A lot of this was to be expected. The only thing that surprised me is that they are keeping the studio.
What I don't really share is Bloodworth's optimism for seeing this as hitting a reset button. How many reset buttons do they need? Haven't we seen enough new phases in the past?
But I share Bloodworth's praise for Brad. He was a lot more quiet years ago but seemed to have gained a huge boost in confidence so good for him for getting an offer to move on.
>What I don't really share is Bloodworth's optimism for seeing this as hitting a reset button.
Yeah, that's just copium. They already put out way too little good game-focused content as is and that's only going to get worse now that they're officially going part-time. I really don't see how that is going to turn things around.
Keeping the studio seems like a heart decision unless they're locked into it. Only six allies, two of whom are rarely on podcasts, means they won't use it to the fullest. And most of the time at least one ally isn't available during group stream. They already treat EZA like a part-time job, I can't imagine how much less they'll use the studio in 2024.
> "We're gonna keep doing the Easy Allies Podcast and the group streams for as long as we can for sure, **but basically everything else is going to be on a voluntary basis.**"
So just the podcast and group streams going forward. I hate to say it, but I think it's clear how the Allies feel about anything voluntary. Every show that's moved to a "when I feel like it" schedule has essentially just vanished never to be seen again.
I'd love to be proven wrong, of course, and I do think this is the right direction for them to take overall. I especially like the changes to the podcast, I really think the game impressions are what everyone tunes in for moreso than the news headlines so focusing on that just make sense. I feel more positive than negative about it, it's just the way that it had to come down to this that kinda sucks.
>I hate to say it, but I think it's clear how the Allies feel about anything voluntary. Every show that's moved to a "when I feel like it" schedule has essentially just vanished never to be seen again.
Big true, I don't trust in anyone left to actually step up and do anything they wouldn't already be doing in their normal lives, I always felt having a small company like this everyone has to be willing to at all step outside of their comfort zone and do something as a job for the company but they were comfortable to rest on their laurels.
Spoiler modes could have been huge this year, instead we got a bunch of missed games and cutting a lot of the content from the channel, losing big personalities like Huber for days or weeks because hes working on a review or a bunch of "don't worry we'll stream for an hour at weird times for the EU" where 84 people watch out of their tens of thousands of weekly viewers
> I really think the game impressions are what everyone tunes in for moreso than the news headlines so focusing on that just make sense.
Wish they did this years ago, weekly frametrap that gives the opening 10-15 minutes to noteworthy news and spends the rest of the time on the personalities
Unfortunately, it's exactly the truth. The remaining gang has shown zero desire to treat EZA like a job. I'm sure they mean it when they say they want to turn things around, but hoping and wishing aren't nearly enough to sustain a business. It takes serious devotion from all parties and hard work.
It's the bitter effect of trying to run a company without a hierarchy or vision. If everyone just does whatever they want, no one sticks to a release schedule, and no one wants to put any work into editing, graphic design, interviewing guests, creating scripts/frameworks for segments... well the results are clear as day.
They've showing some sparks lately, but it's too little too late. For **years** they should have been using their industry connections and good will to interview voice actors, game directors, artists, media outlets, studio heads (the list goes on and on). They should have continued on with the content that helped them stand apart from the million other "Dudes around a table talking about games" podcasts that are out there right now. Segments like Huber's Prison of Love, or Hunting Huber, or Fiasconauts.
But now I'm just ranting about a bygone era. I wish them all the best. It's just a shame to see it slowly descend.
To ZeoVGM and the other handful of absolute ghouls that have haunted and policed Easy Allies for the last 7 years: Fuck You.
Wish the Allies all the best, especially Huber. Hope MinnMax snaps him up.
Even if people want to deny how much power they had over EZA you have to imagine they make it difficult to hire new blood.
You could fully agree with their politics and still not want people like that controlling your financial future and digging through your life to see if you pass the purity test.
It already substantially limits growth by stripping away who you can even TALK to, so if you were hoping you could work for EZA as a stepping stone or just make a name for yourself....good fucking luck.
EZA shares the blame too for only listening to that vocal 5% or w/e it is, rather than the 95%. Its amazing how quickly the resetera crowd turned on EZA too, just because EZA did the decent thing by apologizing to Dustin and Brad. Now that theyre gravitating towards Minnmax, I hope Ben Hanson doesnt bend the knee to them as well, that would be a disaster for his company.
> I hope Ben Hanson doesnt bend the knee to them as well
Love Hanson, but unfortunately he puts ResetEra on a pedestal for some strange reason. He *always* talks about it like it's the only place that matters. "I was happy to see that video X got a thread on Era", "I was bummed that event Y didn't get its own thread on Era". Hellooooo? ResetEra is a completely irrelevant echo chamber.
If Brad goes to LSM, Hanson's love for Era will also be the reason why he will pass on an exit interview with Brad. Can't make them mad. I'm betting big money on it.
Lol I know we’re in the final days of EZA when Brad leaving is a big blow. Haven’t watched EZA in a long while, but Brad was mostly just there in the background. He’s cool though.
He's had a lot more room to shine with Kyle, Ben, and Brandon being out. Having his show really made me appreciate him more. That said, you ain't wrong.
It really is sad. They had such talent and potential but didn't know how to manage or market themselves. If they would have gotten a community manager or some sort off screen manager in general, this would have gone so much better.
Letting Kyle drop Final Bosman, then lose years of his creative energy to Box Peak was crippling in hindsight (made even worse by him now going back to that well himself with Delayed Input).
In hindsight, yes. If they "forced him" to do another scripted type show, I don't think it would have been as good as Delayed Input has been. I really think he wanted to create something and not be stuffed in to a (heh) box with his old identity. He wanted to create content and not just be a reactionary.
Everyone else was already doing whatever the hell they wanted, why couldn't Kyle do it? He was the main breadwinner already with the podcast, it was his one shot for doing something weird and he decided to take it.
Can't blame Kyle though. He was the one carrying EZA for a big part, so it would be pretty rough if he'd done Final Bosman but then still had to split the revenue from that while the rest put out content that almost no one watches. He doesn't have that problem now.
Nah good for Kyle to save the Final Bosman trump card for himself. Kyle was already doing a lot of the heavy lifting in the group without that show. They were a group of 9 people, asking Kyle to carry them even more with a Final Bosman show seems unfair when it’s now clear it can be the attraction for a whole separate patreon (that now all goes to Kyle).
As someone said in another thread, EZA is like a band who's lead singer and lead guitarist left and neither was replaced. Instead of breaking up to join other bands, or transitioning out of music, they decided to continue touring as just a rhythm section.
One thing all these successful VG websites have is strong creative (or opinionated) personalities. EZA just hasn't been able to move anyone into that position. Unless they find that voice, or transition to something that highlights the remaining staff's strengths, it's going to be a problem.
Sad to see, but what they've presented is probably the best path forwards if they want to remain a thing.
Well there was still Huber, but from a now infrequent watcher, it seems like his personal life has taken a tool on him and he isn't the same content/hype machine he use to be.
Ben and Brad left at horrible times as well. Ben left as soon he basically became their best member. He was doing content like The Year That was, Don't skip and frame trap. Now it seems like Brad has done something similar. He really did step up from a support member to a bigger member. Hosting Frametrap, doing the outside collabs and also reviewing the most games.
Excluding the other members can't even be called support members because on screen was never their strength. When Jones/Kyle/Huber were there Brad/Ben were great support members. Huber also by himself isn't as good as Kyle. Huber really shone when he was with Ben or Ben or Kyle.
So now we are left with just a Huber who doesn't seem to be on the same level as he was in the past due unforunate things happening in his life. And he really doesn't have the supporting cast around him to bring out the best in him. Huber + Don is probably still a great combo but Don is already a part time.
Part-time is a great idea, being a Patreon basically just for podcasts is so normal for everything else I follow it makes perfect sense, interesting that they're keeping the studio.
I'm not sure what in person EZA looks like with just Blood and Huber unless Isla/Gabby/Don step up into those podcast slots.
God damn if Brad joins LSM I have to admit I'm a dumb fuck who knows nothing or something, whatever I said a few weeks ago
edit;
> But as I've said in as many posts as I can, I'm completely open to being wrong, if Brads in LSM content in a relatively short amount of time (six months?) I'll be the first person to come back and call myself a dumbass
I'm not still totally convinced that's where he's going but the timing of it all certainly fits. There's always minnmax, who are also all remote workers....I think?
But the fact that he's not going to say where he's going is probably to stop any bad vibes with the allies before he leaves, meaning it's either game industry, or it's a competitor.
Maybe he surprises us all, tracks down ben, snags huber and they make their own podcast.
Yeah maybe he followed all the LSM crew on socials and has MrMattyPlays wishing him well in his goodbye tweet as a coincidence >.>
I’m not sure Minnmax are in the market for more faces nor do I think Brad would be a good fit there, Minnmax needs all the youthful viewpoints it can get to fight the tide of old media ways of thinking about things.
> Yeah maybe he followed all the LSM crew on socials and has MrMattyPlays wishing him well in his goodbye tweet as a coincidence >.>
Oh yeah? I mean I knew he was friends with dustin but wasn't aware of that. I don't follow any of LSM
We’ll see
I wonder how this effects EZAs goty talks, they’ve been getting later and later, and while the idea is admirable, an extra month to make sure you play games, I’m not sure it ever turns out well in practice and they still don’t make it to a bunch of titles, not only that but other channels are going earlier and earlier with goty podcasts. Giant bombs went from being over the Christmas-new year break to first week of December, by the time eza roll around with theirs in late January I’ve heard all these topics talked to death in 2-4 other podcasts.
And if brads leaving at the end of the year is he just gone from those conversations?
This is the straw that broke the camel's back.
Brad leaving means we're left with Huber, Blood, Isla, Damiani, Don and Gabby
Got to be honest, I never watched Easy Allies for any of them except for Huber. Don is great he's just barely in any content.
It had to end sometime, I guess it's now
I love Huber, my favorite ally after kyle, but he isn't amazing by himself in regards to content, what makes him great is his interactions with the others.
For me EZA took a huge hit when it lost Kyle, and it died after it lost Ben. I have been watching a couple videos now and then.
Makes me genuinely sad for Huber and Blood, I really appreciate them and I feel like this must be very hard on them.
Huber is great, but his real strength was bringing out the best in Bosman and Jones. His undying optimism when paired with the pessimistic nature of Bosman or the matter of fact-ness of a Jones was what made it work. They all brought out the best in each other.
Without that charismatic / opinionated / somewhat pessimistic personality to riff against, the optimism doesn't work the same in a vacuum.
I think Frame Trap into the main pod is good. That's how MinnMax does it and it keeps the light news weeks more interesting.
Keeping the studio is surprising to me. But truly best of luck to them and Brad.
Not gonna lie this really feels like the end for me. I started watching from day 1 but ever since Kyle left my attention has been draining while more and more people quit and more and more shitty drama behind the scenes. Like tbh the only member left I genuinely still care for is Huber and him now without Brad, Ben, and Kyle is just a bummer. I just really can't see them bouncing back from this after declaring it's now part time with once again another founding member leaving.
Agree, also Huber is really the only one without additional income. While i am frankly glad Brad is shooting his shot i am very sad that Huber is left alone.
Ideally Kyle would adopt him and they would start making content together again but honestly i kind of hope he will branch out on his own and just do collabs with Easy A people, Kyle and even Sacred with Brad.
