Nextlander's Vinny, Brad, And Alex On Leaving Giant Bomb - MinnMax Interview

[@minnmax]

Subscribe to MinnMax's KZbin channel or unlock the podcast version of our interviews, compete in Trivia Tower to win prizes, and support independent games media over on Patreon! www.patreon.com/minnmax

[@KamasamaK]

@MinnMaxShow There are some misspellings in the chapters. e.g. "Nexlander" and "Nextalander". Feel free to delete this comment when its fixed.

[@DavidJones-jp6bz]

When I quit my job I want to be interviewed by Ben.

[@brainfreeze10]

I quit my job back at the end of April. Now I'm miffed he never messaged me.

[@j.a.bonacci]

Ben is like the HR department, every time someone leaves the company they get an exit interview…as usual, that was a great interview

[@Ddarke11]

Vinny is my comfort food of gaming. So glad this popped up when I just assumed this three were if not leaving this biz then taking a much longer break.

[@residentevilclone]

Vinny has something. It took me a while to realize it, but why I liked Giant Bomb so much was Vinny. When they formed Beast, I struggled to enjoy Bomb. He’s so genuine. And positive. And thoughtful. Gaming community has gotten so toxic, and his voice stands out a lot. No slight to the other guys, but Vinny is incredible.

[@cooljammer00]

@@residentevilclone To quote the great Dave Lang when he did his GB staff tier list, "Vinny is S+"

[@gameinformer]

Great interview, y'all!

[@minnmax]

Oh hey, thanks Game Informer!

[@jakechinatown]

@@minnmax Next they're going to DM you a picture of your front door.

[@dishsoap1]

The lack of acknowledging Jeff’s existence is making it hard for me to give these guys the time of day. Jeff and Ryan made you guys what you are now.

[@tristanedwards7302]

I can completely relate to Vinnie's thoughts about being in big corporations. I worked for an offshoot of a very large international company, but we were so far away from home base that we could essentially just do and run our own thing and were pretty much left to our own devices. Then I moved overseas to the main office and it was an absolute corporate nightmare. I spent the better part of 1 1/2 years just trying to get things in motion and politick and dodge all the red tape. It was enough to drive a person insane. Then I got out into a smaller start up and all those thoughts of 'am I the problem here?' and sleepiness nights playing work problems over in your head are suddenly put to rest when you realise you're not part of the problem. It's an overwhelmingly refreshing breath of fresh air to get out of that kind of environment.

[@sublime90]

i relate to the not knowing what you're really worth part. i was at a job for 17 years where i was growing and growing but my pay was way behind with no chance of catching up. it gets to a point where you're entire job and responsibilities have changed buy its hardly reflective in your pay. its like your work load is increasing year after year at a 20% rate but your pay is increasing at like a 2% rate. when i left i had double the workload and responsibilities a new hire had but was only getting paid like $1-$2 more. i quit that job and got hired at a new job making $4 more just of the street.

[@josh440]

Man Vinny's story about his kids saying "I don't remember when Dad was happy" really got me. I felt that so much Timestamp is 32:20

[@rafaelruggi]

And the weird thing is, its totally about where you are at your carrer and personally to yourself, I just got in working in corporate and am super happy because of that. Super happy to see the duders making that move!

[@richashby6422]

Gerstmann said when starting Giant Bomb he wanted to make the byline matter more. I don't think anyone saw that over time the byline would become the most important thing, we just call them content creators now and that's what they had become. I appreciated the critical analysis they still provided on topics but it was the comical banter from day 1 that made me a paid subscriber all those years. My favorite part outside of the podcasts were the features where they took a game they liked and created a feature out of it rather than the we have to do a QL for every single new game. The Persona 4 endurance run or the later Daily DotA is pretty much what Twitch ended up doing for years and Murder Island mirrors a lot of what the Twitch Meta is today, collaboration. Top content creators make a lot of money while the GB crew were stuck in old titles and positions despite the fact that they helped pioneer the blueprint for what a lot of what is a content creator in the video game space on YT and Twitch. I think they all could have pivoted out several years ago and made an even bigger splash at that time

[@furshizzle]

What's a byline, bruh?

[@andrewr880]

@@BCThunderthud you hope their venture fails? Wow you're a such a great person

[@lucasjensenusa]

@@BCThunderthud you could, you know, not watch it. Pretty easy.

[@BCThunderthud]

@@andrewr880 Maybe that was (more than a) little harsh, I guess I wish we lived in a world where there was an incentive to create something great instead of just shitting out disposable content. I was a paid member of GB for years, I know these guys are capable of much more than this.

