It’s a sad day for game journalism, after rumours spread earlier this week that AOL would be shuttering their video game content news blogs it has been confirmed that Joystiq is being merged in Endgadget, and sister sites Massively, WoW Insider and TUAC will close. While there isn’t an official statement on Joystiq, news content director Alexander Sliwinski shared the news on twitter, urging people to share the list of Joystiq employees with any potential employers.
https://twitter.com/Sliwinski/status/561228941302984704
WoW Insider and Massively have also posted official statements confirming their closure and where they’re going from here. Joystiq was founded in 2004 under Weblogs Inc., now owned by AOL. The site has been through many changes and seen many writers come and go over the years, most notably in 2012 when then-editor-in-chief Grant left to form Polygon.com.
Recent months have also seen the closure of websites for CVG, Official PlayStation Magazine and Edge.
Source: gamebreaker.tv / Hardcore Gamer
Tony Cawley
All these closures are odd at a time when gaming is the most popular it’s ever been, I think they just haven’t found the right way to monetise such sites. A shame but the only one I’d really be bothered about closing is tsa!
gazzagb
I think the rise of youtubers has definitely had something to do with it, their videos get hits gaming sites could only dream of.
From a business perspective, I guess it just isn’t worth it anymore sadly.
SamBeThyName
I used to read PSFanboy before it was gobbled up by Joystiq, then I used to read Joystiq but I never really thought of either of them as ‘communities’ (like TSA is) because all the comments were negative and bitchy – I can’t imagine chatting with someone there then gaming with them. Joystiq has been going downhill for quite a while – I feel like they were trying to cater to too many different peeps. Like Tony Cawley says TSA is the only gaming website I’d be sad about losing. And I would, I’d be fucking gutted.