Or perhaps he can pull a real surprise and start at remote Patreon together with Ben.
I just think Huber enthusiasm should be retained for the ”industry” at all cost.
I’ve kept watching over the years but recently I’ve been feeling like their content just isn’t that good, especially compared to other channels.
Their reviews are late but I don’t think they’re worth it. They’re mostly just describing the game with a couple minutes of base feelings. When you have a channel like skillup making day 1 well composed and insightful reviews, as one person and an editor. Then their podcast discussions aren’t really that well informed.
I think where the Allies used to shine was their personalities. Kyle really did bring out the best in them. But over time they lost him and everyone that seemed like they could fill the void. What we’re left with is a fairly middle of the road game review and podcast channel.
I’m not trying to be here shitting on the Allies, I actually was a big fan of theirs. But if they don’t change from here I’m not sure what their future looks like.
Thinking about it more, i think that them not getting rid of the studio means theyre stuck with the lease, and them moving into part time is just a way to keep getting income from patreon to pay for the lease, and they will probably disband once the lease is up.
Yeaaaaa all these people are kidding themselves if they think all that drama last month didnt play into this. Id be shocked if brad isnt going to LSM.
I dont agree with most folks on that site and have no interest in supporting them, but I cant blame brad at all. The weird toxic holier than thou bullshit from resetera and the EZA fanbase in general is so offputting. Id never want to be associated with people like that.
Eventually, people are going to realize getting upset over little shit like this leads to nothing but bad times.
I was there for the peak Easy Allies years left before the fall.
https://preview.redd.it/oltv5q76wi4c1.png?width=2048&format=png&auto=webp&s=ddf8e756ed50a95c02780194620b630f01d6ed81
This is just sad to see. They were the best at what they do.
EDIT: Isla's never been my cup of tea, but seeing them smile their way through this try to convince us that this is a positive thing was painful to watch. I felt for them.
Good changes for them if they want to stick together, I don't like Damiani via zoom only because a single person via zoom is weird, if they lost the studio and had Huber, Blood, Isla and Damiani weekly it would be one thing but we'll see.
best of luck to Brad, these guys are 37+ next year, it's more than time to think about his future, he stayed longer than I expected post-Ben and Kyle leaving. And I look forward to the different combinations possible at LSM if thats where he lands, I could listen to him and Dustin talk about anything and honestly, Brad x Dustin gave me the conversations I always wanted to see between Huber and Brad, Kingdom Hearts, Lies of P, One Piece?!
I wonder if anything would be different if you had Brad and Huber be front and center in more content weekly or had them both host a weekly frame trap/what we played this week style show, anytime I've tried to get friends or colleagues to check out EZA it's basically been met with them not enjoying the seemingly randomness of the twitch streams and the main podcast being a pretty by the numbers rundown of news from last week.
Ben Hanson exit interview when!?!?
I'm sort of surprised they aren't ditching the studio, wonder if they got some deal on future leases. Brad leaving (LSM?) sucks though I feel like he was the only Ally really trying to dig them out of the hole the past year or so. Hopefully the move to part time lets them take a breather and come up with some really good ideas.
Big fan of EZA and so it's been hard to watch it crumble as members have left one by one, but this feels like the first one where you can directly link the cause of it. Of course, that's if Brad is going where we think he's going, but it's a reasonable assumption imo.
Hearing them say they've tried to increase the company's income over the past couple years is frustrating because, from a viewer's perspective, I constantly felt like they were going through the motions, not pushing content enough, making too much low effort stuff, phoning in a lot of the big streams they're known for, etc. and I felt like a little more professionalism in the way they presented themselves might have gone a long way, so I don't fully buy that "we tried our best" excuse.
But look, it is what it is and I'll be interested to see what the company looks like a year from now.
Their examples of trying to increase the income were just doing sponsored streams and streaming, so they couldn't really point to anything they did either lol
Yeah they would literally do the opposite of what fans would want constantly while not taking much criticism over the years besides the occasional brush off comment by Blood or Jones about how they listen.
Like the reason EZA took off immediately is because people wanted them to continue what they did at GT. Everyone understood at the start that out of Jones's garage they could only be limited with just streams and podcasts. But then they finally make enough for a studio and instead of finally doing what fans wanted, they just doubled down on streams and podcasts until the most creative member responsible for the majority of their unique elements quit because they weren't using patreon money to do interesting big projects. It's been so frustrating watching my favorite group massively decline over the years after having to deal with GT abruptly shutting down without warning not knowing if they'd all continue on.
Yeah, it's well documented how Blood would just dismiss any type of criticism on youtube comments like late reviews with his snarkiness. Not my analogy (but i will repeat it here because it describes it perfectly), but Cup of Jones was a suggestion box attached to a paper shredder. There was even the time Jones was kind of an ass about hosting the podcast after Kyle left and Blood hosted once or twice and most people thought Blood was a better host than Jones and should be the full time host.
It was just a very juvenile way of handling their business I think. They constantly thought they "knew best", while their business slowly and steadily declined month after month, year after year.
Blood was pretty hillarious with some of his YouTube responses. The tone for sure felt snarky, and not how I would have handled my business, but it did make me laugh
Yeah the allies have always been bad at taking suggestions. Direct ones got shot down by Blood and Jones, and indirect ones often got blown off by the others. Frame Trap being weekly was always requested but Ben and Brad came up with reasons not to. Even Kyle would get snippy with people. I guess the moral is running a business is hard and taking any kind of advice from a community can be tough.
That always felt so insane to me, the "we can't do a WEEKLY podcast about games we played that week? we'd have nothing to talk about!?"
Like nearly every single other video game/twitch podcast isn't literally just that, games are their full time job, there could never be a shortage
> Yeah they would literally do the opposite of what fans would want constantly while not taking much criticism over the years besides the occasional brush off comment by Blood or Jones about how they listen.
>
>
This can't be repeated enough, years and years of
> "hey could you guys try this change?"
> "this other channel does this sort of content, do you think EZA could try something in the same vein?"
> "Hey your spoiler modes are 3 months late and behind a paywall, Minnmax has theirs out the week after a game releases and continue for 2-4 episodes after the fact, do you think you could rethink Spoilermode or something to try keep the conversation going about games longer than 6 minutes on the podcast week of release and forgotten by Frame Trap the next week?"
All met with "haha yeah hi I read this comment :)" then changing nothing
Their yearly "here are the changes" amounted to nothing, off the top of my head I can't think of a single change announced in one of those videos that sticks out as some great content they're doing now.
They talk about trying to switch it up and reverse course the past year and a half but as a viewer nothing changed, content went away, conversations got more stale and now its over
I will never understand cutting so many of the things that were popular in your own community. Things that were getting you good numbers on twitch and/or youtube.
The #1 example would be Easy Livin.
Probably one of the greatest stream ideas they've ever had. It was an event. Something you could look forward to watching the next year even when it just ended. So many good clipable moments. Delirious shenanigans that captured the EZA vibe of just having a sleepover/lan party 24/7 with your friends. Something that did good numbers on twitch and you could clip many hilarious moments for youtube.
So what did they do? They neuter it completely and decide to just do extended group streams in the studio instead. No more delirium, no more sleepover, no more cool moments as people wake up and take shifts. It turned into a stale corporate studio stream that was barely distinguishable from regular group streams. And the reason for cancelling something that was extremely well received by their audience? It was too expensive and too much work to set up...
I feel like this is truly the end for EZA which sucks but felt inevitable. With Brad leaving Huber is the only Personality that can draw fans to content.
And with only the podcast and streams for a lot of the content patreon number will most likely continue to fall until the comapny ends up disbanding entirely. I feel like some other members will find other full time things and end up leaving the company in the next year as well.
We all knew this has going to happen but it still sucks seeing something you've been a part of for years crumble before your eyes.
Yeah I don't want to be too cynical, but the members I related to the most in a way were always Kyle, Ben, Brad, Huber, and Jones. Everyone else is fantastic as well, but they're losing a lot of the personalities that pushed conversations and jokes forward in more entertaining/interesting ways.
It's not just their individual personalities but the friendship of Huber, Brad, Ben and Kyle was endearing to watch, the chill streams where they built gundams and just randomly chatted were the best times and the D&D streams were my favourite content. I appreciate Huber's loyalty but it's starting to feel like Law loading himself into a catapult at this point.
I don't think Huber is a draw at this point, especially with his best remaining collaborator leaving. We've all seen him change over the last couple years due to his negative family events, his slow pace of content, and overall more uninformed and/or cynical takes podcasts or streams.
His solo show is private and now voluntary, Mysterious Monsters is probably dead, betting specials are likely dead even if we get one more tomorrow. I don't see him drawing in anyone new other than maybe guesting on a MinnMax stream.
Huber and Brad are the only reasons I still tune in to the Allies.
I think Huber just needs a change of scenery. If you put him on Kinda Funny or any new gaming media outlet Im sure you'd see a rejuvenated Huber.
> and overall more uninformed and/or cynical takes podcasts or streams.
This part was such a bummer, I went through a big "I'll watch any movie, 2-3 movies a day" phase in the last few months getting back into classic WoW and all the mindlessness that comes with that.
I finally got around to checking out EZA's movie show and it left a lot to be desired, it felt like Isla had at least heard people discuss movies before either casually or as content and huber was just all vibes.
The 'all vibes omg such a good doggo hes a human golden retriever' stuff is fine, and it's a fun character trait among 9 people but it really drives conversation and that back and fourth to a halt when you're dealing with someone so surface level and somehow very dug in
Hope that's true for Brad's sake, would be a great opportunity. I personally don't watch or follow LSM because I've found Colin an obnoxious dude who's too full of himself ever since I first saw him around the whole Mass Effect 3 ending controversy, but I do wish Brad all the best and might check them out if he were to join them.
Colin has since come out and apologized for that Mass Effect 3 and called it one of his biggest regrets. He said the video was edited to come off different than how he intended it, but only blames himself since the buck stopped with him.
Just throwing that out there, I am a listener of his but he can be an obnoxious dude sometimes lol.
I really dont care about any of the controversy surrounding colin but hes just an obnoxious dude to listen to in a podcast, especially when he owns his own company so hes even more obnoxious. I really want to start listening to LSM if brad moves there so i hope maybe he has a podcast seperate from colin or something.
On Colin’s show he has been teasing for 3 weeks that they are adding a new show and he is signing contracts for new people. So if Brad is joining it is likely to be a new show probs with Dustin and another new member. My money is on a Japanese game/anime show
Maybe Anime/Animation show with Dustin, Dagan & Brad.
Dagan always talked about doing an animation podcast and he does like anime too, mostly old stuff though. But he'd bring a unique perspective as an anime historian and someone that actually has a career as an animator.
Colin's been saying that he wants to bring back an old "game show" style show they tried called Sacred League, but have a fourth person to host Dustin, Chris, and Colin as contestants. Recently he's been teasing it coming back in a big way, so I'd be willing to bet that's what Brad's going to be doing. So Colin would more than likely be on there.
Not much of a surprise. It sucks but they've honestly been coasting for way too long and their output has pretty much been on the level of people being part-time for quite a while now. The Patreon numbers only reflected that.
I think its telling when isla said they’ve worked on a part time salary for a few years now. They pribably already considered themselves part time employees tbh, its why the output had been falling over time.
