AOL has no "gaming appetite" says former Joystiq EIC

Consumer gaming news blog Joystiq launched as part of Weblogs back in 2004. When AOL purchased Weblogs in October 2005, the games blog officially became a part of the AOL family of sites, and in the years following steadily grew to become a leading source of information for gamers across the globe. Former editor-in-chief Chris Grant, who left Joystiq at the end of 2011, feels AOL is blind to the success that he and his former colleagues at Joystiq have had in building up the site. And it's ultimately a problem inherent in AOL as a company.

"If you look at certain stats like Comscore, Joystiq's the number five video game web site in North America. I don't think AOL actually knows that," Grant told GamesIndustry International in an interview about the launch of his new site Polygon.

Grant believes that AOL just doesn't have much interest in games media these days, and it's one of the major reasons that he couldn't resist the opportunity provided by Vox Media.

"I don't think they actually have any idea. I think Joystiq does incredible work, and the team there is so talented. AOL's got a lot of money, they have a lot of reach. AOL doesn't have an appetite to have a major gaming site, a much bigger one," he continued. "That's just not where their head is. Which is fine; it just made the opportunity to come to Vox and try to do it impossible to turn down. There aren't a lot of companies out there that have that appetite; it just isn't there, which is the opportunity that Vox saw."

Be sure to check out the full interview with Grant and Marty Moe, chief content officer for Vox Media, about Polygon's attempt to shake up the world of games media.