The Sports Network (RDS) has axed its section devoted to video games, which will largely cease its activities at the end of August. Mario Jorge Ramos, who launched RDS Video Games five years ago, and three collaborators learned the sad news almost a month ago. Bell plans to announce it in the coming weeks.
It’s a project that I baptized, that I carried at arm’s length
wrote Mario Jorge Ramos, web content coordinator of RDS Video games, on his social networks.
With the podcast Bread and games, but above all games!the web series Professional life with Stéphanie Harvey, game reviews and reviews, in addition to electronic sports events, the Video Games section of RDS offered an overview of the local and international video game industry.
Over the years, the platform has hosted dozens of dedicated and talented columnists and content creators
said Mario Jorge Ramos.
For Pierre-Luc Racine, humorist and columnist for the site for four years, it was an important francophone and Quebec platform to spread our love of video games
.
We really had complete freedom, which allowed us to do crazy and original content in addition to the usual news and reviews.
Raphaël Lacaille, also a columnist for RDS Video games, finds it a shame to lose this platform he loved so much. He points out in passing amazing work
what his colleague Mario Jorge Ramos has accomplished over the past five years.
It is not yet clear what will happen to the site RDS Video games. According to sources, Bell’s strategy is not yet fixed at the moment, whether the platform will be used during one-off events related to electronic sports, for example.
Contacted in the morning by Radio-Canada, Bell Media, owner of RDSreplied after publication that the RDS Jeux vidéo brand continues to exist.
NHL 24. The content will appear on our social platforms and in the Curveball section of the RDS.ca website”,”text”:”Michel Laprise is in Vancouver this week for [montrer l’envers du décor] of the new NHL 24 game. The content will appear on our social platforms and in the Curveball section of the RDS.ca website”}}”>Michel Laprise is in Vancouver this week for [montrer l’envers du décor] new game NHL 24. Content will appear on our social platforms and in the Curveball section of RDS.ca
said the head of communications and public relations of Bell Media, Patrick Tremblay.
We are currently making adjustments to the content production strategy with the goal of continuing to inform [joueurs] the most important news from the world of video games and sports games.
What is certain, however, is that all employees now have an end date for their contract, which is set for the end of August.
RDS Video games are looking for each other [un emploi] right now, including me”,”text”:”[Plusieurs] specifically devoted to RDS Video games are looking for [un emploi] right now, including me”}}”>[Plusieurs] specifically dedicated to RDS Video games are looking for each other [un emploi] right now, including me
underlines Pierre-Luc Racine, who adds that there are still episodes of his podcast Bread and games, but above all games! to put online.
Warning signs
Mario J. Ramos had a hunch the ax was about to fall, due budget cuts at the beginning of the year, and recent job cuts at Bell
. If he could count in 2022 on a dozen collaborators, he went to three this year.
These changes to the team in 2023 came with a new vision for the platform, which is move away from written articles to focus on video and social media content
according to Cédric Fischer, columnist for RDS Video Games since its inception.
We were very well aware that it was the end, there was no chance of uniting a brand and an audience in just a few months.
Same feeling on the side of Raphaël Lacaille, also actor and host of the podcast Are you Game? : It saddens me, but at the same time, it seems like I saw it coming
.
It’s been a few months, even a year that I find that they have trouble finding their audience. […] The basic mission was difficult to understand for the general public, especially because it was called “RDS” Video games
he mentions.
This decimated team is only the most recent example of the crisis that the video game press community has been undergoing for at least a year, according to Cédric Fischer.
To follow the French environment, we have seen that several editorial staff have shut down or fired the majority of the teams
he concludes.
