 | |
Type of site | Gaming blog |
|---|---|
| Owner | G/O Media |
| Created by | Brian Crecente |
| URL | kotaku |
| Commercial | Yes |
| Launched | October 2004 |
Kotaku is a video game website and blog that was originally launched in 2004 as part of the Gawker Media network. [1] Notable former contributors to the site include Luke Smith, [2] Cecilia D'Anastasio, Tim Rogers, and Jason Schreier.
Kotaku was first launched in October 2004 with Matthew Gallant as its lead writer, with an intended target audience of young men. [3] [4] About a month later, Brian Crecente was brought in to try to save the failing site. [5] Since then, the site has launched several country-specific sites for Australia, Japan, Brazil and the UK. Crecente was named one of the 20 most influential people in the video game industry over the past 20 years by GamePro in 2009 [6] and one of gaming's Top 50 journalists by Edge in 2006. The site has made CNET's "Blog 100" list [7] and was ranked 50th on PC Magazine 's "Top 100 Classic Web Sites" list. [8] Its name comes from the Japanese otaku (obsessive fan) and the prefix "ko-" (small in size). [9]
In 2009, Business Insider reported that Hearst Corporation sought to buy Kotaku from Gawker Media. [10]
Stephen Totilo replaced Brian Crecente as the editor in chief in 2012. [11] Totilo had previously joined Kotaku in 2009 as deputy editor. [12]
In April 2014, Gawker Media partnered with Future plc to launch Kotaku UK, and with Allure Media to launch Kotaku Australia. [13]
Kotaku was one of several websites that was purchased by Univision Communications in their acquisition of Gawker Media in August 2016; Gizmodo Media Group was subsequently founded to house the Gawker acquisitions, operating under the Fusion Media Group, a division of Univision. [14] The Gizmodo Media Group was later acquired by the private equity firm Great Hill Partners in April 2019, and renamed G/O Media. [15]
In December 2018 Pedestrian Group, owned by the Australian media company Nine Entertainment, acquired Kotaku Australia. [16] [17] [18] .
The transition to G/O Media led to several departures from the site, as well as from other sister sites under the former Gawker Media label due to conflicts with G/O Media's management. Cecilia D'Anastasio left Kotaku in December 2019 to become a journalist for Wired . [19] Joshua Rivera and Gita Jackson left in January 2020 stating it was impossible to work with the new management. [20] Jason Schreier, one of Kotaku's writers since 2012 known for his investigative in-depth coverage of working conditions at various studios and development histories for various video games, announced his departure from the site on April 16, 2020, citing the issues surrounding G/O Media which filtered into disruptions at their sister website Deadspin around October 2019. Schreier subsequently took a position at Bloomberg News . [21] In May 2020, senior writer Harper Jay MacIntyre [lower-alpha 1] departed from Kotaku, similarly citing conflicts with management, and joined Double Fine Productions as their content and community manager. [24]
Kotaku UK closed on September 9, 2020. [25]
Totilo announced he was departing as editor in chief on February 5, 2021, though will remain in games journalism elsewhere. [12] Riley MacLeod served as interim editor in chief following Totilo's departure, before Patricia Hernandez commenced her tenure as editor in chief from June 2, 2021. [26]
Jen Glennon was appointed editor of the site in October 2023, after previous editor Patricia Hernandez was reportedly fired following a "personal disagreement" in August 2023. [27] [28] In November 2023, G/O Media announced it was laying off 23 people across Kotaku and the company's other websites. [29] [30]
Jen Glennon resigned her position as editor in March 2024, citing an opposition to G/O Media's desire for the site to deprioritize news and instead focus on producing game guides. [31]
In July 2024, it was reported that Kotaku Australia would shut down as part of a cost-cutting effort from third-party publisher Pedestrian Group. [32] In October 2024, Kotaku Australia began to redirect to Kotaku and made its article archive "publicly inaccessible". [33] Aftermath reported that "this not only means the work of dozens of Australian writers over the course of 16 years has been lost, but also thousands of Kotaku US stories as well that, thanks to various server and ownership changes, had only survived via their reposts on Kotaku AU". [33]
