Mass Layoffs At Polygon, Major Gaming News Outlet

In what seems to be a recurring story these days, yet another gaming news outlet has hit rocky times. In 2023 iO9/Gizmodo shuttered its tabletop gaming coverage, and ComicBook.com follow suit last year, as did Dicebreaker. The latest in this list is Polygon, a site which--amongst many other things--covered a wide array of tabletop gaming news stories.

Polygon has been acquired by The Valnet Group, which owns outlets like Game Rant, Comic Book Resources, and others. Polygon founder Chris Plante posted on Bluesky -- "I'm no longer with Polygon. If you're hiring, please consider the many talented writers and editors now on the market. Every one of them deserves a spot on your staff. I won't be talking more about the sale because I wasn't involved. Going to hang out with my kid. Taking wins where I can."

Many Polygon staff members have publicly posted, saying that they have lost their jobs.

• “I’ll say more later, but I no longer have a job. I’m looking for work, as are so many of my amazing colleagues. I have lots of ideas and things I’d like to write. I’m really in shock.” - Nicole Carpenter, Senior Reporter.
• “I had a great time working at Polygon. Please let me know if you have any cool job openings!” - Michael McWherton, Senior Writer.

For those of us in the TTRPG industry, we'll be most familiar with the work of the senior editor for tabletop games, Charlie Hall, who said "I am no longer with Polygon, my home for nearly 13 years. I am proud of what my colleagues and I have accomplished over that period, and I am especially proud of the role the [Vox Media Union] and [Writer's Guild of America] played in it all. Organize. Now. I am immediately available for hire."

 

[Jahydin]

Now that I think about it, used to get all my TTRPG news from Podcasts.

RIP Dragon's Landing Inn and Atomic Array.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Now that I think about it, used to get all my TTRPG news from Podcasts.

RIP Dragon's Landing Inn and Atomic Array.

It's very narrow in focus (OSR adventures), but if you're not listening to Between Two Cairns, you should be. Fantastic stuff and the only podcast where I don't want them to cut the banter by 50%.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

Apex Legends writer gets laid off 24 hours after the character she wrote is revealed, because that's what the games industry in 2025 looks like

She's taking it better than I would, that's for sure.

www.pcgamer.com

PC gamer makes some points that U think fit the gaming industry as a whole, stuff mentioned by Swen.

 

[Morrus]

One site that’s worth noting is Rascal News - they’re still providing TTRPG coverage, and still independent.

Probably don’t belong on a graphic of sites which aren’t providing TTRPG content then!

 

[Micah Sweet]

I’m just a user like most everyone else on this site, however it is probably my most-visited site on the internet and definitely my major source of role-playing news, which I personally find very valuable.

In a world where good online spaces (of any kind) are becoming rarer, if you value ENWorld and can afford to contribute a little directly then I would encourage you to do that. I did after the last round of closing web sites and a realisation what a great site I personally find ENWorld to be.

Except for Discord, I don't go anywhere else for gaming news unless I'm sent there from here.

 

[Scribe]

This site, @darjr and @Whizbang Dustyboots are my only sources of information lol

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

This site, @darjr and @Whizbang Dustyboots are my only sources of information lol

 

[TiQuinn]

Probably don’t belong on a graphic of sites which aren’t providing TTRPG content then!

No, but my point is with the ones that are gone now, it’s worth pointing out the ones that are still out there.

 

[aramis erak]

Can confirm. I remember! Many of us do. This is where I got ALL of my news about the upcoming release of 3E in 2000.

Yeah, same. And some non-3e news, too... I no longer hit the news page (most of what matters to me, I see in the forum side.)
So two gaming news sites gone in Q2.

 

[ruemere]

Oh god no, we’re tiny.

But that might be why we’ve been able to do this.

I would like to express polite disagreement. ENWorld is my first and foremost go-to site. The yearly Ennie nominees supplement my purchase list, the weekly release news depress my budget further yet maintain wider net of interest.

To me ENWorld is huge.*

* Yes, it could use some modern stuff, like better set of styles but I'm a reader first, so I can live with that.