GameSpot is an Americanvideo gaming website that provides coverage of video games and entertainment, including news, reviews, previews, trailers, walkthroughs, guides, downloads, and community forums. Launched on May 1, 1996, by founders Pete Deemer, Vince Broady, and Jon Epstein under SpotMedia Communications, it initially focused onpersonal computer games before expanding to console titles via a sister site,VideoGameSpot. The site has been owned byFandom, Inc. since October 2022.[2]
In 2004,GameSpot won "Best Gaming Website" as chosen by the viewers inSpike TV's secondVideo Game Award Show,[3] and has wonWebby Awards several times. The domainGameSpot.com attracted at least 60 million visitors annually by October 2008 according to aCompete.com study.[4]
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 atIDG to pursue an online platform focused on gaming content.[5][6][7] The site's initial launch emphasized news, previews, and reviews primarily forpersonal computer games. To broaden its scope, SpotMedia launched a companion site,VideoGameSpot, on December 1, 1996, dedicated to console and arcade titles.[5][8]
On January 6, 1997, SpotMedia announced a partnership withZiff Davis, valued at $20 million, which would integrate content from Ziff Davis publications such asComputer Gaming World andElectronic Gaming Monthly.[9] By the following month, Ziff Davis's substantial financial infusion enabledGameSpot to grow to 45 employees.[5] EventuallyVideoGameSpot, then renamedVideoGames.com, was merged intoGameSpot.[8] Upon the May 11, 1998 launch of Ziff Davis's cable channelZDTV, a program byGameSpot was projected for a mid-summer release,[10] and would premiere asGameSpot TV on July 4.[11] In February 1999,PC Magazine namedGameSpot one of the hundred best websites, alongside competitorsIGN andCNET Gamecenter.[12]
Following the acquisition ofZDNet byCNET Networks, announced on July 19, 2000, for approximately $1.6 billion in stock,GameSpot came under the ownership ofCNET.[13] That December,The New York Times declaredGameSpot andGamecenter the "Time andNewsweek of gaming sites".[14] In February 2001,GameSpot was spared from a redundancy reduction effort by CNET which shutteredGamecenter.[15][16]
In October 2005,GameSpot adopted a new design similar to that ofTV.com, now considered a sister site toGameSpot.[17]GameSpot ran a few different paid subscriptions from 2006 to 2013, but is no longer running those.[18][19][20] In June 2008,GameSpot's parent company CNET was acquired byCBS Corporation, andGameSpot along with CNET's other online assets were managed by theCBS Interactive division.[21]
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,[26] and was short listed in 2001.[27]PC Gaming World was considered a "sister print magazine" and some content appeared on bothGameSpot UK andPC Gaming World.[28] Following the purchase ofZDNet byCNET, GameSpot UK was merged with the main US site. On April 24, 2006,GameSpot UK was relaunched.[29]
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 inAustralian dollars, Australian release dates, and more local news.[citation needed]
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 givenKane & Lynch: Dead Men, a game they were heavily advertising onGameSpot at the time.[30][31][32] BothGameSpot and parent company CNET initially stated that his dismissal was unrelated to the review.[33][34] 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 leavingGameSpot) was being purchased by the same parent company asGameSpot, 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 fromGameSpot as a result of Gerstmann's poor review score, which was confirmed byGameSpot's Jon Davison.[30][31]
GameSpot employs a 1-10 scoring system for reviews, which evolved from a categorical breakdown—where aspects such as graphics and audio received individual scores—to a unified overall score introduced in 2007 with half-point increments for finer granularity.[35] By 2013, the scale shifted to integer values only, categorizing scores as Masterpiece (10), Superb (9), Great (8), Good (7), Fair (6), Mediocre (5), Poor (4), Bad (3), Terrible (2), or Abysmal (1).[36]
Greg Kasavin – executive editor and site director ofGameSpot, who left in 2007 to become a game developer. He became a producer atEA and2K Games. As of 2021, he was working forSupergiant Games as a writer and creative director.[37][38]
Jeff Gerstmann – editorial director of the site, dismissed fromGameSpot on November 28, 2007, for undisclosed reasons, after which he startedGiant Bomb.[39] Following the announcement of the purchase ofGiant Bomb by CBS Interactive on March 15, 2012, Jeff was allowed to reveal that he was dismissed by management as a result of publishers threatening to pull advertising revenue due to less-than-glowing review scores being awarded byGameSpot's editorial team.[40]
Danny O'Dwyer – video presenter ofGameSpot, founded crowdfunded game documentary companyNoclip in 2016.[41]
Chris Wanstrath – web developer ofGameSpot who left in 2008 to startGitHub, which became the world's largest host service for software code.[42] In 2018 he sold GitHub to Microsoft for $7.5 billion.[43]
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