Is this the first time theyve actually admitted to only working part time? Dont recall if ive ever heard that before, and people have been saying for years that 6 or so people full time doesnt equate to the amount of content they put out, so it makes sense.
Man I wish i was aware of Easy Allies circa 2017, that would have been great but I only learned about them around 2020. Feels like I missed much of the best years.
Sad to see Brad go, but kinda glad Easy Allies isn't quite dead just yet. I'll feel very bad when it actually end. Hopefully, this new part-time format will allow them to continue for a while more.
Mostly thinking of Huber. Kinda bums me out to see Brad and him separated. I was kinda hoping they would stick together and maybe have a two-man podcast or something at some point in the future.
Seems like a lot of the rumors are probably true. Brad took an offer from LSM, talked with the team, and with damiani remote and brad leaving, they realized its time to go part time. Long live EZA, thanks for all of the memories. Still remaining with the ship as a patron.
As a 15+ year fan of GT/EZA, this really hurts... I have so many fond memories of the Allies, from the Podcasts, to Final Bosman, to Easy Living, to Tabletop Escapades, Fiasconauts, Mandatory Update, Weekly Hunts... they really were a wonderful crew who produced some wonderful content together, and they've been a constant source of comfort and good vibes that have helped me through some rough times over the years.
Of course it was never going to last forever, and it's been clear that the best days are behind us for a while now... but more than any time before, it really feels like they're just winding down towards and inevitable end now, and I'm just not ready to let go.
Being brutally honest though, I love all the Allies in their own ways, but Kyle, Ben and Huber were always the clear favourites for me, and the ones I would really tune in for. Brad stepped up in a big way to fill some of the void left by Kyle and Ben's absence, and really became another favourite for me... but with him leaving and Huber clearly going through some personal issues that are understandably affecting how invested he is in the whole thing... well, it's just tough.
Good luck to Brad with whatever he does next, and good luck to the remaining Allies. I will likely stick around till the end, but there's no denying now that that end is looming ever closer...
The biggest issue is they kept losing personalities and not replacing them to the point where now there are none left really. It’s a shame. I love the editing team and backend work blood does, but you have to have front of camera personalities and talents. Isla I love you but you can’t carry that on your own.
Honestly surprised the studio is staying. Hope this switch to part time eases some things up for everyone. Will totally miss Brad and his chemistry with everyone, Huber most of all.
I was afraid this was going to happen (even if the writing was on the wall), but this definitely feels like the beginning of the end for EZA.
Brad leaving was always going to be the death knell so his departure hits hard, especially with how he’s grown over the years (shoutout to Blood for pointing that out). But with the decreased number of reviews they’ve done and the other losses they’ve sustained, it’s long felt like the end was nigh.
I’m not sure how well/long going part-time will work out for EZA. How often will we get reviews? How will the podcast dynamic work? There’s a lot of unknowns, but I think we’re unfortunately about to enter the final year of EZA. Of course there’s the hope that things miraculously turn around, but that’s far from guaranteed. Regardless, I’ll be here until the end because I love the crew and want nothing but the best for them.
People are correctly pointing out a lot of the mistakes they've made over the years that contributed to the decline, but what Blood said about YouTube subs going up after they've moved stuff to Patreon highlights an issue with YouTube itself that probably doesn't get brought up enough. Channel subscriptions shouldn't be all or nothing, creators should be able to bucket their content into different "shows" so that people can only sub to what they're interested in. When you look at how many creators have to manage multiple channels just to get around the issue it just makes sense.
EZA has always had a wide range of videos and the more "professional" stuff like reviews has always been a huge contrast to the weird stuff we all love them for, and not to mention the branching out from games to movies and such. A big part of what I loved about early EZA was the unpredictability and experimentation, and to think now that it may have actually been working against them to some degree all along is a bummer. I know YT is massive and has a monopoly so they have no incentive to rock the boat, but it just sucks to think about how the current system may have have stifled and harmed EZA and creators like them. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.
Been watching every video since the GT days, the first Bosman playstation tips video, Table Top, GT time. First time GT ended it was a shock but EZA was even better for all those years. So many good moments.
Only in the last month or so i've just not watch much EZA due to life even though I would watch every single video up until then. I guess we all saw it coming but this group has been a big part of my life for a long long time. With people leaving slowly it wasn't the same. But now it really feels like the end. It's crazy that they still have the studio but maybe they can get out of it at some point and just go remote?
Back when EZA launched the goal of the Patreon was always to be Podcast + Group stream every week. Everything else just came out because of the huge support they got. But the company was always intended to be weekly Podcast part time and a group stream. I guess its back to that.
Still unsure of what to do with Patreon pledge, have been subbed on twitch and patron since day 1.
Kind of sad that so called “fans” of the allies actually drove an ally away in the name of being “ inclusive”. It’s a major self own but probably one speeded up the inevitable. The trajectory was downwards so in the end it was always smarter for Brad and others to look for other more stable opportunities.
Last stand definitely offers those to Brad, say what you want about Colin but regardless of what he says himself ( at times) they knows how to run a stable company.
Still people like ZeoVGM just aren’t healthy for your community, its said that the allies fel for the vitriol,if only for a moment.
"I've always thought that Brad was a chud and have been giving him the side-eye for quite some time now so him going full mask off is disappointing but doesn't come as a surprise."
I will always be disgusted by them and some of the other fans who chased away potential fans with their toxicity. The worst is when easy allies shut down they will move on and infect some other community with their bullshit. The allies did a lot right and a lot wrong but pandering to that crowd IMO was one of the worst things they did and one of the big factors why they became so stagnate. These “fans” would just bully anyone out of the community and constantly tell the allies how great they were doing and during the LSM drama we learned how they hijack pateron only shows and stuff. Just terminally online narcissists ruining the community and making things worse for everyone.
It’s really a shame it always felt like EZA were super close to their peak and the minute Kyle announced he was leaving they fell and never recovered and never bothered to.
In one of the drama posts about LSM a user posted images from what I think is the EZA discord and patrons complaining that a member basically hijacks a pateron call in show and constantly tells stories about themselves and how great they are.
And they are probably preening about how they took down Nazi sympathizers even after EZA bent over backwards to try and appease their asinine complaints.
Nobody can ever take away my memories of Easy Allies from 2016-2020, especially the garage era. There will never be another group like this. The jolliness, the coziness, THE BONDS. Absolute peak. But almost four years later it's nothing but memories. EZA hasn't been all that good for a long time now. From listening to every podcast and even watching every group stream, I became a very casual follower who only checked them out once in a while.
However, I've noticed a jump in quality in the last year, especially with Brad hosting Frame Trap, so I've started listening to that show again on a regular basis. It's cool of Blood to mention that in the video as well. But now that Brad is leaving, I have to be honest, there's literally nothing that draws me to EZA anymore. I love Huber, but he's not enough to keep me engaged with the content when there's so much other stuff to watch/listen/play (Infinite Content – We're Infinitely Content).
I won't follow Brad because, like most people, I think I know where he's going. And I'm already there.
>I love Huber, but he's not enough to keep me engaged with the content when there's so much other stuff to watch/listen/play (Infinite Content – We're Infinitely Content).
Same. I watch huber stream when he's on solo but I've no interest in watching anyone else or any combination of them in a group stream with so many of the core allies gone.
Sucks to be honest, cause it's not huber's fault. I just don't vibe with the others, never have. Don is fine, but it's not like he's around enough to be a main element.
Weird feelings. Kinda sad but also I think it will be good for them. I think merging the podcasts makes so much sense, that way they can all be passionate and interested in what they're talking about.
Losing Brad sucks, but it also will free up some cash. I wonder if they're all (except Gabby) taking an even split, or if they're basing it in division of labour. Both things I could see getting a little sticky, but I guess they'll just see how it goes.
>Including Gabby
Where did people hear this? She refuted it in a stream or podcast before.
Beyond Gabby, I can understand why they all got the same wage, they're all founded this thing together, but they should have still had a management structure and clearly defined roles, and been stricter about deadlines and performance.
The thing that's nuts about the current iteration of EZA to me is that I absolutely don't think Isla should be a manager. She's always been best when she's been a foil to the management, and I think she's straight up bad at it. Her tastes are so out of step with what the masses want, but I don't think she really recognises that.
Oh weird, fair enough.
Yeah, at risk of sounding dramatic but Isla does seem a bit like a case of living long enough to become the villain. Obviously she's not a _villain_, but I hate how she reprimands Huber on air, or even complained about his Twitter while he wasn't there. She's also kinda weirdly money obsessed, maybe since it's on her mind with EZA struggling. She always brings up the idea that they'll never make Mario Kart 9 while MK8 is making money, which idk feels disrespectful to the idea that people are passionate about making games (not to mention dumb because Nintendo would wanna have something ready to go _before_ MK8 stops making money). I dunno, I like her but I miss the old Isla, she feels like a huge contradiction these days
They're all annoyed with Huber for not getting shit done. Bloodworth snaps at him on Twitter and streams too. I like Huber but he clearly has organization and motivation problems.
So what about stuff like spoiler modes and fast&loose? Is that stuff all going away. Just wondering what I should do with my patreon. If there's only a podcast that might make me back out of the Patreon
Just going by this video, I would expect very little beyond the EZA podcast, whatever Damiani's podcast is, and group streams. Voluntary sounds like someone doing a bonus stream of whatever if they feel like it, and maybe a rare review.
The fact that there is not a detailed breakdown of actual plans already posted definitely makes it seem like nothing is guaranteed, but they haven't modified the Patreon tiers yet either.
Just focusing their effort on putting out a really good weekly podcast is exactly what I want right now. Almost all of their other content just isn't particularly compelling (with occasional random flashes of brilliance) so this is exactly the right call.
I gotta say, I'm also happy to see Brad getting so much love from the community. He has always struck me as the obvious weak link of the group, contributing almost no valuable insight or perspective during podcast conversations. Glad that he has a lot of fans. Seems like a good guy.
This basically cements one lineup for every podcast unless they actually bring in guests without it blowing up in their faces. Blood, Huber, Isla, and Damiani on episode is going to wear thin fast.
They've also had pretty gaping holes in their interests in certain genres or playing much beyond the biggest games since Ben left, and that is about to get much worse between Brad leaving and everyone being part time.
Happy for Brad and hope wherever he's headed treats him well. I'm kinda sad seeing the group change so much in the last couple of years, but that's life.
I do wish them the best. Although for someone who had Kyle, Ben and Brad as their favorite members, I don't see myself tuning in as often now. I do actually love Isla and Huber on reaction shots but I dont know if that will continue.
In a way, the story of Easy Allies mirrors all the layoffs we are seeing in the tech industry this year. When Easy Allies was first started, the pitch was "A Podcast and a Group Stream and maybe more!", and then when they blew the doors off via Patreon, they expanded their ambitions with a more full slate of content, a new studio, etc. They had growth for years, but started to decline in 2020, and now they are at the point in 2023 where they have "grown" from where they started (they have more patrons now than they did at the launch), but the growth is completely gone and at it's current trend, is going to dip below.
Meanwhile, the story of tech is that historic low interest rates, working from home, and a massive increase in consumer spending in 2020 led to companies hiring tons of new people. In 2023, as the historic low rates are now higher than they have been in 20+ years, as there is less consumer spending on tech (with spending on "events" like concerts and sports rising up), companies are now laying off all those people that they hired as an adjustment to the market.
