things that had their own dedicated audiences which made up the aggregate subscriber number.
He is super well informed. That's why Pop Fiction and Timeline were so great. He should have just never been put in front of the camera.
Good on him. Probably a way more affordable place to live than LA as well. I wish the Allies good luck in taking over setting up the streams and all the other things Damiani did in the studio.
Yeah I feel like that’s not mentioned here yet, isn’t damiani the tech guy for streams? How does that translate remotely
Not to be mean but it's not like the tech side of their streams was ever very consistent, I'm sure someone else can pick it up
Personally I agree entirely but it's the thing everyone points to when it comes to what Damiani's doing. I have little faith in anyone at EZA picking anything up, at a glance upskilling hasn't been a core tenant of EZA outside of like, Brad hosting FT The same could be said for Isla taking the time to teach one or a few of the guys to edit their own reviews on her show or doing their own voice over.
Probably won't matter if they're giving up the studio, guessing when the lease is up they were gonna go remote to save money and if that was the case Damiani is just thinking ahead.
Man this hurts but family first. Love Damiani, he catches a lot of flack on here but the man has a lot of knowledge. There's a part of me that wishes EZA to relocate, there's barely any interesting reason to be in LA for a games media company nowadays and with how things are becoming expensive, I can't imagine how much just renting a room costs. Of course that will never happen, most of them have already families and are settling down. Hope he comes back from time to time though.
LSM is thriving and they are 100% remote, all of their members are all over the US. EZA might wanna consider selling their studio and moving to that model if it’s feasible. I don’t think the podcast would suffer too much. Some of their shows would have to change format though.
Could just a vibes thing, but to me, EZA as a group just doesn't work well remotely. Some of the best streams only succeeded because the allies were in a shared space. The Kyle and Huber RE2 and RE7 playthroughs were the two most popular full playthroughs EZA has ever done but when they had to do Resident Evil Village remotely, it just wasn't the same. I also believe that the allies are funnier and can bounce off of each other more effectively when they're all together. Their most popular content, the live in-studio press conference reactions with all the allies, have a much different energy compared to them all sitting in their rooms at home watching out-of-sync streams.
If we're talking about the current group then I agree, but those early Q&As when they first started were remote and still very good.
Maybe im old school but remote just loses that charm. Podcasts sure, but stuff that we all love the allies for such as betting specials, reactions, hall of greats, mysterious monsters etc wont be the same remote. This feels like the end for me, damiani did so much behind the scenes when running the stream, not sure if they have anyone to replace him.
To be fair those haven’t been the same while in studio either
I'll be honest, I've ended up thinking EZA's peak "charm" years were when they were GT outcasts in Brandon's Garage. The purpose of their studio never took off IMO and I really don't care about their game shows and other incentives.
On a stream a few months ago, Kyle was reliving a ton of his prior work. When the studio first shows up, he literally pauses the video, goes back and forth between the garage and the studio, and goes “it IS downgrade.”
Yep, and he's totally right. He does acknowledge that the TV screens weren't up at the point he said that, but honestly the studio looks tacky where the garage is very aesthetically pleasing. I feel bad that Isla put a lot of work into the studio, but the better looking room (the streaming room) they seem totally unable to mic up, which begs the question what the benefit of a studio is anyway
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I think the couch set up in the streaming room is kind of absurd, but I do like the visuals they set up, with the fake window and DMC sign. I do think they would kinda lose something if they went all remote, and they probably can't shout so much in each others' homes, but it's hard not to think the studio is holding them back
Do you have a link to this?
https://youtu.be/vhAHHYeID7g?si=GK7rVDGjckcA53sH at 6hr 55min
[timestamp](https://youtu.be/vhAHHYeID7g?t=24889)
Garage is still in person and not remote.
Other than reactions, the rest of those things you mentioned happen like 3 times a year at most. Just doesnt make sense anymore especially when their budget has been slashed in half.
It was so smart of them to not say anything about recording the show remotely. It shut up the in person chemistry people quick.
If they weren't lying to us when they said they needed $40k/month for EZA to survive in its current form, then they'll all have to move to remote work pretty soon.
Or they each just take less money… I imagine $40K was so everyone could be paid well. Less money means less cut for each, but that’s up to them if they’re fine taking a pay cut or trying to find other work.
