Leaving Game Informer’s Office Behind (And The Extended Cut) (Patreon)

As you might know, MinnMax was formed in 2019 in protest of GameStop's brutal layoffs at Game Informer. Ben Hanson, Kyle Hilliard, Jeff Marchiafava, Leo Vader, and Suriel Vazquez used to work at the video game magazine in Minneapolis, Minnesota and Jacob Geller and Haley MacLean were interns. Last Friday GameStop put the final nail in the coffin and shut down the magazine after 33 years, immediately laying off everybody involved. They also deleted Game Informer's Twitter account today. We felt like this fate was coming for a while, so back in March of this year Ben Hanson, Leo Vader, and Giant Bomb's Dan Ryckert (who also used to work at Game Informer) recruited then Game Informer lead video producer Alex Van Aken to give a tour of the surreal, unused office space.

The office we all worked in was shut down in 2020 with COVID, they were building up a new office space for the magazine but GameStop abruptly pulled the plug on that as well and left it in limbo. A limbo filled with remnants of the old space. So we hope you enjoy this tour of the unused office space for Game Informer recorded in March, it's all a launching pad to talk about everything we loved about the older office space and to roll some clips sharing the good times. As of August 5th, we have no idea what will happen to this office space or the gigantic library of games called The Vault. We hope that GameStop has the wisdom to donate the collection and not to sit on it or throw them away. It's all out of our hands now. It's frustrating, we agree.

Thank you for supporting MinnMax in a big way on Patreon here! As a thank you, here's an extended version of this office tour that also includes some fun, old office footage. Please keep this link private. Thank you! https://youtu.be/3JQdsCjXD1g

This video is part of a new series we just launched called The Celebration of Game Informer! Like we did with Final Fantasy VII, Tony Hawk, and Double Fine PsychOdyssey, we're rolling out videos and podcasts celebrating the 33-year run of Game Informer magazine. We'll have Game Informer-themed podcasts coming up, some fun surprises, and it will eventually culminate in a documentary about the magazine's amazing historical archives. Any help sharing The Celebration of Game Informer online is appreciated. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FufDXuEsfNM

If you're new to MinnMax, thank you for being here. We created a playlist of some of our favorite content if you want a summary. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6FR1Lkt9IiPSuF4WIH4Rl7tSxrqUv0KV