WGA Slams Polygon Layoffs, Valnet Acquisition Amid Vox Media Contract Negotiations

The Writers Guild of America East responded Friday morning to Vox Media’s Thursday sale of popular gaming publication Polygon to Screen Rant and Collider owner Valnet, slamming the “short-sighted” layoffs of over 20 staffers that followed.

“With only a month left until the current union contract expires at Vox Media, the Company yesterday announced it sold Polygon and laid off the bargaining unit at the site,” the WGA’s statement read. “It is hard to fathom management’s commitment to its workers and its readers when this marks the fifth round of layoffs in just the last six months.”

As the WGA’s statement notes, Vox Media employees have been hit by multiple rounds of layoffs in recent months. In January, at least 10 employees of the media company lost their jobs, including multiple director-level figures. That round of layoffs was preceded by several others in January and late 2024 that resulted in the downsizing of editorial staff at Vox-owned outlets like Thrillist, Vox.com, Eater and Pop Sugar.

Among the Polygon employees that were laid off Thursday were Polygon co-founder and former Editor-in-Chief Chris Plante, correspondent Michael McWhertor and Senior Reporter Nicole Carpenter. Kotaku was the first outlet to report about Polygon’s sale and layoffs on Thursday.

“Vox Media touts its progressive values and its ‘responsibility to build a better media industry’ by amplifying historically excluded voices, but the only thing clear at the moment is that Vox Media and its CEO Jim Bankoff have taken extreme actions to weaken the bargaining unit,” the statement continued.

“The union will not be intimidated by management’s short-sighted choice to fire workers, their self-defeating decision to gut Polygon or their refusal to take these negotiations seriously,” the WGA added. “We demand the company come to the table prepared to negotiate in good faith and with intentions to support the very workers who make Vox Media a successful and lucrative business.”

More to come…

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