Kotaku UK and Gizmodo UK are shutting down this week, with the rights being reverted back to the network G/O Media. Kotaku UK was launched in September 2014, while Gizmodo UK launched in September 2011, with both providing localized coverage of the gaming and tech industries.. However, today it was announced that the sites will be shut down on September 9, 2020.
Kotaku UK Editor Richard Stanton made the announcement in a post on the site, stating that Future Publishing had decided not to renew the site’s license. Future’s decision means that that the brand is back in the hands of G/O Media, the network behind Kotaku US. This will reportedly not affect the US version of the site.
https://twitter.com/kezamacdonald/status/1302910694841634817
Gizmodo UK Editor Tom Pritchard announced the closure of the site in a separate post, confirming that the tech outlet will shutter on the same day as Kotaku UK.
“Amazingly I’ve been at Giz UK for over seven years now, taking on pretty much every job the site has to offer,” Pritchard wrote. “I never thought I’d end up running the place when I was brought in to work evening shifts as a freelance sub-editor, but here we are nearly two years after I took over the reins. There’s nowhere really out there quite like Giz UK, and I’m not going to enjoy having to leave it behind. But that’s life for you.”
https://twitter.com/tepritchard/status/1302886949250891776
Future originally licensed Kotaku UK and Gizmodo UK from the now-defunct Gawker Media, before the brands were picked up by G/O Media. As Stanton and Pritchard note, G/O could still opt to create another UK-focused Kotaku and Gizmodo, though their current incarnations are being shut down for good. We wish the best for the editors and freelancers affected by these closures.
