Co-creator of ScrewAttack.com abruptly quits. (Podcast Up. Craig Explains)

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figcoinc

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People who like watching the Angry Video Game Nerd, Captain S, or the Video Game Vault series they put on Gametrailers.com will be surprised by this.

One of the founders of the site Screwattack.com has quit. Handsome Tom and his wife Perfect Liz have left the site today. Leaving Stuttering Craig as the boss of the site. Details are very sparse. They did not announce it on their main page too. They just put it in their forums, and called it a day. The post by Handsome Tom seemed mad.

Stuttering Craig has posted that their next podcast (Sidescrollers) will explain it all.

It is a shame. :nottalking:

Here is a link to the announcement.

http://forum.screwattack.com/viewtopic.php?t=23609

Also on a side note; on the main page of screwattack is a fund raiser for one of the Captain S characters. The one named "NES". He had life and death surgery recently, but now is recovering. They are running a fund raiser for him. The main page has it.



The new Sidescrollers Podcast is up. It explains it all. It is actually sad. Though Craig sounded pretty honest in it. I hope Tom and Craig will still be friends. Though it sounded pretty bad.

http://www.screwattack.com/media/2008/SideScrollers_03_12_08.mp3

I hope I phrase it correctly.

Craig and Tom went in as partners. Craig kept pushing the company, but Tom though participating a lot did not push as hard as Craig believes he should. The company kept growing, but Tom seem to not help business wise as much as Craig thought he should. At a point Craig registered the company making it totally official. He registered it as Craig as the sole owner.

Over the last year they kept growing and Craig kept asking for Tom's help. Craig still didn't feel that Tom didn't help enough. Finally after some things Tom gave a ultimatum to Craig. Either give him a raise, or put his name on the contract of ScrewAttack to become co-owner.

After some thought Craig decided it wasn't in the best interest business wise. Craig wanted a send off video for Tom. Though Tom so far isn't returning Craig's calls. You can tell Craig is very sad, but stands by his decision.
Sorry if I mis-represented some facts.
 
Wow, that is pretty surprising.
I'm not too familiar with the history of the site, but I'm guessing that Tom & Craig started the site together. It must be pretty hard to run a site/business like that with a friend and maintain both sides of that relationship.

I'm very curious to learn what really went down (and I am sure I will the next time I catch Craig on IM).
 
[quote name='CheapyD']Wow, that is pretty surprising.
I'm not too familiar with the history of the site, but I'm guessing that Tom & Craig started the site together. It must be pretty hard to run a site/business like that with a friend and maintain both sides of that relationship.

I'm very curious to learn what really went down (and I am sure I will the next time I catch Craig on IM).[/quote]

Oh yea CheapyD I forgot you were on their podcast once. Well yea Tom and Craig founded the site. They started out very small, then in only two years blew up. Mainly thanks to the AVGN. Then they got the deal with Gametrailers.

Was reading through the thread and I think the split was bad. Tom hasn't posted but his wife did. Stuff like, "We do not want to be affiliated in any way with this site anymore" and stuff like that seems to tell the tale.

It is too bad, but it is true. Friends should not go into business together. Many times friendships are lost when the business starts to become successful, and more money/time gets involved.
 
I have no idea how to react to this. I love screw attack and they're headquarters (where they're based out of) are just a short drive down the road for me.

This is shocking to say the least.
 
this is sad. maybe content issues? or money issues? its ok to run a business with your friend just as long as you get along. that post does seem like hes very upset about something.
 
how will this affect the avgn videos? as long as those keep coming im happy. its never smart to mix business with family or friends unless you want to lose one or both.
 
[quote name='phear3d']this is sad. maybe content issues? or money issues? its ok to run a business with your friend just as long as you get along. that post does seem like hes very upset about something.[/quote]

It does seem disturbing almost like it's fake or written while he was in a bad mood. Maybe it'll pass over, maybe it won't.

Craig did say in the thread that everything is going to continue to keep going (most important Iron Man of Gaming in june) and that he and Tom are still best friends despite whatever has happened.
 
Whoa.. Can't believe this. I mean, I did like it more when Stuttering Craig did the VGV's and Top 10's, anyway, but this hit could mess up the personality he has. None of the interns can replace Handsome Tom. I don't like this :whistle2:?
 
