Rock, Paper, Shotgun

RPS Announces Partnership With Eurogamer

By Jim Rossignol on June 1st, 2010 at 4:01 pm.

Yes, we have kissed Eurogamer, all of them.
Blimey, news about us! What does it mean? Well, you might have noticed that our adverts are a bit nob. We’ve been working on fixing that so that we can both make a bit more money and look a little less like we’re run out of a shy teenager’s attic. Eurogamer have stepped in to help out, which means RPS is soon going to become bigger and maybe even a bit better. And prettier, too, probably. We’re still editorially independent – we still own the site and control all the content – and will remain a bastion of PC gaming righteousness. We’ll just be doing it from a golden helicopter-fortress over the Bahamas. Any questions? Ask ‘em below. (I also put the press release down there, to show off.)

For Immediate Release:

Eurogamer Announces Rock, Paper, Shotgun Sales Partnership

Brighton, England, 1st June 2010. Eurogamer, Europe’s leading independent games media specialist, is delighted to announce that it has entered a partnership with Rock, Paper, Shotgun (www.rockpapershotgun.com), the UK’s most popular PC gaming website.

The sales deal will see Eurogamer Network acting as Rock, Paper, Shotgun’s sole agent for advertising sales and business development.

Rock, Paper, Shotgun was founded in August 2007 by games industry veterans Kieron Gillen, Alec Meer, John Walker and Jim Rossignol, and attracts over half a million unique users each month with its mix of interviews, commentary, irreverent news and running gags about the staring eyes of respected industry figures.

Rock, Paper, Shotgun is also one of a small number of sites recently added to Valve Software’s Steam client, a digital download delivery system that boasts 25 million installations.

“Working with Eurogamer, a company which has demonstrated the same independent spirit as RPS, makes a huge amount of sense,” said Rock, Paper, Shotgun’s Jim Rossignol.

“The majority of our contributors have worked with the Eurogamer team over the years, too, so it’s a relationship of trust, tea and occasional high-fives.”

Rupert Loman, managing director of Eurogamer Network, commented: “We’re incredibly pleased to be working with Rock, Paper, Shotgun. They’re a hugely talented team whose staunchly independent editorial approach complements that of our own.

“The partnership represents another growth area for our network and a great opportunity for the commercial development of Rock, Paper, Shotgun.”

Rock, Paper, Shotgun will remain editorially independent and intends to invest the fruits of this agreement in extending its coverage of PC gaming, orchestrating more community events and generally improving the quality of service for the many splendid Rock, Paper, Shotgun readers.

Visit Rock, Paper, Shotgun here: www.rockpapershotgun.com

For information on advertising with Rock, Paper, Shotgun please contact:

Dan Robinson

E: dan@eurogamer.net

Tel: 01273 712 550

About Eurogamer Network:

Founded in 1999, Brighton-based Eurogamer Network is the publisher of Europe’s most popular independent videogames website, Eurogamer.net. The site is available in eleven languages across Europe. The company also hosts the Eurogamer Expo and publishes the world’s market-leading industry resource, GamesIndustry.biz. Its newest launch is Megaton.co.uk, a games site for kids. See www.eurogamer.biz for more information on the company’s products and services.

And a theme tune for this momentous event…

__________________

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226 Comments »

  1. 01/06/2010 at 16:03 Greg Wild says:

    That’s superfly, yo.

  2. 01/06/2010 at 16:04 M says:

    Wait, not sure what this means. Is the site staying here, they’re just managing your ads?

    Well done, either way. This is what we all wanted to see – RPS growing!

  3. 01/06/2010 at 16:04 PhiIl Cameron says:

    Congrats! Make beautiful Eurogamer babies!

  4. 01/06/2010 at 16:05 Heliocentric says:

    Do not want. The artist must be starved.

    • 02/06/2010 at 09:08 Hmm-Hmm. says:

      Exactly! Starvation and deprivation yield inspiration which leads to art!

      Surely this windfall will only lead to ruin in the end! Although, that ruin may lead to despair which can provide fruit for inspiration..

      Alas, all is lost!

  5. 01/06/2010 at 16:06 Ashen says:

    Please don’t change the layout to anything resembling eurogamer..

  6. 01/06/2010 at 16:06 Mister Hands says:

    Hooray, pip pip, congrats, etc!

  7. 01/06/2010 at 16:06 Stuk says:

    Yay! Congrats guys!

    When you say prettier… I hope you don’t mean you’re going to lose the easy to read indie-blog stylings for some over the top design? Please :)

  8. 01/06/2010 at 16:07 Nathan says:

    I can see what the benefits are for RPS in terms of increased ad revenue, but how does Eurogamer benefit from this partnership?

  9. 01/06/2010 at 16:08 skalpadda says:

    I hope this works out well for you. Will this have any other effects than just advertising though? I don’t mind Eurogamer, but I hope RPS will stay as it is :)

  10. 01/06/2010 at 16:08 VelvetFistIronGlove says:

    Eurockpapershotgamer!

  11. 01/06/2010 at 16:08 James says:

    I live in Brighton. One day I will work for Eurogamer, mark my words!

  12. 01/06/2010 at 16:08 wcaypahwat says:

    Bloody corporate sellouts….

    just kidding. I’m kinda sick of Evony adverts, especially considering how well loved they are around these parts. You won’t be dropping the GoG ads though?

  13. 01/06/2010 at 16:08 Azazel says:

    Brit Awards are sure to follow.

  14. 01/06/2010 at 16:09 AndrewC says:

    So confused! Is this, like, a joint bargaining thing where you can offer more page impressions therefore get more money per ad? Or something? Succesful Internet business models are really interesting, and also like good sequels to Deus Ex.

    Also what will you be doing for all the really terrible RPS readers?

    So many questions.

