We're still waiting for official confirmation on this, but word is that Wowhead, my favorite WoW database, was just sold to Affinity Media for around $1 million. The source claims to have worked at IGE back in the day, so he seems somewhat credible. The rub here is that Affinity Media used to own IGE, the notorious gold dealing empire, but according to this Gamasutra interview from a few weeks ago, they sold IGE, and "If you go to any of our sites, you'll never see a gold-selling ad." Affinity Media also owns Thottbot and Allakhazam, so if this rumor of Wowhead acquisition is correct, they will now own all three of the major databases. So far we have no official confirmation of this story; WoW Insider is trying to reach both Wowhead and Affinity Media for comment. But if the rumors are true, our supposed last refuge against gold sellers may have just been sold.
[ Thanks, Ahmed! ]
Update: Wowhead has posted a confirmation on their front page and says that since IGE is "out of the picture," they decided to join Affinity Media's ZAM content network. They also promise more information later today.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
6-23-2007 @ 3:24AM
G said...
Good for the people who made Wowhead! It has become my favorite for good reason.
Not so good for all of us who use the sites, if they all end up under the same umbrella. Were that umbrella struck by lightning, for example.
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6-23-2007 @ 3:30AM
Kraki said...
/cry
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6-23-2007 @ 3:34AM
Thijz said...
I think something inside me just died
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6-23-2007 @ 4:09AM
Melissa Della said...
Wowhead has put a mini-announcement on their site:
"News travels fast! We were hoping to have the time to put together a big announcement about this, but it appears word is already out, so we wanted to acknowledge it: now that IGE is out of the picture, Wowhead has decided to become a part of the ZAM Network. We'll have a big announcement and such up tomorrow!
- The Wowhead Team"
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6-23-2007 @ 4:11AM
mike_a said...
Hmm, there is a post about this on their home page.
All their content is uploaded by users, nice of them to sell everyones hard work like that.
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6-23-2007 @ 4:46AM
Aaron said...
They = getting no more support from me. Eff this.
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6-23-2007 @ 4:58AM
Camaris said...
Wow(head)! Good on them. If you are offered a million bucks for your hobby website.. who cares who gets it, right?
*goes off to write some kind of warcraft database website*
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6-23-2007 @ 5:02AM
IKT said...
where to go now?
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6-23-2007 @ 5:24AM
Adys said...
http://www.wowwiki.com/Talk:Wowhead#Ownership
@5: I'm not really sure what to tell you but maybe you should stop using the website if you're not happy with it. When allakhazam started to make me want to puke due to their design and slowness I simply stopped using it. If you were offered $1,000,000 for a FANSITE you own, I'm really not sure you'd decline for the heck of not selling the user's data.
All I believe is that your greedyness makes you feel bad because you didn't get your part in all this money. Ironic? Probably.
@Eliah, maybe you should make it clearer that IGE is no longer owned by Affinity Media. But hey well, I'm not the one writing there.
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6-23-2007 @ 5:49AM
Shakilah said...
IGE out of the picture? Are they sure of that? For some reason I'm not, Allakzham sold out to IGE aswell without the original owner knowing it was actually IGE if I'm not mistaken.
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6-23-2007 @ 6:35AM
Saddened said...
Its been confirmed, how very very sad. Even that link thinks says IGE is still very much in the picture.
This is what happens when naive fans come up against professional charlatans.
DOH.
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6-23-2007 @ 6:47AM
Varus said...
Well I guess it's hard to turn down that sort of money, I'm not sure I could have resisted either.
Having said that, what alternatives are there at the moment?
To me wowhead was where I took refuge after Allakhazam and Thottbot were sold to IGN.
And Affinity Media has such a bad name it takes a bit more than a simple post to convince me they're not allifiated with gold sellers.
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6-23-2007 @ 6:48AM
Varus said...
eh, that should have said IGE ... dohh
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6-23-2007 @ 7:09AM
Varus said...
..and I suppose I should have really had a cup of coffee before posting, but with the recent changes to Armory it just might be that Blizzard will soon make all these sites obsolete. They're well on their way at least.
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6-23-2007 @ 7:11AM
Tigraine said...
1m$ is not nearly enough money for a site like WoWhead.
Look what things like Facebook etc sell for, 1m$ for that many ad-views per day is a joke!
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6-23-2007 @ 8:03AM
CrpyTech said...
All this whining and 3 gold ads at the top of this page for me as I type.
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6-23-2007 @ 8:19AM
anonymous said...
i might occasionally still use the site now, but i will no longer run the updater and collect information for them.
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6-23-2007 @ 8:42AM
Lucidfate said...
"News travels fast! We were hoping to have the time to put together a proper announcement about this, but it appears word is already out, so we wanted to acknowledge it: now that IGE is out of the picture, Wowhead has decided to become a part of the ZAM Network. We'll post a lot more information later today. Stay tuned!
- The Wowhead Team"
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6-23-2007 @ 9:00AM
NeuroMan42 said...
Affinity Media owns Thottbot and Allakhazam, then they must be lying about not owning IGE. As any through net search shows that AM still owns IGE even if they don't advertise it, oh well another site on my blacklist.
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6-23-2007 @ 9:16AM
java said...
The Alternative is the database product currently being developed by a couple that are total IT geeks and enjoy playing this game so much with friends and family that they are striking out to put together a WoW resource that is in the spirit of community... just like wow insider.
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