''IGN'' is an American
video gaming and
entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of
Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in
San Francisco
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
's
SoMa district and is headed by its former editor-in-chief, Peer Schneider. The ''IGN'' website was the brainchild of media entrepreneur
Chris Anderson and launched on September 29, 1996. ''IGN'' features articles on
game
A game is a structured type of play usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or video games) or art ...
s,
film
A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...
s,
anime
is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...
,
television
Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...
,
comics
a Media (communication), medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of Panel (comics), panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, Glo ...
,
technology
Technology is the application of Conceptual model, conceptual knowledge to achieve practical goals, especially in a reproducible way. The word ''technology'' can also mean the products resulting from such efforts, including both tangible too ...
, and other media. Originally a network of desktop websites, ''IGN'' is also distributed on mobile platforms, console programs available on the
Xbox and
PlayStation,
Nintendo Switch,
PC,
Mobile,
FireTV,
Roku, and via
YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
,
Twitch,
Hulu
Hulu (, ) is an American Subscription business model, subscription streaming media service owned by Disney Streaming, a subsidiary of the Disney Entertainment segment of the Walt Disney Company. It was launched on October 29, 2007, initially as ...
, and
Snapchat.
Originally, ''IGN'' was the flagship website of IGN Entertainment, a website which owned and operated several other websites oriented towards players' interests, games, and entertainment, such as
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
,
GameSpy, ''GameStats'', ''VE3D'',
TeamXbox, Vault Network, FilePlanet, and
AskMen. ''IGN'' was sold to publishing company
Ziff Davis
Ziff Davis, Inc. is an American digital media and internet company. Founded in 1927 by William Bernard Ziff Sr. and Bernard George Davis, the company primarily owns technology- and health-oriented media websites, online shopping-related servi ...
in February 2013.
History

IGN was created in September 1996 as the ''Imagine Games Network'', the ''IGN'' content network was founded by publishing executive Jonathan Simpson-Bint and began as five individual websites within
Imagine Media
Future US, Inc. (formerly known as Imagine Media and The Future Network USA) is an American media corporation specializing in targeted magazines and websites in the video games, music, and technology markets. Headquartered in New York City, ...
: ''N64.com'' (later renamed ''ign64.com''), ''PSXPower'', ''Saturnworld'', ''Next-Generation.com'' and ''Ultra Game Players Online''. Imagine expanded on its owned-and-operated websites by creating an affiliate network that included a number of independent
fansites such as ''PSX Nation.com'', ''Sega-Saturn.com'', ''Game Sages'', and
GameFAQs. In 1998, the network launched a new homepage that consolidated the individual sites as system channels under the ''IGN'' brand. The homepage exposed content from more than 30 different channels. Websites
Next-Generation and
Ultra Game Players Online were not part of this consolidation; U.G.P.O. dissolved with the cancellation of the magazine, and Next-Generation was put "on hold" when Imagine decided to concentrate on launching the short-lived
Daily Radar brand.
In February 1999, ''
PC Magazine
''PC Magazine'' (shortened as ''PCMag'') is an American computer magazine published by Ziff Davis. A print edition was published from 1982 to January 2009. Publication of online editions started in late 1994 and continues .
Overview
''PC Mag ...
'' named ''IGN'' one of the hundred-best websites, alongside competitors
GameSpot
''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady, and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
and
CNET Gamecenter. That same month, Imagine Media incorporated a spin-off that included ''IGN'' and its affiliate channels as Affiliation Networks, while Simpson-Bint remained at the former company. In September, the newly spun-out standalone internet media company, changed its name to Snowball.com. At the same time, small entertainment website The Den merged into ''IGN'' and added non-gaming content to the growing network. Snowball held an IPO in 2000, but shed most of its other properties during the
dot-com bubble. ''IGN'' prevailed with growing audience numbers and a newly established subscription service called ''IGN'' Insider (later ''IGN'' Prime), which led to the shedding of the name "Snowball" and adoption of IGN Entertainment on May 10, 2002.