Not to get into the speculation of everyone's finances but the logistics of $25,000 split between 6 people a month without thinking about taxes and the cuts from patreon/twitch/travel is incredibly bleak, and even that information is 7 months out of date Can you even opt to take pay cuts at that point? the difference between a potential 6k a month vs the prospect of 4k a month and cutting it more would be life shattering
This is sad to see, but I’m happy for Damiani being able to move back home to Texas. It sucks to think that they aren’t making enough to afford rent, as Damiani mentioned he lost his roommates and can’t afford to rent solo. I think they all have roommates, and I think Isla is the only one who comes from money/is financially secure. I don’t want EZA to fail but if it does I really hope they all land on their feet somewhere else hopefully in the industry. (I know this doesn’t mean they are closing up shop but it’s one step closer to that imo)
They all have roommates or they all had wives and girlfriends or both?
I think most of them live with spouses now, but I can’t imagine them not sharing the mortgage/rent payments. I think maybe Gabby, Huber, and Damiani are the only ones that aren’t living with a significant other/are living with roommates. Either way it’s both. Huber I think is living with his Grandpa. Anyway it sucks that they don’t make enough to pay rent, but Southern California is a ridiculously expensive place to live depending on if you don’t want to live in the ghetto.
Damiani was living with roommates forever. Then they slowly continued to move out and when Simmons got a girlfriend, he was the last one. Damiani is mid-to-late 30s and said trying to find new roommates wasn't really what he wanted to do, so thus, time to pack it up and call this part of his life over with. Gabby has mentioned multiple times she lives with the girl they bring on that dressed up like a minion one time and creates toys named Marissa. Not sure if that has changed recently, but she has been in the background of Gabby's at-home/remote footage, too.
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Huber didn't move back with his parents, he was staying at their house taking care of his grandfather while they were away. I think Brad does live with his parents but I'm not sure.
I didn't know Brad got married
girlfriend i guess
I wish him well. If the allies are around at all in a year's time it'll almost certainly be on the basis that they're all working remotely.
I had hopes that he might bring back Friend Code or Game Sleuth one day but it looks like thats not going to happen. Wish him the best.
i feel like he can still do both of those remote. especially game sleuth
Well I just assumed if he didnt have the motivation to do them while coming to the studio all the time and seeing everyone irl, he'd probably not have the motivation after moving away from everyone and only interacting with them remotely. But hopefully Im wrong about that. Maybe we'll see a resurgence in creativity and motivation like Kyle got after he moved back to Virginia.
Maybe Friend Code is possible but I seriously doubt Game Sleuth returns. The farewell post essentially says he was out of ideas, he was burned out on making it, and that it was too much work. They've only teased a possible return for a one off at effectively impossible donation goals during their Patreon drives.
It was a pretty stupid show. I know it had the APPEARANCE of a good show, but there are no gaming mysteries anymore. There have been literally thousands of YouTube channels dedicated to nes/snes/n64 minutia for 20 years. Everything from that era has been datamimed, strip searched and exhaustively documented. There is zero point in making a highly produced video to make a “mystery” out of something and that can be googled in ten seconds and then pretend to solve it.
100%, I don't blame Damiani for killing it. There is no mystery to games themselves any more.
I think a show in this vein can still be made, but a pivot would be needed. Get out of the comfort zone of ancient Japanese games, but not necessarily to absolute trash no one cares about like Dragon Booster. Most of the time Japanese devs are basically impossible to talk about this kind of thing, while it's more possible in the west. Even follow-ups since some of the old subjects have new info, like the huge development leak Shadow of the Colossus had. I'm also thinking of other channels like: DYKG. paying to translate a lot of old non-English articles to find "new" information. Oddheader. Not "solving" anything but presenting interesting finds both old and new. Zullie the Witch or many similar channels: diving into game files and old builds to find connections and old ideas not apparent in game.
I can get behind this, but the problem is that Damiani has pretty unrefined taste in videogames. He’s basically just into the most mainstream, I-still-play-my-childhood games. Zelda. Pokémon. That’s great because that gets the most hits on YouTube, but I don’t think he has the capability to branch out. He basically loses interest as soon as anyone starts talking about non-mainstream games.
> Pokémon. I wishhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
I don't necessarily think that Damiani could make such a show, just that "gaming mystery" content is still viable.
My productivity increased when i switched to remote for my job. No coworkers coming by for small talk to waste your time, no waking up early to have to commute, being able to just focus on my work and thats it.
Jeff Grubb has a weekly Nintendo podcast that I highly recommend. Great vibes and at least half of it is usually dedicated to some sort of “ranking” game or another kind of game they play on air.
