IGN talking with parties interested in acquiring IPL - Company hit with layoffs, other websites in network shutting down

Yo if they sell IPL maybe it'll actually be good!

Damn, just when we though the FGC was getting some shine. Now we're back to square 1. lol

Hope Mike's not out of job

After the crap stream steal from Sonys conference yesterday and crap reviews like God Hand and Double Dragon: Neo, this can only be good.

That sucks. I guess Mike Ross will be moving back into his parents basement soon O_o

Misleading title,

'Actively engaged with parties interested in acquiring IPL' != 'looking to sell IPL'

I like spaghetti.

Everybody say yeaaa...wait a minute!

dachsun : no one cares bro: Just let that sink in. NO ONE

This is depressing.

Fighting games honestly had little chance to last in the big leagues. Way too niche over here, especially compared to Starcraft etc

@5 Read the article that is linked, here is a direct quote:
"The company is also looking for a buyer of IPL, IGN's eSports network. Rather than coordinate and publicize its own IGN Pro League, "IGN's role going forward will be to broadcast and cover a variety of eSports events."

So it is not misleading.

ugh double post

@9 "true esports"

seriously?

Are fighting games the only genre covered by IPL? I thought they had other esports events as well?

Buy IPL, you get Mike Ross.

#18

"Squeaky clean images"
Yeah, it's real nice when the SC2 community harasses a female Korean pro gamer on twitter. http://gg.reddit.com/r/starcraft/comm...
Or when the most prominent Dota2 commentator uses the N word as a pejorative.
http://kotaku.com/5911576/racist-comm...

Your argument is null and void.

@18 what baffles me is that if you have nothing better to due but put down and talk trash about fgc or fighting games in general why are you here leave be quite and go to a Starcraft or DotA board and talk there if its so many light years better than fighting games

@18
It's not really only an image thing, Starcraft has been marred by match fixing, misogyny, racism etc in the past as well.

I think you oversimplify it. Starcraft and DOTA are both massively helped by the fact that computer gaming is much easier to monetize for sponsers. Instead of only being able to pitch controllers they can pitch nearly every part of a computer, plus accessories. Look at how many tournaments have a company name as top billing.

Also the statement that "literally" the only people who care about fighting games are those who play is misguided unless you think stream numbers for majors actively track the number of players (I'd say it would be easy to argue more people watch than play, just not by as wide a margin as say Starcraft).

I do think image is part of it, but I don't think it's as big a deal as you make it.

Snowsoul, I like fighting games and I couldn't care less about Starcraft or DOTA. If you're such a fan, you should probably be playing those games and commenting on their message boards instead of here.

@20 Stop being buttsore for a second and realize that he isn't talking trash or trying to put down the fgc, he's just stating reasons he thinks fighters don't do well in esports compared to games like starcraft. Geez.

freEsports

@21 You either misread his comment, or meant to say that to someone else. Snowsoul didn't promote DoTA/LoL, he was defending the FGC.

@Dachsun, I think a lot of us enjoy how small the community is. It also doesn't help fighters get into esports in the fact that they are 10x harder to play than LoL/DoTA. The entry barrier is much higher and they don't attract as many nubs.

Don't get me wrong, MOBAs take plenty of skill and coordination but they also play 5v5 format so you have team mates to grow with, play with and talk to about various strategies. With FGs it's YOU all YOU and no one else, everyone is your enemy, you're always striving to beat everyone else, not work with them. Not to say you can't have sparring partners or friends in the FGC but ultimately the goal is to beat everyone else, be it in friendly fashion or not.

@21: What about other console games, like Halo/Cod/etc.?

26 is right. At the end of the day, fighting games are far lonelier, people may not want to share how to win because they'll be shooting their own feet. There's more fighting games (and updates to them) coming out on a regular basis, so the skill set you have today may not be what you need tomorrow. On top of this, the HUGE divide between what people want to see makes it so that way broke as fk games like UMVC3 are the games that people want to push into publicity, and that game's just straight bonkers, period.

All gaming has some form of sexual harassment because there's not enough women into gaming, period. That's it. There needs to be more of them, and then men will tone it down regardless of if they want to or not. It's like going on The Tyra Banks show and using typical guy humor, then doing the same thing in a group of gamers. Since the gamers are gonna be mainly guys, your jokes will do well there, but since Tyra's show appeals to women, gays, and feminists, they'll make an example out of you. Hell, I'm starting to feel guilty cause I was laughing at some of the clips in that link that dude put up. It was blatantly stupid...

@18 dont forget this. http://www.sk-gaming.com/content/5296...

Can someone explain to me why the freak fighting game players should give a damn about getting close to "true esports"? There's only one reason why Ziff Davis is trying to ditch IPL and that's because they don't see the potential of making money from it. So why would the other esports organization be any different?

I am going to so LOL @ those who care about esports when MLG closes shop within a few years time.

I agree with people who said that fighting games won't fit the esports model because it's not a team game.

I would further suggest to move away from the games and communities as the main focus and promote the big names in fighting games.

Just look at how many people know about Muhammad Ali compared to boxing and it's communities.

Or just look at Daigo and how much his popularity has affected the fgc. Imagine the effect if his name was a household name like Ali.

I'm on the boat that says that PC games get sponsorships more easily because of easier marketability for PCs. You can sell more PC parts, more people use headsets, the games are cheaper to get into, etc. Why would computer parts creators sponsor fighting games, when they don't get to promote their products?

Always liked IGN

Maybe Infiltrations should buy this with all that extra cheese laying around.