Part of Microsoft's Gamerscore Blog team let go

by Dustin Burg { Jan 22nd 2009 at 10:10PM }

Earlier today, Microsoft announced their layoff plans that include 1,400 job cuts effective immediately. Sadly, we now have a few faces to put to those job cutting numbers as we just caught word that two members of Microsoft's Gamerscore Blog have been let go.

Chris Paladino and Nelson Rodriguez both Twittered about the dismal news, with Paladino revealing that he is "a casualty" and adding that "if anyone needs a video producer/host/pr/marketing/community/numedia guy give a yell." Rodriguez, former host of the Achievement Junkie podcast, also revealed the bad news, asking "what happened to the AJ feed. Seems like it disappeared. Time to start fro m scratch. ;-)"
We never thought that the retiring of the Gamerscore Blog would result in job cuts, seeing how we were under the impression that the GSB team would be working on other projects within' the Xbox division. Best of luck Paladino and Rodriguez on your future endeavors. What a craptacular economy we live in.

Tags: chris-paladino, gamerscore-blog, gsb, nelson-rodriguez, x3f-twitter

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

thissycumpartner @ Jan 22nd 2009 10:30PM

they sucked anyways so who cares?

cloud858rk @ Jan 22nd 2009 10:37PM

Any time someone loses a job it's a bad thing, not matter what kind of job it is. People have families to support, ya know?

Xav de Matos @ Jan 23rd 2009 12:01AM

When they fire you from the McDonald's drive-thru we'll see how you feel too.

Boff @ Jan 23rd 2009 4:22AM

I doubt he is of working age.

Jayslacks @ Jan 23rd 2009 8:01AM

Remind me never to piss Xav off.

james @ Jan 22nd 2009 10:35PM

@ thissycumpartner...

didn't your mother ever tell you if you don't have anything nice to say, shut the hell up?

how rude...

people lost jobs and you are a tool

Jcarpio @ Jan 22nd 2009 10:38PM

Don't worry karma will catch up to him in some way.

So I guess Nelson's segment isn't going to be on Inside Xbox anymore, eh?

Andrew @ Jan 22nd 2009 11:58PM

I would say he won't be appearing on Inside Xbox anymore now that he doesn't work for Microsoft.

OrionnoirO @ Jan 23rd 2009 12:12PM

As long as people aren't confusing Major Nelson with Nelson Rodriguez... Then yes...

StalkerofHades @ Jan 22nd 2009 10:43PM

That's what I was thinking - re his segment on Inside XBox. It was always a quick fun way to learn of new games -- like MAW. Sigh, now what will they put up there?

RomeoDude @ Jan 22nd 2009 10:53PM

They were both awesome on GSB, so hopefully neither of them will have any trouble finding work. Good Luck!

livinonnosleep @ Jan 22nd 2009 11:19PM

And here we thought games were recession proof. Welcome to 2009 things are going to suck from here.

grimftw @ Jan 22nd 2009 11:40PM

yep!

emirabal @ Jan 22nd 2009 11:40PM

Yeah, this makes no sense, gaming is where the economy is strongest and these guys still get laid off, now im really worried

BKB @ Jan 22nd 2009 11:42PM

is that the "Major Nelson" that we all knew about?

Andrew @ Jan 22nd 2009 11:51PM

You obviously didn't know about him because Larry Hryb (Xbox LIVE's Major Nelson) is not the same person as Nelson Rodriguez.

Andrew @ Jan 22nd 2009 11:54PM

I honestly don't understand how X3F didn't see this coming.

The rumored layoffs were the first thing I thought of when it was announced that the GSB was going to be shutting down.

Xav de Matos @ Jan 22nd 2009 11:59PM

Thanks, Nostradamus.

Morgon @ Jan 23rd 2009 12:30AM

Well, most of the reports and rumors around MS layoffs (which have been around for at least the past 2 months), had seemed to speculate that no EAD (Entertainment & Devices, which Xbox is part of), or at least the Xbox division itself, wouldn't have seen any cuts due to its relative success compared to other divisions.

I figured the GSB closing had something to do with restructuring how Microsoft reached out to their customers, but I think most people (and this is echoed here) thought that they'd still be part of the team in other capacities.

My thanks go to them for their support of the Xbox Community, and wish them well.
Hopefully this won't be the last we hear from them, and that they'll be a fixture of another Community/PR team soon - even if it's their own team. :)

Andrew @ Jan 23rd 2009 3:11PM

Remind me to never comment on a Xav story.

Ginevra @ Jan 22nd 2009 11:59PM

I wish the best for those who will lose their jobs this year. I know this is WAY off topic but, all day today I've noticed that words seem to be spaced out like ' thi s ' and this ' M onday ' I'm just worried that I have a virus or trojan...This happening to anyone else?

lordsumesh1 @ Jan 23rd 2009 1:43AM

im seeing the same thing, so i dont think its a virus.

diamondxp @ Jan 23rd 2009 12:02AM

Wow guys I am so sorry. I have a feeling we have not seen the last of these two. Godspeed.

stinger503 @ Jan 23rd 2009 1:02AM

The layoffs are Microsoft's way of protecting itself. I'd rather them cut the fat off now then go bankrupt or need a government bailout later on.

