Fox buys IGN for $650 million

[AgtFox]

Read it on Evil Avatar with a story from The Independant in England.  You have to register to read the whole thing of course, but it only sounds like Murdoch is eyeing IGN for $800 million and not that it has actually been sold to him.  Wow, I'm surprised IGN is getting even close to what it was asking for...way overpriced if you ask me.

[stiffler]

[Knightshade Dragon]

YES YES YES!!!  

This means IGN will be run into the GROUND!  Oh man I hope this is true...that'd just make my day.  *grin*

[Hetz]

Awesome!

I for one can't wait for their new "Fair and Balanced" review system to start up, where every game by Nintendo gets a 9 or better and tons of praise while every game by Microsoft gets a 4 or worse!

 

[Chaz]

Oh, you mean they're adopting the Gamespot ratings system?  But their current, "Everything is UBAR!!  9.9!!!11!!!" has been working so well for them.  

[Calvin]

800 million? How could they possibly be bringing in any real revenue in the first place much less enough to justify 800 goddamn million?

[Knightshade Dragon]

Its OBVIOUS Rage...its their stellar layout!  Isn't it clean and easy to navigate?  :roll:  :roll:

[Calvin]

Its OBVIOUS Rage...its their stellar layout!  Isn't it clean and easy to navigate?  :roll:  :roll:

Well, in all fairness, it was entirely uphill after that goddamn McIGN traveshemockery. Jesus I thought I would have to claw my own eyes out.  :roll:

[AgtFox]

Well, IGN was planning to IPO and hoped to get $1 billion off of stocks.  They actually own a lot of important property that they've picked up lately, namely:

Gamespy/Fileplanet/All the Planets and Vaults
Rotten Tomatoes
AskMen.com (don't laugh, it's in the top 1,000 sites)

They've built themselves into a media conglomerate (DVD, Movie, Comics, Video Games, Cars, Music...they review them all).  What better company to buy them than Fox, a company trying to rule the media landscape worldwide.

[Canuck]

Actually in terms of the layout I prefer IGN to Gamespot.  It's so much easier to browse reviews and such.  I used to be a huge believer in IGN (ie. 7 years ago) but I take everything they say with a block of salt nowadays.

[-Lord Ebonstone-]

So will we soon be getting Bill O'Reilly game reviews, where military-ops games set in the middle east score big while anything else is called unamerican?

[Devil]

So will we soon be getting Bill O'Reilly game reviews, where military-ops games set in the middle east score big while anything else is called unamerican?

IN!

[-Lord Ebonstone-]

So will we soon be getting Bill O'Reilly game reviews, where military-ops games set in the middle east score big while anything else is called unamerican?

IN!

I have to say that I'd probably be 'IN!' for it too, if only because it'd raise the journalistic integrity of IGN a couple notches.

[Sparhawk]

Didn't IGN used to have a lot of video reviews and shows waaaaay back in the day? Or was that Gamespot?

[stiffler]

Didn't IGN used to have a lot of video reviews and shows waaaaay back in the day? Or was that Gamespot?

They did but apparently wasn't as profitable or something.  Too hard to sell reviews, er ad revenue I guess.  I liked that section where they'd have articles about The Simpsons and things like that.  The whole IGN empire seems a bit too fragmented to shove it all under one roof.  Games being the main focus and then the little comic section, the dvd section, etc.  I flip through their FilmForce (or whatever it's called) simply because I'm too lazy to go to the multiple sites they rip shit off from.

Hey, their video game database thing is nifty!

[fyedaddy]

I'm going on my second year of an IGN subscription and have gotten my money's worth. Not from the IGN reviews perse, but by the sheer amount of information the site seems to have availbale (be it release dates, media clips, etc). I've always enjoyed their collection tracking and news update emails.

Unfortunately, if this rumor becomes truth and FOX buys them out, I'm immediately cancelling my subscription. I refuse to support the FOX machine and they'll go on my boycott list next to EA and Wal Mart.

[Eco-Logic]

I'm going on my second year of an IGN subscription and have gotten my money's worth. Not from the IGN reviews perse, but by the sheer amount of information the site seems to have availbale (be it release dates, media clips, etc). I've always enjoyed their collection tracking and news update emails.

Unfortunately, if this rumor becomes truth and FOX buys them out, I'm immediately cancelling my subscription. I refuse to support the FOX machine and they'll go on my boycott list next to EA and Wal Mart.

Fox News owns.

[Eco-Logic]

And IGN isn't worth $800 million!

[AgtFox]

Fox has definitive agreement to buy IGN for $650 million.  So, they bought it for $150 million less than originally rumored.  I wonder if they are going to reshuffle IGN or not...I can't imagine they'd have that many websites when all is said and done.

Here's some words from Rupert Murdoch:

Rupert Murdoch, News Corporation's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said: "With the acquisition of IGN and its 28 million unique users, we have gone a long way toward achieving two of our key strategic objectives in our efforts to become a leading and profitable internet presence. First, we have significantly enhanced our online reach, strengthening our position as the fifth most trafficked presence on the web. We also become the fourth largest network in terms of monthly page impressions. And second, we have furthered our strategy to leverage the unique competencies the company enjoys with its news, sports, and entertainment assets to create a leading internet destination. By acquiring IGN and its compelling sites, we now have top entertainment sites to go along with FOXSports.com, as well as our myriad news sites, headlined by FOXNews.com."

[Doopri]

something is "worth" whatever some jackass is willing to pay for it...

consider it an investment in a $650 million slush fund and / or tax write off

[Knightshade Dragon]

I'm gonna go ahead and get my hopes up that IGN crumbles under its own girth.  *bliss*

[Destructor]

Its OBVIOUS Rage...its their stellar layout!  Isn't it clean and easy to navigate?  :roll:  :roll:

Well, in all fairness, it was entirely uphill after that goddamn McIGN traveshemockery. Jesus I thought I would have to claw my own eyes out.  :roll:

http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php?date=2003-09-10&res=l

[unbreakable]

This is the smartest purchase since the AOL/Time Warner merger  :roll:

[whiteboyskim]

I'm gonna go ahead and get my hopes up that IGN crumbles under its own girth.  *bliss*

If only they would go back to blatantly whoring of McGriddles....


mmmm.... McGriddles.....


From News Corp's perspective, I could see them shutting down a few of those sites and merging them into some others. But good Lord if they do another redesign on IGN's site and it actually turns out worse than it is now? The internet might asplode.

[ChaoZ]

I'm not even certain I would buy IGN for $8 million if I had the money.

Bloated beyond belief and not a good rep out there either.

[Calvin]

Waste.of.money. Just insane. Go Fox!! No wonder you're my least favorite network/news/etc.

[ChaoZ]

Fox could've used 800 million to buy 20 damn good shows from Joss Whedon.

[JayG]

or Console Gold.

[Calvin]

or Console Gold.

I'd be shocked if someone hadn't tried to buy Console Gold from Ron already. Hell, my not-anywhere-nearly-as-impressive-site that I ran for a couple years had a couple offers for purchase (They were pathetic offers, but still).