IGN Entertainment has made a major acquisition within the Video Game Journalism industry. According to GamesIndustry.Biz, IGN acquired the Gamer Network, a video game brand made up of a number of popular video game news sits in Europe. Some of those websites include Eurogamer, Rock Paper Shotgun, VG247, Dicebreaker, and GamesIndustry.biz.
Prior to being acquired by IGN, the pop culture event company ReedPop was in possession of the Gamer Network before moving to sell it in 2023.
Gamer Network assets not included in the acquisition are the EGX, MCM UK-based events or Popverse. The amount Gamer Network sold for remains undisclosed.
Unsurprisingly, the news sites within Gamer Network are expecting layoffs. According to The Verge, editors at Gamesindustry.biz and Rock Paper Shotgun that employees were already being laid off in separate social media posts. Those two editors, Gamesindustry.Biz managing editor Brendan Sinclair and Rock Paper Shotgun deputy editor Alice Bell are among those now unemployed.
“I’ve been laid off and need a new job. Maybe game journalism, maybe something else in games, maybe not games at all,” wrote Sinclair on Bluesky. “Entertaining all possibilities at this point, so please reach out if you think I might be a good fit for you.”
That said, the official number of layoffs will likely not be revealed until a later date.