 | |
Type of site | Computer and video gameblog |
|---|---|
| Successor(s) | Engadget Gaming Massively Overpowered Polygon |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Owner | Weblogs, Inc. |
| Editors |
|
| URL | joystiq.com |
| Launched | June 16, 2004 (2004-06-16) |
| Current status | Shut down on February 3, 2015 (2015-02-03) |
Joystiq was avideo gamingblog which was part of theWeblogs, Inc. family later owned byAOL. It was active from 2004 to 2015, acting as the primary video game blog for the group, and operating alongsideEngadget and sister blogs such asMassively.[1][2][3] From 2007 it hostedThe Joystiq Podcast, which was hosted by editor-in-chief Chris Grant, reviews editorJustin McElroy and Ludwig Kietzmann. The website's staff also included Justin's brotherGriffin McElroy as weekend editor. The original podcast was discontinued in 2011, but similar shows continued for the remainder of the site's lifetime in various formats.
Grant and the McElroy brothers left the site in 2012 to found the gaming websitePolygon, with Kietzmann taking over as editor-in-chief. The site's readership declined through the following years, andJoystiq was shut down by AOL on February 3, 2015. The web address today redirects toEngadget Gaming, which hosts much of the site's old content.[4]
In the early 2000s, the blog networkWeblogs, Inc. was exploring their video game coverage.Peter Rojas, the founder and leader of Engaget, acknowledged that video games were too broad a subject to be covered by their flagship blog alone.Joystiq was therefore intended to cover that area. The site first began with a soft launch in April 2004, and Rojas formally unveiled the site on June 16.[5]Joystiq emerged at a time when gaming websites were limited to large corporate-owned entities. It emerged as a smaller player in the space, primarily competing withKotaku, which launched around the same time.[6]
In June 2005 senior editor Ben Zackheim, after being offered a position atAOL's Games division, announced his resignation due to a conflict of interest.[7] He was succeeded by Vladimir Cole.
Joystiq saw major expansion over the period, as it broadened its coverage with dedicated blogs for different consoles. The move towards specialised blogs came shortly after Weblogs was aquired by AOL, which was announced in October 2005.[8]
The first of the new blogs launched in November 2005- coinciding with the North American launch of theXbox 360.Joystiq launchedXbox 360 Fanboy, a blog devoted solely to the in-depth coverage of its namesake hardware.[9] New staff were hired that month, including Jennie Lees, Blake Snow and Chris Grant.[10] For the next three weeksJoystiq unveiled additional console-specific spinoffs, includingPSP Fanboy on November 28,WoW Insider on December 6, andDS Fanboy on December 12. On February 15, 2006, a sixth blog was introduced:Revolution Fanboy, (which was later renamed toNintendo Wii Fanboy), while March 29 heralded the arrival ofPS3 Fanboy, completingJoystiq's trifecta of specialized next-gen coverage. While some criticized the practice of splintering offJoystiq's primary areas of expertise, Jason Calacanis justified these actions by asserting that separate blogs were necessary to fulfill these specialized niches.[11]
On January 26, 2006,Joystiq coined the phrase "DS phat",[12] a nickname for the old-styleNintendo DS that helps differentiate between the launch model DS and theDS Lite. The nickname remained in informal use for decades.[13]
Cole moved to Microsoft's Xbox division in 2007, and Chris Grant became editor-in-chief for the website. He was also one of the inaugural hosts forThe Joystiq Podcast, a weekly discussion show for video game news and culture. The other hosts for the show were Ludwig Kietzmann andJustin McElroy. The podcast would become an enduring feature that persisted in various forms for the remainder of the site's lifetime. Grant's tenure also saw one further blog launched, in the form ofMassively. The new blog was designed to cover MMOs in general (as opposed to theWorld of Warcraft specificWoW Insider). It launched on November 2, 2007.[14]
From 2009Joystiq underwent a period of consolidation, merging several of the spinoff blogs back into the main site. This began with the "Fanboy" pages that January, which were rebranded and integrated directly into the mainJoystiq site. DS and Wii Fanboy were merged intoJoystiq Nintendo, the PSP and PS3 Fanboy merged intoJoystiq PlayStation, and Xbox 360 Fanboy becameJoystiq Xbox. Until 2010, these sites continued to feature specialized posts in addition to relevant content from the mainJoystiq site. The arrangement was ultimately only briefly in effect, as in June 2010 the site rebranded and folded all three back into the main site as part of the "Futurestiq" overhaul. The staff from those companion blogs were folded intoJoystiq full-time.[15]
In January 2012, Ludwig Kietzmann became the editor-in-chief after Grant left to form a new video game news website withVox Media, owners ofThe Verge, known asPolygon.[16]
