News Corp to buy IGN for $650 million

[bandersnatch]

It's offical. Rupert Murdoch's News Corp has announced in this press release on GameInsider (http://www.gameinsider.com/comments.php?id=1069&catid=1) that they have signed a definitive agreement to acquire IGN for $650 million in cold hard cash.

News Corporation announced today that it had signed a definitive agreement to acquire IGN Entertainment, Inc, a leading community-based Internet media and services company for video games and other forms of digital entertainment, for approximately $650 million in cash. IGN and its network of sites will become part of News Corporation's Fox Interactive Media unit.

IGN's major video game-related properties include IGN.com, GameSpy, GameSpy Arena, FilePlanet, TeamXbox, 3D Gamers, Direct2Drive, GameStats.com and a number of web sites within the Vault and Planet networks. IGN also owns and operates two entertainment web properties focused on movie-related content, IGN FilmForce and Rotten Tomatoes, and a male lifestyle web site, AskMen.com. In addition, it provides technology for online game play in video games.

[ChunderMan]

More ads! Woo-hoo! First reply! Woo-hoo!

[thecrazyd]

I don't think it is physically possible to cram more ads on Gamespy or IGN.

[ChunderMan]

Sshhhh! They'll take that as a challenge!

[bapenguin]

I actually subscribed to IGN the other day, it's amazing what a difference the speed and look of the site is without all those damn ads. it's actually USEABLE!

[StoneGut]

That's a lot of money.... man... I didn't realize how many sites are under the IGN Flag

[Hieremias]

I don't think it is physically possible to cram more ads on Gamespy or IGN.

You must have forgotten when Ronald McDonald shat all over IGN's main page. It was like they sold their souls to the golden arches for a day. It was the laughingstock of the gaming community (http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php?date=2003-09-10&res=l) for a while.

[ChunderMan]

How do you think Mario got so fat? McGriddles, baby!!!

[FunkyPoopMonkey]

I actually subscribed to IGN the other day, it's amazing what a difference the speed and look of the site is without all those damn ads. it's actually USEABLE!
You could have just used firefox with the adblock extension. No ads at all.

[Wonka]

There will be a new article on IGN: Learn all the reasons that president Bush loves gamers.

Then there will be a quote from Bush saying something like:
"We love games about Freedom, were Freedom Gamers."

Then at the bottom there will be something like:
IGN is your "fair and balanced" game reporting. (You know, unlike like those liberal Gamespot guys...)

[mister_slim]

I find myself wondering: can even Fox make IGN worse?

I guess they could start sacrificing a kitten during every review.

[Nesta]

The magnitude of suck when this happens will be so tremendous, it might just cause my brain to implode.

[Orphiuchus]

Its not like anyone cares anymore, IGN and gamespy have both sucked for years. What shocks me is that those sites are worth 650 million. Thats almost 700 million!

And I dont think the reason that fox news slants right is because rupert murdoc does, the reason fox news slants right is because there was nothing but 2 or 3 left slanting news stations and viewers on the right had no network. It was just a smart buisness move to start fox news.

[mulligan]

In other news i have decided to buy evilavatar.com for 6,000 Jamaican Dollars.. in 6,000 easy payments of 1 dollar/year.

evil check your paypal account...

[Reanimated]

Isn't Rupert Murdoch good friends with Bill Gates?

[Tennistoad]

$650mil holy crap, and those bastards screwed me when they dumped next-gen mag, I say class action lawsuit..I want my $24.99 back

and they lost 124mil last year and have never turned a profit??? how are they still in business? this is why I hate investment bankers..
fox wants to attract tech savy affluent younger people..Just buy EA, If you read the messages here everyone has tons of $ to buy 360's and 7800gtx's etc...
/
hope fox fires em all and puts O'Reilley on a Gta sa expose'

[Klade]

This doesn't bother me that much. EBgames selling out to Gamestop was a much bigger deal since I actually went to those sites.

[A-Team]

Why bother flaming IGN for their ads? If you all would take a second to read the press release, you'll discover that:

1) IGN has never turned a profit
2) The majority of what IGN makes is through selling advertisments

Now, twist (1) with (2) and you'll find that a lot of people hate their advertisements, which is why they continue to lose money each and every year.

So, next time you go and flame them for their ads, at least be kind enough to mention that not only are their advertisements horrendous, but they don't even draw enough money for the company to walk away with a positive inflow of cash year... after year... after year. :D

[KNOTE]

What shocks me is that those sites are worth 650 million. Thats almost 700 million!


Truer words have never been not spoken, but typed.

[bapenguin]

You could have just used firefox with the adblock extension. No ads at all.

I do. It's just a PITA to block the flash ads everytime. Plus it didn't get rid of the ads between pages.

[JudasGoat]

Well, if anyone decides to make a "G.W.: The Roleplaying Game" they're guaranteed a 10.0 from at least one site.

[Goronmon]

Pretty much the only time I spend on the IGN system is when I moderate the VN boards. I do get free Insider, so I read the site occasionally, especially for the previews and clips and stuff. The information on the site isn't that bad, you just have to wade through a lot of crap as a non-Insider to get to it.

[LilEvilFish]

I remember when IGN was ad-free and didn't require a subscription. That was only 1999. In fact that was when most of the net was ad free.

I suppose we can say that since a big media company is buying it there might be less adverts thanks to more investment.. HA!

[Azrikam]

I do. It's just a PITA to block the flash ads everytime. Plus it didn't get rid of the ads between pages.

The Flashblock extension is great. It stops Flash from auto-running and you just get a nice little icon that you can click if you want to view the flash.

Back on topic: Great, now I have to stop visiting RottenTomatoes.