Fandom just bought GameSpot, Metacritic, Giant Bomb and more
That’s certainly a big chunk of the gaming web
Pop culture wiki service Fandom has acquired a whole bunch of gaming and entertainment sites including media sites GameSpot and Giant Bomb, the company announced today. As part of the deal with Red Ventures, Fandom also gain Metacritic and GameFAQs, along with broader entertainment coverage through Comic Vine and TV Guide. The cost of the purchase wasn’t disclosed.
It seems the deal will see Red Ventures’ gaming and entertainment content folded into the Fandom platform, which Fandom say will, you guessed it, “drive engagement”. “The trusted insights, ratings and content they provide will make us a one-stop shop for fans across their entertainment and gaming journey,” Fandom’s CEO Perkins Miller said. Fandom also handles advertising for game publishers, studios and streaming services, which they intend to feature on the acquired sites.
Fandom describe themselves as “the world’s largest fan platform”, and it's really difficult to search for something without hitting one of their pages. You’ve most likely encountered some of their 250,000 wikis while searching for nerdy things to dig into – I frequented their Game Of Thrones pages recently because I totally forgot what happened to Podrick, for example. The wiki company has been on something of an acquisition spree in recent years, starting with ScreenJunkies, they of Honest Trailers renown, in 2018. Gaming wiki creators Curse Media followed in 2019, and Fandom bought games ecommerce site Fanatical last year.
You can read the full details of the Fandom deal here.