PALGN’s editorial team walk citing a disagreement with management

An email was sent around yesterday confirming that PALGN’s editorial team will no longer produce site content.

The passionate farewell email came from site executive editor Jeremy Jastrzab, who has been a PALGN contributor for 7 years. It informed recipients that the editorial team behind the site would no longer be producing content after COB this Friday 10th February.

Jastrzab said: "The reason for this decision stems from an inability for the editorial team and the PALGN ownership to come to agreement on how the site would function. Whether or not PALGN will continue to produce any video game content will be solely at the discretion of the current ownership, and what they wish to do with the site."

The news comes shortly after a lengthy and heated email chain popped up online which detailed grievances between various writers for the site and the site’s owner Roland Kulen.

Citing various unresolved server issues and unmet demands for transparency, the email chain deteriorates until such time as 6 editorial staff have indicated that they’d no longer be interested in writing for the site.

Kulen and the writing staff have clearly been at odds on certain issues to do with the site’s operation for some time, with the email chain appearing to span some weeks.

Adam Ghiggino, current managing editor of PALGN, told MCV: "It’s unfortunate that the circumstances of our departure have come to light like this, as we would have preferred if those private conversations had remained as such."

"However, I can confirm that the remaining members of PALGN’s editorial staff intend to leave in the near future, after tying up some loose ends. Most of us will be leaving to pursue other projects, both in video games journalism and other fields."

Kulen, instigator of the successful Pro-R18+ campaign ‘Everybody Plays’, has been the owner of PALGN since 2008, taking over from James Gay.

PALGN, originally an offshoot of the IGN community designed to service the PAL region prior to there being local IGN representation, was set up in 2003 and has primarily existed through the work of its unpaid contributors since then, growing (at times) to be amongst the largest local gaming web sites.

The future of the site is currently uncertain. MCV Pacific is contacting Kulen for an indication of what’s to come.

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