I’ve been laid off before. It sucks. In fact, I wasn’t even laid off: I had my “contract terminated” along with 90% of my peers, which is like getting laid off but without severance, employment insurance, or two weeks notice. Games testing is a bitch, right?

But this isn’t about me, this is about you.

Don’t think about this as a disaster, but think of it as a way to do what you want to do, your way, without the bumbling useless fools at Ziff Davis breathing down your neck. CGW was one of the best publications around, and somehow they couldn’t keep it together. Then they file for Chapter 11. Then they fail to hang onto Jeff Green and Shawn Elliott. Then, finally, they sell the whole kit and caboodle to… Hearst? Seriously? Could they really not make it worth it to keep 1UP? Were they really not bringing in enough dough?

I call zombie bullshit.

It’s ridiculous that those podcasts, probably some of the most listened to within the gamer community (who, shockingly, have money, as evidenced by the fact that they buy VIDEO GAMES ALL THE TIME), couldn’t monetize. It’s ridiculous that an online zine that blazed trails for reviews, previews, interviews, and all sorts of other -views couldn’t capitalize on what was very likely a large readership.

I mean, the print thing makes sense, sort of. I don’t know the numbers, but it makes sense that print is dying. I still buy magazines, but only ones that double as artifacts; ones whose content is worth owning, like an item. I had a subscription to Wallpaper* (the asterisk is in the title, don’t look for a footnote) for a year, and still enjoy picking up newsstand copies of the British music mag Wire, because each is a bible unto itself (the former for design and fashion architecture, the latter for, well, music). And, unlike a bible, they’re timely. But, also, they’re timeless. EGM, while a great mag, didn’t have the same sense of tangible wealth, and, as such, was doomed as information got more free.

So let’s look at these online things again: the written stuff, and the podcasts, and the 1UP Show.

The 1UP Show is was, in my opinion, the best informational videogame video serial available. Better than anything on networks or cable or anything. Period. It was also probably peanuts to produce, comparatively; did an episode of t1S cost even a third as much to produce as Attack of the Show, or X-Play? I highly doubt it. Two guys work full-time hours, and a few talking heads, and maybe a person or two locking down interviews and video of games could probably cost you under five figures a week. Let’s make up an arbitrary number and put it at $8,000 an episode. Stop me if I’m crazy, but that seems reasonable.

Given the show’s pedigree, and number of viewers, and potential for growth, it’s not unreasonable to think that you could’ve made it premium on iTunes and charged $0.99 an episode. Despite the insane number of complaints from freeloading whiners, you could’ve easily managed to sell this product to 8081 people a month by simply riding on word of mouth alone. No marketing, nothing; an assistant PR rep fresh out of school with a GAF account and half a brain could’ve gotten this to the right people. Now, I also don’t know how much money Apple keeps from these sales, but even if it were half, or three quarters, surely you’d be able to sell to thirty thousand people a month. Offset it with ads, if you must; the 1UP Show had virtually no ads in it, despite being a PERFECT place to sell such space; there’s no limit on how long the file can be, and there’s no law saying that you must have a maximum of 8 minutes of ads per episode. The highest bidder would surely pay you a couple hundred bucks here or there for thirty seconds to hock their free-to-play MMO bullshit.

The podcasts, as well, couldn’t cost much to put together. Aside from the space in which to record, and the equipment with which to do so, I’m sure these costs might be covered by a monthly $1.99 subscription to all ‘casts. I mean, really; how many hours a week would you have to pay the hosts? Eight hours per person per week?

Hell, while we’re at it, go two-tier on the website. 1UP with 1UP Premium, for $1.99 a month or $19.99 a year. The basic site has all of your favourite writers and your reviews and your previews, while your longform editorials and breaking news and podcasts are on the higher, paid echelon. If you can’t move TWO DOLLAR subscriptions, you need to get a PR/marketing guy who likes his job. That’s all there is to it.

But, hell, hope’s not lost! You’ve lost the 1UP name. But, you haven’t lost your own names. You’re in San Francisco, right? The geek’s American Dream. The Land of Opportunity. Surely, if you guys make some noise, you’ll find an investor. Steal the audio equipment from Ziff Davis; they don’t need it anymore. Use one of your own cameras. Get this stuff going, already. Use that severance pay and work overtime, on your own time, to turn pink-slip lemons into green-paper lemonade. Do what Ziff Davis couldn’t: make something great, that people will pay for, and keep doing what you are doing without the fear of the man selling you to the father of a Stockholm Syndrome casualty.