G4 Revival Calls It Quits In Just One Year

There are times when you can smell a project’s failure before it even starts — barely anyone I knew was excited for Google Stadia or even thought it stood a chance, and lo and behold, it spun in last month. Then there’s G4 — the original incarnation died because the world was changing, and it’s only changed more drastically since then. Would gamers be enthusiastic about a cable network in the 2020s just as they were in the 2000s? At a time when cable is in decline overall? We would have bet “no” and we would have won the bet.

It’s unclear why, but Comcast announced they had decided to revive G4 in 2020, and in October of 2021, the channel went back on the air for most expanded cable subscribers. Several of the original shows were revived such as Attack of the Show and X-Play, along with new content like esports and the Japanese series Ninja Warrior.

There was at least some awareness that gamers had shifted largely to the Internet for entertainment and information, and thus there was an attempt to blend the two by establishing a presence for G4 online. There was a G4 Twitch channel and game-related YouTube stars like The Completionist and Scott the Woz were brought in. In the end, though, the masses remained apatheitc no matter who was stumping for G4.

Dave Scott, CEO of a Comcast division called “Spectacor” that handled G4, sent this message on Sunday evening:

As you know, G4 was re-introduced last year to tap into the popularity of gaming. We invested to create the new G4 as an online and TV destination for fans to be entertained, be inspired, and connect with gaming content.

Over the past several months, we worked hard to generate that interest in G4, but viewership is low and the network has not achieved sustainable financial results. This is certainly not what we hoped for, and, as a result, we have made the very difficult decision to discontinue G4’s operations, effective immediately.

I know this is disappointing news, and I’m disappointed, too. I want to thank you and everyone on the G4 team for the hard work and commitment to the network. Our human resources team is reaching out to you to provide you with support, discuss other opportunities that may be available, and answer any questions you may have.

Thank you again for all of your hard work for G4.

Since it’s now trendy in Hollywood to ghost all your workers once you have no use for them, most of G4’s staff didn’t find out about their new unemployed statuses until they read the news reports….including the influencers that were doing their best to make G4 look somewhat good.

https://twitter.com/Completionist/status/1581776851663364096?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

That sucks, pal! If I could be there I’d pet your beard.

It’s unclear what this means for the multi-year deal Concast signed with the carriers that agreed to carry G4 2.0. They’re legally obligated to deliver something.