Michael Paul @ Jan 23rd 2009 9:10AM

'Fat' is relative. If the company can continue business but all the remaining employees are desperately seeking a way out of that hellhole, the cutting has gone WAY beyond 'fat'. Some stockholder would look at that situation from afar and say "Nice job of fat cutting"...

Dan @ Jan 23rd 2009 1:18AM

posted from kotaku:

...and I just listened to a X3F podcast with Major Nelson as a guest host. He went on for a while about how MS get's community. I know these are hard times but I can't help but to feel a little cynical with his statement regarding MS's beliefs.

EXACTLY - 1st, why did did you guys have him on as a guest host? 2nd, Major Nelson doesn't know community AT ALL!! This is a joke. MS should have absorbed their FTE's into some other realm of the Xbox Division.

Nathew @ Jan 23rd 2009 1:47AM

i'm inclined to agree. major nelson seems like nothing more than a spokesperson to me. half the time he says he's about to play a certain game on his twitter account, he probably just turns on the game and lets it sit there long enough just so it looks like he's playing it.

also, i'm pretty sure there were videos featuring the victims on the dashboard as early as just yesterday, and now they have vanished. at least jeff gerstmann's videos (or most of them, at least) stayed up when he was canned.

yolarrydabomb @ Jan 23rd 2009 4:00AM

I was a big fan of major nelson but after the NXE, he change the layout and his podcast is same ol sh!t just a different day. for example...

Long ass Interviewers that sound like they talking through a phone. Which annoys me!

What we’re playing (ok they just say the game but they never talk deep into it. Spoilers? so what they can just pretend that you guys never talk about.)

Name the Game - The prizes is ridiculous...How about free Live card or MS points or a game.
Who the hell wants a turtle beach headset?

Xbox 101 - Helpful but wont hurt to have more then 1 probably. If you ran out of NXE ideas. Do a ingame or something.

myabsolution @ Jan 23rd 2009 5:16AM

Eh at least we have a Major Nelson community person.. is there a Sony/Nintendo equivalent?

I really feel like the 360 has sooo many good community sites, and thats why the 360 excells so well with LIVE; all the tie-ins to gamercards, especially achievements, have helped communities come along.

RIP Gamerscore Blog.

Jcarpio @ Jan 23rd 2009 8:41AM

@yolarrydabomb

Um, have you ever tried a Turtle Beach headset?

For a long time I thought the same thing, then I actually tried them out.

Also, why were you expecting his podcast to change after the NXE?

Did you want him to focus on Avatars more or something?

yolarrydabomb @ Jan 23rd 2009 3:35AM

Microsoft screw them over by shutting their website down.

Double Screwed

Deck @ Jan 23rd 2009 4:14AM

This is rough. I wish them all the best of luck in their future endeavors.

UNSCleric @ Jan 23rd 2009 4:21AM

How does MS not have enough money to keep their employees when they charge people for cheat codes with EA's help?

Boff @ Jan 23rd 2009 4:34AM

Hopefully they'll be snapped up by another company within the 360 family. They'd be good tools to have (and I mean that in a nice way!) as the knowledgeable public will recognise them as members of the 'community'.

Good luck to them both, and the other 1,398 unfortunate people.

tcolberg @ Jan 23rd 2009 5:20AM

Crap. I actually really enjoyed and looked forward to Pick Up & Play each week. I also had GSB in my Google Reader feed. I feel gutted.

Best wishes to CPaladino and Minor Nelson, you guys really were the spice behind the Xbox community.

mnemo @ Jan 23rd 2009 5:38AM

Damn, I really liked the guys and it raised a few eyebrows months ago when the Gamerscore Blog podcast was cancelled - that probably was the beginning of this.

Here's hoping that they find new jobs quickly!

Deezul @ Jan 23rd 2009 6:47AM

I met Chris Paladino and lot of the other GSB folks in Atlanta about two years ago. Got some great swag out of it, including a nice Xbox 360 jacket with my Gamer Tag on the back. I'm sorry to see them go. I'd sent messages to them on Live, and I was always surprised that they'd take the time to answer. Sorry to see them go.

Jayslacks @ Jan 23rd 2009 8:00AM

My thoughts go out to those guys. They rocked, and they were a great part of the community. Hopefully, they'll find new gigs soon.

Mazrael @ Jan 23rd 2009 8:57AM

why is it the little guy that gets sacked/fired.. shouldn't it be that the overpayed people get a pay cut..?? in the UK, I'm sure 20k would be enough.. but people who get 500k are unaffected.. :s

Ham @ Jan 23rd 2009 8:59AM

Serious question: Do people not get sick and tired of writing the same pointless message?

All over the place theirs news of job cuts, it doesn't need to be reported on every bloody time, especially over 2 people. Lets write out a list of everyone that's been fired in 2009 and we can get the crying over with and move on.

