Kotaku, Gizmodo, Lifehacker announces game over for Australia gaming news

The gaming journalism industry in Australia just took a massive hit after some of the biggest publications announced it was game over.

Vice, Gizmodo, Refiner29, Kotaku, and Lifehacker won't publish content in Australia following a jobs cut from its parent company, Pedestrian Group, which is owned by Nine. The Pedestrian Group announced its layoffs to its staff via an email from the CEO of the Pedestrian Group, Matt Rowley, who claimed license partners are facing financial troubles ahead, along with corporate instability, have been what caused the closures.

Rowley also stated he would depart from his position as company CEO and that Pedestrian is now focussing on its "wholly owned Pedestrian brands where we control the strategy, the content, the product, the sales, and the outcome - the entire business." Writers for the publications have since taken to X, formerly Twitter, to express their thoughts at this time, with some saying it's sad that their time at the publication has come to an end this way and others saying how much they loved their position.

Reports indicate Pedestrian employs approximately 95 staff and that up to 40 people will be cut. Some will find other positions within the company. Moreover, these cuts are a wider layoff of more than 90 jobs from Nine's publishing division. Mike Sneesby, the CEO of Nine Entertainment, expressed similar concern about financial troubles, saying "economic headwinds" are facing the media industry.

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