Type of business | Subsidiary |
---|---|
Type of site | Video game journalism |
Headquarters | United Kingdom |
Founder(s) |
|
Editor | Tom Phillips |
Industry | Video game industry |
Parent | Gamer Network |
URL | www |
Commercial | Yes |
Registration | Optional |
Launched | 4 September 1999 |
Eurogamer is a British video game journalism website launched in 1999 alongside parent company Gamer Network.
In 2008, it started in the formerly eponymous trade fair EGX (Eurogamer Expo until 2013) organised by its parent company. [1] [2] From 2013 to 2020, sister site USGamer ran independently under its parent company.
Eurogamer (initially stylised as EuroGamer) was launched on 4 September 1999 under company Eurogamer Network. The founding team included John "Gestalt" Bye, the webmaster for the PlanetQuake website and a writer for British magazine PC Gaming World ; Patrick "Ghandi" Stokes, a contributor for the website Warzone; and Rupert "rauper" Loman, who had organised the EuroQuake esports event for the game Quake . [3] It became the official online media partner of the 2002 European Computer Trade Show. [4] Eurogamer hosts content from media outlet Digital Foundry since 2007, which was founded by games journalist Richard Leadbetter in 2004. [5]
In February 2015, Eurogamer dropped its ten-point scale for review scores instead highlight some games the reviewer felt particularly strongly with labels such as 'Essential', 'Recommended' or 'Avoid'. The change was driven by doubt about the score system's usefulness and its desire to be delisted from review aggregator Metacritic because of its "unhealthy influence" on the games industry. [6] [7] In May 2023, Eurogamer returned to scoring reviews, opting for a five-point scale due to them being "universally understood, simple to take in at a glance, and easily shared." [8]
In February 2018, Eurogamer's parent company, Gamer Network, was acquired by Reed Exhibitions, [9] a division of RELX. In September 2021, the community forum for Eurogamer closed, with the site recommending other platforms such as Discord instead. [10] In the same month, Eurogamer also launched a supporter program, offering readers an ad-free experience and access to paywalled content. [11]
In May 2024, the Gamer Network was sold to IGN Entertainment, a subsidiary of Ziff Davis. [12]
In January 2008, Tom Bramwell overtook the role of editor-in-chief from Kristan Reed, remaining in that role until he resigned in November 2014. [13] [14] Afterwards Oli Welsh served as editor for Eurogamer, [15] followed by Martin Robinson, [16] with Tom Phillips now being the current editor. [17]
Eurogamer has several regional publications:
Eurogamer has won several trade awards, including:
GameSpy was an American provider of online multiplayer and matchmaking middleware for video games founded in 1999 by Mark Surfas. After the release of a multiplayer server browser for Quake, QSpy, Surfas licensed the software under the GameSpy brand to other video game publishers through a newly established company, GameSpy Industries, which also incorporated his Planet Network of video game news and information websites, and GameSpy.com.
Gabe Logan Newell, also known by his nickname Gaben, is an American businessman who is the president and co-founder of the video game company Valve Corporation.
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Sumo Digital Ltd. is a British video game developer based in Sheffield and the principal subsidiary of Sumo Group since 2017. The company was founded in 2003 by four former members of the management team of Infogrames Studios.
Frontier Developments plc. is a British video game developer founded by David Braben in January 1994 and based at the Cambridge Science Park in Cambridge, England. Frontier develops management simulators Planet Coaster and Planet Zoo, and has produced several games in David Braben's Elite series, including Elite Dangerous. The company takes its name from the earliest titles in the Elite series with which it was involved, a port of Frontier: Elite II and development of Frontier: First Encounters. In 2013, the company was listed on the AIM segment of the London Stock Exchange. It published third-party games under the Frontier Foundry label between 2019 and 2022.
Splash Damage Ltd. is a British video game developer specialising in multiplayer first-person shooter video games. The studio is best known as the creators of Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory and Enemy Territory: Quake Wars.
Phil Harrison is a British video gaming and corporate executive. He was a member of the original PlayStation team at Sony Computer Entertainment before and after its launch, and would hold positions at its European, American and global divisions until 2008. In 2012, he joined Microsoft and served as European corporate vice president of Xbox until 2015. Harrison joined Google in 2018, leading its Stadia gaming division; he left the company following the discontinuation of the service in 2023.
Bomberman Land Touch! is a puzzle video game developed by Hudson Soft for the Nintendo DS. The game was first released in Japan and North America in 2006. Part of the Bomberman franchise, Touch! is the third game in the Bomberman Land series and its first to be released outside Japan.
id Tech is a series of separate game engines designed and developed by id Software. Prior to the presentation of the id Tech 5-based game Rage in 2011, the engines lacked official designation and as such were simply referred to as the Doom and Quake engines, from the name of the main game series the engines had been developed for. "id Tech" has been released as free software under the GNU General Public License. id Tech versions 0 to 3 were released under GPL-2.0-or-later. id Tech versions 3.5 to 4.5 were released under GPL-3.0-or-later. id Tech 5 to 7 are proprietary, with id Tech 7 currently being the latest utilized engine.
Exient Limited is a video game developer and publisher based in the United Kingdom and Malta. Developing for handheld, mobile, console, VR and PC platforms, Exient grew a name for designing and developing popular series' games to portable systems. It is known for its ports of various games in the Madden NFL, FIFA, Need for Speed, and Tiger Woods PGA Tour series for Electronic Arts and for developing numerous titles in the Angry Birds series. The company was incorporated in 2000 and began operations in January 2001.
Eidos Interactive Corporation is a Canadian video game developer based in Montreal and part of Embracer Group. The studio was founded by Stéphane D'Astous in 2007 under SCi Entertainment. It became part of Square Enix Europe in 2009 and CDE Entertainment in 2022.
Little Deviants, known in Japan as Sawari Makuru! (サワリ・マ・ク〜ル!), is a minigame compilation, developed by Bigbig Studios for the PlayStation Vita. The game was released on 17 December 2011 in Japan, 15 February 2012 in North America, 22 February 2012 in Europe, and 23 February 2012 in Australia as a launch title for the PlayStation Vita. Little Deviants is composed of 30 minigames that make use of the Vita's front multitouch touchscreen, rear multitouch touchpad, Sixaxis motion controls, and augmented reality capabilities, along with traditional controls. Little Deviants is Bigbig's last game since Sony Computer Entertainment announced the studio's closure on 10 January 2012.
Gamer Network Limited is a British digital media company based in London. Founded in 1999 by Rupert and Nick Loman, it owns brands—primarily editorial websites—relating to video game journalism and other video game businesses. Its flagship website, Eurogamer, was launched alongside the company. It began hosting the video game trade show EGX in 2008. ReedPop acquired Gamer Network in 2018 and sold it to IGN Entertainment in 2024.
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EGX is trade fair for video games organised by Gamer Network and held annually in the United Kingdom and Germany.
PCGamesN is a British website with articles about PC gaming and hardware.
Video Games Chronicle is a British entertainment website covering video games published independently by 1981 Media. Led by editor-in-chief Andy Robinson, the team consists largely of former Computer and Video Games staff. Launched in May 2019 in partnership with Gamer Network, VGC sought to blend professional and mainstream publications to complement the works of other video game websites. The website received five million monthly readers and seven million page views as of December 2020, and has been twice nominated for Media Brand of the Year at the MCV/Develop Awards.