IGN acquired the Gamer Network including RPS, Eurogamer, VG247 and more

It's not only game publishers that have been consolidating their power buying up lots of developers and other publishers, it's also happening in gaming media with IGN buying up the Gamer Network.

This means IGN Entertainment now control GamesIndustry.biz, Eurogamer, Rock Paper Shotgun, VG247, and Dicebreaker. They also hold shares in Outside Xbox, Digital Foundry, and Hookshot (which operates Nintendo life, Push Square, Pure Xbox, and Time Extension). They were purchased for an "undisclosed sum".

IGN didn't say in their own news post on it but right away they fired a bunch of people, as confirmed by GamesIndustry.biz in their article as they noted "As a result of the acquisition, some redundancies have been made across the UK-based organisation.".

As for why they are doing this? Well, the internet sucks right now.

More websites are employing the use of AI, pushing out actual people. Spamming search engines, which pushes down everyone else and it's only going to get worse as AI is pushed more and more. This feels like IGN ensuring people come to them, as eventually the only sites that may be able to weather the AI storm are those that are just too big to fall.

It's just another reminder to directly support those you find useful and whose content you enjoy.