IGN restructuring

[Maddy Myers]

THIS: http://www.polygon.com/2013/2/21/4014196/ign-layoffs-1up-ugo-and-gamespy-shutting-down

In short: IGN execs plan to shutter Gamespy and 1UP to refocus branding on IGN and Ask Men.

Seems like IGN execs still think the majority of gamers want something very different from what, say, Polygon, Destructoid, Kotaku et al offer to their readers. I'm curious to see how that marketing decision pans out. What do people think about this -- enthusiast press vs. "smart" games writing, what people want, how publications succeed or fail ... etc? (I can't answer these questions, all of this mystifies me)

[Cameron Kunzelman]

This isn't answering your question, but I had no idea that IGN were close partners with AskMen, which seems to be a website about how to become a better, more finely dressed dudebro.

[Cameron Kunzelman]

Also it is very sad--I associate Gamespy and 1UP with conversations and community blogs and people actually talking to one another about games. This association might not be true, I will admit, but at least it is better than how I understand IGN, which is as an industry arm that functions as one long commercial. 

Gross stuff.

[Maddy Myers]

Yeah, I feel like sites like Ask Men MUST be going the way of the dinosaur, but then again I also feel that way about IGN and ... well, here we are. What do I know??

[Cameron Kunzelman]

So maybe they are and that's the issue. I can only imagine that the corporate decisionmakers are at least a little bit removed from the culture itself, and maybe they're just banking on the things that they know will have staying power--sites like AskMen are replacing the men's magazines of the past thirty years or so. IGN is basically a network that mainlines previews and hype reviews into the hearts of people who are invested in terms like "Halokiller." 

I think part of it is that kind of surface economic, political economy kind of thing. Another might be that IGN actually makes ad revenue money and they have a profit arm with their IGN Insider thing. So unlike Gamespy, 1UP, etc IGN actually has a method to make money.

[Greg Brown]

I expect this trend to accelerate, since web advertising seems to be going on some hard times.Felix Salmon has a great piece on the ad market, including the anecdote that Buzzfeed has 60(!) staffers devoted to ad sales. The increased pressures mean that many sites have to either expand their ad divisions, or make do with less money—both decisions that mean fewer people involved in the ostensible function of the enterprise. It's frustrating, and I think we have to start seriously looking at post-ad ways of supporting great games writing online.

[Javy]

 I think that Cameron's point concerning the decision makers being at least a little removed from the culture is pretty accurate. I also think that it comes down to web traffic. I was an active part of the Gamespy community from 2003 to 2008 (and I've checked in from time to time), and that site has been shrinking, losing writers and community members over that period of time. I love Taylor, Dan, Mike, and Katie's stuff, but the output was piddly--in numbers, not quality--in comparison to earlier years.

No idea about 1UP, though. I never followed the site.

On Thursday, February 21, 2013 3:41:31 PM UTC-5, Maddy Myers wrote:

[Bryant Francis]

It's a Parallel to the G4-->Esquire experience, no? G4 was always talking to sort of the dudebro (male 18-35) audience anyway, and as that audience grew up an expanded their interests, they realized that this group really wasn't as centered around gaming as they thought they were. Which, to be fair to IGN, everyone thought that that was the only gaming demographic when they put down roots, and now they're sort of lashed to their own path. 

[Nick Capozzoli]

I can't speak to their veracity, but many of the reviews on Glassdoor seem to corroborate issues with upper management, for what it's worth.

[M.H. Williams]

UGO, 1UP and GameSpy were already running on fumes. I'm surprised than IGN hadn't brought those outlets into the fold by now.

I'm saddened by the layoffs of solid editorial staff within IGN proper, but I hear AskMen is already doing much better numbers. So, from a business perspective it makes sense.

All told, IGN's coverage seems very... vanilla? We're seeing more interesting things for Polygon, Kotaku, Giant Bomb, etc. Not that I know if those outlets are making any money.

On Thursday, February 21, 2013 3:41:31 PM UTC-5, Maddy Myers wrote:

[Ethan Gach]

I agree with Cameron when it comes to 1up. I maintained a blog there for like a year and a half, and it was one of the few community blogs that I actually got interesting feedback and good conversations out of. Destructoid's had already hollowed out by that point, and IGN never came up with a social network that were trying to have actual discussions find one another.

What's really depressing is how much 1up tried to adapt itself after each downsize. Their weekly feature system of writing somewhat long form articles all on the same subject gave it a value beyond just the insights of the people who worked there. In the long run the overwrought architecture of the site probably did a lot to prevent this reinvention from reaching a new audience, rather than just alienating some long term readers.

[Bryant Francis]

Interesting that the community blogs are proving problematic--are IGN's doing well now, or are they as empty as 1up's have been?

[Maddy Myers]

In case folks missed it, Patrick Miller put up a piece today about the state of games journalism with regard to 1UP et al:

http://pattheflip.tumblr.com/post/43735468414/rip-1up-a-meditation-on-where-games-journalism-is