Ryan Davis (video game journalist)

Giant Bomb is an American video game website and wiki that includes personality-driven gaming videos, commentary, news, and reviews, created by former GameSpot editors Jeff Gerstmann and Ryan Davis.

Jeff Gerstmann was terminated from his position as the editorial director of GameSpot on November 28, 2007.

After his termination, rumors began to circulate around the Internet that his dismissal was a result of external pressure from Eidos Interactive, the publisher behind the video game Kane & Lynch: Dead Men.

Gerstmann had given the game a negative review while Eidos had purchased advertising for the game on the website.

Both GameSpot and their parent company CNET Networks stated that his dismissal was unrelated to the review.

In what was labelled as the "GameSpot Exodus" by Joystiq, Alex Navarro, Ryan Davis, Brad Shoemaker, and Vinny Caravella all left GameSpot.

Giant Bomb was unveiled on March 6, 2008, as a blog; the full site launched on July 21, 2008.

Davis announced his departure from GameSpot in February 2008, citing Gerstmann's firing as one of his reasons for leaving.

Gerstmann ultimately decided he did not wish to work in game development or public relations and began to work with Shelby Bonnie's Whiskey Media to begin developing a new site.

Talking with Tyler Wilde of GamesRadar, Gerstmann said that their intent was not to make a site that would compete with GameSpot, but rather create "a really great and fun video game website ... that we like and that we would use, and that users will have a blast using as well."

In the process of deciding on the name for the website, over seventy different domain names were considered.

Gerstmann wanted the website name to be catchy and original, saying there were too many video game websites with the word "game" in them.

Giant Bomb started as a WordPress blog, which opened on March 5, 2008.

The full site launched on July 20, 2008.

In addition to Davis, who recorded early episodes of the site's podcast, the Giant Bombcast, with Gerstmann, former GameSpot editors Shoemaker and Caravella joined the site in June 2008.

In November 2008, Drew Scanlon became one of Giant Bomb's first interns, later being officially hired as a video producer the following year.

The Giant Bomb offices were originally in Sausalito, California, before moving to San Francisco in 2010, with a second office established in New York City in 2014.

Navarro left his post as Community manager for Harmonix Music Systems to join Giant Bomb and its sister-site Screened in May 2010.

Unlike most video game websites, Giant Bomb does not heavily cover industry news from a business perspective.

During an interview on X-Play, Gerstmann said that he thought video game websites had become too focused on the business side of games, and that game news had become "stale" in the process.

"We want to get out there and talk about games, because we like games ... and it seems like there's an audience out there, and they like games ... and their needs aren't being met by what's out there right now."

After working for 1UP.com, MTV News, G4, and Electronic Gaming Monthly, video game reporter Patrick Klepek made contact with Giant Bomb in October 2010 regarding Klepek's desire to work for the site.

Klepek, known for breaking the story of the 2010 employee firings, departures, and lawsuits between Infinity Ward and Activision cited the website as "the singular bastion of a truly independent voice" in video game journalism.

The website was voted by Time magazine as one of the Top 50 websites of 2011.

In 2011, Gerstmann commented that the industry was now "not getting as much news from the news sites as [it] used to, but the post count from these sites just seems to go higher and higher."

In order to establish its own brand of "honest, original reporting" news, Giant Bomb hired Klepek as News Editor in April 2011.

Originally part of Whiskey Media, the website was acquired by CBS Interactive in March 2012 before being sold to Red Ventures in 2020, then to Fandom in 2022.

After being terminated from his position as editorial director of GameSpot, Gerstmann began working with a team of web engineers to create a new video game website.

His intent was to create "a fun video game website" that would not heavily cover the business side of the game industry.

The site's core editorial staff consisted primarily of former GameSpot editors.

March 2012 saw Shelby Bonnie sell Whiskey Media in two deals, splitting the company's websites.

Gail Berman and Lloyd Braun's BermanBraun bought the company, its publishing platform, and websites Tested, Screened, and Anime Vice.

Giant Bomb and its comic-book sister-site Comic Vine were sold separately to CBS Interactive, the owners of GameSpot and its parent company CNET.

Following the sale of the publishing platform to BermanBraun, the site was rebuilt.

The redesigned site launched on February 12, 2013.

Following the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, both offices were closed and the website permanently shifted to a remote work environment.

Content on Giant Bomb comes from the site's staff as well as its community, which contributes to the site's video game wiki database that is open to editing by all registered users.

The Giant Bomb staff covers video game news and new releases in the form of video, written articles, and podcasts.

Their weekly podcast, the Giant Bombcast, is posted on Tuesdays, and covers the video game industry as well as happenings around the office.

Giant Bomb produces a number of regular video series including Quick Looks, 20-90 minute unedited looks at recently released games.