IGN Going Up For Auction

The Crotch

The Crotch

CAGiversary!
Feedback
15 (100%)
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-10-16-ign-going-up-for-auction
Unable to find a buyer, News Corp. expecting to sell gaming and entertainment sites for around $100 million

IGN is going up for auction, according to a Wall Street Journal report. After a year of fruitless talks with potential bidders, parent company News Corp. is working with investment bank Allen & Co. to auction off the group of entertainment and video game websites.
News Corp purchased IGN in 2005 for $650 million. Last year, the company also acquired online gaming network UGO and folded its properties (including 1Up.com) into its one-time rival. IGN has also sold a handful of businesses in recent years, including Rotten Tomatoes, Direct2Drive, and GameSpy Technologies. The Wall Street Journal (another News Corp. publication) reports that IGN is expected to sell for about $100 million now.
The paper reports that a number of companies have expressed "at least some interest" in picking up IGN, including Break Media and SAY Media. Recent turnover in IGN management, including president Roy Bahat and News Corp. chief digital officer Jon Miller, was said to have hampered the sales process.
Click to expand...
Buying a website for $650 million and selling it for an expected $100 million...


That's a paddlin'.
 
If you staff shit writers, you get shitty people to your site.

At least there will be less top 100 lists, hopefully.
 
Didn't realize they were doing so poorly.

Over the years I have taken most of their reviews with a grain of salt and used user reviews to gauge my opinion on whether or not to try out a game.
 
Before IGN started the whole subscriber thing, they used to be THE gaming site a decade ago. I really think that was the turning point for them and it has been all downhill since. I go to GT now for reviews and a few shows they have. So refreshing having an open panel every week from them that is brutally honest. Almost like being in the room with them just talking about gaming news.
 
Hopefully IGN doesn't go anywhere, I know it's not the majority opinion here but I've always liked IGN. Lately, yeah, the quality has taken a hit... they've gotten real bad with pimping their wikis, op eds, reposts and generally misleading headlines, but it's still my primary source for gaming news, and it's a hell of a lot better than the bloggish gaming sites. They have always been my go-to for reviews: most people think that you'll get a more honest or unbiased review from a another user, but after years of CAG, Facebook, Yelp, etc. I've come to learn my lesson about that.
 
I will say in IGN's favour that they've run a damn fine Starcraft 2 tournament.

Probably hasn't helped their finances much, though.
 
[quote name='Jodou']Before IGN started the whole subscriber thing, they used to be THE gaming site a decade ago. I really think that was the turning point for them and it has been all downhill since. I go to GT now for reviews and a few shows they have. So refreshing having an open panel every week from them that is brutally honest. Almost like being in the room with them just talking about gaming news.[/QUOTE]

I don't ever recall thinking highly of IGN. This is going back as far as I can recall, to 1998-1999. I've only visited there for N64, GCN, and PC reviews, so I admit my POV is limited. For those consoles, though, their reporting was hardly ever insightful, and their game reviews were almost always frustratingly inconsistent. Especially on Nintendo material, jesus was it odd.

Not that anyone should pay attention to an X-out-of-Y score, but I recall IGN's reviews as being a solid lesson in the text of the review having virtually nothing to do with its "Number." As for the reporting, at its best it was "chummy," I guess? If that's what you're into, then I guess that's fun. It wasn't especially informative. Mostly it was just filler, just meaningless updates for the sake of new content.
 
Didn't care for IGN once they went to pay mainly because I could find reviews and guide for free else where online. Didn't care for many of their reviews either. Their forums used to be where I would go get a gaming question answered quick but I moved onto gamefaqs for that.
 
[quote name='Jodou']Before IGN started the whole subscriber thing, they used to be THE gaming site a decade ago. I really think that was the turning point for them and it has been all downhill since. I go to GT now for reviews and a few shows they have. So refreshing having an open panel every week from them that is brutally honest. Almost like being in the room with them just talking about gaming news.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, they used to be a pretty good site. I loved their feature stories and their collection system was great. But as they move away from games and towards generic entertainment, they fell off quick.
 
[quote name='iamsmart']Hopefully IGN doesn't go anywhere, I know it's not the majority opinion here but I've always liked IGN. Lately, yeah, the quality has taken a hit... they've gotten real bad with pimping their wikis, op eds, reposts and generally misleading headlines, but it's still my primary source for gaming news, and it's a hell of a lot better than the bloggish gaming sites. They have always been my go-to for reviews: most people think that you'll get a more honest or unbiased review from a another user, but after years of CAG, Facebook, Yelp, etc. I've come to learn my lesson about that.[/QUOTE]

I agree, I'm prolly less hardcore then most around here but I've always gotten something out of their reviews.

Not sure where all the hate comes from.
 
I didn't read the article in the OP, but is it 1 paragraph long on first page, then you have to click next page 15 times to read the full article?
 
see ign is just so money hungry it's way too obvious. that's why no one likes em.

Like the shows, they get some dumb blond in there reading off a teleprompter and they constantly try to fit pop culture references in to flash up during chats. problem is this shit is worse than G4 garbage and no one really likes that. why not hire soem gamers and lead them into making a real gaming show out of that!

also, rather than posting game tips or advise, instead go for the cheap views with exploits (half their borderlands 2 content was that lol) and posting the freaking ending to mass effect 3 at midnight of release day so everyone will ruin it for ya the next day.
 
[quote name='Kevfactor']see ign is just so money hungry it's way too obvious. that's why no one likes em.

Like the shows, they get some dumb blond in there reading off a teleprompter and they constantly try to fit pop culture references in to flash up during chats. problem is this shit is worse than G4 garbage and no one really likes that. why not hire soem gamers and lead them into making a real gaming show out of that!

also, rather than posting game tips or advise, instead go for the cheap views with exploits (half their borderlands 2 content was that lol) and posting the freaking ending to mass effect 3 at midnight of release day so everyone will ruin it for ya the next day.[/QUOTE]

Yeah they did some really desperate things for hits,like the whole censored review of Pokemon Black & White,just so they could be the first site with a review of it.The worse was the whole article asking if Resident Evil 5 was racist,which was just a bullshit way to stir some controversy and get hits.
 
Well this is what happens when you have corrupt gaming review sites. IGN was OK in some other aspects but they were just like everyone else when it came to giving decent scores to crappy games far too often. Same reason Gamepro went out as well, because people (rightfully) got fed up with seeing horrible written out reviews with a 4/5 at the end of it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
bread's done
Back
Top