VideoGamer.com acquired by Resero Network
Xbox Achievements owner takes control of UK media brand
The team behind Xbox Achievements has acquired VideoGamer.com.
Resero Network, which also operates PlayStation Trophies and Resero.TV, has picked up the brand from Candy Banana for an undisclosed sum, GamesIndustry.biz can reveal. The company works alongside advertising agency Venatus, which handles the ad sales for Resero's websites.
The acquisition includes the site, the assets and the team - which currently features editor Alice Bell and content editor Colm Ahern.
"Not a lot will change from an editorial perspective, to be completely honest - we're not coming in to rock the boat per se," says editor-in-chief Dan Webb. "We're coming in to apply our years of online experience to kick-start a new era for VideoGamer. We'll work with Alice and Colm to get the best out of VideoGamer, and we couldn't be more excited to add such an esteemed brand to our network."
He continues: "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."
The acquisition follows a tricky period for VideoGamer after the departure of a number of senior journalists and producers, including Steve Burns, Jim Trinca, Simon Miller, David Scammell and Tom Orry.
Yet Webb says there remains a lot of strength in the website.
"For me, VideoGamer is one of the truly great brands in the UK video game industry," he says. "They've been around as long as I have - which is bloody ages - and have had an incredible history, one that has been blessed with so many wonderful personalities. 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."