GameSpot was founded on May 1, 1996, by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady, and Jon Epstein under their newly established company, SpotMedia Communications. SpotMedia had been formed months earlier in January 1996, after the founders left their roles at
IDG to pursue an online platform focused on gaming content. The site's initial launch emphasized news, previews, and reviews primarily for
personal computer games. To broaden its scope, SpotMedia launched a companion site,
VideoGameSpot, on December 1, 1996, dedicated to console and arcade titles. On January 6, 1997, SpotMedia announced a partnership with
Ziff Davis, valued at $20 million, which would integrate content from Ziff Davis publications such as
Computer Gaming World and
Electronic Gaming Monthly. By the following month, Ziff Davis's substantial financial infusion enabled
GameSpot to grow to 45 employees. and would premiere as
GameSpot TV on July 4. In February 1999,
PC Magazine named
GameSpot one of the hundred best websites, alongside competitors
IGN and
CNET Gamecenter. Following the acquisition of
ZDNet by
CNET Networks, announced on July 19, 2000, for approximately $1.6 billion in stock,
GameSpot came under the ownership of
CNET. That December,
The New York Times declared
GameSpot and
Gamecenter the "
Time and
Newsweek of gaming sites". In February 2001,
GameSpot was spared from a redundancy reduction effort by CNET which shuttered
Gamecenter. In October 2005,
GameSpot adopted a new design similar to that of
TV.com, now considered a sister site to
GameSpot.
GameSpot ran a few different paid subscriptions from 2006 to 2013, but is no longer running those. In June 2008,
GameSpots parent company CNET was acquired by
CBS Corporation, and
GameSpot along with CNET's other online assets were managed by the
CBS Interactive division. CNET was sold to
Red Ventures in October 2020. Two years later,
Fandom acquired
GameSpot, along with
Metacritic,
TV Guide,
GameFAQs,
Giant Bomb, Cord Cutters News, and
Comic Vine from Red Ventures. In January 2023, 40-50 employees were affected by a round of layoffs. More layoffs at GameSpot took place in January 2024.
International history GameSpot UK (United Kingdom) was started in October 1997 and operated until mid-2002, offering content that was oriented for the British market that often differed from that of the U.S. site. During this period,
GameSpot UK won the 1999 PPAi (Periodical Publishers Association interactive) award for best website, and was short listed in 2001.
PC Gaming World was considered a "sister print magazine" and some content appeared on both
GameSpot UK and
PC Gaming World. Following the purchase of
ZDNet by
CNET, GameSpot UK was merged with the main US site. On April 24, 2006,
GameSpot UK was relaunched. In a similar fashion,
GameSpot AU (Australia) existed on a local scale in the late 1990s with Australian-produced reviews. It ceased in 2003. When a local version of the main CNET portal, CNET.com.au was launched in 2003, GameSpot AU content was folded into CNET.com.au. The site was fully re-launched in mid-2006, with a specialized forum, local reviews, special features, local pricings in
Australian dollars, Australian release dates, and more local news.
Gerstmann dismissal Jeff Gerstmann, editorial director of the site, was fired on November 28, 2007, as a result of pressure from Eidos Interactive, a major advertiser; Eidos objected to the 6/10 review that Gerstmann had given
Kane & Lynch: Dead Men, a game they were heavily advertising on
GameSpot at the time. Both
GameSpot and parent company CNET initially stated that his dismissal was unrelated to the review. However, in March 2012, the non-disclosure agreement that forced Gerstmann to withhold the details of his termination was nullified. Not long after,
Giant Bomb (a site Gerstmann founded after leaving
GameSpot) was being purchased by the same parent company as
GameSpot, and that they moved their headquarters into the same building. As part of this announcement, Gerstmann revealed that the firing was indeed related to threats of Eidos pulling advertising revenue away from
GameSpot as a result of Gerstmann's poor review score, which was confirmed by ''GameSpot's'' Jon Davison. ==Operations and features==