From Rumor to Rebirth: Joystiq LIVES

Published: February 4, 2015 7:39 PM /

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Following in the wake of the AOL restructuring, AOL-owned blog consolidation and AOL-owned blog shutdown, it has now been confirmed that the rumors and then confirmed death of Joystiq were a bit premature.

Ben Gilbert, a former senior reporter at Joystiq who moved on to gaming coverage for the web magazine Engadget, wrote a blog entry on February 3rd, 2015 confirming that Joystiq would be reborn at Engadget. This new venture has been titled "Joystiq X Engadget."

Gilbert elaborated on Joystiq X Engadget's new role saying that it would be "dedicated solely to gaming coverage. Not game coverage, but gaming coverage" This new endeavor from the folks at Engadget would avoid reporting on video game-related press releases, game trailers and previews "based on carefully scripted PR events". He defines this as basic game coverage while the Joystiq X Engadget would focus on gaming coverage or "the intersection of life and games: how the medium impacts us as human beings."

This definition of "gaming coverage" is a bit vague. However, Ben Gilbert follows this up with a story about a "family dinner" hosted by Alexander Sliwinski every year after PAX East wherein friends come together and eat, have fun and play video games. It's this togetherness that Gilbert attributes to his definition of gaming coverage.

Gaming coverage is not the only future focus for Joystiq X Engadget. According to the linked article, Engadget is seeking to expand into the video side of gaming through Twitch. Boasting a Twitch follower count of over seven thousand people, Joystiq x Engadget is planning on expanding the offerings of the current Joystiq Twitch channel to accommodate their first Twitch-based show.

Joystiq X Engadget is also going continue offering reviews, but the reviews will be short and devoid of scores.

As for the old blog's offerings, the news and features will carry over and be regular additions to Joystiq X Engadget along with the Jessica Conditt, a former writer for Joystiq.

What do you think? Will the new "Joystiq X Engadget" live up to the hype or is its future already uncertain?

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