GameTrailers

• 1. Introduction

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  GameTrailers launched in 2002, founded by Geoffrey R. Grotz and Brandon Jones, and quickly became one of the internet's primary destinations for video game trailers and footage. At a time when broadband was still spreading into American homes, the site offered something rare: a curated library of gameplay clips and promotional videos for upcoming releases, all in one place. Brandon Jones served as the primary narrating voice throughout the site's entire existence. Jon Slusser and his company Hornet Animation invested in the startup, with Slusser taking over as CEO. Within three years, a major media company came calling, and GameTrailers would spend the next decade navigating corporate ownership before an abrupt shutdown left its staff to rebuild from scratch.

• 2. The Viacom Years

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  MTV Networks acquired GameTrailers in November 2005 for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition folded the site into one of the largest entertainment conglomerates in the world. Shane Satterfield joined as the first editor-in-chief and supervising producer on the 18th of March 2006. In 2007, MTV Networks restructured its entertainment division, merging Ifilm.com and SpikeTV.com into Spike.com and grouping GameTrailers alongside Xfire under a new umbrella called Spike Digital Entertainment. Jon Slusser became SVP of that division, Geoff Grotz took the role of Vice President of Product Development, Satterfield moved into the Vice President of Content position, and Brad Winters became general manager of GameTrailers.com. The corporate restructuring gave the site new resources and a television platform, but it also tied GameTrailers' fate to decisions made well above its editorial staff.

• 3. Television and Geoff Keighley

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  The Viacom connection opened a door to broadcast television. GameTrailers produced a television series called GameTrailers TV with Geoff Keighley for sister property Spike TV. The show had its roots in an earlier magazine-style program called GT Weekly, which premiered in August 2005 and was hosted by Amanda MacKay and Daniel Kayser. After 44 episodes, GT Weekly was rebranded as GameOne in March 2007 and added a live chat function for viewers. On the 25th of January 2008, GameOne was replaced by GameTrailers TV, essentially a rebranded version of Spike TV's own Game Head, still hosted by Keighley but now produced by GameTrailers and co-hosted by MacKay and Kayser. The show aired at 12:30 AM on Spike every Thursday night. ScrewAttack began supplying content to the site in February 2007, including Top Tens, Video Game Vault entries, and episodes of Angry Video Game Nerd.

• 4. Invisible Walls

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  Shane Satterfield and freelance journalist Marcus Beer launched Invisible Walls on the 13th of March 2008, with the debut episode published the following day. Beer originally appeared on a biweekly basis as a character called "Grumpy McGrump." The podcast was a semi-round table discussion format, with GameTrailers staff debating industry news, releases, and controversies. Regular contributors included Justin Speer, Daniel Bloodworth, Michael Damiani, Patrick Morales, Chris Nguyen, and Miguel Lopez. After Satterfield's departure following Episode 238, editorial director Ryan Stevens took over hosting duties. The show's hundredth episode introduced new visual graphics, including avatars designed by iam8bit and a new logo, and dropped its policy of censoring profanities. The two-hundredth episode was streamed live and marked a shift to on-camera recording, though a brief detour occurred at Episode 201 when the hosts attended the 2012 Game Developers Conference without cameras available. Invisible Walls published its final episode, Episode 284, on the 17th of January 2014. A successor show called Thanks for Playing! ran until the 25th of April 2014, with a true final episode on the 27th of June 2014. GT Time, featuring Invisible Walls regulars including Michael Damiani and Daniel Bloodworth, launched on the 14th of March 2014 and ran until February 2016.

• 5. A Catalogue of Shows

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  Beyond Invisible Walls, GameTrailers built an extensive lineup of original programming. GT Countdown offered top-ten lists of games and gaming subjects and ended in October 2015. Bonus Round, hosted by Geoff Keighley, brought together game developers, industry journalists, and financial experts to discuss development, publishing, and business practices; it ended in 2015. Pop-Fiction ran short episodes of five to ten minutes examining myths and urban legends in video games. The Final Bosman, a weekly Wednesday show hosted by Kyle Bosman, covered current gaming topics with a comedic perspective and ran until 2016. Mandatory Update, hosted by Elyse Willems and Isla Hinck, presented weekly news in a humorous format and ended on the 6th of February 2016, two days before GameTrailers itself closed. Financial analyst Michael Pachter hosted Pach-Attack!, answering user-submitted questions about the gaming industry from a business angle; that show ended in July 2014 after the Defy Media acquisition. The Timeline series examined the chronology of popular gaming franchises; only The Legend of Zelda and Kingdom Hearts received full episodes, and a planned Metal Gear episode was quietly cancelled.

• 6. Defy Media and Shutdown

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  In June 2014, Defy Media purchased GameTrailers. Shortly after the acquisition, it was reported that senior staff members were fired, representing roughly two-thirds of the full-time workforce. Shane Satterfield, the former editor-in-chief, launched SIFTD on the 1st of June 2015, a hand-curated social network for gaming enthusiasts. On the 8th of February 2016, GameTrailers was shut down. Firewatch was the last video game reviewed on the site before the closure. IGN Entertainment acquired the GameTrailers brand and back catalog and committed to maintaining its YouTube channel, uploading archived original content and new trailers. On the 21st of March 2016, a majority of the remaining staff, including Brandon Jones, launched a group of Patreon-supported channels under the name Easy Allies. Easy Allies revived Mandatory Update on the 3rd of July 2021. The show Huber Hype, which ran on GameTrailers, continued on Easy Allies as Huber Syndrome after the shutdown.