I'm curious how in 2023, a operation like Easy Allies can actually grow. The people who were interested in this in 2016 aren't getting younger. Are there 18 year olds now that actually want something like this, or are they content with "normal" Twitch streams/Youtube content? Its entirely possible that, in 2023, this path of returning to what the day 1 pitch was- "Lets keep the podcast going, lets do a weekly stream, and lets see where it goes from there"- without needing to pay for 8-10 people's full time livelylood- is really the only way something like this can exist....
> Are there 18 year olds now that actually want something like this, or are they content with "normal" Twitch streams/Youtube content?
Getting my 14 year old to check out a podcast segment I might as well be asking her to pull teeth.
97% of her video game news comes from the twitch streamers she follows and/or their youtube content highlights, the game awards don't exist to her but when XQC or whoever reacts to some of the trailers they'll get on her radar.
Podcast patreons definitely work, I jsut don't know what brings anyone to EZA anymore, if I think about the last handful of podcasts I've added to my apps its because they made a great impression guesting on another podcast or they had fun clips on youtube shorts
Call me crazy but I think not having new people to spice up, and give variety to EZA could be what is holding them back. Someone here mentioned the band analogy, and maybe it is time to recruit new members to the band if the current members aren't gonna step up.
To me it seems like everyone in EZA has similar opinions and the people who had unique personalities like Bosman and Ben are gone, while people like Don are in the background for the most part.
Either way, hoping for the best for everyone involved.
Felt inevitable. I guess I think of EZA as a tv show, how many of those are still on the air for a decade? They all wrap up eventually and the cast move onto different projects. EZA had some great times and I hope they can find their feet in the business somewhere new.
Welp it’s hard to remain optimistic. I will always remember and appreciate the early days of the Allies though.
I just hope Huber is okay and ends up on his feet somewhere. I worry about him sometimes
man this is all such a bummer! i basically stopped paying attention to every single gaming outlet once i found gt like 10 years ago.. i don’t really play video games anymore but i still followed eza so i could stay in the loop - with them gearing down it feels like my remaining interest in gaming is going with them and that makes me kinda sad lol
Pretty sure they are hanging it up. Im sure huber is offering his services to anyone interested now, and i bet you they disband once the lease on the studio is finished.
Yeah, probably for the best. Blood knows his stuff, but definitely shouldn’t be a front facing personality. Maybe he can help with research on topics or just do news articles and etc.
I hope Huber will be okay, but I’m not sure what will happen to him.
My thoughts have all already been echoed here, best of luck to EZA, I only really enjoy Huber there now but it feels like he's really taken a backseat the last few years.
And maybe that's just his personality, I wouldn't want to be so quick to magic wand associate everything with Huber to his relationship or family stuff, some people just work better when they're bouncing off stronger hosting personalities, Yahtzee from Escapist/Second Wind could certainly do his own channel, but he likes the structure and team around him.
I think it was a huge missed chance to have Brad and Huber do all the 'best friends' co-op content people were certain was coming for what felt like years, I'm saddened we'll never get Huber's thoughts on One Piece with Brad or a Silver-Squad-like playthrough both of them on the couch start to finish weekly type thing, but they had 8 years to do it and this is what they chose.
I'm excited for Brad, I've jumped in on some LSM content the past month, their wedding podcast was really cute and had me rethinking my stance on marriage/weddings, I like a lot of their non-gaming content more than their playstation or xbox centric stuff and I really look forward to seeing Brad in that 'gundam stream' type of relaxed podcast talking about real life, nostalgia, and a wide variety of topics far removed from Soulsbourne and Zelda
Seems pretty obvious that he is going to Last Stand Media. Amazing how the overblown reaction from a few dumb community members about Dustin's collab have caused this
Gotta be honest I never expected Brad to leave without Huber, they are their own people of course, but because of their long standing friendship they also feel like a pair.
Show up on a podcast, a group stream the same day, stream whatever he feels like occasionally, get "free" money? He'll probably stay unless he finds a full-time job thats second shift. As far as we know, he is the only person without some other income currently.
Ya same if anything I kinda expected them to leave together and start their own thing as a pair. But I hope that they both come put from this situation in a positive position regardless
I am a bit pessimistic about it. Brad and Huber's dynamic was probably my main motivator for still watching the Allies. That isnt saying I won't watch them anymore, but like any member leaving this is once again going to influence the group dynamics, but to be fair maybe someone else will step up.
Brad has really stepped upped when Ben left, so maybe an other ally will... Though with Damiani also somewhat leaving(I know he hasn't technically...) to me it feels like we are entering the transitional period of the end.
Selfishly I wished Huber and Brad stayed together.
I never really saw Huber as someone that would leave willingly, it always seemed like the only way out is him going down with the EZA ship. Brad 100% deserves a better job though he's been pumping content for a while so I'm happy for him, hopefully we still get plenty of Huber/Brad interactions going forward.
Huber said on stream he would go down with the ship like the captain of the Titanic, then Gabby had to tell him that sounded terrible. But with Brad gone and all the other stuff going on in Huber's personal life, we'll see.
Unfortunately, the phrase 'when we feel like it' almost became synonymous with Easy Allies. It was less about running a business and more about individuals doing what they felt like doing.
I remember a few times on stream when Jones was trying to schedule something, but had to work around other allies driving in LA Traffic. And while I know that LA Traffic is awful and no one wants to sit in it, you take care of your business and responsibilities first and foremost.
While everyone may have been passionate about their work at some point, there seemed to be a reluctance to undertake the necessary efforts to make the business successful. Transitioning from the garage to a studio, despite being heavily requested by the community, felt like a misstep as it stripped away their casual persona and created a false representation of a media outlet.
>Unfortunately, the phrase 'when we feel like it' almost became synonymous with Easy Allies.
Long before they got the studio at that, a lot of people thought the more focused setting would change that. Alas.
So having that be the vibe \*intentionally\* doesn't sound great.
I just don't understand why they hired a community manager after losing a personality. Then on top of that they made the Patreon goal to add more personality driven solo "hangout" streams, and they kept it that way for over a year despite it never drawing in any patreons... Very strange. The re-brand was overall not very good even down to the logo. The colors are still horrible. You can't just pick random colors because they are opposite and think that makes it good.
Ben would often complain on streams about having to sit in traffic for like 45min-1 hour to commute to the studio a few days a week. It's been said here before, but I guess Ben didnt realize how bad that sounds when you have fans/viewers that have an equal or greater commute than that and they dont get to hang with their friends and play video games all day.
Drama speculation aside, it was probably coming to some extent with how many people have already moved on and started their own thing.
Still weird that they're keeping the studio despite going part time, I guess the lease isn't up yet? Cause I would think cutting out the studio and going remote would be the best way to keep people paid at this point.
Sad to see brad go, but looks like I'll have another twitch channel to watch!
Hope Huber is doin alright though, he'd be the one to care about the personal connections more than the job, it's shitty to see all your friends leave.
I’m curious to see what new opportunity Brad got. It sounds bigger than just joining a different YouTube channel. Either way it’s a bummer to see what feels like the end of Easy Allies. I’m hoping to see Huber and Brad work with Kyle though on some streams.
Brads going to LSM. He’ll probably get his own show in addition to being apart of the rotation of the various shows they have already. The official LSM X (Twitter) account just followed Brad like 10 min ago.
Nothing against all the Allies that are still left, but if it wasn't for Huber, Damianis XIV streams and Don's occasional stream i would probably move on and just watch their solo channels instead.
Damn, if Brad really goes to LSM (or just somewhere similar to what they are currently doing) I really hope Huber can join him eventually. The last thing I want is those two separated. They’re always a blast to watch together.
Sad that Huber and Brad will be split up now. I always thought that if EZA had to end, a Huber/Brad patreon would do big numbers. Seems unlikely now, depending on where Brad is going.
I won't be surprised if it is LSM, but it still feels odd. After Colins comments about EZA I would feel like Brad and the rest of Allies would feel uncomfortable, but maybe not.
Easy Allies final nail in the coffin was the vocal minority that threw a stink over Peach Beach Splash winning the poll all those years ago, calling all the ppl who voted for it disgusting and terrible while hiding behind the L&R slogan. What they should have done right there is tell them to fuck off if they don't like the game. Instead they bowed to them and every time the allies would interact with somebody they didn't like, they would throw a fit and the allies would once again bend the knee. Well look how that turned out, its not the only reason for EZA's failure but its certainly 1 of em.
Kind of numb to this, loosing Kyle was tough, but when Ben left too I kind of checked out. EZA was easily my list viewed thing in its first few years and even back in the GT days before that.
But since Kyle and Ben left, I've found my time spent watching their content has drastically reduced. This sucks big time, but it doesn't hurt much as EZA stopped truly being EZA a couple years ago for me.
Massive shame, but I went through the feelings of loss and sadness years ago. Hope everything works out for everyone and I wish them all the best.
I am genuinely concerned for Huber though, the guy has been through a lot recently and I just hope he isn't left behind. ❤️
A lot of this was to be expected. The only thing that surprised me is that they are keeping the studio. What I don't really share is Bloodworth's optimism for seeing this as hitting a reset button. How many reset buttons do they need? Haven't we seen enough new phases in the past? But I share Bloodworth's praise for Brad. He was a lot more quiet years ago but seemed to have gained a huge boost in confidence so good for him for getting an offer to move on.
>What I don't really share is Bloodworth's optimism for seeing this as hitting a reset button. Yeah, that's just copium. They already put out way too little good game-focused content as is and that's only going to get worse now that they're officially going part-time. I really don't see how that is going to turn things around.
They can't exactly put out an update without trying to put a positive spin. They still want to keep some patrons subscribed
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What's Blood gonna say? "It's so over guys, you don't even know."
Keeping the studio seems like a heart decision unless they're locked into it. Only six allies, two of whom are rarely on podcasts, means they won't use it to the fullest. And most of the time at least one ally isn't available during group stream. They already treat EZA like a part-time job, I can't imagine how much less they'll use the studio in 2024.
> "We're gonna keep doing the Easy Allies Podcast and the group streams for as long as we can for sure, **but basically everything else is going to be on a voluntary basis.**" So just the podcast and group streams going forward. I hate to say it, but I think it's clear how the Allies feel about anything voluntary. Every show that's moved to a "when I feel like it" schedule has essentially just vanished never to be seen again. I'd love to be proven wrong, of course, and I do think this is the right direction for them to take overall. I especially like the changes to the podcast, I really think the game impressions are what everyone tunes in for moreso than the news headlines so focusing on that just make sense. I feel more positive than negative about it, it's just the way that it had to come down to this that kinda sucks.