  15. 01/06/2010 at 16:09 Mario Figueiredo says:

    hmm… still Independent? Really? Ok.
    Congratulations, honestly.

    I’m just eery of the whole thing. You guys celebrate.

    • 01/06/2010 at 16:17 Kieron Gillen says:

      Mario: Basically, RPS is much more popular than most people think. Our page impressions are worth a fair bit more money than we get for them. We’re just incredibly bad at selling them. EG have a great ads sale team that already exist and can handle it. They sell the ads, we split the money. We should make considerably more money than we do now, meaning everyone can spend less time working for other mags and sites, which makes the site better, etc, etc.

      That’s the plan, anyway.

      KG

    • 01/06/2010 at 16:35 Mario Figueiredo says:

      I understand Kieron. I trully do. I’ve guessed that much when shortly after arriving here for the first time I clicked the tiny subscribe link at the top of the page. And you guys confirmed it with the recent request for more subscriptions (not because you requested it, but because you admitted important technical limitations that were constraining you from gathering money in a more effective manner).

      Just… please, please do not fall down the hole. Keep the great work you folks have been doing. It’s been truly amazing. And definitely the reason why you get so many hits. For all that matters, I’m personally happy for you guys. I think you deserve it.

      I’m just sad it couldn’t have happened in another way. And a tad bit worried because I’ve seen this before… a little everywhere. But I’m confident this will not be another one of those stories.

    • 01/06/2010 at 16:46 jeremypeel says:

      Seconded. Also, thanks for letting us know, you community-minded lovelies.

    • 01/06/2010 at 16:57 Vayl says:

      So when you publish some controversial stuff like bashing on Ubisoft DRM, how will it affect the advertizing deals of Eurogamer?

      Very skeptic about the viability of remaining completly editorial free when the money starts to talk, but let’s hope for the better.

    • 01/06/2010 at 17:35 Mario Figueiredo says:

      @Vayl,

      This agreement with Eurogamer does not bring anything new to what are RPS journalists relationship with the gaming industry. They will feel the same kind of pressures as before. No more, no less. Neither is this relationship in such a bad shape that the simple fact of bashing a DRM could put a gaming magazine(website, whatever) out of circulation.

      You shouldn’t worry about that. I don’t expect the incisiveness of the RPS folks to degrade in any way, because of this. They will keep doing what they ever did. If they think the game sucks or has parts that suck, you’ll hear about it here. Often before anywhere else.

      I’m more worried with any possible conflicts of interest between Eurogamer and RPS and hoping they will be dealt with by both parties without this deal coming up as a trump.

      What conflicts of interest could those be?
      - RPS being denied coverage because Eurogamer wants to do it first.
      - Deals between both to control the flow of information on both websites.
      - Some hypothetical Eurogamer bad publicity news event not being properly covered by RPS. Or RPS being “suggested” to not cover it.
      - etc.

      But the relationships between gaming journalists and the gaming press will be as sour or sweet as it always as been, depending on the moon.

      For the problems above, I’m trusting they will never be. Or if they come to be, RPS can deal with this without being shown the way out door. And if they are told that, they show their cojones by taking it.

    • 01/06/2010 at 18:43 The Telemetrics of Robert Francis Bailey says:

      *Reaches for tin-foil hat* – Only joking.

      In all seriousness though, the world turns and people sadly need money to eat.
      I for one welcome our new Eurogamer overlords.

    • 01/06/2010 at 23:27 Durkan says:

      Popular ? really ? say it aint so K!

      I thought this was a quiet little corner of the internet where you 4 wrote solely for my benefit – Now I find your talking to 499,999 other people a day!!

      I mean I know there are these other people commenting butI assumed you made it all up.

      I feel used and unloved… sniflle

      Seriously though I like the fact this site feels a bit more intimate like chatting in the pub than “other popular game sites”. The only problem I have is work have banished you to the ebil side of the pigging firewall all of a sudden limiting my lunchtime fix.

  16. 01/06/2010 at 16:10 davbo says:

    Should we expect to see any of those “take-over” ad’s such as the SBK X ad currently on the eurogamer front page?

    • 01/06/2010 at 16:25 Heliocentric says:

      Those ads are spectacular bullshit when you can’t access the damn site because of them on mobile browsers. Never mind protesting i couldn’t access eurogamer for a week.

    • 01/06/2010 at 17:36 Cooper says:

      This

      Eurogamer is one of the better sites out there for their use of advertising, so I can see this being overall a Good Thing (TM)

      However, those splash ads that Eurogamer use on occasion vary between being acceptable and browsing-inhibiting. Please memo them that if they use that style on good ol’ RPS, they are to do so with care and attention – and possibly only for games that are good.

      It always seems like a massive oversight on the marketing dept.’s half when a whole games website is sponsored by those splash ads for a game they then give an average or bad review for…

  17. 01/06/2010 at 16:10 Solivagant says:

    I hope you will include an RPS skin. The blood / explosion / gore mixture on the top is golden.

  18. 01/06/2010 at 16:12 DollarOfReactivity says:

    Yay for RPS acquiring business people to do their business stuff, and leave themselves to focus on the PC and its many games. I expect the quality of your puns to increase accordingly.

  19. 01/06/2010 at 16:12 Pijama says:

    Hooray!

    (But if I find that some silly artist has changed the look of RPS to something “edgy” or any crap like that… THERE WILL BE HELL TO PAY)

  20. 01/06/2010 at 16:14 Darius K. says:

    Excellent. This means less time worrying about advertising and more time worrying about how to say something remotely coherent. Congrats!

  21. 01/06/2010 at 16:14 Alexander Norris says:

    If the ads are all EG ads and nothing else, I shall probably disable my adblocker.

  22. 01/06/2010 at 16:15 Cunzy1 1 says:

    Eurogamer sold out!

