Restart editorial layoffs have eliminated the gaming site’s entire editorial team, according to public posts by former editor-in-chief Brandy Berthelson and several colleagues on August 7. The cuts remove the newsroom from a publication built by marketing agency Moonrock and funded by Walmart, though neither company had publicly explained the decision when The Verge reported the news.
Berthelson said she was among the people laid off and later said she could not discuss the details. News editor Imran Khan also wrote that all of Restart’s editorial staff had been let go. Associate editor Jesse Vitelli, deals writer Myles Obenza and senior editor Henry Stenhouse publicly confirmed their own layoffs, according to Aftermath.
Those accounts establish that the editorial operation was cut. They do not establish the reason, which company directed the layoffs, or the total number of workers affected across Restart. Aftermath reported that the site’s masthead listed editorial and management personnel, but that listing does not show that management was included in the cuts.
What happened to Restart’s editorial team?
The affected journalists say they were laid off on August 7. Restart remained online at the time of the reports, but its publishing plans are unclear. Walmart and Moonrock did not immediately respond to The Verge’s requests for comment. One laid-off employee told The Verge they had signed a severance agreement with Moonrock; that account does not establish the terms or scope of severance for other workers.
Who operated and funded Restart?
Restart launched in December 2024. Moonrock, a strategy and content-marketing agency, created and operated the outlet, while Walmart funded it or described it as being “powered” by Walmart, according to The Verge and Aftermath.
That arrangement was unusual enough to require a manual. Restart’s editorial-mission language said the site operated independently and that Walmart did not direct its editorial coverage. Those were the publication’s stated safeguards, not a public explanation from Walmart or Moonrock for the layoffs.
The mission statement also described the commercial plumbing: when an article mentioned a game, Restart could link to its Walmart product page with a partner tracking code. Restart said it received no percentage of resulting sales. The code let Walmart see how a shopper reached a product, a measure of referral traffic rather than a commission payment to the publication.
Restart covered game news, reviews, developer interviews, blogs and video, according to Aftermath. Its earlier branding initially called it independent gaming news powered by Walmart, then changed to “Triple-I gaming news powered by Walmart.” The site’s description of editorial independence did not mean it was structurally separate from the companies supplying its operation and funding.
Will Restart keep publishing?
There is no confirmed answer. The site was still accessible after the layoffs, but neither Walmart nor Moonrock had said whether Restart would continue, who would produce it, or what form it might take. Until either company addresses the cuts, claims about a shutdown, a replacement team, or the motive for the decision remain speculation.
This story draws on original reporting from The Verge.