[@CuppaKofe]

@@BCThunderthud Honestly, as someone who enjoyed what these guys did on giantbomb, I have to agree. As much as I try to get into Nextlander's content, I find it all just boring and disposable. So far they haven't done anything to differentiate themselves from dozens of other streaming groups like them. To be fair, I've also felt the same way about Giantbombs output for the last year.

[@MarkDell]

The more I hear these guys talk the more likable they are. Vinny talking about his kids saying they hadn't seen him happy in so long but they see a change in him is so endeering. They deserve all their success and they couldn't be more modest about it.

[@clintonleonard5187]

I love these guys so much, I just wish they were still with Jeff. Jeff really is Giant Bomb, for me. His dry, sarcastic humor, and incredulous reactions to bad games fill me with joy.

[@residentevilclone]

He’s too much sometimes man. He needs a soft dude like Vinny to balance out his negativity.

[@michaelfincham7306]

I’m completely with you on this. Did it strike you as odd as it did me that his name was not mentioned throughout this interview? I may be wrong and I definitely skipped a few parts so perhaps they did talk about him but as far as I know he is “the guy” at GB and to hear them talk for an hour and go into detail about “the previous company they worked for” without mentioned Jeff G just makes me sad. I hope they didn’t fall out or anything.

[@KyleS.1987]

@@residentevilclone Jan is fantastic riffing with Jeff. Different personalities, different generations, but similar sensibilities. If that makes sense.

[@armdrk3233]

@@michaelfincham7306 they mentioned GB many,many times vs only once that they said “place we used to work”,I don’t think there’s anything sour between them,maybe they wanted to talk about themselves and not Gertsmann when he wasn’t there?

[@ChrisLoos1]

@@daldladla I get the impression that Jeff B is doing a lot of biz dev stuff behind the scenes. Didn't he get a big promotion in the buyout?

[@jbrittain77]

As a fan of Brad, Alex, and Vinny's work over the years, this was an incredible interview, Ben. I enjoyed it immensely and feel like I learned a lot. Thanks so much!

[@minnmax]

Thanks so much for watching, James!

[@ryandlv]

MinnMax continues to RULE. Thanks for this interview!!

[@hutchboy4765]

It will never be the same what made giantbomb great was that there was a great big cast and it felt like a family.

[@Vub.]

These guys are great, happy to see their endeavor worked. I am going to miss the giant bomb era and the end of year dileberations i loved. Also feel bad for Jeff, feel like this had to hurt him even if he doesnt admit it. Imagine all your friends of 10+ years creating something under the radar together and then leaving you out of it.

[@timato234]

Any chance to get Jeff Gerstmann on? I'd love to hear the other side of this and his thoughts on the future of GB.

[@xaviorspirit3513]

Do this!!

[@oddjob914]

His corporate goons would not allow it :/

[@anthonyvillanueva5700]

I dont think it really matters what happens.

[@clintonleonard5187]

@@oddjob914 So Gerstman became that which he hated about Gamespot?

[@Sinastyr]

No?

[@Xeogred]

Ben interviewing his heroes on his own show! Epic. :)

[@captainkittles]

Holy crapola, they have 9,650 patreons... That means at BARE minimum contribution levels of $5, they'd be pulling in $48,250 (before Patreon claims their portion). That means they're doing pretty damn well, really happy to hear especially after all the changes in Giant Bomb over the last 2 years especially after they let Jeff go.

[@conorkelly6351]

Great, great interview. Big fan of of Vinny, Alex, and Brad and their content and energy already has proved to be worth supporting on Patreon!

[@xaviorspirit3513]

I love that you are becoming the HR of the Internet. You don’t often pull your punches for questions and you’re getting really really good at this. Great job Ben.

[@AuspexAO]

I love these three guys and I REALLY liked when they collaborated with Waypoint. Austin is brilliant and has such good chemistry with Vinny. Nextlander has a mellow "dad" vibe and I think that's intentional. I'm glad to see there is a place where having gaming as a hobby also having responsibilities and an outside life isn't frowned upon. If I have a suggestion for them it's to give us some sweet exploration/building game playthroughs. Vinny is great at those games and so is Brad. Throw in Alex as the one learning the ropes and it's a good niche for them that a lot of streamers don't fill (due to being solo players).

[@QueensErik]

You did it, Hanson. YOU DID IT!