  23. 01/06/2010 at 16:16 Heliocentric says:

    “intends to invest the fruits of this agreement in extending coverage of PC gaming, orchestrating more community events, generally improving the quality of the service for the many Rock Paper Shotgun readers and golden helicopters.”

    Fixed

  24. 01/06/2010 at 16:20 Vitamin Powered says:

    I await eagerly the first “rockpapershotgun used to be so much better b4 Eurogamer! They’ve sold out!” post.

    More seriously, congratulations to the team, and hope this leads to even more awesomeness.

  25. 01/06/2010 at 16:23 Tim says:

    Smart. Congrats!

  26. 01/06/2010 at 16:23 Colthor says:

    Can I have a go in the helicopter?

    And can you keep the GOG ad? It saves me typing an eleven-character URL a couple of times a week. Without it my fingers would surely fall off, and then I’d crash your helicopter and everybody would be sad.

    • 01/06/2010 at 17:03 skalpadda says:

      I’ll second the request to keep the GoG ad, it’s really handy.

    • 02/06/2010 at 02:25 noerartnoe says:

      You do know that (at least in firefox) simply typing in “gog” gets you to the site right?
      (gog.com works as well if you’re not – like me – too lazy to type a dot and three letters extra)

      Admittedly, typing “goodoldgames” is a bit more fun, but hey… :p

    • 02/06/2010 at 02:31 noerartnoe says:

      Sorry for the double: I will however, third the request in regards to the GOG ad seeing as it really is a brilliant site and should be advertised :p

  27. 01/06/2010 at 16:25 Matt says:

    I’m fine with this as long as the site doesn’t begin to look like Eurogamer. That site is literally one of the worst looking professional sites I’ve seen, sorry.

  28. 01/06/2010 at 16:25 Jambe says:

    I’d thought maybe this’d mean your comments system & forums would be made non-silly. But that doesn’t seem to be the case… so I just won’t use them much.

    Ah well. Good news, anyway, and congratulations!

    • 03/06/2010 at 10:31 Thermal Ions says:

      But half the reason I visit the site is to laugh at people’s failed reply comments.

      Nah not really, but I do laugh at them still.

  29. 01/06/2010 at 16:25 Ian says:

    So what’s in for ME?

  30. 01/06/2010 at 16:29 Solario says:

    Congratulations on getting rich like astronauts, guys!

  31. 01/06/2010 at 16:31 Okami says:

    *sigh*
    I can remember when all this was just fields and you were just four kids running through the woods. And now you’re all grown up and stuff.

    I’m so proud of you!

  32. 01/06/2010 at 16:32 Vadermath says:

    Hell yeah! You people keep finding ways of being more awesome.

  33. 01/06/2010 at 16:32 Morph says:

    As long as this does not somehow cause RPS to be blocked on my work PC (like Eurogamer is) then congrats.

  34. 01/06/2010 at 16:35 Erik says:

    Excellent! This site is in dire need of acai berry and ‘Mom’s secret for teeth whitening’ ads.

    • 01/06/2010 at 19:19 Oddtwang says:

      Can’t just be me that finds the “fact” that it was discovered by “A MOM” as opposed to, say, a research chemist* offputting rather than appealing.

      *Clearly research chemists can also be mothers. I’d just expect them to use the former qualification when selling me crap.

    • 01/06/2010 at 21:06 Koozer says:

      But surely everyone knows the scientists are out to get you with their E numbers and GM crops, and are all bastards for not getting around to curing cancer and solving world hunger yet. It’s obvious that an average mother has a better grasp on things than those know-it-all boffins.

  35. 01/06/2010 at 16:36 The_B says:

    I propose as the first joint act, Kieron reviews little known MMORPG, Darkfall.

    Oh, wait…

  36. 01/06/2010 at 16:38 Junch says:

    I have a bad feeling about this… as long as advertisers don’t take over the content. After all, big games companies buys out ad spaces on sites and in turn, sites don’t give those games bad rep.

    I hope it doesn’t become like that

  37. 01/06/2010 at 16:38 Karacan says:

    As long as you don’t start giving way-off marks like Eurogamers, all’s good. I love Rock Paper Shotgun and can’t believe that some of your authors also write for Eurogamer. The style is so different. Thankfully, for RPS.

  38. 01/06/2010 at 16:39 James G says:

    Congratulations. May you all wear hats made of money. (Alec will have to wear two hats made of money, given his other job related news)

  39. 01/06/2010 at 16:39 simonkaye says:

    Wait – if Eurogamer bankrolls RPS, where does MJ-12 fit in? Or the illuminati?

    • 01/06/2010 at 18:28 Frankie The Patrician[PF] says:

      Eurogamer is punded by MJ-12.

      And no more jokes about Brickton…*sadface*
      Boot note:
      don’t ask for any examples @ RPS…I just know there must’ve been some!

  40. 01/06/2010 at 16:41 Unaco says:

    Wait… There are ads on RPS? May Allah be praised for AdBlocker!
    First time I see or hear about an Interstitial Ad though, I’m gone… Gone I say! Gone like Family values among the lower classes, and plucky British optimism in the face of diversity.

    • 01/06/2010 at 16:47 Heliocentric says:

      You mean adversity, or that brits are all racist.

    • 01/06/2010 at 17:03 James G says:

      I assume (s)he did mean the latter, or rather intended it as a witty pun, mocking the kind of people who go on about “Dunkirk spirit” but then seemingly collapse into fits of apoplexy when they realise that they might have to live next to someone with a slightly different accent to them, or who might like kissing people with the same sex-chomosomes as them. (The same kind of people who complain about the lack of ‘family values in the lower classes’)

      In other words, I thought it was a clever little joke, and one I’m very tempted to steal.

