Woke to Broke: G4 Hit with Massive Layoffs, Canceled Shows
G4, the once fan-favorite network covering gaming culture, is teetering on the brink of collapse, less than a year after they returned from the dead.
Last Wednesday, amid low ratings, G4 laid off between 20-30 staff members, according to Kotaku. It is not clear how much of the current G4 workforce this represented, but no new G4 programming aired that day, despite some planned broadcasts. Programming did return the following day, with hosts claiming the canceled broadcasts were out of respect to those who lost their jobs, not due to a lack of staffers.
Kotaku also reported that layoffs were not announced until staff showed up for work last Wednesday, ready to work on a live show, with the layoffs catching most by surprise.
A number of G4 employees took to social media to reveal they had lost their job.
G4 has struggled to reclaim their former viewer base and remain financially viable, even as former fans claim the “new” G4 is far different from its predecessor, which built a reputation for political incorrectness and male-oriented programming. The relaunched G4 has taken a particularly “woke” approach to pop culture, turning off viewers with its left-wing mindset.
One particular incident in January of this year may have sealed G4’s fate with long-time fans. One of the network’s newer hosts, Xplay host Indiana “Frosk” Black, dove into a on-air rant about sexism in gaming, accusing male viewers of sexism while complaining that trolls on the internet claimed she wasn’t “bangable” like past hosts that they found attractive. While online sexist trolls are a problem, Black’s condescending tone and blanket accusations of toxic masculinity from male G4 viewers won her no fans, even as original-era host Adam Sessler appeared on-screen to applaud her comments.
As for Sessler, he generated controversy soon after when he posted a vicious Twitter rant against Christians, and attacked a woman who disagreed with him. That sort of controversy led to a massive loss of subscribers for G4’s Twitch and YouTube accounts, and they have struggled with profitability ever since.
The day after the layoffs were announced, Black took to Twitter with a meme that seemed to joke about the layoffs.
In its heyday, G4 was the go-to channel for the growing gamer movement. The network ceased operations on December 31, 2014, after more than a decade on the air, but remained popular with gamers and young viewers. It relaunched in November 2021 on select cable providers, Twitch, and YouTube.
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