Stuttering Craig must have made a pass/slept with Perfect Liz. I imagine a Nip/Tuck type situation where 17 years down the line where one of their children finds out he has a new dad. :D
 
Shit! Thats a big surprise! Someone must of gotten pissed off or something. It would explain the lack of video game vault videos though.
 
[quote name='lokizz']how will this affect the avgn videos? as long as those keep coming im happy. its never smart to mix business with family or friends unless you want to lose one or both.[/quote]
I would imagine that this wont affect AVGN videos at all.
 
That would explain why there hasn't been a new top 10 in quite a while. This is very sad because those two seemed to work very well together.
It's kind of depressing how in the last few months we have had the gamespot scandal, the death of the guy who was the co-creator of DaD, and now this.
Oh well...
 
Damn that, and this, are two of my favorite gaming sites. Totally sucks. That's like Wombat walking off the set.:cry:

Perfect Liz's bits were very entertaining too.
 
This sucks. I really liked the sidescrollers show and have been wondering why they haven't done one in a while.

Edit: My Zune software is kicking my ass, thanks Naes.
 
[quote name='hufferstl']This sucks. I really liked the sidescrollers show and have been wondering why they haven't done one in a while.[/quote]
There was a new episode every Wednesday...
 
i noticed something weird when craig did the clip of the week instead of perfect liz. i thought maybe she thought she didnt like how she looked in the kirby clip? shes physically different from the previous ones... shes still hot though :)
 
[quote name='tangytangerine']Care to give a short reason why. I don't have time to download it and listen to it.[/quote]

I hope I phrase it correctly.

Craig and Tom went in as partners. Craig kept pushing the company, but Tom though participating a lot did not push as hard as Craig believes he should. The company kept growing, but Tom seem to not help business wise as much as Craig thought he should. At a point Craig registered the company making it totally official. He registered it as Craig as the sole owner.

Over the last year they kept growing and Craig kept asking for Tom's help. Craig still didn't feel that Tom didn't help enough. Finally after some things Tom gave a ultimatum to Craig. Either give him a raise, or put his name on the contract of ScrewAttack to become co-owner.

After some thought Craig decided it wasn't in the best interest business wise. Craig wanted a send off video for Tom. Though Tom so far isn't returning Craig's calls. You can tell Craig is very sad, but stands by his decision.
Sorry if I mis-represented some facts.
 
I don't get it... Why not list Handsome Tom as co-owner?

I'd be pissed too if my buddy registered our pet project under his sole-proprietorship.
 
[quote name='figcoinc']I hope I phrase it correctly.

Craig and Tom went in as partners. Craig kept pushing the company, but Tom though participating a lot did not push as hard as Craig believes he should. The company kept growing, but Tom seem to not help business wise as much as Craig thought he should. At a point Craig registered the company making it totally official. He registered it as Craig as the sole owner.

Over the last year they kept growing and Craig kept asking for Tom's help. Craig still didn't feel that Tom didn't help enough. Finally after some things Tom gave a ultimatum to Craig. Either give him a raise, or put his name on the contract of ScrewAttack to become co-owner.

After some thought Craig decided it wasn't in the best interest business wise. Craig wanted a send off video for Tom. Though Tom so far isn't returning Craig's calls. You can tell Craig is very sad, but stands by his decision.

Sorry if I mis-represented some facts.[/quote]

nothing misrepped there.

if you cant pull your wieght what good are you?


atleast this is envigorating Craig to prove all the naysayers wrong and make Screwattack even better than it was before.
 
[quote name='insertcleverthing']I don't get it... Why not list Handsome Tom as co-owner?

I'd be pissed too if my buddy registered our pet project under his sole-proprietorship.[/quote]
Well if what figcoinc posted is true, Craig felt Tom wasn't doing enough for the site to have him as a co-owner. I'll need to listen to the podcast later. Also I'd be interested in seeing Tom's side of things.
 
[quote name='Chibi_Kaji']Well if what figcoinc posted is true, Craig felt Tom wasn't doing enough for the site to have him as a co-owner. I'll need to listen to the podcast later. Also I'd be interested in seeing Tom's side of things.[/quote]


Yea, I would like to see Tom's side too. I think he is apart of "Healing Touch" website now. Usually when you hear both sides...somewhere in the middle is the clearer picture.
 
