Kotaku

Kotaku
Type of site
 Gaming blog
Owner Univision Communications
Created by Brian Crecente
Editor Stephen Totilo
Slogan(s) The Gamer's Guide
Website kotaku.com
Alexa rank Decrease 1,289 (March 2017)[1]
Commercial Yes
Launched October 2004 (2004-10)

Kotaku is a video game website and blog that was originally launched in 2004 as part of the Gawker Media network.[2] Univision Communications bought Gawker Media in August 2016 and rebranded it as Gizmodo Media Group.[3]

History

Kotaku was first launched in October 2004 with Matthew Gallant as its lead writer, with an intended target audience of young men.[4][5] About a month later, Brian Crecente was brought in to try to save the failing site.[6] Since then, the site has launched several country-specific sites for Australia, Japan, Brazil and the UK. Previous contributors to the site include Luke Smith.[7] Crecente was named one of the 20 most influential people in the video game industry over the past 20 years by GamePro in 2009[8] and one of gaming's Top 50 journalists by Edge in 2006. The site has made CNET's "Blog 100" list[9] and was ranked 50th on PC Magazine's "Top 100 Classic Web Sites" list.[10] Its name comes from the Japanese otaku (obsessive fan) and the prefix "ko-" (small in size).[11]

In April 2014, Gawker Media partnered with Future plc to launch Kotaku UK, and with Allure Media to launch Kotaku Australia.[12]

Kotaku is currently run by Stephen Totilo, who replaced Brian Crecente in 2012.[13]

Kotaku was one of six websites that was purchased by Univision Communications in their acquisition of Gawker Media in August 2016.[14]

Controversy

In 2007, attorney Jack Thompson sued Gawker Media and site editor Brian Crecente over concerns that Kotaku declined to remove threatening user comments,[15] but the lawsuit was dismissed the next day.[16] In 2009, Business Insider reported that Hearst Corporation sought to buy Kotaku from Gawker Media.[17] In 2010, Kotaku criticized Japanese magazine Famitsu's glowing endorsement of a Konami game as a conflict of interest; Konami subsequently revoked Kotaku's invitation to the game's launch party.[18] In 2013, Forbes criticized Kotaku over what they called an inflammatory headline in a story about Hideki Kamiya; Kotaku rewrote the headline.[19]

Blacklistings

In 2007, Kotaku ran a story about rumored upcoming features on the PlayStation 3, and Sony responded by temporarily blacklisting the website.[20] The site claimed in 2015 that they had been blacklisted by major game companies Bethesda Softworks and Ubisoft.[21]

References

  1. ↑ "Alexa Ranking". Alexa Internet. Archived from the original on March 1, 2017. Retrieved March 1, 2017.
  2. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on December 22, 2016. Retrieved 2016-12-21.
  3. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on January 18, 2017. Retrieved 2017-01-13.
  4. ↑ Carr, David (October 4, 2004). "At These Web Sites, It's a Man's World". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 4, 2014. Retrieved January 24, 2014.
  5. ↑ Parker, Pamela (October 4, 2004). "Gawker Media: We're Where the Boys Are". ClickZ. Retrieved September 16, 2015.
  6. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20041109094627/http://www.kotaku.com/
  7. ↑ "GAMING’S TOP 50 JOURNALISTS". Edge. October 17, 2006. Archived from the original on February 3, 2014. Retrieved January 24, 2014.
  8. ↑ Shuman, Sid (May 2009). "20 Most Influential People in Gaming: #20 – Brian Crecente". IDG. Archived from the original on June 7, 2011. Retrieved July 12, 2009.
  9. ↑ "CNET News.com'S Blog 100". CNET. Archived from the original on July 13, 2012. Retrieved January 24, 2014.
  10. ↑ "The Top 100 Classic Web Sites". PC Magazine. Archived from the original on February 1, 2014. Retrieved January 25, 2014.
  11. ↑ "Kotaku FAQ". Kotaku. Gawker Media. July 2, 2004. Archived from the original on July 15, 2007. Retrieved July 6, 2015.
  12. ↑ Reynolds, John (March 13, 2014). "Gawker links up with Future to launch Lifehacker and Kotaku in UK". The Guardian. Archived from the original on July 22, 2015. Retrieved July 22, 2015.
  13. ↑ Caoili, Eric (January 3, 2012). "Consumer gaming blog Kotaku loses key staff". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on February 19, 2014. Retrieved January 24, 2014.
  14. ↑ Calderone, Michael (18 August 2016). "Gawker.com Ending Operations Next Week". The Huffington Post. Archived from the original on October 16, 2016.
  15. ↑ McCarthy, Caroline (April 26, 2007). "Gaming foe Jack Thompson sues Gawker Media". CNET. Archived from the original on February 1, 2014. Retrieved January 24, 2014.
  16. ↑ McCarthy, Caroline (April 27, 2007). "Judge tosses out Jack Thompson's lawsuit against Gawker Media". CNET. Archived from the original on February 1, 2014. Retrieved January 24, 2014.
  17. ↑ Carlson, Nicholas (November 13, 2009). "Hearst Eyed Videogame Blog Kotaku For Acquisition". Business Insider. Archived from the original on February 3, 2014. Retrieved January 24, 2014.
  18. ↑ Quillen, Dustin (April 26, 2010). "Konami Shuns Blog Over Metal Gear Review Controversy". 1up. Retrieved January 24, 2014.
  19. ↑ Kain, Erik (January 9, 2013). "Kotaku And The Problem With Inflammatory Headlines In Video Game Blogging". Forbes. Archived from the original on February 2, 2014. Retrieved January 24, 2014.
  20. ↑ Kohler, Chris (March 1, 2007). "Sony and Kotaku In Blacklist Flap". Wired.com. Archived from the original on July 27, 2010. Retrieved January 24, 2014.
  21. ↑ Totilo, Stephen. "A Price Of Games Journalism". Kotaku. Archived from the original on November 20, 2015.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.