GameSpy, as we know it, began in 1999. Today, 14 years later, it has reached the end of the road. We had a good run, and we want to sincerely thank all of you for reading and joining in discussions with us. It's been fantastic.
Just to be clear, we're not being shut down because PC gaming isn't a big, important, and growing thing -- because it is. That's not even debatable. It's not even because the GameSpy staff did a bad job of talking about it. Hell, from where I'm sitting we did an awesome job, particularly in covering the technical quality of PC versions of cross-platform games in our Port Authority features, reality-checking the hype of about-to-be-released big games with our Questions & Concerns series, delving into the nuances of MMORPGs, strategy, MOBAs, and simulations in our columns, regularly checking up on free-to-play games in Free Agent, calling out Microsoft's neglect of PC gamers, mocking Ubisoft's claims of a day-and-date PC release of Assassin's Creed 3, breaking the news on SimCity's lack of save/reload, and of course our amazingly bizarre The War Z interview.
Why is this closure happening, then? It's a business thing, and like most business things it's not easy to explain or understand unless you spend all day crunching numbers and paying bills. Which I don't. So here's the simple version that even I can comprehend: Ziff Davis wants to run an efficient, focused company, and managing several different sites that all cover videogames isn't exactly the model of efficiency. Even though GameSpy had its own unique voice that was separate and distinct from those of our sister sites, and there has always been value in that, it's hard to argue with that logic. Even if it does totally suck.
The silver lining is that the value of all of the voices and opinions of our staff and writers won't just go away. We'll still be out there talking and writing about the great things happening in the world of PC gaming, both at IGN and other places around the internet, because it's what we love to do. It's why we wanted to work at GameSpy in the first place. We hope you'll keep reading and watching and talking about PC games with us.
On that note, here's a list of the people -- and associated Twitter names -- who helped make GameSpy the fun and insightful PC gaming site it's been for the past year. I think you'll find there's more where that came from.
- Dan Stapleton, Editor in Chief
Matthew Rorie
Mike Sharkey
Mike Nelson
Katie Williams
Taylor Cocke
Leif Johnson
Rob Zacny
Ryan Scott
Nathan Grayson
Richard Cobbett
Phill Cameron