    • 02/06/2010 at 13:52 Unaco says:

      I actually meant Diversity, not diversity, the street dance troupe, and winners of Britain’s Got Talent in 2009. If they are the best this country has to offer, we’re in trouble. I just forgot to capitalise the proper noun is all. Sorry for the confusion.

  41. 01/06/2010 at 16:44 Fumarole says:

    I read that as Oprah. *shudder*

  42. 01/06/2010 at 16:46 Pew says:

    Shiver me timber! You’ll have enough gold to choke a whale!

    Sounds like a smart and logical partnership. Carry on.

  43. 01/06/2010 at 16:47 DollarOfReactivity says:

    Oh, and:

    UK’s most popular PC gaming website

    Yes! Quality and integrity win over the rabbling masses. Rabble rabble!

    • 01/06/2010 at 17:56 Lack_26 says:

      But if you apply hipster logic, RPS being popular means that it is no longer ‘cool’. Quick! change everything into a DOS-like format and make it as inaccessible as possible before everything is ruined forever! (I remember RPS when started, before it got popular *grumble, grumble*)

  44. 01/06/2010 at 16:49 Clovis says:

    I hope I can find a way to word this correctly. I currently subscribe to RPS because I really enjoy the writing and news here. I don’t subscribe to anything else like this; I signed up because I really wanted this site to continue to exist and for y’all to have plenty of time to focus on writing the “This is why I love RPS” type articles.

    Anyway, so the question is, do you still need that kind of support from the readers? Or will ad viewing and occasional click-through be enough keep things running well? Will the subscriptions go from being a sort of “donation” to more of an exclusive club? I like the newsletter and occasional codes, but I wouldn’t subscribe just for that.

    Either way, this definitely sounds like a good thing for the site, so congrats.

  45. 01/06/2010 at 16:51 Kez says:

    Remember your motto: Don’t be weevil.

  46. 01/06/2010 at 16:54 bitter says:

    Sellouts

  47. 01/06/2010 at 16:56 nabeel says:

    Congratulations!

  48. 01/06/2010 at 16:58 Schaulustiger says:

    Ummmm… one of the things I liked about RPS was your strict ad policy, meaning no pop-up stuff, no “fills my whole screen and I need five minutes to find the close-button” flash crap.

    Are those times over now? I would make a very sad panda face if they were :(

  49. 01/06/2010 at 16:59 pabswikk says:

    I LOVE YOU RPS.
    Sorry, just wanted to make sure you guys know that. Should probably read the article now…

  50. 01/06/2010 at 17:00 Vague-rant says:

    First thing I could think of was Britain joining the Euro.

    • 01/06/2010 at 21:29 Jimbo says:

      Yes, I suppose 97% of our gaming news will come from Brussels now, written by unelected journalists – and who has to pay for it?? Muggins here, that’s who. Don’t even get me started on the DRM treaty referendum we were promised.

    • 01/06/2010 at 23:28 Bascule42 says:

      You aint gonna get me in no Euro sucka.

  51. 01/06/2010 at 17:01 Auspex says:

    Was it really necessary to sacrifice Alec to gamesindustry.bz to seal the deal though?

  52. 01/06/2010 at 17:04 origo says:

    Hmm, just wondering, where is Quinns?

    Last thing i heard of him was about his review on eurogamer being taken down. and now that i look at it, he’s no longer a part of RPS.

  53. 01/06/2010 at 17:05 Kevin says:

    Does that mean we can look forward to the RPS Electronic Wireless Show going weekly? With Kieron and Alec hosting regularly alongside John and Jim? And recorded with much better sound quality?

  54. 01/06/2010 at 17:10 oceanclub says:

    _EURO_gamer? Does this mean the distinctly British RPS will now be cheese-scented? Will all articles have to come in a standard metric size? It’s political correctness GONE MAD.

    P.

  55. 01/06/2010 at 17:21 laikapants says:

    I live in moderate fear of that very thing every single day. RPS, Gamasutra and the Wolfire Blog are the only games related sites I’ve been able to access at work. The blighter even blocks the ever so lovely Word of Notch, which I’m not even sure how they know about it.

    • 01/06/2010 at 17:55 Heliocentric says:

      When i was at college they blocked rps. I bypassed it by having the ethernet cable unplugged when i turned the college pc on. Fear my elite skills.

  56. 01/06/2010 at 17:22 Tang says:

    Good news, as long as they don’t take over your advertising then I’ll be happy… Oh wait… Does this mean the site will now be covered by fullscreen background adverts and mouse-over monstrosities?

  57. 01/06/2010 at 17:27 Garg says:

    Frankly I’m surprised PCG UK didn’t try and do something like this, as they seem to be working on gearing up more of an online presence (and failing, sadly, due to a godawful website design).

  58. 01/06/2010 at 17:57 terry says:

    If this means you guys get more time writing about the games I adore and less time forcibly inserting high quality Luis Vuitton handbags into incoherent Albanian mass-marketers the better.

  59. 01/06/2010 at 18:02 Dean says:

    This is upsetting. It’s the first step towards a full takeover clearly.

    This time next year Eurogamer will be owned by the RPS hivemind. And don’t think IGN is safe after that either.

    Run while you still can.

    • 02/06/2010 at 04:56 The Hammer says:

      Rofl! Ahahahahaha. I liked that.

      Reminds me of that question that was put to Gabe Newell, about one day Microsoft or EA owning Valve.

      “Tell them I’m not interested in buying either one of them.”

  60. 01/06/2010 at 18:04 Vinraith says:

    Sounds good, I’m glad to hear you guys will be able to back off the more intrusive ads (I can stop adblocking you again, I hate doing that even as a subscriber) and potentially get a steadier and more significant stream of income. You do damn good work, you should be paid for it so you can keep doing it. Cheers!