[@Fattabolous]

Finally got to work with vinny

[@residentevilclone]

@@Fattabolous that’s a fun dynamic. Being interviewed by a guy who owns a company after leaving another company that guy applied for many years ago.

[@weggles]

"I don't remember when dad was happy" 😭 "Dad's psyched" 🥲

[@W1NGMAN001]

They could have been one of the biggest gaming KZbin channels if they decided to go that route back in 2008. They had/have the perfect blend of charisma/knowledge/creativity.

[@northernspade1727]

Which route?

[@everyglitchnpixel2052]

Yeah reading this makes me thing this person was not around during the 07-08 era of games journalism. They would have flopped because there was no $$$ in KZbin pre 2011...

[@defaultname7685]

@@everyglitchnpixel2052 they didn’t start uploading regularly to KZbin until like 2012

[@everyglitchnpixel2052]

@@defaultname7685 sorry what kzbin.info/www/bejne/h4e7XoeDm9JrZ7s

[@ShaolinTechnoMage]

I can't say how happy I am to see these three guys all together in one place again! Thanks for making me aware of this.. because I didn't even know this was a thing until this video.

[@MisterNorthernCanuck]

Did not know you guys already had another project. Podcast is now in my feed, let's do this :) The greatest podcast in the KNOWN UNIVERSE.

[@custard500011]

HE DID IT!!! HE GOT THE GIANT BOMB GUYS IN AN INTERVIEW!!! This is going to be the greatest podcast episode of all time.

[@jafarnejad]

By far my favorite series was Astroneering with Vinny and Brad.

[@BackwardsCombatable]

You know, I was a bit salty when they left GB because I loved the content they were doing there and it felt like they were abandoning Jeff for more money, but this interview really put things into perspective. They have been doing this for a veeeeeery long time. I can totally understand the frustration of being stuck doing what you love while knowing you could be living better and more healthy if you left. Ultimately GiantBomb was sold and with that comes expectations of infinite growth, and whether that happens or not the people working there would probably never see much compensation for that growth. Really happy these guys are happy, and even more so that they get to make the content I loved at GB without feeling trapped financially.

[@SweDownhill]

Looking forward to see Nextlander evolve! I'm happy to see Alex, Brad and Vinny together in a new project and I wish them the best of luck!

[@chrisb9345]

I think things have worked out pretty well, as someone who loves GB. I have watched all of Neck Slander's streams, and may contribute. I also love GB and would love to see what they have to offer.

[@jimpinto4448]

I definitely hope these two groups can come together again

[@CureOptimismForHumanity]

I hope this Nextlander thing takes off and becomes the reinvigorated, 100 percent independently financed Giant Bomb with zero corporate involvement. I'd love to see them set up a studio and make all the great content they used to at Giant Bomb. TANG, TNT, game reviews, FMVinny, community playdates, fully produced comedy vids around E3. It's the early days but I'm super excited to see where it ends up.

[@lolzforlunch]

So glad i still am able to absorb content from these lovely individuals who helped shape me and my sense of humor throughout all these years ❤

[@robertadams7132]

Another fantastic interview. As someone who is trying new stuff myself with podcasting and side projects on top of my normal day job and family life. I enjoy these intimate discussions from people that have similar thoughts or fears of branching off into something new and unknown but interviews like this convey that its ok to at least try. Sometimes you never know or understand your self worth until you put yourself out there. Also as a father myself, when Vinny said his kids said they havent seen him happy in a while really hit me, cause kids often speak the truth and open our eyes to things that might have been ignoring for far to long. Im excited to see where Nextlander goes and wish them and MinnMax a fruitful future.

[@archonrex5600]

Best, and greatest, interviewer in the biz. Said it since day one first go at Game Informer. Getting better at already being the best too, _every time_ Ben. I salute and congratulate. #1

[@evanjtanderson2124]

I am super interested in how Nextlander develops as an employee-owned business, assuming that it currently exists basically as a sort of entertainment cooperative. It's very cool, and inspiring.

[@sebastianlopez1519]

Vinny's down-to-earthness is just so comforting man. What a likable guy

[@drawnsilhouette]

So good Ben! I'm so glad that you've managed to capture the closer that us GB fans need with their alumni. MinnMax is the best 👍

[@Spitznock]

So happy for everyone involved. Thanks for the interview!

[@scottleland403]

Love these guys. Glad they're back at it. Great stuff as usual Ben.

[@Andeijogando]

I'm really happy that they'll still be around!