In 2007, attorney Jack Thompson sued Gawker Media and site editor Brian Crecente over concerns that Kotaku declined to remove threatening user comments, [34] but the lawsuit was dismissed the next day. [35]
In 2010, Kotaku criticized Japanese magazine Famitsu's glowing endorsement of Konami's PlayStation Portable game Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker as a conflict of interest. In response, Konami revoked Kotaku's invitation to the game's launch party. [36]
On October 9, 2021, Kotaku published an article about Metroid Dread , which had been released a day prior, running on Nintendo Switch emulators. The article praised the game's performance on emulators (said to be better than on the Nintendo Switch itself), thanked "pirates, emulators, modders, and hackers", and suggested readers emulate older or expensive games themselves. [37] The article was criticized for promoting piracy, especially of newly released games, but was also noted to have sparked wider discussions about the role of emulation in video game preservation. [38] [39] [40] [41] On October 10, Kotaku revised the article to clarify they were referring to game preservation [42] and, after a complaint from Nintendo on a later date, removed all mentions of piracy from the article. [43] Kotaku also issued an apology and stated that, though they believed emulation was "a vital part of the world of gaming", they did not condone using it to acquire games illegally. [43]
In 2007, Kotaku ran a story about rumored upcoming features on the PlayStation 3, and Sony responded by temporarily blacklisting the website. [44] In 2015, Kotaku claimed that they had been blacklisted by major video game companies Bethesda Softworks and Ubisoft. [45] [46] Because of this blacklist, Kotaku opted not to be a jury member in The Game Awards when invited by Geoff Keighley in 2019. [47]
In 2023, Kotaku was blacklisted by Nintendo, reportedly over articles that covered leaks of unreleased Nintendo games. Further controversy followed when then senior writer Luke Plunkett posted a picture of a fighter plane with victory markings featuring the Imperial Japanese flag. [48]
In 2014, Kotaku was part of the accusations that instigated the harassment campaign known as Gamergate when a writer from the site, Nathan Grayson, was falsely accused of writing a favorable review of the game Depression Quest as a result of his relationship with its developer, Zoë Quinn. After conducting an internal review, it was discovered that no review of Depression Quest existed and he had only written one article that mentioned Quinn in passing before their relationship began. [49] [50] The subreddit KotakuInAction became a hub for the Gamergate community. [51] [52] Its creator attempted to shut it down in 2018, claiming that it had become "infested with racism and sexism", but it was reinstated by a Reddit administrator due to the site's guidelines. [53] [54]
In March 2024, the narrative development studio Sweet Baby Inc. became the target of claims from online users who said that it promoted a "woke agenda". Kotaku editor Alyssa Mercante became the target of harassment from users after publishing an article on the backlash. Media outlets such as The Week , Wired , and The Verge compared the backlash to Gamergate or dubbed it "Gamergate 2.0". [55] [56] [57]
Metroid Prime is a 2002 action-adventure game developed by Retro Studios and published by Nintendo for the GameCube. Metroid Prime is the fifth main Metroid game and the first to use 3D computer graphics and a first-person perspective. It was released in North America in November 2002, and in Japan and Europe the following year. Along with the Game Boy Advance game Metroid Fusion, Prime marked the return of the Metroid series after an eight-year hiatus following Super Metroid (1994).
Super Metroid is a 1994 action-adventure game developed by Nintendo and Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It is the third installment in the Metroid series, following the events of the Game Boy game Metroid II: Return of Samus (1991). Players control bounty hunter Samus Aran, who travels to planet Zebes to retrieve an infant Metroid creature stolen by the Space Pirate leader Ridley.