    • 01/06/2010 at 18:10 Clovis says:

      I’m not sure that’s what that means Vinraith. A lot of the commenters are afraid that we will now get Eurogamer style ads, and I haven’t seen a denial of that so far. RPS is going to get paid more to host the ads, so that might mean more intrusive ads.

    • 01/06/2010 at 18:14 Vinraith says:

      @Clovis

      Not being a eurogamer reader by-and-large, I don’t know what “Eurogamer-style ads” are. I’m basing this on Jim’s earlier comments about fewer skeezy ads for credit companies and the like, which have been a peristant problem. Talking ads, ads that jump up and consume the entire screen, ads that in one case deliver virus payloads.

      Ultimately, though, if the advertising continues to be a problem I’ll just continue blocking it and subscribing/donating a bit extra to compensate.

    • 01/06/2010 at 21:18 Koozer says:

      I must swing in valiantly to the defence of Eurogamer ads here after all this negativity. The only pop-out ads are the ones that clearly say “CLICK HERE FOR ROLLOUT,” and few of them play little trailers with the sound muted unless you click on the sound icon, but that’s about as intrusive as it gets. I’ve never seen any pop out or make noises without my express clickage. Oh, and there’s the giant background (static picture) ads that fill in the whitespace around the actual pages you can ignore.

      On a side note, I really don’t get ad-blocking types. Is it really so annoying to see a few pictures that you have to deny the income of someone else who’s output you’re using? The really annoying ads that make stupid noises and automatically fill the screen in my experience only appear on less popular/interesting sites in my experience. Apart from the stupid full-page ad you’re forced to see when visiting GameFAQs, I despise that thoroughly.

  61. 01/06/2010 at 18:08 Tom OBedlam says:

    Excellent stuff, this is why the internet is awesome.

  62. 01/06/2010 at 18:12 Sunjumper says:

    I am also a subscriber and I do that because I really like the content of the site. I was one of those crazy people that actually complained that the subscription was to cheap and that I wanted to pay more.

    Even after your partnership with Eurogamer I would like to keep my subscription up and I wanted to add my voice saying that I want to continue suporting you this way no matter what. At least leave the option to subscribe open for crazy people like me, even if you should not come up with some grand VIP plan.
    (I could use some new diamond slippers though…)

  63. 01/06/2010 at 18:21 Tom Francis says:

    Congratulations! I look forward to quality adverts with berets, stylish glasses and European hairstyles.

  64. 01/06/2010 at 18:22 Morgawr says:

    Does this mean we can no longer mention the war?

  65. 01/06/2010 at 18:23 DarkNoghri says:

    Can someone explain to me what “nob” means in this context? A quick Google search is bringing up various slang terms and something to do with cribbage, but nothing makes sense. :(

    • 01/06/2010 at 18:55 James G says:

      nob=penis

      Although as with most such things, Jim isn’t trying to claim that RPS have been thrusting penises in our faces, but rather that the ads are a bit useless and annoying. (You could probably substitute pants, wank or crap and still get the same meaning.)

      Incidentally I’ve always associated the word crap with Amiga Power, for it is where I first saw it used. Pants has a similar gaming heritage, for I most associate it with Games Master (The TV show, not the magazine).

    • 01/06/2010 at 19:25 Oddtwang says:

      Getting one for his nob (or possibly knob, I’m not sure) is the best part of cribbage!

    • 02/06/2010 at 00:11 DarkNoghri says:

      I’d figured out that was how it was used (pants, crap, etc) based on the context, but I’m still surprised that that’s the actual meaning.

      All right then, so it is.

  66. 01/06/2010 at 18:26 Skurmedel says:

    As long as the Eurogamer people don’t fiddle with your content I’m happy. I’m finding their journalism increasingly lacklustre.

  67. 01/06/2010 at 18:28 RC-1290Dreadnought says:

    Congratulations. A whole team of people dedicated to managed ads? Sounds nice, but does their work include testing the performance of the ads?

  68. 01/06/2010 at 18:29 MadMatty says:

    Waahey! boobs n snort for EVERYONE!

  69. 01/06/2010 at 18:31 Nimic says:

    Does this mean you won’t be suitably mean and sarcastic when/if they do/say something silly?

  70. 01/06/2010 at 18:35 Namos says:

    Does this mean more RPSers are going to E3? Not that it matters, since they don’t actually do PC games there anymore.

    Congratulations RPS. Looking forward to what this new era brings.

  71. 01/06/2010 at 18:41 Carra says:

    I hope this means that the price competitions will now give out golden helicopter-fortress and trips to the bahama’s (and preferably playable by us non UK’ers).

  72. 01/06/2010 at 18:56 the wiseass says:

    RPS, I love you guys.

  73. 01/06/2010 at 19:04 Nick says:

    As long as you don’t inherit Eurogamer style comments threads its all good.

  74. 01/06/2010 at 19:06 Rhygadon says:

    Hmm, while we’re on the subject: I have AdBlock disabled for RPS, but at the moment all the ads except the GOG one are Flash-based and hence blocked by FlashBlock. (That has whitelisting too, but I never use it. There’s simply no good reason for Flash-based ads, and many bad reasons.)

    Without poking the whole Apple/Flash hornet’s nest, I think it’s uncontroversial to say that Flash-based ads unnecessarily reduce the range of people who can see your ads. This might be worth considering as you make the transition.

    • 01/06/2010 at 22:51 EthZee says:

      I’d like to second this. I don’t actually have Adblocker; but I find that flash ads are too heavy on my wheezy laptop to allow them to live, so Flashblock is on for this page. However, the more flash ads you have, the less that are going to appear for me. I don’t want to be inadvertantly reducing your ad revenues.

