The Inverse gaming section is dead. Three staff, including Deputy Editor Shannon Liao, were laid off from the website on Friday as it reportedly \u201cdivests from gaming.\u201d It\u2019s a shift that comes as owner Bustle Digital Group pivots to being an \u201cinfluencer company,\u201d whatever that is.<\/p>\n
Launched in 2015 by Dave Nemetz, who previously co-founded Bleacher Report, Inverse began life primarily as a tech and science website before later pivoting to entertainment and gaming. It will seemingly now only cover movies and TV as the gaming side of its masthead has been wiped out. Several staff, including Liao, shared the news on Bluesky.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter flying back from Vegas last week, I was just laid off from Inverse today,\u201d she wrote<\/a>. \u201cInverse\u2018s gaming section is being shut down as the company \u2018divests\u2019 from gaming content. I\u2019m out of a job along with my wonderful co-writers,\u201d wrote<\/a> staffer \u202aHayes Madsen. \u201cI\u2019ve put my heart and soul into this job for four years. Gonna need to take time to process\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n Inverse’s Gaming section is being shut down as the company “divests” from gaming content. I’m out of a job along with my wonderful co-writers. I’ve put my heart and soul into this job for four years. Gonna need to take time to process, but I’m now completely open for work \u2013 and boy do I need it.<\/p>\n \u2014 Hayes Madsen (@solfleet.bsky.social)<\/a> 2026-01-16T16:03:57.663Z<\/a><\/p>\n Kotaku understands that game section staffer Trone Dowd is being kept on, but it\u2019s unclear in what role moving forward or if it will be at all involved in covering games.<\/p>\n Bustle Digital Group, which purchased Inverse in 2019, has been on a rollercoaster ride over the last 12 months. Last February, it was being sued for $3 million<\/a> it allegedly owed in back rent.\u00a0CEO Bryan Goldberg, who also co-founded Bleacher Report, then announced in May<\/a> that profits were soaring and the company\u2019s cost-cutting era was behind it.<\/p>\n