In June 2005, ''IGN'' reported having 24,000,000 unique visitors per month, with 4.8 million registered users through all departments of the site. ''IGN'' has been ranked among the top 500 most-visited websites according to
Alexa. In September 2005, ''IGN'' was acquired by
Rupert Murdoch's multimedia business empire,
News Corporation, for
$650 million. IGN celebrated its 10th anniversary on January 12, 2008. ''IGN'' was headquartered in the Marina Point Parkway office park in
Brisbane, California, until it relocated to a smaller office building near
AT&T Park in San Francisco on March 29, 2010. On May 25, 2011, ''IGN'' sold its
Direct2Drive division to
Gamefly for an undisclosed amount.
Acquisition of UGO, sale to Ziff Davis
In 2011, IGN Entertainment acquired its rival
UGO Entertainment (owners of ''
1Up.com'') from
Hearst Corporation. Ultimately, News Corp. planned to spin off IGN Entertainment as a publicly traded company, continuing a string of divestitures for digital properties it had previously acquired (including
MySpace and
Photobucket).
On February 4, 2013, after a failed attempt to spin off ''IGN'' as a separate company, News Corp. announced that it had sold IGN Entertainment to the publishing company
Ziff Davis
Ziff Davis, Inc. is an American digital media and internet company. Founded in 1927 by William Bernard Ziff Sr. and Bernard George Davis, the company primarily owns technology- and health-oriented media websites, online shopping-related servi ...
, which was recently acquired by
J2 Global. Financial details regarding the purchase were not revealed. Prior to its acquisition by UGO, 1UP.com had previously been owned by Ziff Davis.
Soon after the acquisition, ''IGN'' announced that it would be laying off staff and closing
GameSpy, 1UP.com, and UGO in order to focus on its flagship brands, ''IGN'' and AskMen.
Subsidiaries and spin-offs
The role-playing video game interest website Vault Network was acquired by ''IGN'' in 1999. GameStats, a review aggregation website, was founded by ''IGN'' in 2004. GameStats includes a "GPM" (Game Popularity Metric) rating system which incorporates an average press score and average gamer score, as well as the number of page hits for the game. However, the site is no longer being updated. The
Xbox interest site,
TeamXbox, and the PC game website VE3D were acquired in 2003. IGN Entertainment merged with GameSpy Industries in 2005. The merger also brought the game download site FilePlanet into the ''IGN'' group; as of 2011 both FilePlanet and the
GameSpy website still operate as video game-related web sites. IGN Entertainment acquired the online male lifestyle magazine
AskMen in 2005. In 2004, ''IGN'' acquired
film
A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
and in 2010, sold the website to
Flixster.
In October 2017,
Humble Bundle announced that it was being acquired by ''IGN''.
IGN Entertainment acquired
Gamer Network and its properties in May 2024 for an undisclosed sum. These included ''
Eurogamer
''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. Fr ...
'', ''
Rock Paper Shotgun'', ''
VG247'' and others. As a result, some layoffs were made due to redundancies.
Scoring systems
Original scale
A member of the ''IGN'' staff writes a review for a game and gives it a score between 0.1 and 10.0, which is assigned by increments of 0.1 and determines how much the game is recommended. The score is given according to the "individual aspects of a game, like presentation, graphics, sound, gameplay and lasting appeal". Each game is given a score in each of these categories, but the overall score for the game is an independent evaluation, not an average of the scores in each category.
20-point scale
On August 3, 2010, ''IGN'' announced that the site would be changing to a new scoring scale. Instead of a 100-point scale, where games are scored in increments of 0.1, all future reviews would use a 20-point scale where games are scored in increments of 0.5. Under both systems, the maximum possible score a game can receive is 10.0. The scoring change was not retroactive: all scores on reviews written before the change would remain the same. This change also did not affect the scoring system for reader reviews.