[quote name='insertcleverthing']I don't get it... Why not list Handsome Tom as co-owner?

I'd be pissed too if my buddy registered our pet project under his sole-proprietorship.[/quote]

Uh because he didn't pull his weight? I wouldn't want a co-owner that didn't help out, Craig did the right thing. Nukka.
 
I was just looking at the ScrewAttack forums and it seems an SA intern(NewSchool Mickey) left over this whole thing.

"A lot of different factors have led up to this decision and the B.S. in the last podcast was the final blow"

This doesn't really shine a light on anything really, but I just thought I'd point it out.
 
[quote name='Silent Assassin120']Uh because he didn't pull his weight? I wouldn't want a co-owner that didn't help out, Craig did the right thing. Nukka.[/quote]
...But he already owned a piece of it. I mean screwattack was as much his intellectual property as Craig's regardless of his said lack of work ethic (should that indeed be true).

I don't know - it just seems like Craig handled the situation very poorly. I'll postpone my final judgement pending further details though.
 
[quote name='insertcleverthing']...But he already owned a piece of it. I mean screwattack was as much his intellectual property as Craig's regardless of his said lack of work ethic (should that indeed be true).

I don't know - it just seems like Craig handled the situation very poorly. I'll postpone my final judgement pending further details though.[/quote]


yeah that is true. I really wondered if Craig LLC'd it without Tom to get full ownership so Tom didnt have any bargaining power to be co owner with Craig. Things are getting really fishy now.

I read the thread about mickey leaving and he seemed pissed about it but then tried to cover it up saying its not BS but to talk to him personally about it.

im going to reccant what i said before and hold my judgement too. i am an avid fan of the nerd and screwattack..so it will be interesting to hear what Craig has to say in the next podcast about NS Mickey leaving and joining TOm and Liz at Healing Touch..if he talks about it.
 
[quote name='Silent Assassin120']Uh because he didn't pull his weight? I wouldn't want a co-owner that didn't help out, Craig did the right thing. Nukka.[/QUOTE]

You ever hear the old saying "There are three sides to every story: One person's side, another person's side, and the truth."? Might be wise to remember that before taking Craig's story as teh gospel.
 
I think we should hold off to hear the whole story before passing judgment, but it does sound pretty cagey... we may never know the entire story though.
 
As someone who has worked with best friends before in business, I can say that different people bring different things to a company. Some people are more on the business end, and some are more on the day to day or creative side. In fact, that's generally what works best as opposed to both being on the business side and butting heads. I cannot imagine ever registering something I worked on entirely for myself and leaving a friend out in the cold. At the very least, it should have originally been registered with both of them (if both truly are the creators), and then later one could have bought the other one out. That aspect of the story just sounds shady.

That being said, if the two are friends there might be some things going unsaid to paint one or the other in a better light. So it might be much worse, on either side, then we've currently heard. Likely, you will never hear the full true story.
 
[quote name='hbkdinobot']Screwattack took down all the forum posts about the subject... Kind of shadey.[/quote]

or they took them down because the threads had been locked and everyone on the forums where calling death to screwattack because of 3 people leaving. It's called internet drama and it's not needed.

Also, Craig posted this on the front page:

It's been an interesting last couple days to say the least here on ScrewAttack. People freaking out, he said/she said and overall just a bunch of needless e-drama. ScrewAttack is not about that and will never be about that. Have there been changes, yes. But as with any business, change happens and we have moved on- as should everyone.As we all move on let's continue to remember what ScrewAttack IS all about: fun and video games. Everyone at ScrewAttack wishes Tom, Liz and Mickey the best with their new endevours as should you. To everyone looking to cause needless e-drama: move on with your lives and respect the separate endeavors. What's done is done so it's time to move forward, smile, get back to your video games and have fun. Thanks for everyone's support.
-Stuttering Craig
​
Click to expand...
​


I'm sticking with craig on this one.


 
Toms side:


ScrewAttack-
Craig’s statement on the podcast was insulting to tell the truth. We started ScrewAttack together, and both brought things to the table. I came in with my gaming collection, and my knowledge about video games, and Craig brought his knowledge of the Radio industry. In the beginning, all he was interested in doing was a podcast, and wanted it to be about gaming because of what I was bringing to the table. A friend of mine created the ScrewAttack webpage that everyone is so familiar with, and is also designing what ScrewAttack is about to become. We both put a lot of time, effort and ideas into making the site what it is today. Like Craig stated in the podcast he did go behind my back and register the company.