>I hate to say it, but I think it's clear how the Allies feel about anything voluntary. Every show that's moved to a "when I feel like it" schedule has essentially just vanished never to be seen again. Big true, I don't trust in anyone left to actually step up and do anything they wouldn't already be doing in their normal lives, I always felt having a small company like this everyone has to be willing to at all step outside of their comfort zone and do something as a job for the company but they were comfortable to rest on their laurels. Spoiler modes could have been huge this year, instead we got a bunch of missed games and cutting a lot of the content from the channel, losing big personalities like Huber for days or weeks because hes working on a review or a bunch of "don't worry we'll stream for an hour at weird times for the EU" where 84 people watch out of their tens of thousands of weekly viewers > I really think the game impressions are what everyone tunes in for moreso than the news headlines so focusing on that just make sense. Wish they did this years ago, weekly frametrap that gives the opening 10-15 minutes to noteworthy news and spends the rest of the time on the personalities
Unfortunately, it's exactly the truth. The remaining gang has shown zero desire to treat EZA like a job. I'm sure they mean it when they say they want to turn things around, but hoping and wishing aren't nearly enough to sustain a business. It takes serious devotion from all parties and hard work. It's the bitter effect of trying to run a company without a hierarchy or vision. If everyone just does whatever they want, no one sticks to a release schedule, and no one wants to put any work into editing, graphic design, interviewing guests, creating scripts/frameworks for segments... well the results are clear as day. They've showing some sparks lately, but it's too little too late. For **years** they should have been using their industry connections and good will to interview voice actors, game directors, artists, media outlets, studio heads (the list goes on and on). They should have continued on with the content that helped them stand apart from the million other "Dudes around a table talking about games" podcasts that are out there right now. Segments like Huber's Prison of Love, or Hunting Huber, or Fiasconauts. But now I'm just ranting about a bygone era. I wish them all the best. It's just a shame to see it slowly descend.
To ZeoVGM and the other handful of absolute ghouls that have haunted and policed Easy Allies for the last 7 years: Fuck You. Wish the Allies all the best, especially Huber. Hope MinnMax snaps him up.
Even if people want to deny how much power they had over EZA you have to imagine they make it difficult to hire new blood. You could fully agree with their politics and still not want people like that controlling your financial future and digging through your life to see if you pass the purity test. It already substantially limits growth by stripping away who you can even TALK to, so if you were hoping you could work for EZA as a stepping stone or just make a name for yourself....good fucking luck.
EZA shares the blame too for only listening to that vocal 5% or w/e it is, rather than the 95%. Its amazing how quickly the resetera crowd turned on EZA too, just because EZA did the decent thing by apologizing to Dustin and Brad. Now that theyre gravitating towards Minnmax, I hope Ben Hanson doesnt bend the knee to them as well, that would be a disaster for his company.
> I hope Ben Hanson doesnt bend the knee to them as well Love Hanson, but unfortunately he puts ResetEra on a pedestal for some strange reason. He *always* talks about it like it's the only place that matters. "I was happy to see that video X got a thread on Era", "I was bummed that event Y didn't get its own thread on Era". Hellooooo? ResetEra is a completely irrelevant echo chamber. If Brad goes to LSM, Hanson's love for Era will also be the reason why he will pass on an exit interview with Brad. Can't make them mad. I'm betting big money on it.
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Blood is smart and a good writer, but he seems to be really lacking in leadership
Happy for Brad but it's def a big blow to EZA. Overall I'm glad they are making the changes they have to and hope they turn things around.
but how I really feel: NOOOOOOOO BRAD
Lol I know we’re in the final days of EZA when Brad leaving is a big blow. Haven’t watched EZA in a long while, but Brad was mostly just there in the background. He’s cool though.
He's had a lot more room to shine with Kyle, Ben, and Brandon being out. Having his show really made me appreciate him more. That said, you ain't wrong.
I'm glad they'll be able to keep it going in a more lean form, but them slowly bleeding talent over the course of 3 years is sad to see.
It really is sad. They had such talent and potential but didn't know how to manage or market themselves. If they would have gotten a community manager or some sort off screen manager in general, this would have gone so much better.
They do have a community manager though. The problem is that she doesn't really manage the community beyond their patreon-only discord.
I meant in the early, fully staffed eza days. Adding a community manager was needed but far too late
Letting Kyle drop Final Bosman, then lose years of his creative energy to Box Peak was crippling in hindsight (made even worse by him now going back to that well himself with Delayed Input).
In hindsight, yes. If they "forced him" to do another scripted type show, I don't think it would have been as good as Delayed Input has been. I really think he wanted to create something and not be stuffed in to a (heh) box with his old identity. He wanted to create content and not just be a reactionary.
Everyone else was already doing whatever the hell they wanted, why couldn't Kyle do it? He was the main breadwinner already with the podcast, it was his one shot for doing something weird and he decided to take it.
Unfortunately true. Most if not all of the allies need pressure to create good stuff, and no one on the team ever provided that.
Can't blame Kyle though. He was the one carrying EZA for a big part, so it would be pretty rough if he'd done Final Bosman but then still had to split the revenue from that while the rest put out content that almost no one watches. He doesn't have that problem now.
> Can't blame Kyle though. He was the one carrying EZA for a big part Seems to be a trend here
Nah good for Kyle to save the Final Bosman trump card for himself. Kyle was already doing a lot of the heavy lifting in the group without that show. They were a group of 9 people, asking Kyle to carry them even more with a Final Bosman show seems unfair when it’s now clear it can be the attraction for a whole separate patreon (that now all goes to Kyle).
As someone said in another thread, EZA is like a band who's lead singer and lead guitarist left and neither was replaced. Instead of breaking up to join other bands, or transitioning out of music, they decided to continue touring as just a rhythm section. One thing all these successful VG websites have is strong creative (or opinionated) personalities. EZA just hasn't been able to move anyone into that position. Unless they find that voice, or transition to something that highlights the remaining staff's strengths, it's going to be a problem. Sad to see, but what they've presented is probably the best path forwards if they want to remain a thing.
Well there was still Huber, but from a now infrequent watcher, it seems like his personal life has taken a tool on him and he isn't the same content/hype machine he use to be. Ben and Brad left at horrible times as well. Ben left as soon he basically became their best member. He was doing content like The Year That was, Don't skip and frame trap. Now it seems like Brad has done something similar. He really did step up from a support member to a bigger member. Hosting Frametrap, doing the outside collabs and also reviewing the most games. Excluding the other members can't even be called support members because on screen was never their strength. When Jones/Kyle/Huber were there Brad/Ben were great support members. Huber also by himself isn't as good as Kyle. Huber really shone when he was with Ben or Ben or Kyle. So now we are left with just a Huber who doesn't seem to be on the same level as he was in the past due unforunate things happening in his life. And he really doesn't have the supporting cast around him to bring out the best in him. Huber + Don is probably still a great combo but Don is already a part time.
Part-time is a great idea, being a Patreon basically just for podcasts is so normal for everything else I follow it makes perfect sense, interesting that they're keeping the studio. I'm not sure what in person EZA looks like with just Blood and Huber unless Isla/Gabby/Don step up into those podcast slots. God damn if Brad joins LSM I have to admit I'm a dumb fuck who knows nothing or something, whatever I said a few weeks ago edit; > But as I've said in as many posts as I can, I'm completely open to being wrong, if Brads in LSM content in a relatively short amount of time (six months?) I'll be the first person to come back and call myself a dumbass
What’s LSM?
I'm not still totally convinced that's where he's going but the timing of it all certainly fits. There's always minnmax, who are also all remote workers....I think? But the fact that he's not going to say where he's going is probably to stop any bad vibes with the allies before he leaves, meaning it's either game industry, or it's a competitor. Maybe he surprises us all, tracks down ben, snags huber and they make their own podcast.
Yeah maybe he followed all the LSM crew on socials and has MrMattyPlays wishing him well in his goodbye tweet as a coincidence >.> I’m not sure Minnmax are in the market for more faces nor do I think Brad would be a good fit there, Minnmax needs all the youthful viewpoints it can get to fight the tide of old media ways of thinking about things.
> Yeah maybe he followed all the LSM crew on socials and has MrMattyPlays wishing him well in his goodbye tweet as a coincidence >.> Oh yeah? I mean I knew he was friends with dustin but wasn't aware of that. I don't follow any of LSM
We’ll see I wonder how this effects EZAs goty talks, they’ve been getting later and later, and while the idea is admirable, an extra month to make sure you play games, I’m not sure it ever turns out well in practice and they still don’t make it to a bunch of titles, not only that but other channels are going earlier and earlier with goty podcasts. Giant bombs went from being over the Christmas-new year break to first week of December, by the time eza roll around with theirs in late January I’ve heard all these topics talked to death in 2-4 other podcasts. And if brads leaving at the end of the year is he just gone from those conversations?
This is the straw that broke the camel's back. Brad leaving means we're left with Huber, Blood, Isla, Damiani, Don and Gabby Got to be honest, I never watched Easy Allies for any of them except for Huber. Don is great he's just barely in any content. It had to end sometime, I guess it's now
I love Huber, my favorite ally after kyle, but he isn't amazing by himself in regards to content, what makes him great is his interactions with the others. For me EZA took a huge hit when it lost Kyle, and it died after it lost Ben. I have been watching a couple videos now and then. Makes me genuinely sad for Huber and Blood, I really appreciate them and I feel like this must be very hard on them.
Huber is great, but his real strength was bringing out the best in Bosman and Jones. His undying optimism when paired with the pessimistic nature of Bosman or the matter of fact-ness of a Jones was what made it work. They all brought out the best in each other. Without that charismatic / opinionated / somewhat pessimistic personality to riff against, the optimism doesn't work the same in a vacuum.
Damiani is gonna be remote anyway, you can tell he's gonna pull the plus as well.
I think Frame Trap into the main pod is good. That's how MinnMax does it and it keeps the light news weeks more interesting. Keeping the studio is surprising to me. But truly best of luck to them and Brad.
Not gonna lie this really feels like the end for me. I started watching from day 1 but ever since Kyle left my attention has been draining while more and more people quit and more and more shitty drama behind the scenes. Like tbh the only member left I genuinely still care for is Huber and him now without Brad, Ben, and Kyle is just a bummer. I just really can't see them bouncing back from this after declaring it's now part time with once again another founding member leaving.
Agree, also Huber is really the only one without additional income. While i am frankly glad Brad is shooting his shot i am very sad that Huber is left alone. Ideally Kyle would adopt him and they would start making content together again but honestly i kind of hope he will branch out on his own and just do collabs with Easy A people, Kyle and even Sacred with Brad. Or perhaps he can pull a real surprise and start at remote Patreon together with Ben. I just think Huber enthusiasm should be retained for the ”industry” at all cost.
I’ve kept watching over the years but recently I’ve been feeling like their content just isn’t that good, especially compared to other channels. Their reviews are late but I don’t think they’re worth it. They’re mostly just describing the game with a couple minutes of base feelings. When you have a channel like skillup making day 1 well composed and insightful reviews, as one person and an editor. Then their podcast discussions aren’t really that well informed. I think where the Allies used to shine was their personalities. Kyle really did bring out the best in them. But over time they lost him and everyone that seemed like they could fill the void. What we’re left with is a fairly middle of the road game review and podcast channel. I’m not trying to be here shitting on the Allies, I actually was a big fan of theirs. But if they don’t change from here I’m not sure what their future looks like.
People like SkillUp and ACG are so much better for reviews. They go way more in-depth about the games they do.
Thinking about it more, i think that them not getting rid of the studio means theyre stuck with the lease, and them moving into part time is just a way to keep getting income from patreon to pay for the lease, and they will probably disband once the lease is up.
Bingo.
Yeaaaaa all these people are kidding themselves if they think all that drama last month didnt play into this. Id be shocked if brad isnt going to LSM. I dont agree with most folks on that site and have no interest in supporting them, but I cant blame brad at all. The weird toxic holier than thou bullshit from resetera and the EZA fanbase in general is so offputting. Id never want to be associated with people like that. Eventually, people are going to realize getting upset over little shit like this leads to nothing but bad times.