100-point scale
On September 13, 2012, ''IGN'' revealed that as part of its new review format all future reviews would follow a 100-point scale again, but without using decimals, meaning a score of 8.5 would become an 85. Unlike the previous conversion to the 20-point scale, this latest scoring system change was retroactive and all previous IGN review scores were to be updated to follow the new system. However, despite the announcement, the article included a short addition, post-release; it stated that after much discussion, they had decided to retain the decimal point in all upcoming scores.
Re-review policy
In early 2014, ''IGN'' introduced a new policy, in which a game's review score can be re-reviewed and improved, provided that continuous updates form a significant change compared to the game at launch. Examples of games that have been re-reviewed were ''
League of Legends
''League of Legends'' (''LoL'', commonly referred to as ''League'', is a multiplayer online battle arena video game developed and published by Riot Games. Inspired by ''Defense of the Ancients'', a Mod (video games), custom map for ''Warcraf ...
'', ''
Heroes of the Storm,
Warframe'', and the pocket edition of ''
Minecraft
''Minecraft'' is a 2011 sandbox game developed and published by the Swedish video game developer Mojang Studios. Originally created by Markus Persson, Markus "Notch" Persson using the Java (programming language), Java programming language, the ...
''.
10-point scale
In January 2020, ''IGN'' revealed that reviews would be reverted to a 10-point scale, from 1 to 10, finding that the finer distinction of the 100-point scale was difficult to maintain, whereas a 10-point scale would still be true to its reviews and would be easier to promote.
''IGN'' 'Best of' awards
''IGN''s 'Best of' is an end-of-year event to annually honor the year's best games, films, television shows and comics. Winners of each award category are selected by ''IGN'' staff from a list of nominees, while readers are able to cast their own votes online to determine the 'People's Choice' award for each category.
Other sections
In 2000, Snowball.com purchased an
E-federation called the Internet Wrestling Organization (IWO).
Since Snowball owned both IWO and ''IGN'', IWO would go on to become ''IGN''s first official E-Fed, even doing a column on the website. The ''IGN'' For Men section officially closed down on October 2, 2001, and is no longer updated. ''IGN'' has sites such as ''IGN'' Stars and AskMen.com that fulfil much of the function of the old ''IGN'' For Men site. ''IGN'' Wrestling met its end in early 2002 when many of the staff departed. Interviews with
professional wrestling
Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...
personalities and coverage of wrestling games have been folded into ''IGN Sports'', headed by Jon Robinson. ''IGN Sci-Fi'': Largely dead since 2002, this section of the site included movie news, comic book reviews, anime coverage and other associated items. It has since been discontinued. The site, ''SciFI.ign.com'' redirects to the recently created ''SciFiBrain.ign.com'', which covers some of the content of the old Sci-Fi site.
In 2002, ''IGN'' launched a dedicated video game FAQs site specifically designed to host user-submitted guides. This was launched following the cancellation of affiliation with
GameFAQs. In 2004, ''IGN'' launched ''GameStats'', which was intended to be a more unbiased rating network, as it takes in scores from every corporate-owned game rating site and averages them all into one score to give a general idea of the quality of a game. ''IGN'' also launched ''
Direct2Drive.com'' in 2004. Its primary focus is selling digital downloads of full PC and Mac video games, as well as
anime
is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...
,
comics
a Media (communication), medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of Panel (comics), panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, Glo ...
and game guides. In 2005, ''IGN'' launched its comics site, which is devoted to not just the staple Marvel and DC titles, but also
manga
are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...
,
graphic novels, statues and toys.
In 2006, ''IGN'' launched its television site. It provides interviews with various television celebrities, in addition to a TV schedule, TV
trivia and TV news. Like the film section, ''IGN''s TV section has a variety of exclusive clips from upcoming television shows.
On May 30, 2006, ''IGN'' Dreamcast was restarted; however, none of the
Dreamcast updates were posted on the main ''IGN'' webpage.
