G4 Is Becoming The Esquire Channel

The writing was on the wall for G4's original focus, that being a channel that's entirely dedicated to gaming, when it was revealed that both X-Play and Attack of the Show would be cancelled by year's end. But now we finally know what will become of the channel as a whole.

According to The Verge, the entire network is getting a massive makeover, and will be rebranded as the Esquire Channel in early 2013. The new networks is the result of a just struck deal between NBCUniversal, the current owner of G4, and Heart Corporation, the parent company of Esquire.

This falls in line with the plan that was first unveiled in September, of moving away from "geeky content" and instead catering towards the "modern male". The new channel will still address gaming. But there will also be programming that's about fashion, travel, and cooking, which is already in production.

The aim is to reach out to "capture a growing, upscale demographic", one that is not being addressed by any other network, including Spike, which is widely regarded as G4's primary competition.

While some might consider this a loss, one must compare the G4 of today and the G4 of ten years ago, when it first launched. Back then, it legitimately catered to gamers. A goal that unfortunately was slowly scaled back over the years, to the point that only two shows were left.