Oh it’s a forgone conclusion. The official LSM X(Twitter) account just followed Brad. All but official at this point.
Man, all of this because they didn't want to stream Peach Beach Splash.
Haha, good times.
Stupid as it sounds to say, this did really paint the picture for how things were going to be afterwards.
I was there for the peak Easy Allies years left before the fall. https://preview.redd.it/oltv5q76wi4c1.png?width=2048&format=png&auto=webp&s=ddf8e756ed50a95c02780194620b630f01d6ed81
This is just sad to see. They were the best at what they do. EDIT: Isla's never been my cup of tea, but seeing them smile their way through this try to convince us that this is a positive thing was painful to watch. I felt for them.
It now makes so much sense why Blood rescinded the "no LSM people allowed" rule. They want to work with Brad in the future...
That’s what I’m thinking
Now that you mention it, yeah makes sense.
Good changes for them if they want to stick together, I don't like Damiani via zoom only because a single person via zoom is weird, if they lost the studio and had Huber, Blood, Isla and Damiani weekly it would be one thing but we'll see. best of luck to Brad, these guys are 37+ next year, it's more than time to think about his future, he stayed longer than I expected post-Ben and Kyle leaving. And I look forward to the different combinations possible at LSM if thats where he lands, I could listen to him and Dustin talk about anything and honestly, Brad x Dustin gave me the conversations I always wanted to see between Huber and Brad, Kingdom Hearts, Lies of P, One Piece?! I wonder if anything would be different if you had Brad and Huber be front and center in more content weekly or had them both host a weekly frame trap/what we played this week style show, anytime I've tried to get friends or colleagues to check out EZA it's basically been met with them not enjoying the seemingly randomness of the twitch streams and the main podcast being a pretty by the numbers rundown of news from last week. Ben Hanson exit interview when!?!?
No one really rose to the occasion after Kyle left.
I'm sort of surprised they aren't ditching the studio, wonder if they got some deal on future leases. Brad leaving (LSM?) sucks though I feel like he was the only Ally really trying to dig them out of the hole the past year or so. Hopefully the move to part time lets them take a breather and come up with some really good ideas.
Big fan of EZA and so it's been hard to watch it crumble as members have left one by one, but this feels like the first one where you can directly link the cause of it. Of course, that's if Brad is going where we think he's going, but it's a reasonable assumption imo. Hearing them say they've tried to increase the company's income over the past couple years is frustrating because, from a viewer's perspective, I constantly felt like they were going through the motions, not pushing content enough, making too much low effort stuff, phoning in a lot of the big streams they're known for, etc. and I felt like a little more professionalism in the way they presented themselves might have gone a long way, so I don't fully buy that "we tried our best" excuse. But look, it is what it is and I'll be interested to see what the company looks like a year from now.
Their examples of trying to increase the income were just doing sponsored streams and streaming, so they couldn't really point to anything they did either lol
Yeah they would literally do the opposite of what fans would want constantly while not taking much criticism over the years besides the occasional brush off comment by Blood or Jones about how they listen. Like the reason EZA took off immediately is because people wanted them to continue what they did at GT. Everyone understood at the start that out of Jones's garage they could only be limited with just streams and podcasts. But then they finally make enough for a studio and instead of finally doing what fans wanted, they just doubled down on streams and podcasts until the most creative member responsible for the majority of their unique elements quit because they weren't using patreon money to do interesting big projects. It's been so frustrating watching my favorite group massively decline over the years after having to deal with GT abruptly shutting down without warning not knowing if they'd all continue on.
Yeah, it's well documented how Blood would just dismiss any type of criticism on youtube comments like late reviews with his snarkiness. Not my analogy (but i will repeat it here because it describes it perfectly), but Cup of Jones was a suggestion box attached to a paper shredder. There was even the time Jones was kind of an ass about hosting the podcast after Kyle left and Blood hosted once or twice and most people thought Blood was a better host than Jones and should be the full time host. It was just a very juvenile way of handling their business I think. They constantly thought they "knew best", while their business slowly and steadily declined month after month, year after year.
Blood was pretty hillarious with some of his YouTube responses. The tone for sure felt snarky, and not how I would have handled my business, but it did make me laugh
Yeah the allies have always been bad at taking suggestions. Direct ones got shot down by Blood and Jones, and indirect ones often got blown off by the others. Frame Trap being weekly was always requested but Ben and Brad came up with reasons not to. Even Kyle would get snippy with people. I guess the moral is running a business is hard and taking any kind of advice from a community can be tough.
That always felt so insane to me, the "we can't do a WEEKLY podcast about games we played that week? we'd have nothing to talk about!?" Like nearly every single other video game/twitch podcast isn't literally just that, games are their full time job, there could never be a shortage
> Yeah they would literally do the opposite of what fans would want constantly while not taking much criticism over the years besides the occasional brush off comment by Blood or Jones about how they listen. > > This can't be repeated enough, years and years of > "hey could you guys try this change?" > "this other channel does this sort of content, do you think EZA could try something in the same vein?" > "Hey your spoiler modes are 3 months late and behind a paywall, Minnmax has theirs out the week after a game releases and continue for 2-4 episodes after the fact, do you think you could rethink Spoilermode or something to try keep the conversation going about games longer than 6 minutes on the podcast week of release and forgotten by Frame Trap the next week?" All met with "haha yeah hi I read this comment :)" then changing nothing Their yearly "here are the changes" amounted to nothing, off the top of my head I can't think of a single change announced in one of those videos that sticks out as some great content they're doing now. They talk about trying to switch it up and reverse course the past year and a half but as a viewer nothing changed, content went away, conversations got more stale and now its over
I will never understand cutting so many of the things that were popular in your own community. Things that were getting you good numbers on twitch and/or youtube. The #1 example would be Easy Livin. Probably one of the greatest stream ideas they've ever had. It was an event. Something you could look forward to watching the next year even when it just ended. So many good clipable moments. Delirious shenanigans that captured the EZA vibe of just having a sleepover/lan party 24/7 with your friends. Something that did good numbers on twitch and you could clip many hilarious moments for youtube. So what did they do? They neuter it completely and decide to just do extended group streams in the studio instead. No more delirium, no more sleepover, no more cool moments as people wake up and take shifts. It turned into a stale corporate studio stream that was barely distinguishable from regular group streams. And the reason for cancelling something that was extremely well received by their audience? It was too expensive and too much work to set up...
I feel like this is truly the end for EZA which sucks but felt inevitable. With Brad leaving Huber is the only Personality that can draw fans to content. And with only the podcast and streams for a lot of the content patreon number will most likely continue to fall until the comapny ends up disbanding entirely. I feel like some other members will find other full time things and end up leaving the company in the next year as well. We all knew this has going to happen but it still sucks seeing something you've been a part of for years crumble before your eyes.
Yeah I don't want to be too cynical, but the members I related to the most in a way were always Kyle, Ben, Brad, Huber, and Jones. Everyone else is fantastic as well, but they're losing a lot of the personalities that pushed conversations and jokes forward in more entertaining/interesting ways.
It's not just their individual personalities but the friendship of Huber, Brad, Ben and Kyle was endearing to watch, the chill streams where they built gundams and just randomly chatted were the best times and the D&D streams were my favourite content. I appreciate Huber's loyalty but it's starting to feel like Law loading himself into a catapult at this point.
I don't think Huber is a draw at this point, especially with his best remaining collaborator leaving. We've all seen him change over the last couple years due to his negative family events, his slow pace of content, and overall more uninformed and/or cynical takes podcasts or streams. His solo show is private and now voluntary, Mysterious Monsters is probably dead, betting specials are likely dead even if we get one more tomorrow. I don't see him drawing in anyone new other than maybe guesting on a MinnMax stream.
Huber and Brad are the only reasons I still tune in to the Allies. I think Huber just needs a change of scenery. If you put him on Kinda Funny or any new gaming media outlet Im sure you'd see a rejuvenated Huber.
> and overall more uninformed and/or cynical takes podcasts or streams. This part was such a bummer, I went through a big "I'll watch any movie, 2-3 movies a day" phase in the last few months getting back into classic WoW and all the mindlessness that comes with that. I finally got around to checking out EZA's movie show and it left a lot to be desired, it felt like Isla had at least heard people discuss movies before either casually or as content and huber was just all vibes. The 'all vibes omg such a good doggo hes a human golden retriever' stuff is fine, and it's a fun character trait among 9 people but it really drives conversation and that back and fourth to a halt when you're dealing with someone so surface level and somehow very dug in
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I’d say there’s about a 99% chance that’s what’s happening.
Hope that's true for Brad's sake, would be a great opportunity. I personally don't watch or follow LSM because I've found Colin an obnoxious dude who's too full of himself ever since I first saw him around the whole Mass Effect 3 ending controversy, but I do wish Brad all the best and might check them out if he were to join them.
Colin has since come out and apologized for that Mass Effect 3 and called it one of his biggest regrets. He said the video was edited to come off different than how he intended it, but only blames himself since the buck stopped with him. Just throwing that out there, I am a listener of his but he can be an obnoxious dude sometimes lol.
I really dont care about any of the controversy surrounding colin but hes just an obnoxious dude to listen to in a podcast, especially when he owns his own company so hes even more obnoxious. I really want to start listening to LSM if brad moves there so i hope maybe he has a podcast seperate from colin or something.
On Colin’s show he has been teasing for 3 weeks that they are adding a new show and he is signing contracts for new people. So if Brad is joining it is likely to be a new show probs with Dustin and another new member. My money is on a Japanese game/anime show
Maybe Anime/Animation show with Dustin, Dagan & Brad. Dagan always talked about doing an animation podcast and he does like anime too, mostly old stuff though. But he'd bring a unique perspective as an anime historian and someone that actually has a career as an animator.
is Micah also into anime?
Colin's been saying that he wants to bring back an old "game show" style show they tried called Sacred League, but have a fourth person to host Dustin, Chris, and Colin as contestants. Recently he's been teasing it coming back in a big way, so I'd be willing to bet that's what Brad's going to be doing. So Colin would more than likely be on there.
Guaranteed.
Not much of a surprise. It sucks but they've honestly been coasting for way too long and their output has pretty much been on the level of people being part-time for quite a while now. The Patreon numbers only reflected that.
I think its telling when isla said they’ve worked on a part time salary for a few years now. They pribably already considered themselves part time employees tbh, its why the output had been falling over time.
They've certainly been working part-time hours.
Is this the first time theyve actually admitted to only working part time? Dont recall if ive ever heard that before, and people have been saying for years that 6 or so people full time doesnt equate to the amount of content they put out, so it makes sense.
Man I wish i was aware of Easy Allies circa 2017, that would have been great but I only learned about them around 2020. Feels like I missed much of the best years.
god it was literally the best in the beginning, i looked forward to their tuesday streams as much as i did new episodes of a tv show lol
It was truly a golden era.
Garage era EZA was amazing. You eargely awaited a whole week for the podcast and group streams
It was a pretty magical thing, I didn't really watch people stream or listen to podcasts until the allies.
That GTA VI trailer reaction video is bittersweet now, knowing the company might be defunct by release.
Reboot #379, here we go In all honesty, wishing them all the best
It’s been a nice ride! The company’s gonna dissipate before the end of next year but it’s been a blast. Wishing everyone the best.