Ridley, also known by his aliases Geoform 187 and the Cunning God of Death, is a fictional supervillain and the main antagonist of the Metroid series. An evil and aggressive draconic extraterrestrial, he became Samus Aran's archnemesis after murdering the latter's parents as he led a Space Pirate raid on her homeworld. Though having been destroyed numerous times by Samus, he is always resurrected, due in equal part to Space Pirate engineering and his natural regenerative ability, which allows him to swiftly recover from what would otherwise be fatal wounds as long as he is able to consume enough biomatter from his fallen adversaries.
Metroid Dread is a 2021 action-adventure game developed by MercurySteam and Nintendo EPD and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. It was released on October 8, 2021. Set after Metroid Fusion (2002), players control the bounty hunter Samus Aran as she investigates the source of a mysterious transmission on the planet ZDR. It retains the side-scrolling gameplay of previous 2D Metroid games and incorporates stealth elements.
Dolphin is a free and open-source video game console emulator for GameCube and Wii that runs on Windows, Linux, macOS, Android, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S.
Samus Aran is the protagonist of the video game series Metroid by Nintendo. She was created by the Japanese video game designer Makoto Kano and was introduced as the player character in the original 1986 game Metroid.
Metroid: Other M is an action-adventure game developed by Team Ninja and Nintendo SPD and published by Nintendo for the Wii on August 31, 2010. It is part of the Metroid series, and takes place between the events of Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion. The player controls intergalactic bounty hunter Samus Aran, who investigates a derelict space station with a Galactic Federation platoon, including her former commanding officer, Adam Malkovich.
The Electronic Entertainment Expo 2011 was the 17th E3 held. The event took place at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, California. It began on June 7, 2011, and ended on June 9, 2011, with 46,800 total attendees. E3 2011 was broadcast on the G4 channel.
The Wii U GamePad is the standard game controller for Nintendo's Wii U home video game console. Incorporating features from tablet computers, the GamePad has traditional input methods, touchscreen controls, and motion controls. The touchscreen can be used to supplement a game by providing alternate, second screen functionality or an asymmetric view of a scenario in a game. The screen can also be used to play a game strictly on the GamePad screen without the use of a television display. Conversely, non-gaming functions can be assigned to it as well, such as using it as a television remote.
Polygon is an American entertainment website by Vox Media covering video games, movies, television, and other popular culture. At its October 2012 launch as Vox Media's third property, Polygon sought to distinguish itself by focusing on the stories of the people behind video games and long-form magazine-style feature articles.
Video game journalism is a branch of journalism concerned with the reporting and discussion of video games, typically based on a core "reveal–preview–review" cycle. With the prevalence and rise of independent media online, online publications and blogs have grown.
Metroid Prime: Federation Force is a 2016 cooperative first-person shooter video game developed by Next Level Games and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS. Taking place after the events of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (2007), players assume the role of Galactic Federation Marines attempting to thwart the continuing advances of the Space Pirates after Samus Aran eradicated the deadly Phazon mutagen. The gameplay places a greater emphasis on the shooting mechanics and multiplayer, similar to its handheld predecessor Metroid Prime Hunters, albeit with cooperation instead of competition. It also includes a competitive soccer-based game mode known as Metroid Prime: Blast Ball.
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Jason Schreier is an American journalist and author who primarily covers the video game industry. He worked as a news reporter for Kotaku from 2011 to 2020 and was recognized for several investigative stories, particularly on the crunch culture within the industry. In April 2020, Schreier joined the technology focus team at Bloomberg News.
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Nintendo is one of the largest video game publishers in the world, producing both hardware and software. Since the release of the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985, the company has generally been proactive to assure its intellectual property in both hardware and software is legally protected. Nintendo's protection of its properties began as early as the arcade release of Donkey Kong which was widely cloned on other platforms, a practice common to the most popular arcade games of the era. Nintendo did seek legal action to try to stop release of these unauthorized clones, but estimated they still lost $100 million in potential sales to these clones. Nintendo also fought off a claim in 1983 by Universal Pictures that Donkey Kong was a derivative element of their King Kong in Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Nintendo Co., Ltd.; notably, Nintendo's lawyer, John Kirby, became the namesake of Kirby in honor of the successful defense.
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