Polygon’s new owner says it will ‘do what’s right for Polygon’

Polygon, noti.group’s former sister site dedicated to covering gaming and entertainment, is now owned by Valnet, a company that owns more than 27 different brands covering gaming, entertainment, sports, travel, and more. The transition is, let’s say, ongoing: a day after the acquisition, the site still said it was a Vox Media property, and the site’s coverage continued more or less uninterrupted.

But Valnet has indeed acquired Polygon, so to learn more about the deal, why the company acquired it, and the future of the site, I got on the phone with Valnet’s head of mergers and acquisitions, Rony Arzoumanian.

Polygon is a “triple-A gaming brand” that Valnet has been of “high interest” for “some time,” Arzoumanian said. Valnet’s gaming portfolio also includes GameRant, TheGamer, Fextralife, DualShockers, Hardcore Gamer, and OpenCritic. Arzoumanian said the company is “bullish” on gaming coverage.

Valnet initiated the Polygon deal, and Arzoumanian said the conversations started a “few months ago.” He declined to share the terms of the deal.

Going forward, Valnet wants to ensure that Polygon has the “deepest” coverage of the gaming space, Arzoumanian said. He declined to share specific coverage expectations, but said Valnet will “do what’s right for Polygon” and that “we think Polygon has a lot of potential and could be much more.”

Around 10 existing Polygon staffers are moving over to the site’s new owner, Arzoumanian said. Matt Patches, who was previously Polygon’s executive editor, is heading things up for now. Valnet is also “rebuilding” the team, investing in its operations, and making sure it builds Polygon “for the next five to ten years,” according to Arzoumanian.

Valnet wants to recruit “triple-A” writers and editors for Polygon, Arzoumanian said. When I asked about what the balance might be of full-time hires and contractors, Arzoumanian deferred on specifics, but said “we will do it right.” Arzoumanian also deferred on whether Polygon would hire another editor-in-chief, saying that right now, the focus is on ensuring continuity following the close of the deal.

The sale resulted in most of Polygon’s staff leaving or being laid off, including former editor-in-chief Chris Plante. Chris Grant, Vox Media’s group publisher of noti.group and formerly Polygon, said that “Valnet literally refused to meet with me or answer a single question of mine throughout this process.” (It all added to what turned into a brutal day for gaming journalism, which also included the news of Fandom’s changes for Giant Bomb.)

I asked Arzoumanian about Grant’s post, reading him the part of the sentence I quoted above and asking if it was true. Arzoumanian said that Valnet “predominantly dealt” with Jim Bankoff, Vox Media’s CEO, and that “I’m not in a position to answer that, unfortunately.”

Valnet plans to keep Polygon’s archives available, Arzoumanian said, meaning we won’t see a repeat of GameStop’s Thanos-snap disappearance of Game Informer’s archives. (Game Informer, fortunately, is back now.) When I asked if Valnet plans to introduce AI-generated stories onto Polygon, which has been a disconcerting trend at other publications, Arzoumanian said, “not at all.”

I also asked if Valnet more broadly is making changes in response to a recent report about Valnet from TheWrap, which included an allegation from one former contributor about “almost sweatshop-level” working conditions at a Valnet publication. Arzoumanian pointed me to Valnet’s press release about its recent defamation lawsuit filed against TheWrap.

A year from now, Arzoumanian said he doesn’t expect things to be that different. Valnet wants to maintain course and keep investing in the brand. He deferred to the operations side of Valnet on whether the company wants Polygon to switch to scored reviews.