G4 teases a surprise comeback

(Image credit: G4)

It looks like G4, the hip-tech television network that went off the air in 2014, might be coming back. A teaser tweeted from the suddenly-active G4 Twitter account leads viewers through a virtual storage room of relics from the network's past, before interrupting a long-running game of Pong with an image of the G4 logo and "2021."

G4 launched in 2002 with shows focusing on videogame news, reviews, and competitions that formed a sort of primordial esports scene, and hosts including Jessica Chobot, Alison Haislip, Geoff Keighley, Olivia Munn, Kevin Pereira, Adam Sessler, and Morgan Webb. It was a brightly-burning candle, but conventional television shows are an ill fit for very online audiences, and after multiple mergers and ownership changes it ceased operations at the end of 2014.

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There's no indication of what form the comeback might take, although I wouldn't expect a return to your living room set. But a streaming series on Twitch, YouTube, or even Facebook makes perfect sense. It seems that X-Play, one of the shows that aired on G4, could also be resurrected in some form, as it tweeted the same thing from its previously-dormant account.

One person who apparently isn't involved, as least up to this point, is Sessler, who hosted X-Play from 1998 to 2012. He described a G4 comeback tweet posted by IGN as a "curious turn of events," and expressed surprise at the activity from the X-Play account.

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There's been nothing more from G4 since that tweet, but we're keeping our eyes on it and will update when we have more information.

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.