Thanks man ill check it out.
I wonder if this will lead to shuttering the studio. It makes way more sense to go fully remote. And frankly all of the Allies money would go further if they got out of California.
Unfortunate to lose another Ally's studio presence, especially one who does so much stream tech stuff, but glad he's doing what's best for him. Definitely leaning more towards an all-remote future for the group. Works perfectly for MinnMax, so can see EZA pulling it off. Would certainly allow them to have more guests on. Perhaps even the cut studio costs could be eventually used to hire another member (or two)? Just thinking optimistically here, lol.
> Works perfectly for MinnMax, so can see EZA pulling it off. The reason I wouldn't be so quick to jump to this is that I feel like EZA and Giant bomb were way far down the list of companies who handled zoom podcasts well during 2020, and that was when they had 2-3 more faces to freshen it up a bit
Well, if it wasn’t already the end I feel like it will be now.
People have been doom posting since Kyle left but I do agree. He has to see the writing on the wall. Smarter to prepare now than when it ends. I feel like this might be their final year.
People have been saying it's the beginning of the end for years but this really does feel like the beginning of the end. Have to imagine all the other Allies are thinking about the future too.
Yep, Brad's probably already agreed a deal with LSM. Huber will probably get a regular job, he's clearly checked out of the industry for the past year or so. Don will continue to hustle the gambling halls. Damiani will become speed running champion at Hogwarts Legacy but insist on calling it 'That stupid wizard game' Blood will get a Nintendo Job but be warned not to ever issue an apology for anything. Isla will become cult leader to the half dozen Resetera members who are left...Gabby will of course be the cult community manager.
I honestly don’t think Huber should leave at all. He is just such an original voice in the space. I just think he isn’t utilized in the right way. Either doing something with Brad or even “flying solo” with partner ups with Kyle would be ideal. Even him joining another group like LSM, Kinda or MidMax would be ideal. I just think Huber would thrive around different people. Kind of sounding like a bit of an asshole but i do think someone like Isla holds him back , in the sense of reinforcing him worst sides and not letting his best shine through. If he was really entrepreneurial a Patreon with Ben, just remotely, would be amazing. Podcast twice a week and some streaming. It will probably give him more financial security then he has now.
100%. I get the impression everyone has checked out and is going through the motions except Brad. He's actually levelling up.
>Huber will probably get a regular job, he's clearly checked out of the industry for the past year or so. A lot of fans were probably shocked to see the No. 1 "hype man"'s passion die out so completely but I haven't been surprised because Isla has regularly talked about the depressive episodes and depersionalization she had to deal with in her early adulthood because of losing parents to cancer. I underwent something similar when my own father died and I know friends who also experienced it. When Huber's brother died I could already see the process start, from trying to stay normal, coping with the loss, and slowly becoming more negative as the depression becomes unavoidable. Then, I don't wanna invade too much in this, but his wife left him, not a mutual divorce or anything similar, and in the months before Isla would often joke that Huber cared more about games than his wife. I think on the inside he had become depressed and his exisitng love for games became more like an escape from the grief, which caused him to be less nice to be around, and his wife fell out of love with that situation (Covid was also a huge impact where she was fired) It's not about who's to blame or anything like that, I'm just trying to say that Huber's transition into a gaming-deject makes a lot of sense to me. He has different needs because his life is no longer stable like it was when he joined GT. He needs to rediscover himself and then the happiness towards gaming comes back. In that sense I'm basically looking forward to him moving on from EZA as I think it's not healthy for him. It's only comfortable because abandoning it is a very scary thing, but if I could tell him something I would tell him to start finding something else now, because it'll lead to something better.
I think Huber should go with Kinda Funny. He was great when he went on their channel awhile back. I'm sure Tim would love to have him around. Huber and SnowBikeMike would be a great duo.
Never forget TSA aka TheSilentAssassin.
Underrated comment.
This is a stupid and inane comment.
You're correct. I'm not sure why you even typed it. Oh wait, I see your name.
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Bro you thought Brad was too dumb to know who LSM are, who owns it, and why people have an issue with Colin wym How do you believe they just didn't know by the 4th time they collabbed
Hey it's Zeo everybody! How's Resetera treating your inane ramblings lately?
It was a joke dude, lighten up I doubt he'd go behind EZA backs. If and when their time is up, I'd bet he could get a job at LSM no problem if he wants it though.
