Inverse shutters gaming section, lays off three staff

Kotaku reports Inverse's gaming section was shut down on Friday and three staff, including Deputy Editor Shannon Liao, were laid off as the site reportedly "divests from gaming."

Staff shared the news on Bluesky. Liao wrote, "After flying back from Vegas last week, I was just laid off from Inverse today." Staffer Hayes Madsen posted, "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 – and boy do I need it." One game section staffer, Trone Dowd, is being kept on, but it is unclear in what role moving forward or if he will be at all involved in covering games.

Inverse launched in 2015 by Dave Nemetz as a tech and science site before later shifting toward entertainment and gaming, and it will seemingly now only cover movies and TV as the gaming side of its masthead has been wiped out. Bustle Digital Group, which purchased Inverse in 2019, has faced a turbulent year — it was sued in February over alleged back rent, its CEO Bryan Goldberg said in May that profits were soaring, and in October Goldberg told Axios, "We are the next generation influence company." Update: 1/16/2026 1:09 p.m. ET: Clarified that one of Inverse Gaming’s staff members remains at the company.

Key Topics

Business, Inverse, Bustle Digital Group, Shannon Liao, Bryan Goldberg, Gaming Section