Jeff Gerstmann

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Jeff Gerstmann : biography

01 August 1975 –

Giant Bomb (2008 – present)

Giant Bomb, launched in March 2008, is a video gaming website which is the current home of Gerstmann and other game journalists, including Ryan Davis, Brad Shoemaker and Vinny Caravella (all former GameSpot staff). The staff produces multiple video series’ including the Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 and Deadly Premonition Endurance Runs, and the "This Ain’t No Game" segment, along with a podcast, the "BombCast" and "Quick Looks" for the website. They also write video game reviews and cover video game news for the website. Gerstmann claims that he defends video games as works of art, not to be censored or reduced in ways that would negatively affect a certain game’s quality. His music background has helped garner much appreciation for video game developers that refrain from censoring explicit lyrics in the music/rhythm genre.

Gerstmann also personally produces and uploads a regular premium-content video segment called "Jar Time with Jeff" to the site, hour long broadcasts often themed around jar related puns, in which Gerstmann drinks from a jar while answering questions submitted via email from Giantbomb users, over time the segment has begun to include various off topic inclusions such as showing off his video game and console collection, and discussing his own opinions on various non video-game related subjects.

Giant Bomb was voted by Time Magazine as one of the Top 50 websites of 2011.

On March 15, 2012 Giant Bomb announced that they were acquired by CBS Interactive, owners of CNET, meaning that Gerstmann will be working alongside his former employer, GameSpot.

Reason for GameSpot termination revealed

On March 15, 2012, it was announced that CBS Interactive, the parent company of Gamespot operator CNET, had acquired the Giant Bomb and Comic Vine websites from Whiskey Media. As part of the deal, the non-disparagement agreement between Gerstmann and CNET was nullified, allowing him to finally speak publicly about his termination over four years prior. Later that evening on GameSpot’s On the Spot web show, GameSpot VP John Davison appeared on camera with Gerstmann, marking Gerstmann’s first appearance on the GameSpot web site since November 2007. In the segment, Gerstmann revealed that his firing was in fact related to the low review score he had given to Kane & Lynch, though his explanation cited other similar events that led up to the termination, including a 7.5 (good) rating given to Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction by Aaron Thomas, then an employee under Gerstmann. Events such as these led to him being "called into a room" several times to discuss reviews posted on the site. Gerstmann went on to lay the blame on a new management team that was unable to properly handle tension between the marketing and editorial staff, laying additional blame on the marketing department, which he claimed was unprepared in how to handle publisher complaints and threats to withdraw advertising money over low review scores.

During the show, Gerstmann claimed he ran into a few members of [Kane & Lynch] developer IO Interactive at a convention a few months after his firing. He claims one of the people he ran into said, "Yeah, Kane & Lynch wasn’t a very good game." Gerstmann responded, "You should totally call up my old bosses and tell them that."

Other appearances

Gerstmann is a regular guest on Bonus Round, a panel topic discussion show on the video game industry presented by Geoff Keighley on GameTrailers.

Early life

Gerstmann was born on August 1, 1975, to Thomas and Diane Gerstmann. He graduated from Casa Grande High School.