Fandom acquires GameSpot, Metacritic, GameFAQs and other entertainment sites

Alfonso Maruccia

Posts: 971   +294
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TL;DR: Fandom has acquired GameSpot, Metacritic, TV Guide, GameFAQs and other well-known Internet sites, adding millions of new users to its platform and a huge amount of media-focused data and insights to make advertisers and gaming studios very happy.

Fandom, the ubiquitous wiki and entertainment media provider co-founded by Jimmy Wales 17 years ago, is busy in the acquisition business. The company recently announced a far-reaching deal with Red Ventures, which will bring GameSpot, Metacritic, TV Guide, GameFAQs, Giant Bomb, Cord Cutters News and Comic Vine under the San Francisco-based company's umbrella.

Fandom describes itself as "the world's largest fan platform," a network made up of 250,000 Wiki communities, 300 million monthly active users (MAU) and 40 million pages of contents spread throughout the entertainment spectrum. You have likely found one of their wikis via Google search more than once. The new acquisitions will add 46 million monthly users thanks to widely recognized brands in gaming, movie and TV related content.

The deal with Red Ventures, who own and will continue to operate other popular websites like CNET and Lonely Planet, will let Fandom expand its global platform for entertainment and gaming fans -- and of course for advertising partners as well. The acquisition announcement spells how Fandom wants to "drive engagement across every step of the consumer journey – reference, community, trends, ratings, reviews, news and commerce."

Fandom offers advertising partners (including game publishers, studios and streaming services) programs to share data and insights using the FanDNA proprietary platform, while the company is trying to expand efforts in the affiliate and ecommerce business through the Fanatical brand.

Financial details of acquisition were not officially disclosed, though Forbes writes of a possible $55 million deal.

Commenting on the acquisition, Fandom CEO Perkins Miller said that the new additions will make the Fandom platform a "one-stop shop" for entertainment and gaming fans, while the improved FanDNA data offering, Miller suggests, will help companies enhance the aforementioned consumer experience and "make our commerce and advertising businesses more impactful."

Fandom had also acquired Screen Junkies in 2018 (for entertainment coverage), Curse Media in 2019 (gaming tools) and the Fanatical gaming e-retailer in 2021.

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I suppose they can't F up GameSpot anymore than CNET did when they completely revamped the site around 2006....what a clusterfu_k they made it.

The overhaul, while some would argue it was needed, completely broke what made GameSpot such an amazing site to visit. They ruined how rating games were done for writing reviews, they took down community forums that made the site so unique, they removed Soapbox, removed levels, removed awards/medals and a gaggle of other things that so many users enjoyed. CNET turned the site into a sad, little pathetic shadow of it's former self and I'm honestly surprised that the site continues to limp on to this day.

For some reason companies thought the best thing was to make every gaming site look like a puked up version of FaceBook (which had started to become very popular back then). I went from visiting GameSpot daily to maybe a couple times a week and quickly noticed how many people stopped visiting the site, especially the forums. Then a few times a week changed to a few times a month and then eventually to maybe once every few months to me going there about once or twice a year.

I used to frequent GameSpot so much that I even paid for a subscription back in the day to remove ads. It was my go to site. I did the subscription for maybe 6-8 months and then the changing of the site and I dropped to a basic account. Not worth paying for something so crappy.
 
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Man these massive take overs are getting out of control. Everything is getting centralized and we're all going to suffer because of it....
 
Get it fans? No negative votes anymore. We are a happy happy place where everything is perrrfect, especially games and movies you review on our websites.
 
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