I am beyond upset with the folks at AOL (who, ironically, haven’t been relevant since the 90s). I just read devastating news on Massively.com that AOL (or some VP at AOL that performed a “Ghostcrawler nerf” to Joystiq’s budget) will be shutting down Joystiq and all its affiliate sites. This includes Massively and potentially WoW Insider (though I have not heard anything officially posted by the WoW Insider staff).
Massively and Joystiq have been my primary go-to sites for gaming news and they are my primary sources for my MMO Times posts. The gaming industry is booming and will only grow bigger as gamers have children gamers (like me). This is a mistake that will have rippling affects, but I guess AOL is use to making ignorant mistakes.
A petition has been started and you should head over there and sign it immediately. There is also hashtags for twitter that you should start using immedately: #SaveJoystiq, #SaveMassively.
Hopefully there is some organization out there that still supports gamers and the gaming industry that might be willing to pick up these sites and not only give us our community back but give the great writers at Joystiq/Massively/etc their jobs back!
Update: Unfortunately WoW Insider is also going away. It is a solemn and lonely moment; however Adam Holisky (writer for WoW Insider) just tweeted this (there is hope):
Well, now that this is over, yes, we’re getting something else set up. Not sure where, but something else. More soon.
— Adam Holisky (@AdamHolisky) January 30, 2015
/endsoapbox
I could get so much more accomplished if I only had minions!