Polygon Acquired by Valnet, Hit With Layoffs

Polygon has been acquired by Valnet, the company that owns websites such as Screen Rant and Game Rant, resulting in massive layoffs for the gaming website. The video game industry is one that has become increasingly tumultuous over the last decade or so. As online content creation has become more prominent, there has been no shortage of resources for gaming news and opinions. Now, everyone has a voice and that means it is a lot more competitive. This has resulted in a lot of sites having to layoff staff or make major changes to its operations to stay alive, which of course includes selling sites to other companies.

Valnet is one of the most prominent companies in the media business, owning over two dozen websites covering topics from gaming, movies, comics, and sports. They are known primarily for websites like Screen Rant, Game Rant, and Collider, which are some of the larger entertainment websites in the business. Valnet has been embroiled in controversies regarding how employees are paid and treated. Now, Polygon will be joining the vast array of Valnet websites, but many of its writers will not be coming along for this new era of the website, it would seem.

Numerous veteran Polygon writers took to social media platform Bluesky to confirm that they lost their jobs at the website. Although many of them did not give specifics, Kotaku confirmed that Valnet had acquired the website from previous owner Vox Media. As of right now, it’s unclear just how many Polygon writers will remain at the website and what Valnet plans to do with the site. Valnet typically hires quite a lot of freelancer contributors to write a lot of articles, ensuring there is plenty of content across their websites. It seems likely that will happen to Polygon as well, though we have no idea to what extent.

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.

— Chris Plante (@plante.bsky.social) 2025-05-01T15:25:52.013Z

Polygon is one of the biggest gaming media websites out there and has made a name for itself on its high-quality journalism. One of my personal favorite Polygon pieces is a short documentary about Rob Wiethoff, the actor who plays John Marston in Red Dead Redemption, called “Finding John Marston”. The video was released a few short years after the release of the first Red Dead Redemption and covered the actor’s life before and after Rockstar’s western game. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend checking it out and taking a peek at some of Polygon’s other work over the years.