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GameFAQs Acquired by CNET
Gamefaq addict writes "GameFAQs has apparently been sold to CNET. The operator says it will stay free for now, but premium services may be introduced later." Looks like a good deal all around. CNET gets the first site most people turn to when they need to get past level two of the dungeon, and GameFAQs gets an added boost. Makes me curious what premium features they have in mind, and how useful they'll be.
I remember when SegaSages got 'acquired' by IGN, and it turned into some lame, half-assed attempt at going 'legit' at making it a business... You know--keeping some of it free, some of it pay, tons of annoying ads (I say that, but I don't see them thanks to Mozilla--I assume they are there.), and the usual things going FUBAR during the 'change of ownership' for the first few months afterwards.
And now this is going to happen to GameFAQ's too? *Sarcastically* Great--another site that I'll have to ignore from now on, and rely on other fan-sites for the info I need.
The announcement said:
You still own what you've submitted to GameFAQs.
If you've submitted FAQs, codes, reviews, or other content to GameFAQs over the years, it's no more CNET's than it ever was mine to own. You still have the right to remove anything you've submitted to the site, although naturally I'd be more than happy to try and talk you out of it. Your work was not sold to CNET; in fact, it was specifically excluded.
Concerning the cost:
GameFAQs will still be free. We're not cutting off any part of the site and making you pay for any of it. From the FAQs to the Message Boards, everything you see today for no charge on the site will be free tomorrow. While we may someday introduce new features that require payment, nothing you see today is going to be turned into a premium service.
I have to admit that I am a bit skeptical myself, but I have enjoyed Download.com and Computers.com free of charge for a couple of years now. I have benefited a lot from GamFAQs. I'm glad he'll get a paycheck AND a pager-free vacation from time to time.
- http://www.braveterry.com/
You all are paranoid nuts I swear. OK, quick, what other gaming site does CNET own? ...Thats right, GAMESPOT.
Gamespot is almost the opposite of IGN, where as IGN locks new content in a magic box of money, gamespot gives you the most up-to-date content for free, but charge you to visit the archives. Gamespot complete members ($20? $25? I forget how much I paid, *last year*) get other premium perks like professionally written FAQs.
Getting the idea now? Think: well produced gameguides by professional writers with a paid subscription. User written guides on gamefaqs have ranged from pure gold all the way down to horrid, illiterate drivel. You pick what you want to read.
Maybe they'll even have some sort of payback system for the authors...
I don't really mind double posts on
And here's why... all the content on gamefaqs was written by people sitting in front of their computer/PS2/XBox/Nintendo and writing down the information. It wasn't written by "journalists", but by fans. Fans like these despise ad-cluttered, overly-designed sites like GameSpot or IGN.
The result? The faq-writing "scene" will just migrate to a new site. All you people bitching, get off your duffs and get some hosting offering MySQL and CGI access. It's all plaintext, it's not hard to store. Recreate gamefaqs somewhere else. It's not going to be hard.
http://s3.cgi.gamefaqs.com/boards/genmessage.asp?b oard=4&topic=8340244
Looks like the sky may not be falling after all.
On the site that I had, it covered about 1/8. If I had used skyscrapers, interstitials, and pop-ups, I probably could have knocked about 1/2 the site's cost.
It was still too little, though, especially given how many users that would have driven away.
*everything* is Orwellian to cats.
GameFaqs has a really great selection of FAQs but its problem is that it does not 'own' any of the FAQ submissions. GameRankings mainly owns a database filled with statistics and although not easily replicated there are alternatives.
I prefer GameTab to GameRankings (and to a lesser extent MetaCritic.com). GameTab is not owned by a large company like CNet and has a much nicer design and set of user features. It also uses quotes in its review summary pages and quotes help me decide much more easily than raw numbers whether or not a game will be to my liking. So for now on I'll be supporting GameTab (but I'm sure I'll go to GameFaqs because as of yet there is no nice alternative to that site.)
For a site that gets many, MANY referals a day just 'cause anyone who's anyone points to gamefaq's faq's? Also direct links.
Even if the files are small, a lot of hits can change 5megs in a month to 50megs in a month.
Also note, penny-arcade has taken its own initiatives to generate revanue.
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ping -f 255.255.255.255 # if only
As a former employee of ZiffDavis, here's what happened:
late 1999: Cnet buys www.zdnet.com, not ZiffDavis publishers, which is owned in part by a huge japanese bank and by the ZiffDavis publishing house (e-news, pcmag, CGW, EGM, etc.)
sometime in 2001: ZiffDavis launches www.extremetech.com, to accompany www.pcmag.com. Both sites publishes news and tech reviews. Most of pcmag editors and analysts stay with www.pcmag.com and www.extremetech.com, while www.zdnet.com gets a new set of analysts, and some of them aren't even real journalists.
ZiffDavis does not owns www.gamespot.com, it was sold along with www.zdnet.com. Whereas zdnet.com has largely turned into an advertising board for microsoft, gamespot.com still is a very usefull gaming site, even in the free content side.
Why do it? they already have a pretty good contract with gamefaqs, why not expand it?