Batou667 said:
Hold up, I'm fairly certain ZP started on Youtube (and Yahtzee's own blog), and it was this exposure that led to him being signed by the Escapist. That's why he had to stop using copyrighted music in his intro/outro. Also, don't ZP videos debut on the Escapist first and appear on Youtube a few days later? I may be wrong on that last point.
As for the overall cooling effect on the rest of the forum: I think the losses of MovieBob and Jim Sterling have to be factors. Alongside ZP they generated the most controversy and discussion. The new staff writers haven't had nearly the same broad appeal (for example, the cosplay articles).
Yes, Yahtzee did do two reviews on Youtube before being picked up by the Escapist, but once he was his reviews were only hosted on the Escapist until July 21, 2011 when his backlog was uploaded to Youtube.
See:
Yahtzee's first review,
The Darkness, Uploaded on Jul 24, 2007
Yahtzee's second review,
Fable: The Lost Chapters, Uploaded on Jul 29, 2007
Yahtzee's third review,
Heavenly Sword, Uploaded on Jul 21, 2011 (date on the Escapist: 08/15/2007)
He didn't stop using copyrighted music until a good deal into his reviews for the Escapist. Lego Indiana Jones was his first review to use his current theme song and it came out on 07/09/2008, almost a year after he started working for the Escapist.
You are right that they do appear on Youtube a week after they appear on the Escapist, but I don't believe that is enough to cause many people to actually come to the site, not to mention people that would watch through his backlog. And actually, it looks like someone else is uploading the reviews to Youtube as soon as come out.
Assassin's Creed: Syndicate, uploaded by Game Pro on Nov 4, 2015.
Assassin's Creed: Syndicate, uploaded by the Escapist on Nov 11, 2015.