The Escapist

The Escapist (formerly known as Escapist Magazine) is an American video game website and online magazine. First published as a weekly online magazine by Themis Media (later known as Alloy Digital and then Defy Media) on July 12, 2005, The Escapist eventually pivoted to a traditional web journalism format. In 2018, Escapist Magazine launched Volume Two, a rehauled website in conjunction with its purchase by Enthusiast Gaming. The site name reverted to The Escapist in April 2020. Gamurs Group acquired the site in September 2022.
==Controversies==
===Extra Credits dispute and resignation===
In June 2011, Extra Credits then-artist Allison Theus suffered a radial tear in her shoulder that would've ended her career. A crowdfund project on RocketHub was created with a goal of $15,000, which eventually raised around $104,000. The crew decided to start up an independent game publisher with the extra money.https://web.archive.org/web/20111203162643/http://www.joystickdivision.com/2011/08/extra_credits_leaves_the_escap.php
However, Alexander Macris, then-content director for The Escapist, stated the money should have been used to create more episodes of Extra Credits and to compensate parent company Themis Media for donation incentives, such as premium memberships and T-shirts.https://elder-geek.com/2011/08/extra-credits-team-leaves-escapist-over-alleged-back-payment/ As a result, Extra Credits broke ties with The Escapist, and after a brief four-week stint posting directly to YouTube, the show was picked up by Penny Arcade's PATV network.
===Jim Sterling's Assassin's Creed Unity review===
In November 2014, Jim Sterling announced that they left The Escapist and was now seeking funds through their Patreon.https://www.escapistmagazine.com/farewell-jim-sterling/ Jim later elaborated on that resignation in a Kotaku interview in 2022 that they left because The Escapist's parent company at the time, Defy Media, refused to publish their review on Assassin's Creed Unity, in fear of "[it having an negative impact on] potential sponsorship opportunities".https://kotaku.com/jim-stephanie-sterling-youtube-interview-jimquisition-w-1848501185
===The Escapist staff exodus and Second Wind===
On November 6, 2023, Gamurs Group (who bought The Escapist a year priorhttps://www.gamesindustry.biz/gamurs-group-buying-enthusiast-gaming-sites-report) fired their long-time Editor-in-Chief Nick Calandra for "not achieving goals".https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/video-series-zero-punctuation-is-seemingly-ending-following-the-escapist-staff-exodus/ Most of the video team left and subsequently formed a new employee-owned outlet named "Second Wind".https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/ex-escapist-staff-found-new-games-media-website-second-wind
Their YouTube channel went on a hiatus and then uploaded the videos that the video team made before their departures on November 21-22.https://www.youtube.com/post/UgkxZ0L0ru1vZLamEchRCGtqH4_712IZozap The last video uploaded on December 15 was a compilation on every Zero Punctuation review in 2023, and hasn't uploaded a video since.
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