The Gamurs group of video game websites, a one-time media darling, have for the past year been struggling following changes made by Google's search algorithm that have had a dramatic impact on the network's SEO-optimised content. Over the last two months, both current and former Gamurs employees tell us things have only gotten worse.
Successive waves of layoffs have hit the network in February, March and April of this year, impacting not just many of the sites’ full-time editorial staff, but people higher up at Gamurs as well including, we’re told, a large part of the company's SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) team, as well as those employed in positions like marketing, content strategy and assignment editors.
Former employees tell us that using the network's Slack userbase as a metric, there were approximately 320 workers registered on the company's account in late 2024, a number that by this week has dwindled to around 260. Of those remaining, a large number are freelance workers who say they have not only been kept in the dark about these dramatic workplace changes, receiving no notices or announcements from company leadership, but are contracted to sites that don't appear to have operating budgets for the immediate future.
We've been shown screenshots of internal Slack messages frequently rejecting these workers’ pitches at some of Gamurs' biggest websites by citing budget constraints, which recently laid-off writers speculate is part of a wider cost-cutting measure (Freelancers for Gamurs sites are paid by the post and must pitch stories to editors).
After this week's layoffs, The Escapist–which lost a number of full-time staff–is mostly now posting Roblox guides. Destructoid has lost several key writers and is now being updated with stories mostly being produced, we're told, by former DotEsports staff who have been moved over, with DotEsports now updating at a much slower pace than previously.
Twinfinite, which also lost staff, was last updated on March 27, while Attack Of The Fanboy--once a nerd culture site, but which had recently pivoted to celebrity gossip and political content--hasn't seen a new post since March 28. Siliconera and The Mary Sue, also affected by layoffs and resignations, are both down to just a handful of new stories a day.
PC Invasion, meanwhile, simply doesn't exist anymore; the site now redirects to Prima Games, the once-mighty guides label that Gamurs purchased in 2022, with some of PC Invasion’s content moved under its masthead.
Former staff also tell us that, despite laying off successive waves of writers throughout 2025, Gamurs has been actively trying to recruit writers from regions like India, the Philippines and the Balkans. Former staff speculated this could be because these workers can be paid less than writers from the US or United Kingdom.
"It's accurate to say that entire chunks of the network have just been shut down at this point", one former full-time staffer told Aftermath. Others we've spoken to wonder if the continued layoffs, coupled with silence from the company's leadership, could indicate that Gamurs is either about to be sold or is looking for a sale.
“Almost everyone [at my site] has been laid off over several waves, the most recent of which happened this morning”, one former Gamurs writer told us. ”Entire websites, like the Escapist and Twinfinite, are just sitting basically dormant. We're all speculating Gamurs are going to sell.”
“Right now operations have ground to a halt”, another full-time writer, recently laid off, says. “[Ownership] shutting down sites just seems inevitable, especially because they’ve always been willing to just let people go for literally no reason other than to try and save on overheads”.
I reached out to Gamurs for comment on this story. The company did not respond by time of publishing.
