Gaming news website The Escapist fired their editor-in-chief Nick Calandra, a move which prompted further resignations from website staff in solidarity.

According to Calandra, he was let go for “not achieving goals”. The Escapist was acquired by Australia-based Gamurs Group last year.

I was fired from The Escapist today.

I have declined my severance pay and will not be signing an NDA.

I'm incredibly proud of everything my team and I achieved over the last four years, and the community that we built together.

Figuring out next steps now and moving forward.

— Nick Calandra (@nickjcal) November 6, 2023

After Calandra’s termination, other workers from The Escapist announced their own resignations, including Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw who created the video series Zero Punctuation. Despite being the creator, according to Croshaw he doesn’t own the rights to the name or series itself which likely remain with the website.

One former The Escapist employee J-M8 of Design Delve had this to say:

I have resigned from my position at The Escapist/Gamurs in response to the treatment of my collogues. I love this team and will stand by them. I personally own the license to Design Delve and it WILL be continuing! Where is the question.. i guess we’ll find out. Love you guys <3