Marketing and PR firm Clickout Media has executed mass layoffs across its portfolio of gaming websites to pivot almost entirely to AI-generated content. Affected outlets include The Escapist, Videogamer, and Esports Insider.
Key Takeaways
- Clickout gutted The Escapist, Videogamer, and Esports Insider for AI content.
- Former employees were reportedly required to sign NDAs on the way out.
- One of the bleakest examples of AI replacing journalists at long-running outlets.
According to reporting by Insider Gaming, Clickout informed staff it will maintain a skeleton crew of AI Editors. Former employees, including Videogamer senior gaming editor Cat Bussell and The Escapist writer Lloyd Coombes, confirmed their redundancies on social media. Employees were reportedly forced to sign non-disclosure agreements to receive their severance payouts.
Clickout purchased The Escapist from Gamurs Group in 2025. The firm has a history of quietly acquiring respected gaming outlets and filling them with unmarked advertorials for online casinos and crypto gambling. Sites like Adventure Gamers and ReadWriteWeb have suffered similar fates under its ownership, according to Kotaku and The A.V. Club.
For publishers and journalists, the Clickout strategy represents the bleakest version of AI adoption. Rather than using the technology to augment reporting or streamline newsroom workflows, the firm is explicitly replacing editorial teams with automated generation designed to farm search traffic for offshore gambling operations.
The layoffs add another blow to a games media sector already battered by corporate consolidation. It also highlights the growing risk of marketing firms treating legacy news brands strictly as search engine optimization vehicles for AI-generated spam.
