GameSpot Staff Laid Off as CBS Reorganizes

A restructuring at GameSpot's corporate parent will see consolidation and layoffs among CBS's web business.

Following the acquisition of consumer web media company CNet, which owned game destinations GameSpot and GameFAQs, CBS is now consolidating operations by laying off the websites' staffs and merging them with other CNet properties such as Last.fm and CBSSports.com.

An official corporate statement stated, "CBS Interactive continues its integration process, which now calls for the further combination of several portions of the division into unified groups oriented around similar content. This important move allows us to better align our premium content for our audiences and our advertisers, and also results in reduction in certain areas that are now duplicated in the new organisation structure."

The names and number of individuals being cut is unknown, yet these staff reductions, combined with the resignations following Gerstmanngate, likely means that much of the administrative and editorial team that were at GameSpot a year ago is no longer present.

"We believe these moves are necessary to continue building CBS Interactive into the most creative, most efficient, most profitable and fastest growing internet company in the media business," explained CBS.

These cuts coincide with layoffs of less than 36 people at CBS's Entertainment and Paramount divisions.

CBS Interactive wouldn't specifically comment, stating, "We're not sharing specific numbers for GameSpot or CBS Interactive overall."

Source: GamesIndustry.biz