4 ms·

A bit of background. Ziff Davis (parent company J2 global, Nasdaq JCOM) purchased IGN[0] from News Corp. Of the major properties in the IGN group: IGN.com, AskM

by nikcub 14y ago

A bit of background. Ziff Davis (parent company J2 global, Nasdaq JCOM) purchased IGN[0] from News Corp. Of the major properties in the IGN group: IGN.com, AskMen, UGO.com, 1up.com etc. they are shutting down GameSpot, 1UP and UGO[1] and laying off a bunch of people in the remainder of the business. In the media world most people associate 'online' with efficient, and this demonstrates that it isn't necessarily true. There is still a lot of competitive pressure if all you are doing is running a fat organization and replacing paper with a web server. Ziff apparently only paid $100M for the business[2] (News paid $600M+ only years ago) and IGN has 53 million unique visitors (in a high yield demographic - young males) across their properties, yet they couldn't make the business model work. Demonstrates just how 'thin' the new media businesses have to become in order to survive and the challenge that old media companies are facing. [0] http://investor.j2global.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=737575 http://investor.j2global.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=737... [1] http://kotaku.com/5986027/ziff-davis-shuts-1up-gamespy-and-ugo http://kotaku.com/5986027/ziff-davis-shuts-1up-gamespy-and-u... [2] http://pandodaily.com/2013/02/01/sources-ziff-davis-is-close-to-buying-ign/ http://pandodaily.com/2013/02/01/sources-ziff-davis-is-close...

NoPiece 14y ago
News Corp, and old media in general, is the kiss of death for internet companies. News took IGN from $600m to $100m, and MySpace from $580m to $35m. Think about that if your exit strategy involves one of those companies. By all means take their money, but do it knowing they'll kill your company.
- jschuur 14y ago
  On the other hand, News Corp kept GameSpy.com alive as a distinct editorial brand for 7 years, when it was easy to fold it into IGN.com.
- illuminate 14y ago
  Old media in general is a slow, sloppy kiss of death.
- faet 14y ago
  Old media does a little better I think. My wife's company owns a few small newspapers up north and they do surprisingly well.
  - DavidBradbury 14y ago
    It is all about knowing your target demographic. I'm doubting your wife's company targets young adult males interested in video games and technology.
  - NoPiece 14y ago
    You are right, I meant the big media conglomerates, not necessarily old media.
Tichy 14y ago
GameSpy and Gamespot are the only gaming sites I knew. Where does one look for information on games now? Edit: thanks for the suggestions so far! They all seem to be in blog style, with the typical horrible navigation (basically, you are limited to the most recent posts). I miss the huge repositories of game reviews from sites like GameSpy - being able to look up reviews of old games?
- nekgrim 14y ago
  I use Kotaku and some french sites (nofrag.com & factornews.com)
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
- andrewingram 14y ago
  I'm a fan of Giant Bomb, they've been acquired by Gamespot but they still seem to be fairly editorially-independent.
  - EtienneK 14y ago
    I'm also a huge Giant Bomb fan. Adding the URL here so others can find them easily: http://www.giantbomb.com http://www.giantbomb.com
- nos4A2 14y ago
  RockPaperShotgun
  - NickPollard 14y ago
    RPS focus only on PC gaming, but they really are head and shoulders above every other gaming site I've come across. Thoughtful, in-depth (and with a great sense of humour), I can't recommend them enough.
- m12k 14y ago
rm999 14y ago
>they are shutting down GameSpot I haven't seen this anywhere, do you have a source? Maybe I'm just tired, but I didn't see anything about that in your links. That's kind of sad; I'm not a huge fan of the site, but I actually trust their reviews more than most other gaming sites. edit: are you sure you don't mean gamespy? In your source I see 'subsidiary gaming sites 1UP, UGO and GameSpy are all being shut down'
redm 14y ago
Some things never change, ever since the public Internet the Ziff-Davis brand has become the kiss of death for everything that touches it... only a matter of time now...

by nikcub 14y ago

NoPiece 14y ago

News Corp, and old media in general, is the kiss of death for internet companies. News took IGN from $600m to $100m, and MySpace from $580m to $35m. Think about that if your exit strategy involves one of those companies. By all means take their money, but do it knowing they'll kill your company.

jschuur 14y ago
On the other hand, News Corp kept GameSpy.com alive as a distinct editorial brand for 7 years, when it was easy to fold it into IGN.com.
illuminate 14y ago
Old media in general is a slow, sloppy kiss of death.
faet 14y ago
Old media does a little better I think. My wife's company owns a few small newspapers up north and they do surprisingly well.
- DavidBradbury 14y ago
  It is all about knowing your target demographic. I'm doubting your wife's company targets young adult males interested in video games and technology.
- NoPiece 14y ago
  You are right, I meant the big media conglomerates, not necessarily old media.

Tichy 14y ago

GameSpy and Gamespot are the only gaming sites I knew. Where does one look for information on games now? Edit: thanks for the suggestions so far! They all seem to be in blog style, with the typical horrible navigation (basically, you are limited to the most recent posts). I miss the huge repositories of game reviews from sites like GameSpy - being able to look up reviews of old games?

nekgrim 14y ago
I use Kotaku and some french sites (nofrag.com & factornews.com)
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
andrewingram 14y ago
I'm a fan of Giant Bomb, they've been acquired by Gamespot but they still seem to be fairly editorially-independent.
- EtienneK 14y ago
  I'm also a huge Giant Bomb fan. Adding the URL here so others can find them easily: http://www.giantbomb.com http://www.giantbomb.com
nos4A2 14y ago
RockPaperShotgun
- NickPollard 14y ago
  RPS focus only on PC gaming, but they really are head and shoulders above every other gaming site I've come across. Thoughtful, in-depth (and with a great sense of humour), I can't recommend them enough.
m12k 14y ago

rm999 14y ago

>they are shutting down GameSpot I haven't seen this anywhere, do you have a source? Maybe I'm just tired, but I didn't see anything about that in your links. That's kind of sad; I'm not a huge fan of the site, but I actually trust their reviews more than most other gaming sites. edit: are you sure you don't mean gamespy? In your source I see 'subsidiary gaming sites 1UP, UGO and GameSpy are all being shut down'

redm 14y ago

Some things never change, ever since the public Internet the Ziff-Davis brand has become the kiss of death for everything that touches it... only a matter of time now...