In 2007, ''IGN'' launched its anime site. It provided features on anime and manga, including trailers and free episodes. It also included reviews of manga and anime from other sections of ''IGN'', such as ''IGN Comics'' and ''IGN DVD''. The anime channel was dropped after ''IGN'' redesigned the site. In 2008, the ''IGN Retro'' channel was launched to mark ''IGN''s 10th anniversary. To coincide with the release of ''
Super Smash Bros. Brawl'', ''IGN'' created the ''Super Smash Bros. World'' site. On the site, people can submit their user-created stages from the game and download ones made by other people. ''IGN'' subsequently launched a similar website called ''GTA 'Hood'' on April 29, 2008, for ''
Grand Theft Auto IV
''Grand Theft Auto IV'' is a 2008 action-adventure game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the sixth main entry in the Grand Theft Auto, ''Grand Theft Auto'' series, following 2004's ''Grand Theft Auto: San And ...
''.
Along with its popular website content, ''IGN'' also publishes many different
podcast
A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...
s on both its website and on
iTunes
iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...
. Some of its podcasts include console-oriented shows like the PlayStation-focused "Podcast Beyond" and the Xbox-oriented "Podcast Unlocked", the Nintendo-oriented "Nintendo Voice Chat", and ''Game Scoop!'', a podcast where a variety of editors discuss news and topics surrounding the video game industry.
Regional websites
''IGN'' has 28 editions in 25 languages, as of 2021. The ''US & Canada'', ''UK & Ireland'', and ''Australia & New Zealand'' editions are operated by Ziff Davis subsidiaries, with all others being franchised publishers. Since 2006, IGN Entertainment began launching regional versions of the website for various countries and pan-regions. Initially, ''IGN'' began opening new offices outside the United States in order to support those regional websites, but later ''IGN'' began
franchising its brand as a more cost-effective means of globalization, wherein it licensed various media publishers in many countries to use the ''IGN'' brand and manage regional websites on their own. Licensed regional publishers work on their own servers, albeit can link to ''IGN''s HQ database, where they can import or translate articles, and use videos uploaded on ''IGN''s servers that use ''IGN''s own hosted video player.
When visiting
www.ign.com
from an ''IGN''-supported region, the site automatically redirects visitors to their localized version using
geolocation software, based on their countries' IP addresses. Each version of the site has a modified logo with their country's/region's respective flags near the ''IGN'' logo. However, it is still possible to access the original American website using a navigation bar above or below (depending on the regional website) the page's master template.
* In 2006, ''IGN'' opened its first offices in the UK and Australia, which both shared the same information as the American site but with added content authored from editors within each respective region.
* On May 16, 2012, in collaboration with
Emirati-based company t-break Media, ''IGN Middle East'' was announced for the
MENA gaming community. The site replaced t-break Media's own ME Gamers website, which was formerly one of the largest Middle Eastern-based gaming media outlets that was originally launched in 2006. ME Gamers' entire staff converted their duties to ''IGN Middle East'', importing or translating many of ''IGN''s English articles, whilst writing up their own articles, especially for Middle Eastern-specific events. ''IGN Middle East'' is available in both English and Arabic languages. While the site was initially launched to cover only video games, t-break Media announced in September 2012 that it would begin posting movie-related articles under the ''IGN'' brand as ''IGN Movies Middle East'', merging most of the duties from its own ME Movies website, which was originally established in 2009, under a similar manner to its video game content. Unlike video games, however, most movie-related content will be in English only. ''IGN Middle East'' organized
IGN Convention from 2013 to 2016.
* In September 2012 the Italian edition of ''IGN'' launched, managed by a local team, providing both original and translated contents.
* On October 9, 2012, in collaboration with the Spanish-based media company
Marca, ''IGN Spain'' was announced. The site effectively replaces Marca's own Marca Player gaming news website. Marca Player's editors converted their duties to ''IGN Spain'', translating many of ''IGN''s English articles, whilst writing up their own Spanish articles as well, covering various topics including video games, movies, TV series and comics.
