N4G takes Future money, joins GamesRadar Network

Future's bought a stake in gamer news site N4G.com, the publisher's just announced, meaning the site will join Future's GamesRadar Network. No financial terms were disclosed. N4G now joins GamesRadar, FileRadar.net, Gloob.tv, OXMOnline "and the soon to be re-launched" PCGamer.com in Future's stable of games sites.

N4G received 3.65 million visits in January 2008, according to the press release, with 17.8 million page views and nearly a million unique visitors.

"We are very excited about our newly formed partnership with Future US," said Vegard Aure. "This gives us a chance to grow our capabilities and traffic for what we feel is one of the web's premiere social spots for gamers."

[Vip3r]

Go N4G!

[Lord Anubis]

no recognition for us Contributors?

We make N4G go round and round.

[Johnny Blaze]

Chi Ching !!!!

[cloud360-7th_account]

if this website is called pc gamer .com i wont visit it anymore.

[Graphics by ATi]

That's another website silly.

Anyways, congrats to n4g and its new upward swing!

[cloud360-7th_account]

oh thanks for that. i was scared* and angry for nothing then.

maybe worried is the right word

[Tempist]

Wait, who previously owned N4G then? Was it indie?

Am I teh pwned by these Future?

[Graphics by ATi]

n4g owned n4g.

Very simple, really.

[jayblings]

GOod Job you guys..congrats and keep up the great work

[Captain Tuttle]

Congratulations you guys. I'm glad that all of your hard work is beginning to pay off.

[MK_Red]

Great news. N4G FTW!
Hopefully this doesn't change the way things work. N4G is more than perfect right now :)

[kewlkat007]

then I've seen in the last 2 years on n4g, with the new system.

Hard work has been paying off.

[IGNFTW]

WILL HOST ADS NOW?

COOL

[BenzMoney]

"for what we feel is one of the web’s premiere social spots for gamers."

BAAAAhahahahaha! Oh god, that was just too rich. The only demographic this website is a "premiere social spot" for is mindless fanboys.

But hey, whatever produces hits, ad revenue and keeps the dollars rolling in, right? Can't fault these guys for taking advantage of other people's stupidity and fanboyism for their own profit - that's business. They've created the perfect storm.

[Adamalicious]

Dude, you just called yourself a mindless fanboy.

And if you really do think that every single person on here is such a mindless fanboy then why do you waste your time?

[Foolsjoker]

Take that kind of stuff to the Open Zone....this section is for people without childish comments.

[BenzMoney]

You guys are seriously going to sit there and honestly say that I'm wrong? Give me a break.

This site, which I've been visiting for years, before it was even called 'N4G', before they seperated the site into "xbox360news" and "ps3news", before all of that, has gone to the fanboys. It always had fanbody comments, of course, but over the last year or so it has devolved so thoroughly into mindless drivel that it's hardly worth visiting anymore. And that sucks.

This site used to be awesome, but now you can't even find a legitimate article that hasn't had some sort of fanboy slant added to its title or description, followed by pages of bickering! You can't even post an article or a USER REVIEW without fanboys reporting it because they don't want good news to be posted about certain consoles, games or companies!

...the guys who run the site know this, and so they've changed the format to try to mediate the fanboyism a little bit. And it worked for about a week, to a certain extent. But lately I've been browsing and seeing all sorts of pathetic, fanboy comments all over the place in the "GamerZone" - and its from the same old people that have always posted those comments. And instead of being BANNED from posting, like they should be, they have their comment deleted (or, more often, left untouched) and the site continues on its downhill plunge.

You can call me childish all you want, but I've been here longer than 85% of you have and I don't post the kinds of crap that's become mainstream around here. If you fools are proud of that and want to support that, then fine. That's your perogative. But at least cut the crap and admit that this is the biggest flame-fest fanboy website on the net. Anyone who claims otherwise is just being dishonest, plain & simple.

You're not fooling anyone.

@7.1: Unfortunately, I rarely do anymore, my post history will verify that.

