Brian Crecente joins Variety

Brian Crecente is moving again. After less than a year as editorial director of Rolling Stone's gaming-focused Glixel, Crecente is headed to entertainment industry outlet Variety.

Crecente officially begins Monday and will report to Variety co-editors-in-chief Andrew Wallenstein and Claudia Eller.

"Adding coverage of the booming video game sector to Variety's editorial mix represents another step forward in our effort to offer great journalism regarding every aspect of the modern media landscape," said Wallenstein and Eller. "As one of the most respected names on the video game beat for many years, Brian brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to Variety that will complement our distinguished staff."

Crecente's departure raises some question about the future of Glixel. The gaming arm of Rolling Stone was launched about a year and a half ago as a San Francisco-based operation with a full staff of writers. Last July, the San Francisco office was closed and the editorial staff laid off. Crecente was then brought in to work out of Rolling Stone's New York headquarters with the support of freelancers but no full-time staff.

Glixel will apparently live on, as the site has been updating with new content today, and Variety noted Crecente's work will still appear there from time to time. (Variety and Rolling Stone are both owned by Penske Media Corporation.) The site has continued updating today, but inquiries as to who is running the site now were referred to an external PR firm, which had not returned our inquiry as of this writing.

Prior to Glixel, Crecente was a founding editor with Polygon, and also had a seven-year stint with Kotaku, as well as background in hard news as a police beat reporter at a handful of newspapers.