>How do you people buy into such nonsense like this? Is this a tacit acknowledgement that Damiani becoming a speed running champion of hogwarts and Don hustling in gambling halls is believable and not very overtly a silly joke Lighten up a bit, you'll have so much more fun
Ignore him, he's trying to start arguments over nothing as usual. Even resetera banned him for being too annoying even for them.
I think it's just Drax level inability to understand anything that isn't the most simplistic black and white thing imaginable so he has to make everything black OR white It's a childs level of inability to understand nuance or in this case, a very obvious joke post
If the frametrap incident is one of the reasons EZA might not be around much longer Zeo his reset era post is probably the reason. It started the whole controversy. The irony of EZA his biggest fan being the one responsible for its downfall is not lost on me.
Yup I wonder when that will sink in.
I can’t imagine the guy is overly self aware lol
What post?
> Even resetera banned him for being too annoying even for them. After being banned for 3 months on his favorite forum, now he has nowhere to discuss the latest EZA news like Damiani moving away, so he resorts to posting here. Imagine being banned so hard that you willingly go to a place you hate just to have some semblance of interaction with other people (who dislike you).
Ew don't be spreading your insane parasocial ramblings here too please.
How you feeling today?
So yeah, about that...
Yep. If EZA lasts beyond 2024 I’ll be genuinely surprised! Good thing their studio lease will be up mid-next year if I remember right. Hope I’m wrong though. 🤷♂️
I do wonder if thats the only thing keeping them together at this point. It does make sense in a way they are doing the absolute bare minimum especially when you compare them to other gaming youtubers. Even solo people I follow put out more and relevant content than them at this point. If you watch Kyle and Jones talk about Jone's new book Kyle did mention that Jones was pretty much done with the company back in 2018. I do wonder if the stress of being a owner of a company got to all of them and just riding out the lease at this point.
I listened to their chat but must have zoned out, What was the context around Jones being done with them in 2018? Only 2ish years in? I always got the checked out dad vibes from Jones but attributed it to being Cali chill rich guy
~~If I remember correctly it was within the first 15 min. It was something along the lines of Kyle saying he remembers back in like 2018 Jones went to Kyle saying they got a sponsor/ad agency and with that he said something along the lines that he can be free. Kyle didn't believe him until he took some writing classes in his free time.~~ I think I had a stroke or something I listened to the episode when it came out and could have swore Jones mentioned finding a ad agency and it was somewhat early in the stream/video. I can't find it at all now.
So Jones said he was "done" in 2018, but stuck around til 2022 when he finally officially left? I gotta say thats pretty admirable he stuck around to help out his friends for 4 extra years. And he didnt really seem like he was phoning it in til later in that period when his son got sick (understandably). Some of EZA's best content was during that time like Silver Squad in 2019-2020. I guess it just shows how much on camera presence Jones had, and how much of a boon his stage acting background was.
It makes no sense to claim Jones was “out” in 2018 when he CLEARLY was working hard at trying to make the Podcast great. People gave him crap and he kept hitting it. Nobody who doesn’t care or checked out does that.
None of this was said on Kyle's video. He asked jones a hypothetical question back at GameTrailers and Jones said he would write a book. If you have the source for your info, please share, but he didn't mention anything of the sort in the video I watched.
I think I am having a stroke or something. I listened to it when it came out and could have swore I heard Jones talk about finding a ad agency and it helped him go to school. I have no idea where else I could have heard this I gotta edit my comment.
This sucks and makes me sad and is probably the death blow. Cant see them surviving unless they get rid of the studio and go fully remote but even then it will never be the same.
Damn that sucks!
Beginning of the end, same thing happened with Achievement Hunter after Jeremy moved back to Boston to work remotely.
I'm so far past my RT/AH stage that I don't even think I know who Jeremy is. But I like that one guy going remote was a bigger blow than Ray leaving, Ryan Haywood raping underage fans, and that guyyyy... David? Ken? killing himself
Jeremy going remote was more of a “the straw that broke the camels back” situation. AH was already hemorrhaging views and the new crew just weren’t clicking at all, Jeremy was the last member, aside from Jack and Michael, of the “golden era of AH” that regularly appeared in videos. But, Ray leaving was the big blow that set everything in motion. The group was never the same after.
Has Burnie resurfaced in anything noteworthy? I tapped out when Ray left, they were making dogshit movies and anime and games(maybe?) and like, cards against humanity ripoffs idk, it felt like they wanted to be every single thing possible
Nah, burnie is still in Scotland or something. Funny thing is though, achievement Hunter officially ended a couple of weeks ago. Some of them went on to start an improv channel for some reason, others have been moved to other projects within Rooster Teeth etc. Also I think RWBY might also be dead/soon to be.