@7.2: Childish? It was merely the truth - they're capitalizing off of the rabid fanboyism that goes on here. Show me where I'm wrong, and then you can call me childish. The fact is that this site has grown exponentially since it became so ridden with controversial, fanboyesque posts. Fanboyism sells, apparently. And don't get me wrong - I'm not faulting the owners for that - all the power to them. I just think its unfortunate and the quote is hilarious.

[Adamalicious]

N4G is what you make it. If you want it be be awesome, make it awesome - contribute quality news, engage in intelligent debate etc. If you insist on being as churlish as the average fanboy then you are part of the problem, and you have no right to complain.

[BenzMoney]

I don't disagree with you; in an ideal world, N4G would be what you make of it. It actually used to be that way, believe it or not! That is until it was hijacked and overrun (around E3 last year, and ever since) with fanboyism. Like I said before, the fanboys were always there. But in the last year the site was over run. I guess like anything great, once it goes mainstream, it generally gets ruined.

In the time I've spent here, I've always contributed good articles when I've come by them, I've always engaged in open, honest, non-flaming debates and discussions and I've always FAIRLY and ACCURATELY approved/reported submissions. Unfortunately I'm in the minority. I got tired of it, so I spoke up. Sue me.

I obviously struck a nerve with a moderator in my first post on this thread - my bubble count dropped from 9 to 5 and my contributor voting weight dropped from 2 to 1. Someone didn't like the fact that I stated the truth. Funny how you can lose 4 bubbles for posting something truthful (and without fanboy bias) yet fanboys can rant and rave to their heart's content, and not lose any bubbles or voting rights for doing so. What a joke. Congratulations, moderators, on stifling the contributions of one of the few people on this site who actually have something constructive to contribute.

[Firewire]

Well I'm done with N4G now, sorry but GamesRadar sux!

[cloud360-7th_account]

ther is not goijg to be a direct connection. before this merger. games radar was already anf affiliate .

[MK_Red]

This does not mean we are part of GamesRadar.
Plus, superb sites like Next-Generation.biz are also part of this network :)

[RecSpec]

I can't help but think the same way as FireWire, no I'm not gonna bail, but I'm not gonna sit here and think things are going to be the same as always. I left a couple other sites due to messed up stuff happening after "deals" were made. Hope N4G doesn't follow suit.

[IntelligentAj]

How will this affect the website?

[InMyOpinion]

Larger sums of money in the monthly competitions would be fair, since it's thx to the contributors that this site has grown.

[Adamalicious]

How much of a stake? It will be interesting to see how this affects the user generated nature of the site - Will people be as inclined to put in the effort to make more money for "the man"? Will we get banned for talking smack about Rob Smith?

[timmyp53]

I think N4G will stay the same though XD

[MikeGdaGod]

i want a cut

[JDW]

I wonder how this will change the site......

[DethWish]

I always liked gamesradar so I guess this is nice :)

[rofldings]

As long as the site doesn't change...

[P4KY B]

Well done.

[zonetrooper5]

This site will keep on growing and there are more updates to come. Surpises will be happening and I'm sure N4G will stay N4G if it totally changes then I may consider leaving.

[Nykamari]

Ever since I found the site, I can't stop coming here. You guys are very funny to me, actually you guys became family to me. I read every comment on this site, while I work during the day. And the best part is when I'm upset I just come her to clear my mind and get a good laugh, with that said BUBBLES FOR EVERYONE who helped me and N4G.COM. PEACE(Kaos)Nykamari

[InMyOpinion]

Ka-ch-ch-ching!!

[The Wood]

including the fanboys of each console. Many like myself joined n4g out of rage ignited by reading fanboy comments. BIG UP ALL

[vgn24]

You're all doing the work for them to cash in. congrats

[Meus Renaissance]

It's all down to the popularity of Meus. Let's not deny it people, come on...

/sarcasm

[kingboy]

Hope nothing major changes on here

[gta_cb]

congrats :D

[predator]

well done n4g, i was wondering when this annoucement was going to be made.

good job to all admins and mods.

