Not everything benefits from reboots and revivals, and unfortunately, G4 TV, a gaming channel that gained popularity in the 2000s, is one such example. Following major layoffs, the channel is shutting down just one year after its relaunch.

As reported by Deadline, the staff was informed of the closure in an email from David Scott, CEO of Comcast Spectator. As you know, G4 was reintroduced last year to capitalize on the popularity of gaming. We invested in creating the new G4 as an online and TV destination for fans to enjoy, be inspired by, and connect with gaming content."

Scott blamed low ratings and a lack of sustainable funding as reasons for the failure of the second chance." Scott continued, "This is certainly not what we wanted, and as a result, we made the very difficult decision to cease operations of G4 virtually immediately.

"I know this is disappointing news and I am disappointed as well.

The sudden announcement reportedly affected dozens of employees, some of whom were unaware of the network's closure until the tweet went viral. Jirard Khalil of The Completionist replied to Wario64's announcement tweet: "This I just found out I lost my job through a tweet! How neat!"

According to Washington Post journalist Nathan Grayson (open in new tab)n, other employees also noticed that they were suddenly locked out of their Slack and Google Drive accounts "with little explanation" after Scott's email. Grayson added that several key content creators featured on the channel were allegedly charging a rather wildly inflated per diem of about $25,000 to $30,000.

G4 originally launched in 2002, bringing game-centric news and competition programming to network television. Swept away by the stormy waters of online streaming and YouTube, it changed hands and products several times before pulling out in 2014. A relaunch was announced for mid-2020 (open in new tab), then relaunched in November 2021; it is unfortunate that G4 missed its second chance, but it will always struggle in a market dominated by far easier ways to access game streams, news, etc.