KOTAKU EIC RESIGNS OVER NEW EDITORIAL EDICT - AFTERMATH

Jen Glennon, who took over as editor in chief of Kotaku in October,
resigned Thursday. In a resignation letter seen by Aftermath, Glennon
says that she made this choice due to the management team’s recent
decision to deprioritize news in favor of guides.

Glennon is the second editor in chief of Kotaku since Stephen
Totilo’s departure in 2021, following Patricia Hernandez, who was
fired in August 2023. (Aftermath co-founder Riley MacLeod functioned
as interim editor in chief prior to Hernandez's hiring.)

“After careful consideration, I have concluded that the current
management structure and decision-making processes at G/O Media are
not aligned with my values and goals for Kotaku,” Glennon wrote in
her letter of resignation, which was addressed to G/O Media executives
Jim Spanfeller and Lea Goldman. 

“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,” Glennon wrote. “[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.”

Glennon also announced her resignation on Twitter, writing, “I've
resigned from Kotaku and Jim Spanfeller is an herb.”

According to a source close to the situation, Kotaku's staff will be
expected to create 50 guides a week at the site. Currently, Kotaku’s
homepage features a prominent “game tips and guides” module at the
top of the page, in a space that was previously reserved for major
stories and breaking news. Staff members have criticized the homepage
redesign on social media, noting that Kotaku’s major source of
traffic is not guides.

Aftermath reached out to G/O Media for comment but did not immediately
receive a response.

Since Great Hill Partners’ acquisition of the sites, then known as
Gizmodo Media, in 2019, the overall portfolio has seen a decline in
traffic as well as an exodus of editorial leadership and staff—the
co-founders of Aftermath included. Most recently, Spanfeller announced
the sale of Deadspin and the layoff of all staff working there. In
November, Paste bought former G/O Media site Jezebel, following the
site’s closure and a full layoff of its staff. In March 2023, former
G/O site Lifehacker was sold to Ziff Davis.

_This is a breaking story and has been updated._

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