Gaming news site Polygon gutted by massive layoffs amid sale to Valnet
End of an era
Polygon was founded in 2012 when Vox Media spent significant money to poach top journalists from popular gaming blogs like Kotaku, Joystiq, and The Escapist. After initially publishing as the Gaming section of Vox.com for a few months, the Polygon domain launched alongside a series of flashy videos hyping up the staff’s lofty goals for video game journalism.
In the years since, Polygon has become a respected source for news and views on the gaming and entertainment industries—one that Ars Technica has cited frequently during my tenure as senior gaming editor.
“Just completely sickened by this news,” Polygon cofounder Brian Crecente shared on Bluesky. “Mostly for those so suddenly and deeply impacted, but also for the dwindling number of publications seriously covering video games.”
New Polygon owner Valnet publishes dozens of Internet content brands, which collectively have over 260 million page views. But the publisher, founded by Pornhub co-founder Hassan Youssef, has earned something of a reputation over the years for exploitative work conditions and quick-churn, clickbait content. One contributor to Valnet-owned Collider told The Wrap last year that the site runs as “a content mill, borderline like almost sweatshop-level,” with writers “constantly being pushed to write more, to do it quicker.”
“We’re proud to have built Polygon into the gaming authority for both experts and casual fans alike, a publication that has informed and delighted tens of millions of gaming enthusiasts since its founding at Vox Media more than a decade ago,” Vox Media co-founder, chair, and CEO Jim Bankoff said in a statement.
