Last year, a beacon of hope shined onto the internet. G4, aka G4TV, was a channel that brought gamers, anime lovers, superhero fans and more a lot of joy when it first came out during the 2000s. It had a lot of ups and downs, but it pushed through and got a lot of attention. It was the first channel to cover major events like San Diego Comic-Con and E3, it was the channel that brought nerd/geek culture to the masses in a way that was fun, hysterical, and completely over the top at times. Last year, it came back, at last. And it seemed to be primed for a major swing at getting back what it lost.
Sadly, it was not to be.
Because today, the parent company of G4, Comcast, dropped the bombshell that effective immediately, the channel would be closing down, and all programs would cease. This isn’t even a full year into the channel’s return, and it’s gone. Here’s the statement that was given to those within the company:
G4TV shuts down just a year after its relaunch https://t.co/k85dUIibCL pic.twitter.com/YuLshOXv1B
— Wario64 (@Wario64) October 16, 2022
As you can read, the reason for the shutdown was that of financial reasons. It wasn’t making the gains that many people felt it was going to due to the “gaming culture” that it had helped grow and now was en masse.
So how did it fail so quickly? Part of it was while it had a fanbase across Twitch and Youtube, so did a lot of other gaming and pop culture content. They were the “big fish in a small pond” before, and now, they were the small fish in a big pond. Even by bringing in hosts from the past and in current gaming culture, they couldn’t bring in the big numbers.
The hosts are pouring out their reactions all over Twitter, so go look for them because they’ll need your support.
Thanks for everything G4, you will be missed, again.