[vgn24]

I sure am glad that all our posting of news made someone a ton of money. Nice to know we all worked for free and had it sold for an a-load of cash to the publisher of such quality goods as OXM and Playstaion magazine. Sure hope N4G can match that level of quality. LOL Congrats to all.

[toughNAME]

looks like Future beat Mircosoft to the punch

[DanAmrich]

This will probably not change how N4G runs. When a company invests like this, it's because they like what they see, and generally either a) want a piece of the profit, b) want to give the site some support to attain more profit, or c) both.

So don't sweat it. It's likely to be a good deal for everybody involved, and it's a testament to the work already done.

And yes, I work for Future, but guess how I learned this news? :)

[ParaDise_LosT]

a while ago when I was on the forms I saw the GameRadar tag on the bottom of the page x)

Congratz N4G

[Salvadore]

Awesome news, but I hope things remain the same.

[Lew_Ijgee]

Would be hilarious to see each of those Unique visitors make a comment on one popular news post.

[Bnet343]

N4G member since the very beginning. I remmber when the URL I used to go to would be www.xbox360news.com

[whoelse]

Wow you forget how big of a place N4G is now.

[TwissT]

WooT N4g you guys rock! But you know I was wondering if I could get a small amount of pay nuthing much just a grand or 2? XD

[Dusty]

I see there are some confusion what this means. That Future has made an equity investment in N4G does not mean that Future has bought N4G. I see some sites are reporting that, but that is not accurate. Future has made an investment into N4G Network AS, which means they beleive in the site/network and want to invest in its Future...no pun intended.

Will the site change? If so, only for the better. We are still the same dev team. The only thing that has changed is that we now have access to more manpower/resources.

We will launch some really cool new websites soon, hopefully by the end of the month :)

[Lord Anubis]

why did you not make a statement?

[Rice]

woo hoo!!!

[Garrison]

But, it's the contributors that make this website go round. Without them N4g wouldn't be even visited at all. Someone needs to at least say thank you to these guys for actually giving this great website a reason to be. I don't know if the owners of the site are going to, but from my part:
Thanks to you all.

[mintaro]

Woo!! N4G FTW!, kudos to all the contibuters

[kingofps3]

Hopefully, this new "investment" from Futher helps N4G rather than hurt it.

[zonetrooper5]

I will ban people for so long depending on what they do. Make a first time fanboy comment like "XBOTS LOALWOLAWLOLL 3FIXME AHAHAHA." I'll probably give them a 4 day ban. Keep on doing it and I will increase the ban for longer and longer until I perm ban you from this zone or both zones.

Every gaming site has fanboys, every piece of news will not totally be netural. You can leave this site and no is stopping you.

[bootsielon]

Hypocrites, you criticize gamespot, IGN, 1up, etcetera... use the same standards for N4G!! I can't help but think that N4G are a bunch of SELLOUTS now. We'll see what happens with N4G. I used to consider N4G up there with Wikipedia in internet reputation, but now it has GameSpot potential.

Some day it'll be the end user that owns every website on the net, and not retarded self-serving corporations with a political agenda like Fox, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Youtube, Facebook and many others.

[zonetrooper5]

Explain how they are sellouts?

If someone offered your some money or help to improve your website, would you not take it?

People are very quick to say SELLOUTS SELLOUTS, yet I bet that most of you if in the same position would do the same thing, hell I'll probably do the same thing. N4G is ran by the community, you guys submit the news, any sort of news, bias or not. N4G has just matured and gotten bigger, this site is becoming more succesful thanks to you guys, admins and us moderators. Basically everyone, you are part of the site like me.

[GunShotEddy]

The members are the ones who made this site. They provide every drop of content. How do they benefit from this money? Oh yea, they provide more free content.

And don't think everyone is so quick to use their members. I know of one site in particular that just passed on a corporate offer because the members built it.

It comes down to who you believe is responsible for the success. The guy would made a visual digg.com or the members who post everything. Obviously the digg code cloner felt it was he who did all the work.

So enjoy it guys. Keep doing all the work for gameradar.