[@TTV_TOMTISM]

i love this guys so much, not matter what form they’re in. they’ve been my ritual for ~10 years. absolutely real deal people

[@hdmewtwohd]

You're a madman Ben

[@NagginNuggs]

I am SOOOO happy to have found this. Instantly subscribed to the project and looking forward to the future!

[@DirectToSuccess]

I LOVED this interview! I watch these guys constantly, and am part of the nextlander patreon. I LOVED hearing about the behind the scenes and the process you're going through starting a new biz. Brad, you unclench when you decide to unclench lol - enjoy the process!

[@dreioo8759]

Thanks for this. I am a fan of old Giant Bomb and these three leaving was a bit of a surprise. This gave me more context.

[@Dr_Mel]

It's stunning how much they undervalued themselves or didn't realize how much their followers liked them. And I get it, but it's a shock for them to learn of their own popularity, well it's also a shock to me to learn they didn't know it. When I thought they were going to basically leave being a daily online presence in my life, it REALLY sucked. It sucked! I was like when a friend moved away in school back before the internet, it wasn't a death but it was a departure. Seeing them back was amazing at the new gig was really amazing.

[@fredriksahlstenglimmevi3259]

Ben Hansen - exit interviewer to the stars. This was an excellent conversation. Thanks to everyone involved.

[@soyunbonus]

I wish both GB and NL the best. I think there's space for both!

[@JazGalaxy]

Is there? Isn’t there a saturation point at SOME number, where we can’t just all pretend to be “games journalists?” I worked for a pro sports team once. You known how much an entry level job pays at a pro sports organization? Zero dollars. I was a design intern, but the guy who wrote the website? He had a wife and baby and made zero dollars. The tech intern who was begging them to pay him some money for doing what would pay him a decent salary elsewhere? Zero dollars. When supply is infinite, the wages go down to nothing.

[@RaonakDM]

@@JazGalaxy in the world of content creation, there is no such thing as saturation. If anything I bet sooner or later there's gonna be crossovers between the two so giant bomb fans are now basically gonna get double the content.

[@antico]

I was waiting for this interview, great work as always Ben.

[@chrisb9345]

I do still feel there are behind the scenes reasons why it ended, but ultimately I am happy it ended as it did.

[@bybeach4865]

Good luck guys! I will kick in from time to time, and also see how you are doing.

[@Michael-rv5ib]

First time hearing of MinnMax. GREAT interviewer.

[@minnmax]

We're glad you found us! Check out our other interviews, you might enjoy them!

[@gooseberry7222]

The pull by this man...... DAMN

[@nottherocketman]

Fantastic work Ben. You continue to impress!

[@GK-ej2ys]

Can't watch it until later. Already gave ya a 👍. Looking forward to this one.

[@ThisIsMrBenShow]

IM SO EXCITED FOR THIS!!!!!

[@Idle_Wilder]

Good job to all!

[@lightning89]

Great and interesting interview, thank you all!

[@garrettpeters9342]

The Trivia Tower graphic is 🔥🔥🔥. Also, great interview!

[@mattschaeferdesign]

Been desperately waiting for this interview. Thank you and congrats on launching Nextlander.

[@Scarhandz]

Ben is just fantastic. Another great interview. I signed up for nextlander and am happy to see what they do thats gonna be different in the future, so far it's more of the same which is also great. They need to not be babies and open the comment section too. Their fan base loves them.

[@norow6555]

fucking miss these dudes

[@kerned]

No need to miss them, check out Nextlander!

[@Vub.]

​@@kerned not the same. And for some reason Brad is never on the videos

[@JustinWillisDevil240Z]

I will call it. Vinny IS the HOST of the Nextlander podcast.

[@tactical_philanthropy]

If you manage to make it out if the corporate managerial hellscape, it doesn't matter if you make less money as long as you get by and your not burning your life away into a black hole. I'm still stuck there. I don't think I'll ever manage to climb out.

[@smulligan]

Don’t you mean #GAMEBARK?

[@iamasickman]

I wish them all the best and will definitely be watching and listening to anything Vinny, Brad, and Alex do in the future, but I have to say that I was sort of disappointed that they went in the direction of just doing another podcast/video content about video games similar to what they were doing before, just differently and independent now. When I first heard that they were leaving Giant Bomb, I was hoping that they might actually go into games development, à la Greg Kasavin or any of the other numerous editors and writers in games media over the years who switched to making games later in life.

[@adamneumann248]

Woohoo!!! Thanks, Ben!

