From the original story here:
Two stories for you: kotaku are reporting that Josh Larson, the exec many people pointed the finger at for the laughable firing of Gamespot's Jeff Gerstmann (and the godawful way CNET handled the whole debacle) has himself been fired.
Although we suspect this is simply a case of "Josh, you kinda screwed this up right royally, and cost us a **** of money, so don't let the door hit your ass on the way out", CNET isued the following somewhat cut-and-paste comment:
"...new management structure means that Josh Larson's position as VP, Games is being eliminated and Josh will be leaving the company."
After Gerstmann was fired, and subscriber trust in Gamespot's editorial staff somewhat dulled by the actions of CNET, many old hands left for new ventures. Respected journalists such as Alex Navarro, Brad Shoemaker and Ryan Davis, amongst others, all took their chance to leave what many perceived to be a sinking ship and start up other ventures.
Since then, it seems that although users still feel respect for the Gamespot editorial team, many have no faith that CNET is able to keep its hands to itself and stop interfering. Although CNET users who do not visit Gamespot have not changed their opinions, many Gamespot regulars have voiced their disgust at CNET by avoiding CNET affiliate sites altogether. This has to have had a detremental impact on CNET, and it is hard to imagine that this has not been a major deciding factor in Larson being given the ol' Spanish Archer.
So, we celebrate his passing, and await a new era without suit-based interference.
Or do we?
Second story: Valleywag is also reporting on the story, but their angle is that an inside source has revealed Larson's replacement - Shawn Rose, formerly at Yahoo and more recently at CNET's TV.com. And he or she does not see this as a change for the better:
"...the terrible irony, Shawn Rose should never have been hired to run tv in the first place, as he talks and talks his way into all kinds of crazy **** Now another suit replaces the suit they booted, and this one's wearing purple. He literally got nothing done at Y, and to date, has done nothing at CNET.
Another example of how over-puffed-up yahoos wiggle into new digs and maintain that same level of low-productivity and paper pushing... I'm a former cneter with friends at both companies, and it's just sad to see a good (though embroiled) talent like Larson go, for a sucker like Rose - all my contacts on the inside are literally scratching their heads... totally blindsided the team... they feel like chumps because no one told them this was coming.
If Rose gets you in a room, he doesn't shut up... talks and talks, and his claim to fame that he'll invariably bring up to everyone he meets, is that he created some search engine that he sold to AltaVista some 10 years ago. Something I'm sure he made a few bucks on, enough to buy a small bit of vineyard up north, but something that is so entirely irrelevant to any current internet job it's laughable."
So...what to make of that? This is only one person's opinion, and unverified, so who knows? Could this guy be as bad for Gamespot as Larson? Or could he take a totally different approach and do some good? To use the over-played phrase, only time will tell. If the mass resignations continue at Gamespot, I guess we can call this tip-off and good call. If not, and if things pick up, maybe the good times will return.
Despite earlier blogs, the team at dogsounds.com still has a lot of respect and fondness for Gamespot, and the editorial team that remain (that's why we couldn't just stay away), and we really hope that Shawn will turn out to be good. This is one ship we don't want to see sink anytime soon.
We will watch with interest.