Gamespot's editorial team is getting smaller by the minute with the announcement that Jason Ocampo as the latest to leave the company. So far, the head count of those who've left since November 2007 is up to five.

Here's the timeline. Jeff Gerstmann was pushed out as Editorial Director in November 2007; freelance reviewer Frank Provo quit roughly a month after Gerstmann; Editor Alex Navarro left in January 2008; Editor Ryan Davis announced his departure the following month; and finally, we come to preview writer Jason Ocampo.

So what the heck is going on at Gamespot? I have no idea, but I'll venture a conjecture.

What's happening to Gamespot today probably is the result of something that happened before Gerstmann got pushed out, like say with the hiring of Stephen Colvin, the former publisher of Maxim, Blender, and Stuff, as EVP of the Entertainment & Lifestyle division at CNet.

His primary job, of course, is to bring value to shareholders by finding ways to increase revenue and cutting cost. One way to do that is to get increase advertising and sponsorship opportunities. Will there be pressure on the editorial team to create features that are "sponsor-able" and advertisers-friendly but leaving the writers feeling like sellouts? Sure. Will there be resistance to this? Definitely.

So what's going on may just be a case of the editorial staffs not liking the change in direction Colvin brings. Those who don't want to go along will have to leave and that's probably what's happening. Of course, with the senior people leaving, CNet can bring in less experienced writers at a lower salary. Or CNet may choose to not fill these positions and outsource the work to freelancers instead. Lower head count, lower cost. A win for CNet.

It bears repeating that this is all conjecture. I have no inside information on the internal operations of CNet and I'm basing this solely on my own experiences as someone who used to work for Rotten Tomatoes, a division of IGN Entertainment.

Here's what the masthead looks like now according to Gamespot:

Here's what it looked like in 2006 (PDF):