In January 2015, co-owned blogTechCrunch reported that AOL was planning to shutter underperforming content properties, particularly in the technology and lifestyle verticals, to focus on its stronger properties, video, and advertising sales.[17] On January 27, 2015,Re/code reported thatJoystiq was among the sites that were "likely" to be shut down as part of this restructuring plan.[18] Readership ofJoystiq had seen sharp declines, falling by at least 18% over the previous year.[17]
On January 30, 2015, variousJoystiq staff members, and eventually the site itself, confirmed that the site, along with its spin-offsMassively andWoW Insider, and fellow AOL propertyTUAW, would cease operations after February 3, 2015. Gaming-oriented coverage was assumed byEngadget.[19][20][21]
Griffin and Justin McElroy, along with their brotherTravis McElroy, started the podcastMy Brother, My Brother and Me in 2010, around a year before the discontinuation ofThe Joystiq Podcast. The podcast gained popularity quickly at launch, "largely on the back of their existing Joystiq podcast base".[22][23] Grant and the McElroy's departure fromJoystiq in 2012 allowed them to found the games journalism websitePolygon, which is active as of 2025.[16] The McElroys ultimately retired from journalism in 2018 to focus on their podcasting careers.[24] Grant remained editor-in-chief ofPolygon until 2019, and now serves as its publisher.[25]
On February 10, 2015, the staff of Joystiq's formerMassively column launched their own successor site.Massively Overpowered is dedicated to the continuation of their MMO coverage, and remains active as of 2025.[26]
Kietzmann briefly became U.S. Editor-in-Chief forGamesRadar+, and then retired from journalism in 2016 to become the editing director for Assembly Media.[27]
The final configuration ofJoystiq staff included editor-in-chief Ludwig Kietzmann, managing editor Susan Arendt, feature content director Xav de Matos, reviews content director Richard Mitchell, news content director Alexander Sliwinski, senior reporter Jess Conditt, and contributing editors Sinan Kubba, Danny Cowan, Mike Suszek and Earnest Cavalli. Thomas Schulenberg and Sam Prell maintained the blog on the weekends as the weekend editors and Anthony John Agnello served as community manager.[28]
PreviousJoystiq staff members included editor-in-chief Chris Grant, managing editor James Ransom-Wiley, features editor Kevin Kelly, reviews editorJustin McElroy, editorsGriffin McElroy, J.C. Fletcher, and Mike Schramm, East Coast Editor Andrew Yoon, and West Coast Editor Randy Nelson.
| The Joystiq Podcast | |
|---|---|
| Presentation | |
| Hosted by | Chris Grant,Justin McElroy, Ludwig Kietzmann |
| Genre | Podcast |
| Updates | Weekly |
| Production | |
| No. of episodes | 178 |
| Publication | |
| Original release | February 6, 2007 – June 8, 2011 |
| The Joystiq Show | |
|---|---|
| Presentation | |
| Hosted by | Chris Grant, Xav de Matos |
| Genre | Podcast |
| Updates | Weekly |
| Production | |
| No. of episodes | 29 |
| Publication | |
| Original release | June 17, 2011 – April 13, 2012 |
| Super Joystiq Podcast | |
|---|---|
| Presentation | |
| Hosted by | Xav de Matos |
| Genre | Podcast |
| Updates | Weekly |
| Production | |
| No. of episodes | 128 |
| Publication | |
| Original release | May 4, 2012 – January 16, 2015 |
The Joystiq Podcast launched in 2007 and was hosted by Chris Grant, Ludwig Kietzmann andJustin McElroy. The three would discuss various gaming-related news stories. Segments included, 'What Have you Been Playing?', 'Brush With Fame', 'The Big Three', 'The Do It Line!' and 'Reader Mail'. It would sometimes featured guests from other gaming websites such asCheapyD,Chris Remo, and Stephen Totilo. Some special episodes were also produced for industry events such asGame Developers Conference (GDC).
The Joystiq Show launched in June 2011 as a replacement for the podcast,[29] promising a more serious, academic format, with a multifaceted examination ofDuke Nukem Forever including an interview with voice actorJon St. John and a review roundtable. Over time, the show's format evolved to include more off-the-cuff discussion, while maintaining the topical nature.
The third and final iteration,Super Joystiq Podcast, was announced atJoystiq's PAX East 2012 panel and officially released on May 4, 2012. This podcast featured every editor, grouped together in a different configuration every week, each participating in an intro, news, preview, or "Joystiq Research Institute" segment. The intention was to move the format back towards that of the original, with conversations about the industry from the staff.[30] The final episode, discussingThe Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D, aired on January 16, 2015, several weeks before the site's closure.[31]
In 2005,Joystiq was listed at #19 of the Feedster 500.[32] In 2007, it was also listed in Forbes.com's Best of the Web.[33]