Less than one week after Brash Games came under fire for not paying its writers, removing the writer's by-lines after writers resigned, changed current writer's review scores of games without telling them, and turning the middle-of-the-road gaming review platform into a front for shady gambling sites, the website simply disappeared without so much as a warning from its editor in chief, Paul Ryan. (No, not that one.) Then, less than two days later, reappeared with a new review, and a publicly posted apology on their blog.
What was left in its stead upon going down for a few days was a simple landing page with a "this domain is for sale" headline where the logo would have been. The website's owner appears to have removed the index page from the once formidable video game review platform. No word on what the circumstances actually were, but it isn't hard to speculate a possible hosting change, or even domain transfer from one DNS to another to blame for the sudden disappearance.
Brash Games became infamous amid the controversial firestorm that became of it, after YouTubers like Jim Sterling and KiriothTV shed a light on its shady practices. Last week, we covered the growing story of how Brash Games mistreated both current and former writers, it's shady dealings with gambling and online casino websites, and how a few YouTubers --namely the Jimquisition-- exposed it all, but the story only seemed to get worse the longer it was a story.
Brash Games became infamous amid the controversial firestorm that became of it, after YouTubers like Jim Sterling and KiriothTV shed a light on its shady practices. Last week, we covered the growing story of how Brash Games mistreated both current and former writers, it's shady dealings with gambling and online casino websites, and how a few YouTubers --namely the Jimquisition-- exposed it all, but the story only seemed to get worse the longer it was a story.
Not long after KiriothTV made his third video on the matter, which potentially exposed a direct link between Paul Ryan and a member of an affiliate link website for online gambling, there had been talk of users reporting Brash Games to the Advertising Standards Authority for breaking a number of laws, including solicitation or affiliations with unlicensed gambling and casinos.
Today, Brash Games made an announcement addressing those who's by-lines were removed from their game reviews and articles, in a post on the official Brash Games blog.
So far, the only changes to the website are the very noticeable absence of shady spam articles that plug a number of online gambling sites. Those are very much gone, and as I mentioned in the previous story, it's hard to imagine how this website sustains itself -- even with its former articles that contained paid affiliate links.
If the recent content and announcement are any indication, Brash Games is moving in the right direction. Brash Games has good writers working for them, and with the exposure it already had, coupled with the global infamy it has already generated, it has the potential to be one of the premier game review vendors on the web.
Brash Games acknowledges that we made mistakes in removing the accounts in question and we would like to take this opportunity to personally apologise to those concerned for our actions. We are deeply sorry for our actions and would like to reinstate the effected accounts as soon as possible.The post continued, asking anyone who had their by-lines removed to contact them directly. It also added that it intends to hire a new editor to handle the review and oversight process. We contacted Brash Games for further details, and are awaiting a response.
So far, the only changes to the website are the very noticeable absence of shady spam articles that plug a number of online gambling sites. Those are very much gone, and as I mentioned in the previous story, it's hard to imagine how this website sustains itself -- even with its former articles that contained paid affiliate links.
If the recent content and announcement are any indication, Brash Games is moving in the right direction. Brash Games has good writers working for them, and with the exposure it already had, coupled with the global infamy it has already generated, it has the potential to be one of the premier game review vendors on the web.
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