IGN Acquires Family Game Site What They Play

Family-oriented gaming site What They Play has been acquired by IGN, the game media giant said today. Founded in 2007, What They Play largely consists of hundreds of synopses of game content for use by parents to determine if games are appropriate for their children. The site is the creation of two former key Ziff Davis employees, John Davison and Ira Becker, who initially funded the site by raising $3 million in investment money under the company name What They Like. What They Like was initially intended to branch out into other forms of entertainment, which would have their own content-summarizing sites, but IGN gave no indication as to whether it will continue along those lines or keep its new acquisition focused on games. IGN was itself acquired by the News Corporation in 2005. Traditionally, its game-related editorial content has been heavily focused on the core, dedicated gaming audience. With the increased attention being paid by publishers and console manufacturers to the wider gaming audience, the What They Play buyout may be part of a similar strategy to broaden IGN's own gaming reach -- and Davison alluded to those trends in a statement. "This project has been a labor of love for us, and we are immensely proud to see the brand we created together two years ago become part of the IGN Entertainment network," he said. "As gaming continues to expand into new markets with next generation platforms, immersive online gaming experiences and ever more impressive iPhone titles, this will allow the site to reach even more parents and families in need of this information.” The terms of the deal were not disclosed.