* In March 2013, ''IGN Russia'' was launched. The Russian version is managed by ''Gameland'' publishing house, and its staff was initially completed by former editors and writers from
Strana Igr, ''Gameland's'' printed video game magazine that was closed later that year.
''IGN Russia'' was closed without prior notice by American owners in 2022 after Russian-Ukrainian war began on February 24, effectively wiping out years of work of local editors.
* On December 2, 2013, ''IGN Africa'' was launched.
* On December 17, 2013, in collaboration with
Times Internet, ''IGN India'' was launched. The Indian edition takes AAA game reviews from its US counterpart and focuses more on coverage of gaming news and events in the country, apart from writing about comics, movies, technology. In November 2016, Fork Media Group partnered with Ziff Davis to operate ''IGN India.'' The Indian edition has since then expanded its coverage to pop culture and mainstream entertainment news and events in the country, as well as doing its own reviews for AAA games, TV series, and movies from both India and abroad.
* On September 1, 2014, ''IGN Latinoamérica'' was launched in collaboration with
Publimetro and cover the whole Latin American region (except Brazil) with content in Spanish.
* On November 11, 2014, ''IGN Israel'' was launched.
* On January 30, 2015, ''IGN Hungary'' was launched.
* On February 23, 2015, ''IGN Brazil'' was launched.
* In June 2015, ''IGN Romania'' was launched.
* On November 6, 2015, ''IGN Poland'' was launched.
* On January 4, 2016, ''IGN Adria'' was launched. ''IGN Adria'' covers countries of ex-Yugoslavia region: Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and North Macedonia.
* On April 11, 2016, in collaboration with Sankei Digital, the online publishing arm of Japanese newspaper publisher
Sankei Shimbun, ''IGN Japan'' was publicly launched, and was expected to have a full-scale release by summer 2016. The launch of ''IGN Japan'' is considered a critical development: In addition to translation of English articles, ''IGN Japan'' is hoping to also contribute much original content for other ''IGN'' editions from the Japanese end of the gaming industry, one of the world's largest video game markets with little mainstream journalism for Western media.
* On April 12, 2016, in collaboration with Pakistani-based Express Publications, ''IGN Pakistan'' was publicly launched. Pakistan originally shared some media coverage with ''IGN Middle East'', and later ''IGN India'', before spinning off to a completely independent ''IGN'' edition with focus on local gaming and pop culture events in Pakistan. ''IGN'' Pakistan is initially only available in English, but an
Urdu language
Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...
version was expected to launch later in 2016.
* In August 2018, ''IGN Korea'' was launched. ''IGN Korea'' covers South Korea.
* On August 7, 2019,
Malaysia
Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...
n media giant
Media Prima partnered with
Ziff Davis
Ziff Davis, Inc. is an American digital media and internet company. Founded in 1927 by William Bernard Ziff Sr. and Bernard George Davis, the company primarily owns technology- and health-oriented media websites, online shopping-related servi ...
to launch the
Southeast Asian version of ''IGN'' for the
Malaysia
Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...
n,
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...
n,
Singapore
Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...
an,
Thai,
Vietnam
Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...
ese and the
Filipino markets
* In September 2020, ''IGN China'' was launched as an "editorially independent" outlet of
Tencent
Tencent Holdings Ltd. ( zh, s=腾讯, p=Téngxùn) is a Chinese Multinational corporation, multinational technology Conglomerate (company), conglomerate and holding company headquartered in Shenzhen. It is one of the highest grossing multimed ...
.
IGN Con
IGN Convention (IGN Con) is a
video game
A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...
s,
movie
A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...
s,
comics and
pop culture
Popular culture (also called pop culture or mass culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as popular art pop_art.html" ;"title="f. pop art">f. pop artor mass art, some ...
convention held in various cities in the
Middle East
The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq.
