Elon Musk reportedly laid off everybody who ran Twitter’s million-follower gaming account, and now it is gone silent

Keep in mind Twitter Gaming? The official Twitter account debuted originally of 2016 as a part of an effort to “assist the avid gaming neighborhood and assist the highest gaming organizations and personalities ship prime quality content material to and interact with their followers on Twitter.” However now, amidst the chaos and hilarity of the primary two weeks of Elon Musk’s one-man rule, it seems to be gone for good.

The Twitter Gaming account hasn’t tweeted since November 3, at some point earlier than Musk minimize the corporate’s workforce in half. The layoffs affected a variety of groups on the firm, based on a Reuters report, together with communications, content material curation, human rights, and ethics. Some product and engineering groups had been additionally impacted by the cuts. Shiraz Siddiqui, previously the senior social lead for Twitter Gaming, confirmed that he’d been let go final week as a part of these layoffs:

But it surely wasn’t simply Siddiqui who was minimize free: A brand new Washington Publish report says your entire advertising aspect of Twitter Gaming was let go on the similar time. That squares with the present state of the one-million-follower account, which final tweeted on November 3, at some point earlier than the layoffs. Previous to that, the account had tweeted on virtually a day by day foundation, but it surely’s been utterly silent within the eight days since.

As farewell tweets go, it isn’t essentially the most stirring I’ve ever learn:

Gaming typically represents a good portion of Twitter’s general exercise: The Washington Publish says there have been 1.5 billion tweets about gaming within the first half of 2022, in comparison with 10.4 billion tweets about “information.” Twitter is undeniably a unbelievable source of game-related info—I depend on it closely for my work—and it is also an effective way for content material creators to show themselves to bigger audiences. That every one occurs individually—you needn’t observe Twitter Gaming to sustain with gaming on Twitter—however the account appeared to be a part of an even bigger advertising technique that’s now, with out warning or clarification, apparently kaput. 

Assuming that Twitter itself would not implode and crumble into mud earlier than the tip of the 12 months (and given what an absolute gong show it has been since Musk took over, I would give it 50/50 odds), the Twitter Gaming account might resume exercise sometime, beneath the management of a brand new staff, or possibly Elon himself, if he can work out the password. There have additionally been stories that after chopping too deep, Twitter is now begging some former workers to please come again, which might be humorous if it wasn’t so unhappy and harmful, so possibly some life shall be discovered there. For now, although, it is gone: Collateral harm within the ongoing black gap collapse of one of many world’s foremost social networks.