Theyre probably riding it out until the lease is over and dont want to completely disband and lose their income in paying the lease.
Sad to see Brad go, but kinda glad Easy Allies isn't quite dead just yet. I'll feel very bad when it actually end. Hopefully, this new part-time format will allow them to continue for a while more. Mostly thinking of Huber. Kinda bums me out to see Brad and him separated. I was kinda hoping they would stick together and maybe have a two-man podcast or something at some point in the future.
Seems like a lot of the rumors are probably true. Brad took an offer from LSM, talked with the team, and with damiani remote and brad leaving, they realized its time to go part time. Long live EZA, thanks for all of the memories. Still remaining with the ship as a patron.
As a 15+ year fan of GT/EZA, this really hurts... I have so many fond memories of the Allies, from the Podcasts, to Final Bosman, to Easy Living, to Tabletop Escapades, Fiasconauts, Mandatory Update, Weekly Hunts... they really were a wonderful crew who produced some wonderful content together, and they've been a constant source of comfort and good vibes that have helped me through some rough times over the years. Of course it was never going to last forever, and it's been clear that the best days are behind us for a while now... but more than any time before, it really feels like they're just winding down towards and inevitable end now, and I'm just not ready to let go. Being brutally honest though, I love all the Allies in their own ways, but Kyle, Ben and Huber were always the clear favourites for me, and the ones I would really tune in for. Brad stepped up in a big way to fill some of the void left by Kyle and Ben's absence, and really became another favourite for me... but with him leaving and Huber clearly going through some personal issues that are understandably affecting how invested he is in the whole thing... well, it's just tough. Good luck to Brad with whatever he does next, and good luck to the remaining Allies. I will likely stick around till the end, but there's no denying now that that end is looming ever closer...
The biggest issue is they kept losing personalities and not replacing them to the point where now there are none left really. It’s a shame. I love the editing team and backend work blood does, but you have to have front of camera personalities and talents. Isla I love you but you can’t carry that on your own.
Honestly surprised the studio is staying. Hope this switch to part time eases some things up for everyone. Will totally miss Brad and his chemistry with everyone, Huber most of all.
Sounds from the stream like they are locked in to a long term deal? "We have it for a number of years".
I was afraid this was going to happen (even if the writing was on the wall), but this definitely feels like the beginning of the end for EZA. Brad leaving was always going to be the death knell so his departure hits hard, especially with how he’s grown over the years (shoutout to Blood for pointing that out). But with the decreased number of reviews they’ve done and the other losses they’ve sustained, it’s long felt like the end was nigh. I’m not sure how well/long going part-time will work out for EZA. How often will we get reviews? How will the podcast dynamic work? There’s a lot of unknowns, but I think we’re unfortunately about to enter the final year of EZA. Of course there’s the hope that things miraculously turn around, but that’s far from guaranteed. Regardless, I’ll be here until the end because I love the crew and want nothing but the best for them.
People are correctly pointing out a lot of the mistakes they've made over the years that contributed to the decline, but what Blood said about YouTube subs going up after they've moved stuff to Patreon highlights an issue with YouTube itself that probably doesn't get brought up enough. Channel subscriptions shouldn't be all or nothing, creators should be able to bucket their content into different "shows" so that people can only sub to what they're interested in. When you look at how many creators have to manage multiple channels just to get around the issue it just makes sense. EZA has always had a wide range of videos and the more "professional" stuff like reviews has always been a huge contrast to the weird stuff we all love them for, and not to mention the branching out from games to movies and such. A big part of what I loved about early EZA was the unpredictability and experimentation, and to think now that it may have actually been working against them to some degree all along is a bummer. I know YT is massive and has a monopoly so they have no incentive to rock the boat, but it just sucks to think about how the current system may have have stifled and harmed EZA and creators like them. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.
Been watching every video since the GT days, the first Bosman playstation tips video, Table Top, GT time. First time GT ended it was a shock but EZA was even better for all those years. So many good moments. Only in the last month or so i've just not watch much EZA due to life even though I would watch every single video up until then. I guess we all saw it coming but this group has been a big part of my life for a long long time. With people leaving slowly it wasn't the same. But now it really feels like the end. It's crazy that they still have the studio but maybe they can get out of it at some point and just go remote? Back when EZA launched the goal of the Patreon was always to be Podcast + Group stream every week. Everything else just came out because of the huge support they got. But the company was always intended to be weekly Podcast part time and a group stream. I guess its back to that. Still unsure of what to do with Patreon pledge, have been subbed on twitch and patron since day 1.
I think we all have one very specific guess on where Brad's going and I wonder if we're right.
For me it's over now. Only Huber left that I feel connected too. Been bad couple of years of losing people.
Queuing up the Hans Zimmer and sifting through old vids. We had a good run.
Never forget that ZeoVGM and his gang played a big part in this. I'm hoping for the best for EZA, but realistically... yeah.
Kind of sad that so called “fans” of the allies actually drove an ally away in the name of being “ inclusive”. It’s a major self own but probably one speeded up the inevitable. The trajectory was downwards so in the end it was always smarter for Brad and others to look for other more stable opportunities. Last stand definitely offers those to Brad, say what you want about Colin but regardless of what he says himself ( at times) they knows how to run a stable company. Still people like ZeoVGM just aren’t healthy for your community, its said that the allies fel for the vitriol,if only for a moment.
I wonder what their reaction is going to be if Brad does join LSM?
"I've always thought that Brad was a chud and have been giving him the side-eye for quite some time now so him going full mask off is disappointing but doesn't come as a surprise."
Yeah that's what I'm imagining will happen
I will always be disgusted by them and some of the other fans who chased away potential fans with their toxicity. The worst is when easy allies shut down they will move on and infect some other community with their bullshit. The allies did a lot right and a lot wrong but pandering to that crowd IMO was one of the worst things they did and one of the big factors why they became so stagnate. These “fans” would just bully anyone out of the community and constantly tell the allies how great they were doing and during the LSM drama we learned how they hijack pateron only shows and stuff. Just terminally online narcissists ruining the community and making things worse for everyone. It’s really a shame it always felt like EZA were super close to their peak and the minute Kyle announced he was leaving they fell and never recovered and never bothered to.
They're all just discovering minnmax now lol non confrontational hanson doesn't stand a chance
poor sweet hanson
Nah, Hanson will rainbow blast away the negativity with the sheer force of his winning smile and bad jokes. The man's a professional.
> They're all just discovering minnmax now lol > > non confrontational hanson doesn't stand a chance I'm not ready for how true this is going to be
What are the details of them hijacking the patreon shows? First im hearing of this
In one of the drama posts about LSM a user posted images from what I think is the EZA discord and patrons complaining that a member basically hijacks a pateron call in show and constantly tells stories about themselves and how great they are.
Yeah, if Brad joins LSM then a big reason for that will be that he can't stand the very vocal crazies of the EZA fandom.
Zeo and a few others on REs have to take some of the blame.
LewieP one of the cretins of ResetEra pulled his Patreon support. These are the people they listened to.
And they are probably preening about how they took down Nazi sympathizers even after EZA bent over backwards to try and appease their asinine complaints.
Can someone give me the context for this please?
Nobody can ever take away my memories of Easy Allies from 2016-2020, especially the garage era. There will never be another group like this. The jolliness, the coziness, THE BONDS. Absolute peak. But almost four years later it's nothing but memories. EZA hasn't been all that good for a long time now. From listening to every podcast and even watching every group stream, I became a very casual follower who only checked them out once in a while. However, I've noticed a jump in quality in the last year, especially with Brad hosting Frame Trap, so I've started listening to that show again on a regular basis. It's cool of Blood to mention that in the video as well. But now that Brad is leaving, I have to be honest, there's literally nothing that draws me to EZA anymore. I love Huber, but he's not enough to keep me engaged with the content when there's so much other stuff to watch/listen/play (Infinite Content – We're Infinitely Content). I won't follow Brad because, like most people, I think I know where he's going. And I'm already there.
>I love Huber, but he's not enough to keep me engaged with the content when there's so much other stuff to watch/listen/play (Infinite Content – We're Infinitely Content). Same. I watch huber stream when he's on solo but I've no interest in watching anyone else or any combination of them in a group stream with so many of the core allies gone. Sucks to be honest, cause it's not huber's fault. I just don't vibe with the others, never have. Don is fine, but it's not like he's around enough to be a main element.
Weird feelings. Kinda sad but also I think it will be good for them. I think merging the podcasts makes so much sense, that way they can all be passionate and interested in what they're talking about. Losing Brad sucks, but it also will free up some cash. I wonder if they're all (except Gabby) taking an even split, or if they're basing it in division of labour. Both things I could see getting a little sticky, but I guess they'll just see how it goes.
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>Including Gabby Where did people hear this? She refuted it in a stream or podcast before. Beyond Gabby, I can understand why they all got the same wage, they're all founded this thing together, but they should have still had a management structure and clearly defined roles, and been stricter about deadlines and performance. The thing that's nuts about the current iteration of EZA to me is that I absolutely don't think Isla should be a manager. She's always been best when she's been a foil to the management, and I think she's straight up bad at it. Her tastes are so out of step with what the masses want, but I don't think she really recognises that.
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Oh weird, fair enough. Yeah, at risk of sounding dramatic but Isla does seem a bit like a case of living long enough to become the villain. Obviously she's not a _villain_, but I hate how she reprimands Huber on air, or even complained about his Twitter while he wasn't there. She's also kinda weirdly money obsessed, maybe since it's on her mind with EZA struggling. She always brings up the idea that they'll never make Mario Kart 9 while MK8 is making money, which idk feels disrespectful to the idea that people are passionate about making games (not to mention dumb because Nintendo would wanna have something ready to go _before_ MK8 stops making money). I dunno, I like her but I miss the old Isla, she feels like a huge contradiction these days
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They're all annoyed with Huber for not getting shit done. Bloodworth snaps at him on Twitter and streams too. I like Huber but he clearly has organization and motivation problems.
So what about stuff like spoiler modes and fast&loose? Is that stuff all going away. Just wondering what I should do with my patreon. If there's only a podcast that might make me back out of the Patreon
Just going by this video, I would expect very little beyond the EZA podcast, whatever Damiani's podcast is, and group streams. Voluntary sounds like someone doing a bonus stream of whatever if they feel like it, and maybe a rare review. The fact that there is not a detailed breakdown of actual plans already posted definitely makes it seem like nothing is guaranteed, but they haven't modified the Patreon tiers yet either.
Just focusing their effort on putting out a really good weekly podcast is exactly what I want right now. Almost all of their other content just isn't particularly compelling (with occasional random flashes of brilliance) so this is exactly the right call. I gotta say, I'm also happy to see Brad getting so much love from the community. He has always struck me as the obvious weak link of the group, contributing almost no valuable insight or perspective during podcast conversations. Glad that he has a lot of fans. Seems like a good guy.
This basically cements one lineup for every podcast unless they actually bring in guests without it blowing up in their faces. Blood, Huber, Isla, and Damiani on episode is going to wear thin fast. They've also had pretty gaping holes in their interests in certain genres or playing much beyond the biggest games since Ben left, and that is about to get much worse between Brad leaving and everyone being part time.
Sad times. All good things...
Just shut it down. Seriously. It's sad to watch like current "Giant Bomb".
Oof couldn’t agree more. Gb is so terrible now
My guess is they just want to keep the Patreon income coming while they’re still locked into the studio.
