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Resero Network, the firm behind Xbox Achievements and PlayStation Trophies, announced the acquisition of VideoGamer.com earlier today. The London-based website was formerly owned by Candy Banana but the amount of the transaction has not been revealed.
"Not a lot will change from an editorial perspective, to be completely honest – we’re not coming in to rock the boat per se," editor-in-chief Dan Webb told GI.biz. "We’re coming in to apply our years of online experience to kick-start a new era for VideoGamer. We’ll work with [VideoGamer editor] Alice [Bell] and [content editor] Colm [Ahern] to get the best out of VideoGamer, and we couldn’t be more excited to add such an esteemed brand to our network."
A lot of changes are to be expected at the website though, he added: "We have both short-term and long-term goals, for sure. They’ll be moving in with us in our West London office, where we are currently in the process of building a state-of-the-art studio that will support both our’s and VideoGamer’s current video needs. We’ll be putting more of an emphasis on community too, as that’s what we’ve always been about. So that means bringing back user comments, user profiles, forums and the like. We’ll also be looking to hire in the next month or so too and the current team has some great ideas that we’ll be implementing from here on out. So, lots of changes, all incredibly positive."
He concluded: "We’re always looking for ways to expand and to give us a new edge, and VideoGamer fits that criteria perfectly for us. It complements our current brands and allows us to apply everything we’ve learned over the last 10 plus years to it to give it a new lease of life. It was the logical next step for us."
Alice Bell published aQ&A on VideoGamerto give more details about this acquisition, and confirmed, among other things, that both her and Colm Ahernwill be keeping their jobs: "Colm and I both keep the positions we had before the sale, so if you need to contact VideoGamer.com you should get in touch with one of us. Dan is going to be managing the company that runs the site and overseeing our work in broad terms, but will not be very involved in the day-to-day of VideoGamer."
This announcement follows the departure of numerous senior members of staff, including co-founder and editorial director Tom Orry and deputy editor David Scammell last December, as well Jim Trinca and Steve Burns in October, who left to form Special Gun Productions.
