1UP, Gamespy, and UGO shutting down

Also IGN was hit with layoffs...

Askmen gets to stay up as does IGN. Not sure if want.

Damn, feels like the end of an era, that just leaves IGN and Gamespot as the only major 90s era game sites left.

I'll miss the hell out of 1UP though, they churned out some amazing articles in their prime, and their podcasts were always a fun listen.

edited 21st Feb '13 4:46:52 PM by Firestorm

Ah geez, I liked 1up. It's a real shame to see them close down; maybe the ones who work with Gamespite will expand that going forward?

Hopes and prayers, etc.

Well, there's newcomers taking up the slack, like The Verge.

I think you'll see less news corporate owned videogame sites and more videogame-oriented company sites (like Game Informer, owned by Gamestop), videogame-specific companies (like the webring that owns Joystiq) and indie sites (like The Verge, etc.)

Wow. Gamespy's going away? I remember them... Shit, I need to save that "25 dumbest moments in gaming history" feature they did. That was gold. (Ion storm was on three times.)

edited 21st Feb '13 5:16:51 PM by ShirowShirow

http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2013/02/21/1up-ugo-gamespy-shuttered-as-ign-is-hit-with-layoffs/

GameSpy says, "So long, and thanks for all the fish.

I won't be surprised how huge the Backlash for this will be...

Is gamespy's multiplayer architecture going down? There are still some active games that use their network!

Well, that sucks...shame both Gamespy and 1up going...

*waves goodbye to another happy childhood/adolescence memory*

Yes, I do still have some of those left, and yes, I'm just as surprised by that as you are.

1UP farewell from Jeremy Parrish.

UGO says bye.

Just so you guys know, I wrote for UGO both indirectly via GamePen and directly (game, DVD reviews) from 1998-2004.

edited 21st Feb '13 10:35:00 PM by JAF1970

That sucks. First gaming magazines die off and now this. Those sites were quite good.

Eh, it's the progress of entertainment and informational development. We're in the midst of a vast shift that comes along with the freedom of entertainment that the internet brings. In a sense, it's the end of the "old internet" - a place structured like independent communities revolving around large companies, and the coming of a new internet - something more interlaced, networked, based around a collective of smaller enterprises, some even done for free. In an age where more and more people spend less and less money on internet access, and it's seen less like a luxury and more like a basic communication network, huge and sprawling video game sites simply won't work anymore, not with the amount of maintenance they require and staff they necessitate for the decreasing profits that turn. It will be less than pleasant for many, sure, and we will view these things with fond memories, of course, but there's simply no salvaging these places, not when the core of their business model depends on the first internet generation.

Uh, no. If that were the case, why isn't Joystiq gone?

No, this has everything to do with who owns 1Up, IGN, Game Spy and UGO: a media company.

http://corp.ign.com/press/2013/j2-global-more-than-doubles-size-of-its-digital-media-business-with-acquisition-of-ign-entertainment

When J2 bought IGN from Fox News, cuts were coming.

edited 22nd Feb '13 10:28:19 AM by JAF1970

Damn, this is hard. I really liked Parish's work. Hopefully he's got some of his interviews hosted elsewhere, because I'm going feel a need to re-read some of them as time goes on, and there's no telling how long they'll last.

The Internet Archive is your friend.

Ahh, true, but not all the media links will work. Then again not all the media links work NOW, with him having written for the website for ten years. Jesus, it really is the end of an era.