I know i sound like a dick but jesus, most people that visit here and other sites aren't old enough to work, let alone be bothered majorly by any of it. People was being fired before the economy problems and they'll continue to be fired, it's a part of life.

I know it'll be a shock but there not the first nor the last people Microsoft will fire in it's time, I think it'll become rather ridicules if every single person that gets axed from the xbox division is reported on.

///rant

Edog @ Jan 23rd 2009 9:41AM

Serious question: Do people not get sick and tired of reading the same pointless message...from spoiled kids who can't be bothered by what's going on in real world.

I'm a self centered egomaniac. Who doesn't give a shit about anything other then myself. I can't be bothered by any of it. Until it happens to me, then I want everyone to give me sympathy. I know I'm a dick but most people are like me, so give us picks a break and stop posting stuff like layoffs or the economy or who's president. Please think of us spoiled kids for a change.
///rant

Falkinator @ Jan 23rd 2009 2:26PM

Are you for real? I think a lot of people here are old enough to have a job. This is news for many reasons and it actually is the first time Microsoft has ever had layoffs. Have some compassion, and if your not interested don't read the post. BTW I just lost my job and I hope no one else has to go through this.

Edog @ Jan 23rd 2009 5:33PM

^^^^
@Falkinator
No I'm not for real. (If comment was directed at me.)
To speak frankly, this is worthy game news. Chis and Nelson did contributed much to the 360 community. I loved Nelson when he did the daily podcasts at AJ, long ago. His wit and sarcasm is only matched by Richard Mitchell's.

ESD3 @ Jan 23rd 2009 10:38AM

Ham you did not have to read the 39 previous post or any of the other post's on here. It is pretty easy to scroll past the information that you do not want to read to one that you do. For every person that does not care about this story there are about 10 that do care. And yes I do like to read about this kind of stuff because I makes me feel thankful that I still have a job.

Dralthi @ Jan 23rd 2009 11:42AM

Nooooo!

What about Nelson's and Natalie's Pick Up & Play segment on Inside Xbox???

They should let go Trixie 360 and keep Nelson on her place.

Nick @ Jan 23rd 2009 2:54PM

I find it odd that this makes the news. I guess it's somewhat relevant but it was mainly one person who contributed all of the content on Gamerscoreblog. That person was let go last month, no mention of that.

Would someone who contributes a one or two paragraph post every 5 days on fanboy be considered relevant in any way? I doubt it, they would not be missed.

Tyrone Hawk @ Jan 23rd 2009 3:44PM

First of all, I consider it rude that some view Nelson and Chris' contribution to the community based on the number of posts on the GSB web site. If that's so, then you really don't know their role.

Second: if it was possible I would prefer no one being expelled from their jobs. As things are right now, this is the worst time to try to find a new job, specially when your experience is mainly based on a company product. Who was the member of the BSG team that got fired and we didn't know about it?

Third: just remember this fact to all haters of Major Nelson and the rest of the team - this is only the beginning. Even if you don't like Major Nelson you can wonder if how many people we will loose in the meantime. That's a hit not only for them, but for the whole 360 community. That's something that we 360 players have that the Wii fanbase and the PS3 players totally lack off.

Nick @ Jan 23rd 2009 4:00PM

Well it's not that post count is the only overall contribution made, but being out there and actively in the community via GSB is a huge part of it. Working with and helping certain folks behind closed doors is hardly "building a community".

Also a lot of the other content contributed by that team was video, I don't know anyone who really watches those videos. I've never even see an inside the xbox segment except for once on youtube. GSB in terms of the blog, which is ironic that they're referred to them as the GSB team as actually blogging was rare, was supposed to be a place for the community to visit to get updates and info from inside MS. It's not a team if one person does all the work.

As for who that is, go back a read from summer on and it's pretty obvious who it was and at what point they started to be phased out.

Ham @ Jan 23rd 2009 9:17PM

Very witty Edogg, top points for you. It's nice of you to throw the word spoiled kids around so lightly, sadly your mistaken.

It's a nice assumption but seems to reflect more on your own life than others, bad childhood? Shitty adulthood? Which? Both?

Because i work hard at my job I'm a spoilt child? Because i do my job better than the next guy i need to have simpathy for two guys, who clearly wasn't? They sack two guys, why those two over another two?

See, unlike yourself who's clearly pissed off at my comments more so than anyone else (did i touch a nerve? lost a job lately? I did hear some mega store in america was making cut backs seems like the place you'd be working at eh? HEY there's a news tip - quick right up a new post on more job losses.) I'm fine, my job is highly competitive and you'll find yourself out of the job if you slack. That simple.

So no, sorry this doesn't affect me because it's normal, if i suck my job is at risk. If we need to make cut backs (We're doing fine right now) the worst get picked off first and if we do happen to get shut down, I'm qualified enough to survive.

So i wont be pissing and crying like yourself, I'll continue to bitch when i see a report on two nobodys getting the sack when thousands more are losing jobs daily anyway (you prick, how dare you put those two before all the rest SPOILT KIDS THESE DAYS!) and I suggest you find yourself a newspaper and start looking for some work. (see, i can make idiotic assumptions too ;))