The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...
. The event generally includes celebrities, video game tournaments,
table top games,
card game
A card game is any game that uses playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, whether the cards are of a traditional design or specifically created for the game (proprietary). Countless card games exist, including famil ...
s, movie previews,
comic book
A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...
stalls and a
cosplay competition. A number of Middle Eastern artists and game developers also showcase their work at IGN Convention. This convention is owned and operated by IGN Middle East, the Middle Eastern edition of popular video games website IGN.
IGN Convention is the spiritual successor to GameFest, a biannual, smaller scale gaming gallery which was originally hosted by IGN Middle East's parent company T-break Media between 2010 and 2012, before the hosting duties were subsequently taken over by
AMD EMEA. The IGN Convention logo was designed by prominent Gulf based artist
Ashraf Ghori.
Conferences have included:
*IGN Convention Dubai 2013: Held on 5–6 July 2013 at Meydan IMAX,
Dubai
Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...
,
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...
. Special Guests:
Kevin Nash,
Naomi Kyle,
Ashraf Ghori,
Royce Gracie
Royce Gracie (; born 12 December 1966) is a Brazilian retired professional mixed martial artist. Gracie gained fame for his success in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He is a member of the Gracie jiu-jitsu family, a UFC Hall of Famer ...
. Key Attractions: Cosplay Competition, Last of Us on IMAX screen
*IGN Convention Bahrain 2013: Held on 18–19 October 2013 at Bahrain Exhibition Center,
Manama
Manama ( ', Bahrani Arabic, Bahrani pronunciation: ) is the capital and List of cities in Bahrain, largest city of Bahrain, with an approximate population of 297,502 as of 2012. Long an important trading center in the Persian Gulf, Manama is ...
,
Bahrain
Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...
. Special Guests:
Troy Baker,
Keiji Inafune
is a Japanese video game producer, character designer, game designer, and businessman. In 2009, he was chosen by IGN as one of the top 100 game creators of all time.
Starting his career at Capcom in the late 1980s, his job was as an artist and ...
,
Ryan Hart. Key Attractions:
PlayStation 4 Preview, Oculus Rift, Cosplay Competition, Bahrain Game Developers
*IGN Convention Bahrain 2014: Held on 24–25 October at
Bahrain International Circuit,
Sakhir,
Bahrain
Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...
. Special Guests:
Troy BakerNaomi Kyle Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson,
Julia VothThe ExperimentMohammad Fikree Hamad Qalam. Key Attractions: Cosplay Competition, Troy Baker Concert, Celebrity Q&A, Workshops in Film and Gaming Topics, DJ Session, Sumo Tournament, Freestyle Performance
*IGN Convention Dubai 2014: Held on 21–22 November 2014 at
Dubai International Marine Club,
Dubai
Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...
,
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...
. Special Guests:
Troy Baker,
Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson,
Ryan HartRiddle Falah Hashim,
Amal Hawijeh, S.A Zaidi and Ghanem Ghubash
Mohammad Fikree Haidar Mohammed,
Ashraf GhoriFaisal Hashmi Key Attractions: Cosplay Contest, Troy Baker Concert, Celebrity Q&A, Panels and Workshops
*IGN Convention Qatar 2015: Held on 26–27 February 2015 at
Qatar National Convention Center,
Doha
Doha ( ) is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor and Lusail, it is home to most of the country's population. It ...
,
Qatar
Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...
. Special Guests: Hafthór Júlíus Björnsson, Adam Harrington, Dave Fennoy, NadiaSK. Key Attractions: Celeb guests, video Games showcase, retro gaming museum
*IGN Convention Bahrain 2015: Held on 2–3 October 2015 at
Bahrain International Circuit,
Sakhir,
Bahrain
Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...
. Special Guests:
Booker T Booker T or Booker T. may refer to
* Booker T. Washington (1856–1915), African American political leader at the turn of the 20th century
** List of things named after Booker T. Washington, some nicknamed "Booker T."
* Booker T. Jones (born 194 ...
