GamesRadar+

• 1. Introduction

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  GamesRadar+ did not arrive as a single creation. It assembled itself over years from pieces of other things, absorbing rival sites, inheriting reader communities, and surviving lawsuits along the way. What started as a video game news and reviews website became, by late 2014, a merged hub carrying the identities of Total Film, SFX, Edge, and Computer and Video Games under one expanded roof. The questions worth asking are: how did so many different publications end up in one place, what drove the mergers, and what did the site look like from the inside before it became what it is today?

• 2. Origins and Early Community

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  GamesRadar's community life stretches back to 1998, when the site operated under earlier names including Future Gamer and Daily Radar. Those early message boards and forums ran international versions, among them GamesRadar.it, reaching readers beyond the United Kingdom. Future Publishing's print magazines, including N64 Magazine, ran advertising that pointed readers toward GamesRadar, folding their subscriber base into the site's growing audience.

  By 2008, the site's login system was undergoing a significant consolidation. A single login was introduced for reader comments and forum posts, and the newer US forums were selected as the surviving platform. Future's reasoning was strategic: the company wanted to build US readership and compete with major gaming destinations like IGN. On the 14th of August 2008, Future announced it would close the UK forum and merge it with the US version. Former moderators of the UK forum responded by launching GRcade, an independent community that would go on to occasionally break its own news.

• 3. The Texas Lawsuit

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  In December 2007, the state of Texas filed a lawsuit against Future US, the US subsidiary of Future plc. The claim centered on a violation of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. According to the suit, GamesRadar had collected personal information from children under the age of 13 without providing the required disclosures or obtaining parental consent. The lawsuit alleged the site "failed to include necessary disclosures and obtain parental consent before collecting personal information from children."

  The owner of another website involved in the case settled in March 2008. The final outcome against Future plc, however, never became public record. It is one of the quieter chapters in the site's history, largely forgotten amid the editorial changes that followed.

• 4. Staff Turnover and Redesign

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  February 2012 marked a visible break in GamesRadar's editorial identity. Many long-standing writers and editors were laid off or moved on to other careers. Among those who left were recurring hosts and guests of "TalkRadar," the site's podcast, which ended that month at episode 198.

  November 2012 brought a new publisher: Keith Walker took over at Future Publishing, arriving with a stated goal of improving digital growth. By December of that year, the site had a new layout, new interface, updated regular features, and fresh staff. The "TalkRadar" podcast gained a successor titled "RadioRadar." The redesign was described as drastic, touching almost every visible element of the site.

• 5. Mergers and the Plus Rebrand

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  Future Publishing announced in May 2014 that it planned to close the websites of Edge, Computer and Video Games, and other video game publications it owned. The process did not happen all at once. In September 2014, partner sites Total Film and SFX merged into GamesRadar, and the combined site took the name GamesRadar+ the following November. December 2014 brought confirmation that Edge and Computer and Video Games, previously closed as standalone sites, would also be folded into GamesRadar+.

  The result was a broader publication than GamesRadar had ever been before. Film coverage and science fiction content now sat alongside video game news, carrying with them the subscriber histories of those older titles. The renaming with the plus sign signaled the expansion without abandoning the original brand.

• 6. Editorial Format and Features

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  GamesRadar+ publishes multiple articles every day across news, reviews, previews, and developer interviews. One of its recurring formats was the "Top 7" list, a weekly countdown that examined negative aspects of video games, the industry, and surrounding culture. The format had a distinct personality, leaning into criticism rather than celebration.

  Alongside those lists, the site publishes what it calls "best games" lists, organized by genre, platform, or theme. These are divided into two categories: living lists, which cover consoles and platforms still receiving commercial game releases, and legacy lists, which cover platforms no longer targeted for new development. In January 2011, the site had also released a freeware iOS app through the App Store, giving readers mobile access to cheats, guides, and walkthroughs.

• 7. Leadership and Expansion

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  On the 4th of February 2016, Daniel Dawkins was announced as GamesRadar+ Global Editor-in-Chief. He held that role until 2019, when he moved into a broader position as Future's Content Director of Games and Film. Sam Loveridge stepped into the editor role at that point. In May 2019, Rachel Weber was appointed Managing Editor.

  The site's scope continued to grow in 2020. The comics website Newsarama joined GamesRadar+, adding another editorial strand to the expanded publication. That same year, in June 2020, GamesRadar+ began organizing the Future Games Show, a digital gaming showcase that moved the site from covering industry events to hosting one.