UPDATE: It appears that Brash’s downtime was temporary, although the website continues to come under greater and more frequent criticism.
Caught in a maelstrom of questionable practices and heavy criticism, Brash Games has disappeared, with only a domain parking left of their former site.
British based gaming review website, Brash Games, has been on the tip of many a gamer’s tongue in recent weeks. Following a relatively quiet but solid status as a Metacritic ranked locale for nearly seven years, things suddenly and aggressively took a turn when one writer used his article to be his letter of resignation from Brash, citing grievances that included stolen works, altered scores and generally shady practices. It also called into question the quality of the editing, as this article was allowed to be published without anyone noticing the large file baked in the middle of this cake.
This was the domino that set off a much larger chain of events, as  multiple former writers came forward to confirm that site head Paul Ryan had taken credit for their articles when they quit, either attributing them to himself or to a catch-all account, “Brash Games.” More evidence suggested that, despite their “work for experience, not pay” stance, there had been money exchanged on some articles. Brash was found to have several articles promoting online gambling websites, written by a dummy account that more-than-likely was just a front for aforementioned websites to peddle propaganda. The community itself took umbrage with what had happened with Brash, as multiple news outlets let opinion pieces fly fast and furious. Jimquisition’s Jim Sterling also let loose with a video that became reblogged and retweeted directly at Brash at a furious rate. The investigation by OpenCritic confirmed what many had already suspected, and Brash lost a lot of credibility in the eyes of the community.
Though Mr. Ryan originally stated that the site would continue despite these very serious allegations, the sudden and wordless removal of the website doesn’t seem to come as much of a surprise. The social media elements of Brash Games are still around, so time will tell if the website will return under new management, or if Brash is simply lying low until the chaos dies down.