      I wouldn’t mind it if you had less flash-based ads. Is this something you can affect yourselves (or Eurogamer, now that he’s your internet-gaming-news pimp?)

  75. 01/06/2010 at 19:17 Tei says:

    Congrats!. I hope you guys gets more of Fun and Money of this :-)

  76. 01/06/2010 at 19:21 Grunt says:

    It’s such a natural pairing, an extension of the common linking and thinking both sites already do, that the only surprise is it took this long to happen.

    Congratulations, guys. Anything that rids us of cheap credit-scoring ads HAS to be a good thing!

  77. 01/06/2010 at 19:21 Dozer says:

    Anyone else startled that Eurogamer is located in the UK and not in Proper Europe?

    • 01/06/2010 at 19:47 Frankie The Patrician[PF] says:

      Dozer is spy!

    • 01/06/2010 at 19:48 Starky says:

      The UK is the centre of Europe. Unless you mean that silly Union thing which we don’t really care for?

      Hell the UK is the centre of the World, not just Europe, GMT proves it.

      All roads may lead to Rome, but all roads lead FROM London.

    • 01/06/2010 at 19:59 Mario Figueiredo says:

      This is the best one I could find:

      The European Union commissioners have announced that agreement has been reached to adopt English as the preferred language for European communications, rather than German, which was the other possibility. As part of the negotiations, Her Majesty’s Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a five-year phased plan for what will be known as EuroEnglish (Euro for short).

      In the first year, “s” will be used instead of the soft “c”. Sertainly, sivil servants will resieve this news with joy. Also, the hard “c” will be replaced with “k”. Not only will this klear up konfusion, but typewriters kan have one less letter.

      There will be growing publik emthusiasm in the sekond year, when the troublesome “ph” will be replaced by “f”. This will make words like “fotograf” 20 per sent shorter.

      In the third year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible.

      Governments will enkorage the removal of double letters, which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that the horible mes of silent “e”s in the languag is disgrasful, and they would go.

      By the fourth year, peopl wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing “th” by z” and “w” by v

      During ze fifz year, ze unesesary “o” kan be dropd from vords kontaining “ou”, and similar changes vud of kors be aplid to ozer kombinations of leters.

      After zis fifz yer, ve vil hav a reli sensibl riten styl. Zer vil be no mor trubls or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech ozer.

      Ze drem vil finali kum tru!

    • 01/06/2010 at 20:23 Kevbo says:

      Thank you Mario for bringing me a huge smile today. Great post even though I’m not exactly sure what it was in response to, it doesn’t matter :)

    • 01/06/2010 at 22:35 Frankie The Patrician[PF] says:

      I nearly choked with a roll laughing….well done! :D

    • 02/06/2010 at 09:24 Hmm-Hmm. says:

      *applauds Mario*

  78. 01/06/2010 at 19:23 DJ Phantoon says:

    “Working with Eurogamer, a company which has demonstrated the same independent spirit as RPS, makes a huge amount of sense,” said Rock, Paper, Shotgun’s Jim Rossignol.

    No, it makes a huge amount of cents.

  79. 01/06/2010 at 19:45 Frankie The Patrician[PF] says:

    darn, am I the only one having the ad saying “Journalism is dead”?
    Mom, I’m scared! :(

    • 01/06/2010 at 19:56 Gabbo says:

      If you’ve been coming here long enough, you’d know that already.
      No need for ads to tell you as much ;)

      Glad to hear you fellows can focus on RPS more now that you’ve got the businessy side of things out of the way.

    • 01/06/2010 at 22:42 Frankie The Patrician[PF] says:

      No, I don’t believe that…journalism is immortal just like the great Roman empi…ohwaitasec…

  80. 01/06/2010 at 20:12 Quests says:

    Good for you guys :)

    RPS’ angle on indie sided with a very confidential mood garnished with a whiff of elitism are winning cards.

    Live prosper and wait till my storm comes. :P

  81. 01/06/2010 at 20:13 Kevbo says:

    Loved the golden helicopter-fortress comment :)

    Very happy for you guys but like many others just hope this doesn’t lead to a compromise in quality and independence with your articles. Stay focused and keep up the great work that has kept me coming back to this site for PC gaming. Love RPS and would hate to see its core change…

  82. 01/06/2010 at 20:13 geldonyetich says:

    Time will tell whether this ends well or not. Over here in the states, I’m so used to seeing good brands bought out and turned into derivative retail crap that I can’t help but be a bit pessimistic.

  83. 01/06/2010 at 20:27 James Benson says:

    Sounds good assuming this means you can spend more time writing articles for RPS. Subscribed after you made a post about it a few days ago, hopefully these various things go hand in hand to mean more rock paper shotgun stuff day to day. Keep up the good work.

  84. 01/06/2010 at 20:47 Greg S. says:

    Hey RPS,
    I love the site, but lately I’ve noticed a rash of spelling and typing errors in your posts.
    Have you got a new monkey editing for Kieron?

  85. 01/06/2010 at 20:57 TeeJay says:

    If this is just about selling RPS ad space then I don’t object. However, I’m wondering how long it will take the Eurogamer advertising team to start making various “suggestions” about how to get more revenue out of RPS by changing the website design?

    For example Eurogamer has found a way of running ads that can’t easily be disabled or blocked – making the advert part of the background running across the whole page wih a white area behind the text of the reviews or features. If you block the advert you can’t read any of the text (it becomes black text on a black background) and if you automatically adblock these images the whole website becomes unusable. Of course it’s fair game for website owners to do what they have to re. advertising but there is a danger with any commercial activity where a point is reached where the tail starts to wag the dog. I can only speak personally that I can tolerate a quantity/quality of advertising (on TV, spotify, websites, magasines etc) up to a certain point, beyond which I switch off and actually start getting pissed off by it (and by the advertisers and the media channel).

