Gamurs Group buying Enthusiast Gaming sites
Update: Australian parent of Dot Esports and Prima Games confirms acquiring Destructoid, The Escapist, Upcomer and more from Canadian esports and events company
Original story, September 27: Gamurs Group is reportedly acquiring a selection of gaming websites from Enthusiast Gaming, according to a report from Jacob Wolf, a journalist who previously served as chief reporter for Gamur's Dot Esports site.
Wolf cited sources familiar with the deal as saying that Upcomer, Destructoid, and The Escapist would be sold, along with other unspecified "editorial assets."
Inquiries to Gamurs Group and Enthusiast Gaming were not returned as of this writing.
Beyond the sites named above, Enthusiast also owns a variety of gaming outlets including Siliconera, Addicting Games, The Sims Resource, and PC Invasion, as well as the Steel Media group that includes PocketGamer.biz, PC Games Insider, and a number of related networking events.
Gamurs Group has been known for its Dot Esports and Gamepur editorial sites, and in the past couple years has actively expanded its brand base in games and beyond, adding Prima Games, Twinfinite, The Mary Sue, and We Got This Covered to its ranks.
Earlier this year, Enthusiast ran into trouble when an activist shareholder Greywood called for a change of leadership at the company, blaming then-CEO Adrian Montgomery for the company's squadered potential, damaged reputation, and "significant issues" with its culture.
In July, Enthusiast and Greywood struck a compromise.
Montgomery agreed to leave the CEO position to become chair of the board of directors once a successor was found, while Greywood was allowed to add two nominees of its choosing to the board.
Update, September 30: Gamurs Group has confirmed the acquisition of Upcomer, Destructoid and The Escapist in a blog post, as well as games outlets Siliconera and PC Invasion, and sports site Operation Sports.
"As a long-term, avid reader of these publications, I have been following their progress for some time," said Gamurs founder and CEO Riad Chikhani. "This acquisition is not only of strategic significance for the company, but given my affinity for the brands, it gives me a lot of satisfaction to bring such well-respected news websites into the GAMURS Group portfolio."
Additional reporting by Danielle Partis.