Kotaku Content Change Controversy

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Overview

Kotaku Content Change Controversy refers to the fallout from Editor-In-Chief Jen Glennon resigning from Kotaku in late March 2024 due to Gawker Media owner Jim Spanfeller purportedly mandating that the site shift primarily to video game guides instead of stories and op-eds about video games. The fallout led to mixed reactions online, as some believed the new mandate was potentially due to ownership's displeasure with Kotaku's coverage of the Sweet Baby Inc Controversy, though that is unconfirmed.

Background

On March 21st, 2024, Jen Glennon announced her resignation from her position as Kotaku's Editor-in-Chief. According to her departure later obtained by the press,^[1] her resignation is due to management demanding that Kotaku shift to a guide-first website as opposed to their current mix of opinion pieces, news and guides. She wrote:

“I firmly believe that the decision to ‘invert’ Kotaku's editorial strategy to deprioritize news in favor of guides is fundamentally misguided given the current infrastructure of the site… [This decision is] directly contradicted by months of traffic data, and shows an astonishing disregard for the livelihoods of the remaining writers and editors who work here.”

On Twitter, Glennon^[2] announced that she had resigned and wrote "Jim Spanfeller is an herb," which has become a common insult towards G/O Media's owner as other sites under their umbrella, such as Deadspin, have been sold and laid off staff.

Aftermath^[1] reported that the new mandate demanded that Kotaku produce "50 guides a week."

Online Reactions

The announcement was met with mixed reactions online, and some suspected that the timing of the new mandate was connected to Kotaku's reporting on the Sweet Baby Inc. controversy in weeks prior. On March 21st, 2024, Alyssa Mercante,^[4] an editor at the site, said that it was "telling" the site issued this mandate after she published a piece defending Sweet Baby Inc. on March 9th, 2024,^[3] which she says drew a harassment campaign towards her and the site, gaining over 140 retweets and 700 likes in one day (shown below).

However, in a follow-up tweet,^[5] she stated that management had "no idea" about that and the decision was simply a "misguided, uneducated attempt to get even more traffic."

On YouTube, several accounts made videos celebrating the news by tying the controversy to Kotaku's coverage of Sweet Baby Inc. For example, on March 21st, YouTuber Geeks + Gamers published a video making that argument, gaining over 58,000 views in one day (shown below). The line of thinking was also prominent on /r/KotakuInAction,^[6] where Redditors celebrated the apparent impending downfall of the site.

Former G/O Media employees voiced disappointment but not surprised at the decision, as they remembered how Spanfeller had negatively affected other once-popular sites under G/O Media. For example, on March 21st, former employee @ashleybardhain^[7] tweeted that upper management had "no understanding" of Kotaku, to the point it did not want the site to cover Tears of the Kingdom during launch week, gaining over 40 retweets and 500 likes in roughly a day (shown below, top).

Twitter user @Papapishu,^[8] a former Kotaku writer, joked on March 21st, 2024, that Spanfeller should have to write the Dragon's Dogma 2 guide, gaining over 30 retweets and 530 likes in one day (shown below, bottom).