Hearst Corporation unit UGO Entertainment has agreed to acquire 1UP.com, a property attracting a gamer audience along with its associated sites including GameVideos.com, MyCheats.com and GameTab.com. There had been rumors about a pending acquisition for a couple of weeks (more specifically, reported by Joystiq), but yesterday evening the company released the official news.
The acquisition deal is structured as an asset purchase between UGO Entertainment, which itself was acquired by Hearst Corp back in July 2007 for a reported $100 million plus, and the Ziff Davis Games Group who owned the 1UP Network. Sadly, the acquisition also meant a number of lay-offs at 1UP, with the ‘1Up Yours,’ ‘1Up FM’ and ‘1Up Show’ podcasts being terminated.
In addition, Ziff-Davis has made official the closure of gaming magazine Electronic Gaming Monthly. Its January issue will be its last after nearly 20 years of publication, so it’s going in the deadpool. The demise of print media continues.
(Very cool image by Kotaku)
Good news
Electronic Gaming Monthly = EGM … EMG is a major music label. Whoops. (see: the headline)
Oops, fixed, thanks. Hope I didn’t make too many people hopeful for a story on EMG dying
holly molly! times are changing – I still remember when UGO was nothing more than just a small network of couple gaming fansites
There is nothing good about this announcement as far as I can see. A number of layoffs is an understatement as aside from a few exceptions, it seems that every well known person has been let go.
They essentially purchased 1Up and proceeded to gut it of anything that made it unique. I wonder what the value of the acquisition is at this point as any press announcement on either site is filled with posts from a very angry community. Only time will tell I suppose.
As someone who listened to many of their podcasts, I’m very disappointed honestly and doubt I’ll be visiting either site moving forward. Hopefully everyone let go will be able to land on their feet.
Completely agree with Michael. Maybe not a whole lot of people here are interested in video games and related sites, but I am and I think this was an extremely stupid move. They cancelled the 1up show and laid off the staff.
For some perspective, 1up was the only site that did not have (a lot of) screaming fanboys and high school drop-out “game journalists” as sites like Gametrailers and Kotaku. As such, it was a perfect place for me, a 30 yr. old dev to go on fridays to check up on the gaming scene. The 1up show staff had good production values and it really was a good show to watch once a week.
But someone (won’t name him) has already stated that they were already coming up with future plans within 10 mins. of hearing the news. The 1up show being cancelled, I won’t be visiting but will be following the 1up show team on twitter regarding their next venture.
Micheal is right on the money here. I was devastated at the news. UGO is completely clueless what are they planning to continue by acquiring 1up and then gutting MOST OF THE STAFF?
As for EGM I had been a subscriber since 1997. I feel like my best friend died or something. I’ll get over it but the moronic management from UGO needs to know that they’ve made an enemy and not a future customer.
Extremely sad news. EGM was on its last legs, but 1up Yours and the 1up Show were undoubtedly the best gaming podcasts out there, from production quality to the talented personalities involved. Here’s hoping those who were laid off find their next career steps soon.
A sad day indeed, some great journalists just lost their jobs. I second what Dave Werner said- 1up Yours and 1up Show were the best gaming podcasts out there. 1up show was the best video podcast hands down- it was produced so well- it’s a joke that UGO doesn’t recognize their value.
UGO’s high point was about 6-7 years ago when they auctioned off a date with Gary Coleman.
They haven’t made any real news since then, except for this… and I’m not sure this acquisition will save them.
The layoffs appear to be pretty brutal – they basically bought the brand, not the company, which is odd because what I found the most compelling about 1up was the personalities of the writers/podcasters. That was their competitive advantage over the other game sites. Without that, it is just a clever domain name, whoopee.
This is horrible I am an EGM subscriber what the hell?
I love the 1UP show! It is so informative and entertaining! I watch it every Sunday! This is horrible news! HORRIBLE!
I work in the gaming media space (for hammersuit.com), and I assure you that this is brutal news for our little corner of the internet.
EGM had gone downhill the last several years, but it was an institution, in this industry. Myself and most of my 20-something peers that are now grown-up and working in this industry grew up on EGM in the early 90s – it’s the reason many of us do what we do.
1up was never as big (traffic-wise) as its peers, but that’s because it spoke to a more hardcore-gamer audience, whereas IGN, GameSpot, and others covered games from a more mainstream slant. So for gaming enthusiasts, the site quickly earned a place in their hearts.
I know many of the 30-40 Ziff-Davis individuals laid off (UGO is completely gutting the game group) personally, and every single one was a great person to work with. Sad day.
They essentially purchased 1Up and proceeded to gut it of anything that made it unique. I wonder what the value of the acquisition is at this point as any press announcement on either site is filled with posts from a very angry community. Only time will tell I suppose.
As someone who listened to many of their podcasts, I’m very disappointed honestly and doubt I’ll be visiting either site moving forward. Hopefully everyone let go will be able to land on their feet.
http://www.jugargame.com/