IGN Acquires Gametrailers, Says They Will Archive | MOUSE n JOYPAD

Many are still reeling from the closure of GameTrailers.com. Full disclosure- I was a big fan. The site had a real charm and a fantastic way of celebrating gaming while keeping the style very professional. Their reviews were usually well received, and their retrospectives were something that any fan should check out. It’s been several months, and many of us have moved on- but it would seem there’s still a small bit of life emerging.

According to a video posted on Gametrailers’ YouTube page, “IGN have picked up all the assets from Gametrailers.” Brandon Jones, co-founder of the original website, reveals in the video that while the site will not be creating content, IGN “will be archiving our massive library.” Jones goes on to promise that shows like their Retrospective series, Pop Fiction, reviews and all of their original shows will still be available.

According to the video, IGN’s plan is to use the branding and YouTube channel to upload game trailers, Jones joking “turns out, it’s a great name!” “IGN will start filling it with the newest and biggest trailers, and maybe more.”

When asked about this, IGN’s PR & Events Manager Kiersten Slader said that their company “acquired the Gametrailer brand, domain, and content archive.” After saying they don’t own the site’s publishing tools or infrastructure, she revealed that they “are not attempting to keep the site running.” They are keeping the video content on the YouTube channel, and “are in the process of uploading content that was previously only found on the website” to finish up the archive. “As long as YouTube exists, these videos will exist.”

In the video, Jones does promote his latest channel Easy Allies, saying “you can find me and the old GT crew over at our new endeavour,” promising “new shows” and “daily streams.” He ends the video with a “big thanks to IGN, for making sure the GT legacy lives on, and to our fans for all of their support.”

The company was originally founded in 2002, and was sold to MTV Networks in 2005. Within two years, the company was merged with Ifilm.com and SpikeTV.com to form Spike Digital Entertainment. In 2014, the company was purchased by Defy Media, and one day after their E3 coverage for that year, two-thirds of the full-time staff was fired. On February 8, 2016, GameTrailers announced their closure.

IGN, a subsidiary of j2 Global, is not unfamiliar with acquiring game companies and news sites. In 2004, IGN purchased GameSpy’s online matchmaking middleware company and website. In 2013, the GameSpy site was officially shut down, with then Editor-In-Chief Dan Stapleton saying that Ziff Davis (parent company of IGN at that time) “wants to run an efficient, focused company,” but saying that the decision, while understood, “does totally suck.”

IGN also purchased TeamXbox in 2003, until the site was shut down in 2012- the site is currently unavailable, including its catalogue of articles. They’ve also purchased and operated many other websites, including Rotten Tomatoes, 1UP.com, UGO Networks, GameStats, VE3D and Vault Network. Of these news sites, many of the archives are unable to be reached, despite IGN’s involvement.

“Unfortunately, VE3D- which was all text content- wasn’t archived when it was shut down,” says Slader when asked about IGN’s archiving. “You can find much of it archived externally on Web Archive.” According to Slader, the Vault Network sites “didn’t make it,” due to ”age-old tech” that made the sites vulnerable to hackers. “They kept failing despite very low visitor counts. It would be a full-time job (for multiple people) to maintain these different codebases.”

“We’d love it if the GT channel became the #1 place for game trailers,” says Slader. “We haven’t yet decided what volume of trailer content we’ll upload to GT; that’s something we’ll be testing after we’ve completed the archive.”

We reached out to GameTrailers and Jones for comment but wasn’t reached in time for publication. Tell us what you think in the comments, and keep on reading Mouse N Joypad for all your gaming news.