I had asked him on several occasions to go and get it registered together. He would always say “No, let’s wait” and went ahead an did it anyway, without telling me.
I did give Craig 2 options, either I would be a part of the company
like agreed in the beginning and again at the beginning of the GT contract, or I would be paid on PERFORMANCE *(not just a raise).
Let me give you an example:
(none of the following is not common knowledge)
ScrewAttack gets paid by views on GT, on the internet it’s called CPM (meaning per thousand views). I wanted to be paid like the Angry Video Game Nerd. He is paid a percent of his performance on GT.Let me show you the number of views that anyone can look up….

Tom: 16,848,531
Craig: 10,469,958
Nerd: 18,398,149

I am a 1 1/2 million views away from the Nerd, and Craig is 8 million away. How exactly was I not pulling my own weight? Not only did I perform on GT, I also performed consistently on ScrewAttack for 2 years. I did not ask for any of the merchandise money, nor any advertisement money, just the money that I deserved, based on my performance. Think about it… if I was really getting paid to do nothing, why would I leave? He says that we were friends, but why did he feel the need to insult me on the podcast?
I didn’t go in depth about any of my reasons for leaving in my announcement post, which Craig was apparently threatened enough by to delete.

Insulting me for 25 minutes on a podcast is not the way to keep a friendship….especially when he keeps letting everyone know it’s business not personal.
I will not respond to any statement that Craig says after this post
about my involvement with ScrewAttack. I will also not insult him
or talk bad about anyone involved. That would not only be unprofessional but would lower my standards as a person.
What’s next? Well, we have a new site we’re very excited about, TheGameHeroes.com. The teaser will be up early next week! Please email me and give me any feedback or if you want to contribute that would be awesome! Until the site is launched my email address will be: [email protected]
Thanks for all your support
Handsome Tom​
Click to expand...
 
I'm still not sure what to think, but Tom's whole # to performance comparison is kind of whack. I don't know how VGV's worked -- you know, if Craig told Tom to do them, or if they uploaded whatever they wanted to. But it's not like we had a choice whether or not we wanted Craig/Tom to do them. I liked Craig's VGVs a lot better, but I didn't stop watching if I heard Tom's voice at the beginning. Still, he did do more videos = more views = $$.

And that's why I'm standing more on Craig's side of the matter. Tom made money (I'm assuming all from VGVs) for ScrewAttack, and Craig still wanted him off. I dunno, is there truth to Craig's reasons?

But, whatever. What's done is done.
 
Yeah, I'm wondering what Tom's argument is with those numbers. Whatever the case, it sucks for the fans of the site. It's going to be a feud, and it's not going to be pretty.
 
http://forum.screwattack.com/viewtopic.php?t=24213

Remarkable Daimi's thoughts on recent events: I know there are a lot of you that have no clue who I am anymore because I left ScrewAttack over a year ago, but when I was involved with the site I played a fairly substantial role in the company behind the scenes. I was the primary person "advising" Craig that he referred to in the podast. I'm sure he will deny that, but everyone that was involved at that time is more than aware that I am who he was talking about. Frankly I'm more than a little peeved that he implied I told him to register the business without Tom. I'd like to clear up a few things for all of you. Whether you believe it or not is your choice, but this post probably won't last long so read it while you can.

Many of you have said there are always two sides to every story and you are definitely correct. When I was working with the site I spent a lot of time with both Craig and Tom. I got to know the guys pretty well and found that both of them have very differing personalities. Craig is more of an in-your-face type guy and he likes things done his way. Tom is more laid back and passive. I tried many times to help them with their communications with each other because there was always something missing in translation. Unfortunately, I was never very successful. At the time the business got registered I did tell Craig that it needed to be done, but I did NOT tell him to do it without Tom. I was brought on mostly to help with merch. If you know anything about running a business then you know you have to establish your business with the government and get a tax-id. There's more to it than that, but that's all you need to know for the story. There were several options available that Craig and I discussed. At that point we both felt like registering the company as an LLC was the best choice especially as the company was growing and the fact that it protected partners in the event that one person screwed up so that the other person would not be liable. He had expressed to me on many occasions that he was disappointed in Tom's performance and wanted to know my thoughts about registering the business without him. I did not feel like that was a fair thing to do and told him he should discuss it with Tom before doing it. One day we're talking about it and the next he had already done it and had absolutely no discussion with Tom. In fact, he refused to even mention it to Tom for a while after he did it.

