In October of 2022, in style personality-led gaming website Big Bomb was purchased by Fandom, the multi-headed wiki-hosting hydra, concurrently Fandom acquired GameSpot, Metacritic, and GameFAQs. Battle between Fandom and the opiniated editors of Big Bomb arose this 12 months when the publication of recent content material was placed on maintain as a part of a “strategic reset and realignment” of Fandom’s manufacturers.
Subsequently, an episode of Big Bomb’s podcast wherein the hosts made enjoyable of Fandom’s model security considerations was taken down, and a number of other senior members of the location’s employees introduced they would not be working for Big Bomb any extra.
An sudden reversal of fortunes was introduced at PAX East, the place throughout a Big Bomb panel it was revealed that Fandom had offered Big Bomb to 2 of its employees, Jeff Bakalar and Jeff Grubb, who can be operating it as an unbiased operation any further. As Bakalar and Grubb put it in a joint assertion, “Big Bomb is now owned by the individuals who make Big Bomb, and it will not have been attainable with out the speedy efforts of Fandom and our mutual settlement on what’s finest for followers and creators.”
As Fandom’s personal assertion defined, “Fandom has made the strategic determination to transition Big Bomb again to its unbiased roots and the model has been acquired by longtime employees and content material creators, Jeff Bakalar and Jeff Grubb, who will now personal and function the location independently.”
Throughout the PAX East panel, it was made clear that Bakalar and Grubb will maintain the location’s archives and can run the location independently, with funding coming through subscriptions and merch gross sales.