Dave Fennoy Adam Harrington,
Julia VothRiddle Key Attractions: Cosplay Competition, Celebrity Q&A, Workshops in Film and Gaming Topics, DJ Session, Sumo Tournament, Freestyle Performance
*IGN Convention Abu Dhabi 2015: Held on 16–17 October 2015 at
du Forum,
Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi is the capital city of the United Arab Emirates. The city is the seat of the Abu Dhabi Central Capital District, the capital city of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and the UAE's List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, second-most popu ...
,
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...
. Special Guests:
Jack GleesonNaomi KyleDave Fennoy Adam Harrington, NadiaSK. Key Attractions: Cosplay Competition with $10,000 Prize Money, PlayStation VR showcase, HTC Vive showcase, Celebrity Q&A, Workshops in Film and Gaming Topics
*IGN Convention Bahrain 2016: Held on 22–23 October 2016 at
Bahrain International Circuit,
Sakhir,
Bahrain
Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...
. Special Guests:
Kurt Angle
Kurt Steven Angle (born December 9, 1968) is an American retired professional wrestler and amateur wrestling, amateur wrestler. He first earned recognition for winning a Wrestling at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Men's freestyle 100 kg, gold me ...
,
Giancarlo Esposito,
Alodia Gosiengfiao. Key Attractions: Cosplay Competition, Celebrity Q&A, Workshops in Film and Gaming Topics, DJ Session, Sumo Tournament, Freestyle Performance
*IGN Convention Oman 2016: Held on 9–10 December 2016 at Oman Convention & Exhibition Centre,
Oman
Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...
. Special Guests:
Kristian NairnDave Fennoy Adam Harrington. Key Attractions: Cosplay Competition, Celebrity Q&A, Video Games Zone, Table Top Games
''IGN'' Pro League
In 2011, ''IGN'' launched IGN Pro League, a professional
esports
Esports (), short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, played individually or as teams. ...
circuit that ran tournaments for ''
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty'', ''
ShootMania Storm'' and ''
League of Legends
''League of Legends'' (''LoL'', commonly referred to as ''League'', is a multiplayer online battle arena video game developed and published by Riot Games. Inspired by ''Defense of the Ancients'', a Mod (video games), custom map for ''Warcraf ...
''.
On March 6, 2013, only weeks prior to the event, ''IGN'' abruptly canceled the finals of IPL 6which were to be held in
Las Vegas
Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...
from March 28 through 31, and discontinued the league. ''IGN'' indicated that it was no longer in a position to commit to compete with the increasing number of esports events that were being held.
On April 8, 2013,
Blizzard Entertainment
Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and Video game publisher, publisher based in Irvine, California, and a subsidiary of Activision Blizzard. Originally founded in 1991, the company is best known for producing the h ...
announced that it had acquired the staff and assets of the IPL from ''IGN''; its former staff were reassigned to work on in-house esports productions.
Controversies
Journalistic misconduct accusation
In 2007, Video Game Media Watch accused former IGN editor Doug Perry of "journalistic misconduct" for an exclusive review of ''
Prey''.
Sexual harassment accusations
In November 2017, some ''IGN'' employees refused to work to show solidarity with Kallie Plagge, a former editor who alleged that in 2016, another editor, Vince Ingenito, sexually harassed her and another female employee and made inappropriate comments.
Human resources
Human resources (HR) is the set of people who make up the workforce of an organization, business sector, industry, or economy. A narrower concept is human capital, the knowledge and skills which the individuals command. Similar terms include ' ...
allegedly told her that she "needed to have better judgment about who
hewas 'friends' with" and that she was an "equal participant" in "inappropriate flirtation". This incident was widely circulated across social media.