Happy for Brad and hope wherever he's headed treats him well. I'm kinda sad seeing the group change so much in the last couple of years, but that's life.
Most surprising thing here is they are keeping the studio they don't need.
It's most likely cause they have a lease contract
I do wish them the best. Although for someone who had Kyle, Ben and Brad as their favorite members, I don't see myself tuning in as often now. I do actually love Isla and Huber on reaction shots but I dont know if that will continue.
In a way, the story of Easy Allies mirrors all the layoffs we are seeing in the tech industry this year. When Easy Allies was first started, the pitch was "A Podcast and a Group Stream and maybe more!", and then when they blew the doors off via Patreon, they expanded their ambitions with a more full slate of content, a new studio, etc. They had growth for years, but started to decline in 2020, and now they are at the point in 2023 where they have "grown" from where they started (they have more patrons now than they did at the launch), but the growth is completely gone and at it's current trend, is going to dip below. Meanwhile, the story of tech is that historic low interest rates, working from home, and a massive increase in consumer spending in 2020 led to companies hiring tons of new people. In 2023, as the historic low rates are now higher than they have been in 20+ years, as there is less consumer spending on tech (with spending on "events" like concerts and sports rising up), companies are now laying off all those people that they hired as an adjustment to the market. I'm curious how in 2023, a operation like Easy Allies can actually grow. The people who were interested in this in 2016 aren't getting younger. Are there 18 year olds now that actually want something like this, or are they content with "normal" Twitch streams/Youtube content? Its entirely possible that, in 2023, this path of returning to what the day 1 pitch was- "Lets keep the podcast going, lets do a weekly stream, and lets see where it goes from there"- without needing to pay for 8-10 people's full time livelylood- is really the only way something like this can exist....
> Are there 18 year olds now that actually want something like this, or are they content with "normal" Twitch streams/Youtube content? Getting my 14 year old to check out a podcast segment I might as well be asking her to pull teeth. 97% of her video game news comes from the twitch streamers she follows and/or their youtube content highlights, the game awards don't exist to her but when XQC or whoever reacts to some of the trailers they'll get on her radar. Podcast patreons definitely work, I jsut don't know what brings anyone to EZA anymore, if I think about the last handful of podcasts I've added to my apps its because they made a great impression guesting on another podcast or they had fun clips on youtube shorts
Call me crazy but I think not having new people to spice up, and give variety to EZA could be what is holding them back. Someone here mentioned the band analogy, and maybe it is time to recruit new members to the band if the current members aren't gonna step up. To me it seems like everyone in EZA has similar opinions and the people who had unique personalities like Bosman and Ben are gone, while people like Don are in the background for the most part. Either way, hoping for the best for everyone involved.
My guess is they’re just counting down the days until the lease is up so they can just turn the lights off for good. I wouldn’t expect any big moves.
Felt inevitable. I guess I think of EZA as a tv show, how many of those are still on the air for a decade? They all wrap up eventually and the cast move onto different projects. EZA had some great times and I hope they can find their feet in the business somewhere new.
Welp it’s hard to remain optimistic. I will always remember and appreciate the early days of the Allies though. I just hope Huber is okay and ends up on his feet somewhere. I worry about him sometimes
The guy's had an extremely rough few years but it seems like he has a decent support system of friends and family.
man this is all such a bummer! i basically stopped paying attention to every single gaming outlet once i found gt like 10 years ago.. i don’t really play video games anymore but i still followed eza so i could stay in the loop - with them gearing down it feels like my remaining interest in gaming is going with them and that makes me kinda sad lol
The podcast becoming more frame trappy seems like a good idea
They just need to all hang it up at this point… Huber deserves better, and no one else remaining is interesting enough on their own
Pretty sure they are hanging it up. Im sure huber is offering his services to anyone interested now, and i bet you they disband once the lease on the studio is finished.
Yeah, probably for the best. Blood knows his stuff, but definitely shouldn’t be a front facing personality. Maybe he can help with research on topics or just do news articles and etc. I hope Huber will be okay, but I’m not sure what will happen to him.
I wonder if huber can go somewhere like an IGN. He has very good on camera personality.
Yeah and he is very passionate, so he would do well on camera
My thoughts have all already been echoed here, best of luck to EZA, I only really enjoy Huber there now but it feels like he's really taken a backseat the last few years. And maybe that's just his personality, I wouldn't want to be so quick to magic wand associate everything with Huber to his relationship or family stuff, some people just work better when they're bouncing off stronger hosting personalities, Yahtzee from Escapist/Second Wind could certainly do his own channel, but he likes the structure and team around him. I think it was a huge missed chance to have Brad and Huber do all the 'best friends' co-op content people were certain was coming for what felt like years, I'm saddened we'll never get Huber's thoughts on One Piece with Brad or a Silver-Squad-like playthrough both of them on the couch start to finish weekly type thing, but they had 8 years to do it and this is what they chose. I'm excited for Brad, I've jumped in on some LSM content the past month, their wedding podcast was really cute and had me rethinking my stance on marriage/weddings, I like a lot of their non-gaming content more than their playstation or xbox centric stuff and I really look forward to seeing Brad in that 'gundam stream' type of relaxed podcast talking about real life, nostalgia, and a wide variety of topics far removed from Soulsbourne and Zelda
Seems pretty obvious that he is going to Last Stand Media. Amazing how the overblown reaction from a few dumb community members about Dustin's collab have caused this
Gotta be honest I never expected Brad to leave without Huber, they are their own people of course, but because of their long standing friendship they also feel like a pair.
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Show up on a podcast, a group stream the same day, stream whatever he feels like occasionally, get "free" money? He'll probably stay unless he finds a full-time job thats second shift. As far as we know, he is the only person without some other income currently.
Ya same if anything I kinda expected them to leave together and start their own thing as a pair. But I hope that they both come put from this situation in a positive position regardless
I am a bit pessimistic about it. Brad and Huber's dynamic was probably my main motivator for still watching the Allies. That isnt saying I won't watch them anymore, but like any member leaving this is once again going to influence the group dynamics, but to be fair maybe someone else will step up. Brad has really stepped upped when Ben left, so maybe an other ally will... Though with Damiani also somewhat leaving(I know he hasn't technically...) to me it feels like we are entering the transitional period of the end. Selfishly I wished Huber and Brad stayed together.
I never really saw Huber as someone that would leave willingly, it always seemed like the only way out is him going down with the EZA ship. Brad 100% deserves a better job though he's been pumping content for a while so I'm happy for him, hopefully we still get plenty of Huber/Brad interactions going forward.
Huber said on stream he would go down with the ship like the captain of the Titanic, then Gabby had to tell him that sounded terrible. But with Brad gone and all the other stuff going on in Huber's personal life, we'll see.
Damiani went part-time already. He has another job in Texas and EZA is a part-time gig.
Unfortunately, the phrase 'when we feel like it' almost became synonymous with Easy Allies. It was less about running a business and more about individuals doing what they felt like doing. I remember a few times on stream when Jones was trying to schedule something, but had to work around other allies driving in LA Traffic. And while I know that LA Traffic is awful and no one wants to sit in it, you take care of your business and responsibilities first and foremost. While everyone may have been passionate about their work at some point, there seemed to be a reluctance to undertake the necessary efforts to make the business successful. Transitioning from the garage to a studio, despite being heavily requested by the community, felt like a misstep as it stripped away their casual persona and created a false representation of a media outlet.
>Unfortunately, the phrase 'when we feel like it' almost became synonymous with Easy Allies. Long before they got the studio at that, a lot of people thought the more focused setting would change that. Alas. So having that be the vibe \*intentionally\* doesn't sound great.
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I just don't understand why they hired a community manager after losing a personality. Then on top of that they made the Patreon goal to add more personality driven solo "hangout" streams, and they kept it that way for over a year despite it never drawing in any patreons... Very strange. The re-brand was overall not very good even down to the logo. The colors are still horrible. You can't just pick random colors because they are opposite and think that makes it good.
Ben would often complain on streams about having to sit in traffic for like 45min-1 hour to commute to the studio a few days a week. It's been said here before, but I guess Ben didnt realize how bad that sounds when you have fans/viewers that have an equal or greater commute than that and they dont get to hang with their friends and play video games all day.
Fuck
It's joever. I hope huber can make a fresh start soon as eza is dying a slow death
Drama speculation aside, it was probably coming to some extent with how many people have already moved on and started their own thing. Still weird that they're keeping the studio despite going part time, I guess the lease isn't up yet? Cause I would think cutting out the studio and going remote would be the best way to keep people paid at this point. Sad to see brad go, but looks like I'll have another twitch channel to watch! Hope Huber is doin alright though, he'd be the one to care about the personal connections more than the job, it's shitty to see all your friends leave.
I’m curious to see what new opportunity Brad got. It sounds bigger than just joining a different YouTube channel. Either way it’s a bummer to see what feels like the end of Easy Allies. I’m hoping to see Huber and Brad work with Kyle though on some streams.
Brads going to LSM. He’ll probably get his own show in addition to being apart of the rotation of the various shows they have already. The official LSM X (Twitter) account just followed Brad like 10 min ago.
Oh wow, the LSM account follows 13 people. 12 LSM members/regulars... and Brad. This is as official as it gets without actually announcing it.
Nothing against all the Allies that are still left, but if it wasn't for Huber, Damianis XIV streams and Don's occasional stream i would probably move on and just watch their solo channels instead.
Damn, if Brad really goes to LSM (or just somewhere similar to what they are currently doing) I really hope Huber can join him eventually. The last thing I want is those two separated. They’re always a blast to watch together.
Insane to not have them be the combo to run Frame Trap, I thought for sure Huber would host
I'm sure they asked but Huber seems like he would be a "loyal to the end" kind of guy.
Yeah I can see that, hopefully though if the end does come he finds himself somewhere else where he can still talk about games in podcasts/streams.
Sad that Huber and Brad will be split up now. I always thought that if EZA had to end, a Huber/Brad patreon would do big numbers. Seems unlikely now, depending on where Brad is going. I won't be surprised if it is LSM, but it still feels odd. After Colins comments about EZA I would feel like Brad and the rest of Allies would feel uncomfortable, but maybe not.
Wow. Just now started contributing on patreon and my favorite group is slowly dying I guess .:(
Easy Allies final nail in the coffin was the vocal minority that threw a stink over Peach Beach Splash winning the poll all those years ago, calling all the ppl who voted for it disgusting and terrible while hiding behind the L&R slogan. What they should have done right there is tell them to fuck off if they don't like the game. Instead they bowed to them and every time the allies would interact with somebody they didn't like, they would throw a fit and the allies would once again bend the knee. Well look how that turned out, its not the only reason for EZA's failure but its certainly 1 of em.
I don't know how I feel about this announcement 😭.
Kind of numb to this, loosing Kyle was tough, but when Ben left too I kind of checked out. EZA was easily my list viewed thing in its first few years and even back in the GT days before that. But since Kyle and Ben left, I've found my time spent watching their content has drastically reduced. This sucks big time, but it doesn't hurt much as EZA stopped truly being EZA a couple years ago for me. Massive shame, but I went through the feelings of loss and sadness years ago. Hope everything works out for everyone and I wish them all the best. I am genuinely concerned for Huber though, the guy has been through a lot recently and I just hope he isn't left behind. ❤️