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[nenjin]

http://pc.gamespy.com/articles/122/1227460p1.html

If you read any on my threads, you probably know I  link to a lot of Gamespy articles. It's been one of the places I visit daily for several years. While not having the truly in-depth reviews of PC Gamer, the actual industry news of Gamasutra or the eye for non-AAA products and cheekiness of RPS, it was still one of the places within the whole IGN Network that still felt like it was run by people instead of journo-robots. At one point I even tried to get a job there writing, many moons ago.

After 14 years, their doors are being shuttered.

Just to be clear, we're not being shut down because PC gaming isn't a big, important, and growing thing -- because it is. That's not even debatable. It's not even because the GameSpy staff did a bad job of talking about it. Hell, from where I'm sitting we did an awesome job, particularly in covering the technical quality of PC versions of cross-platform games in our Port Authority features, reality-checking the hype of about-to-be-released big games with our Questions & Concerns series, delving into the nuances of MMORPGs, strategy, MOBAs, and simulations in our columns, regularly checking up on free-to-play games in Free Agent, calling out Microsoft's neglect of PC gamers, mocking Ubisoft's claims of a day-and-date PC release of Assassin's Creed 3, breaking the news on SimCity's lack of save/reload, and of course our amazingly bizarre The War Z interview.

Why is this closure happening, then? It's a business thing, and like most business things it's not easy to explain or understand unless you spend all day crunching numbers and paying bills. Which I don't. So here's the simple version that even I can comprehend: Ziff Davis wants to run an efficient, focused company, and managing several different sites that all cover videogames isn't exactly the model of efficiency. Even though GameSpy had its own unique voice that was separate and distinct from those of our sister sites, and there has always been value in that, it's hard to argue with that logic. Even if it does totally suck.

I kinda knew something was going on when the PS4 announce happened yesterday and there wasn't a lick of news on the site.

Sucks, but I've always questioned why IGN and Gamespy existed side-by-side. There's always been a bit of redundancy, and unfortunately for Gamespy, IGN has always been the larger site (even if I think their articles are absolute shit and are often just shoveling industry PR and marketing notices at readers.) Hopefully some of those guys can go on to get jobs writing for sites that aren't part of a huge, corporate network.

[Girlinhat]

At first I was like "A 'game news' site goes down?  Good!"  But then I thought about it a little more, and I think Gamespy is one of the few places I've seen actually talk down to AAA games.  They've generally called it as it is, decrying whatever is bad and promoting whatever is good, no matter the producer.

As for the rest of the sites out there?  I could get the same information just watching commercials, for all the repetition and inflating they do...

[sluissa]

Yeah... it's somewhat sad. Love them or hate them, they're one of the old names in the games journalism industry and losing them is like hearing the New York Times went out of business.

[Tilla]

There were some very good writers employed at Gamespy or as freelancers for them - Nathan from Rock Paper Shotgun, Dan Stapleton (of all manner of old magazines), Puppy Enthusiast Matt Rorie just got hired last month after his last site changed ownership. Sad but I think inevitable - half the time Gamespy.com won't actually load the first time due to some form of bug.

[Neonivek]

It's a business thing, and like most business things it's not easy to explain or understand unless you spend all day crunching numbers and paying bills

Who do they think they are, Akagi?

We can understand basic "we arn't earning enough money" or "We are earning money but we could earn more other ways". I guess they are so busy doing an "Awesome job" that they simply cannot explain it to our small minds.

[aristabulus]

I miss the old Daily Victim comic thing they ran once upon a time.  Supposedly there was to be a change of artists, and then it died in the cocoon.

[Catastrophic lolcats]

I don't really have much to say about Gamespy. It's been a pretty indifferent relationship with myself only occasionally reading their articles and getting right annoyed with their awful multiplayer framework.
Now that I think about it I'm rather sad to see a company so focused on PC gaming going under. I suppose the day of the big reviewer websites are over and the freelance gamer blogs are taking over, I would have preferred if it was IGN to go first however.

[Digital Hellhound]

As long as RPS doesn't go under, I'm happy. PCGamer's nice too. I don't think I've read articles by any other gaming sites (unless linked by RPS in their Sunday Papers) in years.

[ank]

I fondly remember Gamespy as matchmaking service.
There was a time where Gamespy was the only way to play Total Annihilation online(barring TCP/IP)
They also supported a ton of games that would have no multiplayer if it weren't for Gamespy.

Never ever read a Gamespy article though.
Still: RIP!