Plagiarism
In August 2018, the owner of YouTube channel Boomstick Gaming accused the ''IGN'' reviewer Filip Miucin of
plagiarizing his video review of the game ''
Dead Cells
''Dead Cells'' is a 2018 roguelike-Metroidvania game developed by Motion Twin and Evil Empire (company), Evil Empire, and published by Motion Twin. The player takes the role of an amorphous creature called the Prisoner. As the Prisoner, the pla ...
''.
On August 7, ''IGN'' stated that it had found "substantial similarities" between the reviews, apologized, and announced that it had dismissed Miucin.
On August 10, ''IGN'' published a new review by Brandin Tyrrel, which included an editor's note apologizing again and stating that "this review (and its score) represents solely the opinion of the new reviewer".
In a subsequently unlisted video, Miucin responded that while he took "complete ownership over what happened", the similarity was not intentional. ''
Kotaku'' found similarities between Miucin's other reviews, reviews on ''
Nintendo Life'' and ''
Engadget
Engadget ( ) is a technology news, reviews and analysis website offering daily coverage of gadgets, consumer electronics, video games, gaming hardware, apps, social media, streaming, AI, space, robotics, electric vehicles and other potentially ...
'' and material posted on the games discussion forum ''
NeoGAF''.
On August 14, ''IGN'' announced that it would remove all of Miucin's work pending further review.
On April 19, 2019, Miucin admitted plagiarism and issued an apology on his YouTube channel.
Article supporting Palestinian aid
During the
2021 Israel–Palestine crisis, the main ''IGN'' site posted an article on May 14 urging readers to donate to charities helping Palestinian civilians such as the
Palestine Children's Relief Fund and linked to relevant news reporting.
A
Palestinian flag was also added besides the ''IGN'' logo.
Shortly after the article went up ''IGN Israel'' made statements on social media condemning the article.
The Palestinian flag was soon replaced with a
Red Cross.
On May 16, the article was deleted and a statement was made on the ''IGN''
Twitter
Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
account saying that it was wrong to only highlight one side of the conflict.
A reposted version on South Africa-based ''IGN Africa'' was also removed.
On May 17, over 60 members of ''IGN''s staff signed an open letter condemning the article's removal for going against the site's editorial freedom and policies for retracting or correcting articles, as well as the lack of communication with ''IGN'' staff.
''IGN'' reinstated the article on August 24 under a new headline alongside a statement of newly formalized editorial policies.
Television and films
* ''Gamer Nation'' (2003)
* ''Bill Fillmaff's Secret System (2006 Video)''
* ''Game Scoop!'' (2006–)
* ''IGN Originals'' (2008–)
* ''IGN Daily Fix'' (2009–)
* ''Up at Noon'' (2012–2021)
* ''Cheap Cool Crazy'' (2012–2013)
* ''IGN Presents'' (2012–)
* ''Castlevania: Hymn of Blood'' (2012)
* ''IGN Live'' (2012–)
* ''Project: SERA'' (2013–)
* ''Not Another Zombie Apocalypse'' (2013)
* ''Dave Gorman: Modern Life Is Goodish: Badgers Don't Vote'' (2013)
* ''Assassin's Creed 4: Making Black Flag'' (2013)
* ''9 Reasons We're Excited for Destiny'' (2013 Video)
* ''Optimus Prime in Titanfall (2014 Video)''
* ''Making Assassin's Creed Unity: A New Beginning'' (2014)
* ''Fast to the Future (2015 Video)''
* ''Star Wars on Netflix (2016 Video)''
* ''IGN Access NYCC Cosplay (2016–2017)''
* ''The 20th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards (2017 TV Special)''
* ''IGN Now'' (2019–)
* ''Devs React to Speedruns'' (2019–)
Notes
References
External links
*
IGN EntertainmentIGN Con
IGN Convention Dubai in Pictures(archived)
Get your game on at IGN ConventionIGN Convention Comes to DohaTroy Baker's Concert in BahrainSky News Cosplay ReportCelebrity Ask Me Anything in Dubai 2014Bleeding Cool Blog: IGN Convention in Dubai
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