Rock Paper Shotgun[a] is a British video game journalism website. It was launched in July 2007 to focus on PC games and was acquired by Gamer Network, a network of sites led by Eurogamer, in May 2017.[1][2]
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Rock Paper Shotgun homepage as of 24 June 2021
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| Type of business | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
Type of site | Video game journalism |
| Headquarters | Brighton,
England
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| Owner | Gamer Network |
| Founder(s) |
|
| Editor | Graham Smith |
| Industry | Video game industry |
| URL | rockpapershotgun |
| Registration | Optional |
| Launched | 13 July 2007; 16 years ago (2007-07-13) |
| Current status | Active |
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Rock Paper Shotgun was founded by Kieron Gillen, Jim Rossignol, Alec Meer and John Walker in 2007. All four were freelancing for Future Publishing and wanted to create a website focused entirely on PC games.[3]
Gillen announced that he would no longer be involved in posting the day-to-day content of Rock Paper Shotgun in 2010,[4] focusing more on his work with Marvel Comics. He continued to act as a director and occasionally write essay pieces for the site. Rossignol founded his own game studio, Big Robot, in 2010,[5] but also continued to contribute to the site for six more years. Meer and Walker left in 2019.[6][7]
In June 2010, Rock Paper Shotgun announced an exclusive advertising partnership with the Gamer Network.[8] In May 2017, Gamer Network acquired the site outright.[9] A German sister-site was launched in 2017. It included translated and original content.[10]
The Gamer Network was acquired by ReedPOP in 2018, making the site a subsidiary of RELX Group.[11] In May 2024, IGN Entertainment acquired the Gamer Network, making Rock Paper Shotgun a subsidiary of Ziff Davis.[12]
Rock Paper Shotgun contributors include:
On 8 February 2011, the game Bulletstorm came under scrutiny by Fox News. These claims were largely ridiculed among gaming websites, including Rock Paper Shotgun, who ran a series of articles discrediting the reports by Fox News.[7] The articles analysed Carole Lieberman's claims and found only one of eight sources she provided had anything to do with the subject at hand. Fox News acknowledged that they had been contacted by Rock Paper Shotgun and responded to their claims on 20 February 2011 through another article, stating that the game still remained a threat to children.[13]
In 2014 a Rock Paper Shotgun article by John Walker about the existence of orphaned classic video games, and the suggestion to let them enter the public domain after 20 years, raised a controversial public debate about copyright terms and public domain[14][15] between game industry veterans John Walker, George Broussard and Steve Gaynor.[7][16][17]
my new company, Big Robot
As someone who desperately pines for the PD model that drove creativity before the copyright industry malevolently took over the planet, it saddens my heart that a game two decades old isn't released into the world.
...games more than a couple of decades old aren't entering the public domain. Twenty years was a fairly arbitrary number, one that seems to make sense in the context of games' lives, but it could be twenty-five, thirty.