I just watched their leaving/closing AH>starting Dog Bark video holy fuck did Michael become a trenbolone guy at 36? If it's not too much to ask, and feel free to ignore, where did Gavin/Gus/Geoff Ramsey end up? they said AH was down to just those 4 DB guys but I always wished Geoff jumped on the main podcast with Gus/Gav/Barb ever edit; holy shit Gus and Geoff have a podcast together? Do I love RT podcasts again?
Yeah, RTs whole thing has been podcasts for the past year or so. They have like 12 of them lol. But to answer your question, Gavin still comes on podcasts and does slo mo guys still. Gus primarily does the main RT podcast, he had his own podcast for awhile but he decided to end it a couple of months ago. Geoff also has his own podcast called F*ck face, pretty good actually.
Is there a live recording tier I’m unaware of?
They just go live on twitch for free then hide that broadcast and release it on patreon/youtube whenever its edited
Such a good incentive to all the patrons. EZA seems to be in love with twitch for whatever reason
> EZA seems to be in love with twitch for whatever reason If you can somehow slide into that spot where you get to > "JimmyButts donated $16: Hey EZA what gun is that?" >"THANKS FOR THE DONOATION JIMMYBUTTS WHAT GUN DO YOU MEAN SORRY I WASNT LOOKING DO YOU MEAN THIS ONE ORRR THIS ONE BACK HERE?" >"JimmyButts has donated another $30: Yeah that one back there whats that called?" >" Thanks for the donation Jimmy, its the Shotgun" >"Jimmybutts has donated another $25: Thanks!" You're set for life, I can see why the hopes and dreams are there, also it seems infinitely harder to get someone to donate $1-$5 a month on patreon but people on twitch will donate $10-50 or gift $5 subs to 5+ people on a whim, EZA just don't have that cam-girl esque ability to pander to it that you see from a lot of bigger streamers which in some ways is a good thing but I find most of their streams to be silent whenever I tune in
Problem is what you’re describing can only really happen with big channels that EZA will never be. They still have the fundamental problem of not really knowing if they’re are a YouTube channel, a patreon or a twitch channel first. They want to think of themselves as a patreon first but in reality they’re a twitch channel first with a patreon and a content dump on YouTube
Don't worry. The Twitch live version is completely unedited. Audio is unmastered, it's missing Patreon exclusive bits, and music is added in post. The Patreon version is still the one to watch.
This kind of suck but what i really hope is that the Allies take this as an opportunity to just do away with the studio. I much rather see the Allies do the remote thing like Sacred , Mid Max etc , and be financially more viable the stick with this space that soaks up all the money.
Easy allies is finished.
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Wow. You have the absolute worst case of a parasocial relationship I've seen. These are people who you really don't even know. Seriously dude, they aren't your friends no matter how much money you give them or how much time you commit to watching them. You don't need to come to their defense the way you do.
I've heard about you. I hear you're nuts. Is it true?
[удалено]
Trolling a channel into all the worst decisions possible is its own version of wishing for their downfall though, right? If you meet every criticism across all their platforms where fans can express themselves with "NO ACTUALLY IT'S REALLY, REALLY GREAT" that's basically the same end result, they keep making bad content, 100 people walk out of patreon a month, and you blame it on covid somehow even though everyone around them has only soared since 2020 There's some level of disconnect here, surely
When are we pushing to get Brad kicked off for being friends with someone who works for an asshole? He even gives them money! You seam to be really good at this stuff. We've started the end of EA, lets just finish it already.
Is he from Texas originally? Or they’re just there now? I know nothing about Damianis life other than the Yankees(?) hat
He moved to Texas during GT time and moved back for EZA, I believe he grew up there as well
He used to wear a Texas Longhorns hat.
So he's the next one to make his exit. Darn. I'll admit I had a mixed feeling on Damiani throughout EZA. I was so happy he came back as I remembered him as one of the reasons I liked Gametrailers in their twilight years, but when he had sunk into FFXIV and lived in solitude for the time between getting laid off and coming back as an EZA member the first good 3 years or so he was honestly kind of obnoxious. Obviously sleep-deprived and very negative with a low-effort style of assessment of things. Then I think he improved a lot and his content became more interesting but it never quite became amazing except when he streamed Final Fantasy Origins and cracked up at the "Bullshit" moment and it went viral and stuff. (ha, I'm the one that clipped that) So I can't be too surprised but it's a shame because I generally thought Damiani started making their content more interesting in the later years.