    The other feature of Eurogamer site design that I don’t like is their scores of tiny boxes crowded onto the front page – is this specifically designed to channel page-views past their adverts, or do they genuinely like that kind of layout?

    Again speaking personally – one of the things I love about RPS is it’s clean layout/design which is at the ‘blog-style’ end of the spectrum of video game websites. Many other videogame websites lie on a spectrum with the other end being the “hundreds of tiny boxes” of IGN, Gamespot, CVG and Eurogamer.

    Anyway, sorry to be negative, but I just thought I’d voice this feedback now, just in case the Eurogamer advertising crew start making suggestions about how to “improve” the layout and design of RPS. My counter-argument would be for fewer ads but charging more for each one (ie high-value ads.)

    • 01/06/2010 at 21:42 Lambchops says:

      @ TeeJay

      I know it isn’t quite as nice a layout as RPS and tends to end up leading to having to trawl through tons of news stories that aren’t particularly interesting, but you can actually view Eurogamer in the blog type format, dispensing with those boxes you don’t like.

      http://www.eurogamer.net/blog.php

      I agree with your point though, I would like RPS to keep it’s current format.

  86. 01/06/2010 at 21:02 James Murff says:

    No change in the writing staff, right? You guys are my favorite gaming writers around. Especially Gillen :)

  87. 01/06/2010 at 21:18 Shaun says:

    I have adblock on primarily for security reasons (work computer, paranoia, etc.)

    I unblocked RPS halfway through these comments, and re-blocked it a few posts later when someone talked about virus payloads coming through the ads.

    Not sure what can be done about this, but I’m not going to risk the security of my computer to support any website – it’s simply not worth the risk.

  88. 01/06/2010 at 21:18 teo says:

    The fonts you use, the spacing, the layout etc. is very well suited for the longer pieces you write. I hardly ever read long texts online but this site is an exception. Please don’t fuck that up if you do a redesign

  89. 01/06/2010 at 21:36 solipsistnation says:

    You guys are “games industry veterans?” Show us your scars!

  90. 01/06/2010 at 21:40 Lambchops says:

    Eurogamer very rarely has ads that slow browsers to a crawl, RPS very rarely has ads which pop up in other tabs (there’s one recently which has been a tad irritating)..

    All in all a fair trade off, although I hope you guys don’t start going for big splash background ads; I seem to remember you trying them a while back and them being responsible for screwing with the format of the site and making it rather horrid to look at and read.

    Apart from that small concern, good stuff, hope this leads to you having more time to bring out some quality content.

  91. 01/06/2010 at 21:45 np says:

    Solid move guys, I hope it all works out well and you get a little capital behind you to make this great site grow to be even greater.

    I know you are nervously waiting to see what the RPS community’s response is but from skim reading the comments it seems remarkably positive.

    12 million views PCY, blimey! Your baby is growing up nicely…

  92. 01/06/2010 at 21:46 Lambchops says:

    Oh and since nobody seems to have commented on it yet; Paid in Full is a bloody awesome song isn’t it?

  93. 01/06/2010 at 21:46 Dreamhacker says:

    Huh? But I can’t see any ads?

    Oh, right…. ; )

  94. 01/06/2010 at 22:17 NieA7 says:

    May this deal bring you solid gold helicopters and diamond shoes aplenty.

    On ads, I use Firefox with AdBlock and NoScript – I’ve white listed RPS in AdBlock but NoScript happily zaps pretty much everything anyway, and as far as I can see there’s no way to whitelist the RPS pages so that they use scripts from otherwise blacklisted domains (Googleadservices, Giantrealm etc). Any way around this without whitelisting the ad provides for every site?

    Given that I now check RPS several times a day I guess I’m gonna have to subscribe so I can look myself in the eye without crying inside.

    • 02/06/2010 at 00:59 TeeJay says:

      “Any way around this without whitelisting the ad provides for every site?”

      What about turning off NoScript for the duration of browsing RPS (“allow scripts globally”)? It’s pretty much single-click on/off isn’t it?

    • 02/06/2010 at 08:36 NieA7 says:

      It is but I’ll usually have a good 20 or so tabs open from loads of sites, and allowing scripts globally would reload them all with nasties included.

  95. 01/06/2010 at 22:36 cjhyde says:

    this site kicks so much ass that I could put up with much, much more unsavory tactics than this from you all to keep it afloat (but don’t get any ideas). Whatever pays the rent, seriously.

  96. 01/06/2010 at 22:44 LordCraigus says:

    This sounds like great news… so congratulations and, genuinely, best of luck with it all and the future of the site.

  97. 01/06/2010 at 23:08 Pod says:

    YOU SHOULD HAVE JSUT SOLD JOHN TO SLAVERS!!1

    He’s worth a pretty penny.

  98. 01/06/2010 at 23:32 Ninja says:

    Change? In MY Rock Paper Shotgun?

    It’s more likely than you’d think.

    (I wish the best of luck to you guys with this. and I swear if you start charging us for some reason, I’m going to torture you in ways you can only imagine.)

  99. 01/06/2010 at 23:39 Kazang says:

    Hey wait does this mean the site is gonna get covered in ads? Because that would suck.

    As much as I want you guys to get that gold plated helicopter, it would be shitty trade off.

  100. 01/06/2010 at 23:59 MMORPG Games says:

    Basically, Eurogamer will be advertising an partner for RPS. They will sell ads spots on RPS to their clients and RPS gets a share (proably 50% or more). At least this is what i understand.

    Thats good news since i always whined about the ads, and potential income lose on this site, since is very popular and i have a rough idea of how many visitors per moth provides. RPS editors deserve the cash for their coolness and with those targeted ads (games and things related) bling! bling! niggas:P

    Also due incredible popularity and high quality posts, you can indeed transform this into a full portal and be even more visited with videos, games pages, articles, and so on.

