On Thursday, Feb. 21, the gaming editorial industry took a big hit. IGN, the leader in video game journalism, had huge layoffs along with other sites like 1UP, Gamespy, and UGO being shut down completely. Very prominent icons of IGN were laid off, including head of news and features Colin Campbell, and Ryan “Powerhouse” Clements, co-host of Podcast Beyond.

Early this month, Ziff Davis, a subsidiary of J2 Global, bought out IGN as well of its network of websites such as 1UP and Gamespy for less $100-million. Just to get a sense of how IGN is doing, in 2005 News Corp. had purchased IGN for $650-million.

According to a leaked memo from CEO Vivek Shah, the recent changes were made to “Simplify and Focus.”

For people who don’t play video games, this won’t seem like a big hit; for those who depend on these sites for their reviews, walkthroughs, or even their thoughts on upcoming content, this will have a big impact.

There are also a lot of young, aspiring journalists whose goals (as well as my own) are to become video game journalists; working at IGN would be a dream job for them, where they can write and play about what they love, the things that their parents said would get them nowhere.

Personally, I plan to become a video game journalist, I have set my sights on it ever since I came to Skyline, and even though I will still be in school for another two years to obtain my Bachelors in Journalism, this is very startling for me to see.

No one will know where IGN will be in two years, who knows maybe they’ll pick up again once I get out of school; one can only hope for the best.