[@Hugop_arts]

I can’t believe when talking about asking what the community wants and how they might want something weird over the topic of the week, Ben did not use House Hunters Rise as the Minnmax’s example

[@definer0]

Thanks for the interview

[@Genyuro]

Damn, everything Vinny said about working in a big company was so familliar and kind of depressing :/

[@hotepkiller1180]

I'm from the future The great nextlander giant bomb war is happening soon.... Dan wins in the end

[@myketuna]

I bet he betrays Giant Bomb and switches sides mid-war. Such a Dan move.

[@luchaluchalucha]

Didnt realise these guys were still making content nice

[@NJerseyBoy]

Been waiting for the exit interview!

[@brockwhiting6779]

You guys launch a new gaming news/coverage channel and disable comments? Wtf is that?

[@colsanders101]

Is this where GB exit interviews are done?

[@paulmcintyre6857]

Is Ben Hanson gaming's Johnny Carson?

[@Ashley_Schaeffer]

They left because they saw no more growth, I get it... Jeff was the one making all the money and kind of kept these guys as employees... I can see why they went in it for themselves...

[@mmd3585]

Proven wrong by the time, already. Jeff wasn't the boss anymore in Giant Bomb, and he was fired 2 weeks before leaving. It wasn't the Giant Bomb that he was managing anymore, and he talked about that.

[@mattwhan60]

we neck slanderin babyyyyyy

[@clintonleonard5187]

Are those gunpla behind Vinny?

[@Dukefazon]

MinnMax regular exit interview :)

[@jamess7124]

Great Interview!!!

[@ChrisLoos1]

Congrats Vinny, Brad and Alex. When y'all left GB it felt like the sky was falling, but now you guys are doing great things in this new direction, and it sounds like this shakeup may have gave GB the kick in the pants it needed to try some new things as well. This new era is looking pretty good.

[@CharlesKhan]

I wonder if one day guys who work for this new company that left another company to do their own thing will leave this company to make their own company to do their own thing like how these guys left gamespot to do giant bomb doing their own thing.

[@Chance_Adams]

This was great.

[@ARIXANDRE]

They are all great musicians too. I thought they were going to create a band. Lol

[@lucasjensenusa]

Whoa. I never thought of this. You're right! Brad on vox, of course.

[@dextardextar]

Lol that the entire core of GB got driven out. I'm so done with GB.

[@LolaliciousSmiley]

I love Alex so much.

[@cm2jayant]

I have a hunch one day gerstman will let bakalar take over however that will work corporately and move over with these guys

[@Acidwriter]

GiantBomb was Ryan, Jeff, Vinny, Alex, Brad, Dan, and later Jason, Austin, Abbey, Jan and Ben. GiantBeast became THE giantbomb for me at some point. They were putting out the best content but I still enjoyed Ranking of Fighters and other stuff Jeff and the original team was doing. However once Vinny, Alex and Brad left after having lost Dan I felt it was really on it's last legs. Jeff is still funny but he can't carry that website by himself. Once Jeff left, I havn't watched a single them on GB, I canceled my premium and I'll just watch old stuff until my time runs out. RIP GB

[@JustinWillisDevil240Z]

wow ben sounds a lot like Drew Scanlon in the voice.

[@billdonahue3765]

im not far into the interview, but do talk about being let go by GB? or NDA?

[@mkhartnett]

Doesn't seem like they were let go, they left.

[@Onani_Master]

Hell yeah!

[@ryanschindler923]

Love the interview just hate to know that it seems like there's bad blood, I haven't heard Jeff mention them or Nextlander once on a stream or podcast since they left. Also I can relate to not being happy at a place, I recently quit my career after 10 years and it's good to realize there's more to life than the previous 9-5 you were doing, there are options, and options than can make you happier than you were before.

[@anemoiaprison]

He liked some tweets, but he may have contractual obligations to not promote another game site on video or some other corporate fuckery.

[@ChrisParker11]

For a little bit I thought it was weird that Gerstmann hadn't said anything. These are his friends, is he happy for them or is him not saying anything mean otherwise? What I choose to believe is that Gerstmann has so much respect for these guys, he's choosing to give them space. If Mr. Giant Bomb is talking about them, are they Nextlander or just ex-Giant Bomb?

[@SaladXIV]

Oh shit let's go

[@searingburrito]

THE GRAND ROUND

[@Gatecrasher1st]

Haha I love this! Who will be next...

[@sleepydrewgre]

Was it just me or were the boys coming in a bit wet? Still a great listen.

[@ArnoVdVelde]

Good luck to them, but I am not sure you'll ever be know as the dude from nextlander after Giant bomb for so many years