    All the best RPS, you deserve it.

  101. 02/06/2010 at 00:03 Owen says:

    Damn, being in Australia means you’re always SO late to hear the news! :) But anyway, I’d like to offer my late congratulations to you all. Really hope it makes a huge difference for you, as you damn well deserve to be able to survive on more than Pot Noodle.

    Good stuff gents :)

  102. 02/06/2010 at 00:55 Brendan C says:

    Congratulations fellas. Can’t say I’m too worried if you’re keeping all your editorial independence. I can’t imagine RPS would sign any dotted line that meant such a thing – such a concept is madness. So I’m more than happy to see you blokes get the ads working in your favour. Good stuff!

  103. 02/06/2010 at 00:57 SuperNashwan says:

    How much to buy advertising space on John’s belly?

  104. 02/06/2010 at 01:23 Daniel Johnston says:

    My site was successful! Using the sell-it-to-someone-else strategy, admittedly. But still, successful. The entire new business model of some publishers I was speaking with (H*****ket) is to gradually bring good independents in-house, providing all the ad sales, events etc. support that a small outfit can’t do as well or as cheaply, then buy out the owner when they feel it’s time to move on.

  105. 02/06/2010 at 01:28 JuJuCam says:

    I’ve been meaning to mention for ages now but I couldn’t quite find the right time or place. In the last month I’ve been getting an invisible auto-playing TV advert playing out of RPS. Confused the heck out of me. Anyway it seems I don’t need to complain now since (hopefully) you’re scrapping every other advertiser throwing pennies your way.

  106. 02/06/2010 at 01:28 Daniel Johnston says:

    Oh for goodness’ sake. This was a reply to AndrewC way back on page 1, until the CAPTCHA killed off any memory of where it should appear. Congratulations on the deal. Gah to the comment system!

  107. 02/06/2010 at 02:55 Thiefsie says:

    Slightly Angry Internet Man about this. I’m unsure as to whether I trust independence from Eurogamer, who are slowly becoming evil overlords that obviously pull reviews etc. with publisher pressure, shill extra page views out of splitting small articles across quadruple pages and have a very annoying layout and disgraceful screenshot viewing system to boot. You have to admit their editorial integrity has been falling of late.

    As long as you note that you have some control over the ad space, and things won’t be as bad over the webpages with ads like at Eurogamer I’ll be a little happier.

    Unsurprisingly none of you have confirmed anything along these lines as far as I can tell.

    My adblock will engage faster than ever if I am unsatisfied, and if articles start being split across pages I think I’ll have to quit viewing articles here… :(

  108. 02/06/2010 at 05:01 The Hammer says:

    Really glad that this will ease the money troubles, RPS. You’re my favourite website, bar none. You’re interesting, feel-good, and open-minded. You provide quality journalism and genuinely thought-provoking pieces each and every week. As a long-time reader, this news makes me chuffed.

  109. 02/06/2010 at 06:57 jonfitt says:

    half a million unique users each month
    Nowai?! I didn’t know there were that many readers, I thought half these comments were from bots.
    I mean… Tei… that one isn’t even convincing.

    • 02/06/2010 at 09:30 Hmm-Hmm. says:

      Sounds good, overall. As long as it’s just a deal regarding ad profits and nothing else which could come back to.. er.. haunt you. I feel we have the right to feel elitist and be proud of it!

      Now put up a donate button already!

    • 02/06/2010 at 09:31 Hmm-Hmm. says:

      Meh. That wasn’t meant as a reply..

  110. 02/06/2010 at 09:38 mbp says:

    Congratulations gentlemen. Food is good, I heartily approve of your being able to afford some now.

    Euro-gamer does great reviews (I know you guys do a bunch of them) but the website itself is just information overload for my poor middle aged eyes. I much prefer the chatty blog format of RPS.

  111. 02/06/2010 at 11:57 Doctor_Hellsturm says:

    I love you, but i hate the Eurogamer ads.

    Please don’t let this relationship get to the “we have to talk” point. Splash ads would be a good way to get there.

  112. 02/06/2010 at 13:06 Tony M says:

    “Working with Eurogamer, a company which has demonstrated the same independent spirit as RPS, makes a huge amount of sense,” said Rock, Paper, Shotgun’s Jim Rossignol.

    The inks not even dry and Rossignol already sounds like a corporate sell-out. :)

    I’ll be word-counting. If Jim starts using the word “synergy” more often than “pants”, we’ll know hes sold his soul.

    Tony

  113. 02/06/2010 at 14:15 Alex says:

    There is. See this Ars Technica article on NoScript’s ABE function. It is a bit complicated, but it works.

  115. 02/06/2010 at 16:14 We Fly Spitfires says:

    Coolies. Looking forward to seeing the new design!

  116. 02/06/2010 at 16:33 IvanHoeHo says:

    Everyone keeps banging on about how terrible EG looks, as if they’ve never set eyes on the Escapist website. I’m confused…

  117. 02/06/2010 at 17:24 DMJ says:

    ALL GLORY to the HIVE MIND.

  118. 02/06/2010 at 18:55 jalf says:

    Wait, so we’ll no longer get ads for industrial grade mining hardware then?

    That’s a shame, I liked those. :(

  119. 02/06/2010 at 22:38 Paganite says:

    Everyone – firefox + adblock

  120. 03/06/2010 at 11:18 Thermal Ions says:

    A real honest to goodness Media Release – How about that, RPS is all grown up.

    And look what it’s done to the Hivemind Throbometer – it’s jumped almost ten fold up to 4.224%. not that I know what a Throbometer is, but bigger’s always better isn’t it?

  121. 03/06/2010 at 14:35 Daniel Klein says:

    Yay for respectability and getting paid.

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