GameTrailers closing after 13 years

The original home of online games videos is closing down today.

The news has been confirmed by the site, as well as editor-in-Chief Brandon Jones on Twitter and associate editor Ben Moore on Neogaf.

When GameTrailers was founded in 2002, internet video was a revolutionary concept,” a statement on the website’s Facebook page explained. YouTube wouldn’t be founded for another three years; consumer live streaming was nine years away.

Back then, online game journalism was still dominated by text articles and static imagery. The most prestigious coverage still happened in print. If you wanted to watch a show about video games, you had to watch it on a special TV station that had 10 shows.

GameTrailers helped change all that. Today, game journalism is dominated by video: trailers, live gameplay, Let’s Plays, and news shows. Now there are millions of hours of content available at any time on your PC, your game console, your TV, and your phone.

We’re proud we helped bring this world into being. That is the legacy of GameTrailers. We’re grateful to all of our fans who helped make us successful. Thank you for your continued support over the years. It has been an adventure.”

GameTrailers was acquired by Defy Media in June 2014. It immediately shed some jobs, and a further round of job losses were then announced in January 2015.

Today is the last day of GameTrailers. I wish it wasn’t so. I love all of our fans like family. Thank you for letting me do this job.

— Brandon Jones (@TrailerJones) February 9, 2016

After 13 years, GameTrailers is closing down today. Thank you for your continued support over the years. It has been an adventure.

— GameTrailers (@GameTrailers) February 9, 2016