Tom is well aware that I was able to see both perspectives while working with ScrewAttack. At the time Craig was doing more work than Tom, but so was I (and I didn't get paid crap) so I could see Craig's point of view. However, you don't just start something with a friend and then decide one day that you are the ruler of everything that pertains to the business, but that's what Craig did. And that's how he does everything with ScrewAttack and it is one of the reasons why I left. I have much more experience in certain areas of running a business than Craig does, but he rarely would listen to me when I would give him advice. I am a very passionate person and when I get behind something I am really behind it. He told me on numerous occasions that I'm crazy and that I freaked out too much about things. If being passionate makes me crazy then so be it. I had great ideas that Craig was never willing to even consider because it wasn't what he wanted to do. I wasn't in the same position as Tom. It wasn't my baby and I ultimately had no real say in the business, so I quit. If my input was not valued then why was I really there? It sure as hell wasn't because I was making the big bucks.

I know I haven't been a part of the business in a long time, but I still talk to Tom and Liz on a pretty regular basis and we hang out occasionally. I do know that even without seeing directly what Tom is doing that he had showed an increased interest in the site and was contributing more than he had before. Was it enough to be a partner? I don't know. I do know that Craig claims he does more work than he really does, but nothing that anyone else does is ever really good enough. The only people that really know the answer to that question are Tom and Craig, but like some of you said it's all about perspective. From each of their perspectives I'm sure the answer is different, so there will never be an inconclusive yes or no.

quote_header.gif
Mvem wrote:
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I believe Craig told what he believes to be the truth on this week's SideScrollers broadcast. In other words, he's not lying. I'm good at detecting insincerity in people's voices & Craig sounded pretty sincere to me. Either that, or he's a completely sociopathic monster that can lie with no conscience about anything—I don't think any of us believe that, though.

This statement is beyond humerous to me, because once you've known Craig for a while then you know he is almost incapable of telling the truth more than 50% of the time. In fact, he lies so much that he believes most of the lies he tells. The final straw for me with SA was when I had recruited someone to help with the site. Craig showed up at my house one day before I was off from work and without calling me before he came over. He had absolutely no idea what my plans were that day, but just assumed I would be there to accomodate him. He was meeting with this new person and had promised to bring them some merch, but had not told me he needed it. Since everything was locked in my house he was unable to get it, because I in fact had something to do after work and did not go straight home. I found out later that he told the person that I had promised him I would meet him, but I just didn't show up and made it look like it was all my fault that he didn't have the merch for them...to the person that I found to help him with his site...again for free. That may seem like a small thing to leave over and in the grand scheme of things it is, but it was the final lie that set me off.

Craig has told many lies about me since then and in fact tells all of the new interns that I am crazy (and not because I'm passionate) and I'm sure many other unflattering things that I do not have all the details on. Frankly, he can keep lying about me all he wants, because the people that matter to me know the truth.

There's never going to be an answer here that any of you want. You're never going to know who is right and who is wrong, because depending on which side you ask the other one is always wrong. I know which side I lean towards because of my own personal experiences, but it doesn't mean I am right either. I'm not saying that anyone should stay or go...if you like the site's content then stay...if you don't then go. What I'm telling you is that there is a lot that none of you will ever know about what goes on behind the scenes; no matter how much you think you know and who you hear it from and you will never ever have all the truth. And that my friends is a FACT.
 
thanks for the limelight.

it seemed like Craig thought Screwattack was worth more than his friendship with Tom..or else he would have never LLC'd it without Tom. Its a sneaky business move and a dirty one. Pulling your weight is an issue that should be address but can easily be fixed bur then again, who knows the work ethic of those two besides themselve. Craig should have consulted with Tom. If they were "friends" he would have done so. having a partnership means split in the profits...maybe money was an issue also. growing companies usually make money, and maybe Craig got greedy who knows. anyway, this is just a story full of shadyness.
 
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