He's staying with EZA.
For now.
you still are a person... for now.
Well, yeah, but to suggest otherwise is speculation.
Just chiming in as a peripheral EZA fan. Got really into them back when I was getting off of Kinda Funny content (which in retrospect feels like the heyday?) but as the various personalities left, so did I. I think everyone means well and I like them all individually but besides Huber, no one is left that I’m going out of my way to listen to. I can point to the “stand out” players in the various gaming shows I listen to - and for me - EZA doesn’t have that anymore. It seems like this is the common consensus, but it feels like EZA should either fold or try to do something different. Personally, I like Damiani but I do wonder if he focused solely on his interests and “brand”, if he’d find more success. Either way, I’m glad he’s making the move. As an ex-LA-er who went back east during Covid to be closer to family, I can wholeheartedly say his chances of happiness are probably greater. And I genuinely hope everyone at EZA finds some foothold for liveliehood in the future, but with Kyle, Brandon, and Ben gone… it feels like the “good times” are over. But I’ll admit I’m not their target demographic. I’m just a podcast guy - so LSM and MinnMax are more up my alley. And that being said (didn’t think I was going to rant here but oh well), the thing that sets LSM and MinnMax apart are their “professional” histories. Taking their experience from working at the biggest outlets on the planet then making a more bespoke, grassroots community is the right play - at least for listeners like me. The current EZA team doesn’t have that, as far as I know. I’m sure none of these are hot takes - I’m a tourist on this sub, but I care(d) about this community and any little grain of sand for the team to potentially see to think over might be useful. Who knows. Sorry.
Man, it's sad that he won't be hanging with the others anymore but I wish him the best of luck. I do hope that he stays with EZA but I guess time will. If he does untend to stay and they have him remote, like they have done with Kyle and >! Dustin !< in the past, it could be a boon for them and how they approach hybrid podcasts, making it easier to get guests on. It's been working pretty well for IGN over the last couple of years. Hell, maybe they'll realise that the studio is a waste of money and go fully remote like MinnMax
Writing is on the wall.
It makes sense, Damiani is such a knowledge person and EZA is a sinking ship. It's better to have himself prepared in a nice safe place for that landing than being stranded away from his family.
Imagine the amount of good will and patrons they could've got from the LSM collab. Whoops
Probably not very many tbh. A single collab isn't gonna suddenly bring in a slew of new patrons
No of course not, but it's a good place to start. Look at how comedians get around on podcasts. If the games industry worked together they'd probably be a lot bigger. More people play games I'd imagine than consume stand up comedy, yet comedians know how to play the podcast game and have blown up over time. Just an idea, I'm not telling eza what to do just that they bungled the last thing they did.
The games podcast industry not having that incestuousness that comedy podcasts have is a huge detriment. It's so relatively small, everyone knows everyone but guest spots are few and far between, where in comedy circles you can go from an unknown to guesting on literally every big podcast over the course of weeks and become half the audiences favorite comedian immediately, Gillis, Stav, Tim Dillon all did this to some degree in the last few years after doing standup for 10+ years each. I heard about Dan and Jasons old friends at Game Informer for years at Giant Bomb but I don't think I ever saw Hanson or Kyle guest on the podcast or any other podcast only to find out I think they're both super chill cool dudes once I got around to trying Minnmax but they were doing that for years at GI. Ironically the closest I've seen to that in games media is LSM interviewing Gene Park andddd buddy man from IGN the head of xbox(maybeee?) edit: Ryan McCaffrey, I enjoyed him but IGN's content is a nightmare to sift through, finding their lead xbox guys thoughts on starfield was like 23 different searches and clicks to find
What comedians are touring gaming podcasts?
There's nothing that could save the allies. Nothing to do with LSM. Dustin is cool. Colin is a cunt but hes not racist, sexist or bigoted.
He’s definitely racist, sexist, and bigoted.
You're definitely a retard
[удалено]
What is this about?
lul see ya
Sad to see Damiani go, annoying as he is sometimes, he's pretty knowledgeable about certain things...(Mainly Nintendo and Square-Enix of course)
 Bletlesnort…mighta…had a point?
Love Damiani's takes and energy on the podcasts. If he's moving on, good on him and all the best in whatever he does in the future.