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#1 03/25/09 01:03

Gumby
Member
From: Seattle, WA, USA
Registered: 08/30/07

FileFront closing down.

It seems that FileFront.com and all of its various subsidiary websites are going down. It seems that the guy who owns it went bankrupt. hmm Save any files you hold dear to your heart. tongue


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#2 03/25/09 07:03

Iritscen
Moderator
From: NC, USA
Registered: 10/22/07

Re: FileFront closing down.

Where did you hear that?  I don't see anything about it on FileFront or ModDB (or Wikipedia, and people love to update WP articles the instant things happen).


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#3 03/25/09 08:03

TomeOne
Administrator
Registered: 01/07/07
Website

Re: FileFront closing down.

FileFront is owned by Ziff Davis, though.


Harry | oni.bungie.org

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#4 03/25/09 10:03

Gumby
Member
From: Seattle, WA, USA
Registered: 08/30/07

Re: FileFront closing down.

Harry wrote:

FileFront is owned by Ziff Davis, though.

Yep.

Here is the best source I have atm, but there are other signs. http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_i … tory=21759 1up.com being owned by a different company, for example. All the FF forums being down.

His wikipedia page says it too, basically: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziff-Davis


Iritscen: roll
Iritscen: it's amazing this program even works
Gumby: i know
Iritscen: and that statement applies to my code, not just yours

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#5 03/25/09 12:03

Iritscen
Moderator
From: NC, USA
Registered: 10/22/07

Re: FileFront closing down.

Well, the WP article says ZD filed for Ch. 11 in March '08, and then in Jan. '09 they sold some properties to Hearst Corp.  I don't see anything newer that indicates the demise of FileFront.

And the Gamasutra article (from Jan.) says "We will continue to operate the Filefront business as a part of the PCMag Digital Network. In the coming months we will determine the best ways to leverage the scale and functionality of this digital property to expand our business position [...] For Ziff Davis Media, our attention and focus now shifts squarely to the PC Mag Digital Network."

I did notice that FF's forums are down, but otherwise I don't see any recent indications of trouble. *shrugs*


Check out the Anniversary Edition Seven at ae.oni2.net!

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#6 03/25/09 13:03

Gumby
Member
From: Seattle, WA, USA
Registered: 08/30/07

Re: FileFront closing down.


Iritscen: roll
Iritscen: it's amazing this program even works
Gumby: i know
Iritscen: and that statement applies to my code, not just yours

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#7 03/25/09 15:03

Iritscen
Moderator
From: NC, USA
Registered: 10/22/07

Re: FileFront closing down.

Okay, that's pretty convincing. ^_^;

I think this is the first significant effect on the Internet I've seen this recession have.  Although they were already probably skating on thin ice before now.  But yikes.


Check out the Anniversary Edition Seven at ae.oni2.net!

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#8 03/25/09 18:03

SoundOfDarkness
Member
Registered: 03/19/09

Re: FileFront closing down.

Damn, where should I get all the mods for Call of Duty, Far Cry, Dark Messiah, Quake 4 and many more when they are gone?

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#9 03/25/09 19:03

Iritscen
Moderator
From: NC, USA
Registered: 10/22/07

Re: FileFront closing down.

www.ModDB.com.  Anything that is on FileFront, and not ModDB, will likely migrate there over in short order.  In fact, their servers are gonna get hammered like there's no tomorrow.  Hope they can handle it.


Check out the Anniversary Edition Seven at ae.oni2.net!

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#10 03/25/09 20:03

TomeOne
Administrator
Registered: 01/07/07
Website

Re: FileFront closing down.

Iritscen wrote:

Okay, that's pretty convincing. ^_^;

I think this is the first significant effect on the Internet I've seen this recession have.  Although they were already probably skating on thin ice before now.  But yikes.

I don't see how that site was making any money pre-recession.


Harry | oni.bungie.org

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#11 03/25/09 20:03

Iritscen
Moderator
From: NC, USA
Registered: 10/22/07

Re: FileFront closing down.

When I was searching for news on them today, I came across that very question, presciently asked in October '07: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:FileFront#Financed.3F.  The answer given there is:

It makes money through advertisements both on the main site and on the network sites (which probably get more hits) and through its FastPass service, where people pay money for faster, dedicated servers to download from.

Which is not to say that it made enough money.


Check out the Anniversary Edition Seven at ae.oni2.net!

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#12 04/02/09 07:04

Iritscen
Moderator
From: NC, USA
Registered: 10/22/07

Re: FileFront closing down.

'Ello, wot's this?!  So FileFront is not down, after all.  They made an announcement yesterday, here's an excerpt: "After learning about Ziff Davis Media's plan to shut down FileFront at the end of March, the original founders of FileFront made the decision to buy it back from Ziff Davis Media."

If you read the whole announcement, they sound quite serious about the planned shutdown and subsequent change of plans not being an April Fools' joke.  Well, hey, the site's still up, that's the most important thing.

http://welcome.filefront.com/


Check out the Anniversary Edition Seven at ae.oni2.net!

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#13 04/02/09 14:04

Gumby
Member
From: Seattle, WA, USA
Registered: 08/30/07

Re: FileFront closing down.

FileFront has been acquired by the original founders of the site and will NOT be suspended as previously announced. This is NOT an April Fool's Joke.



After learning about Ziff Davis Media's plan to suspend FileFront at the end of March, the original founders of FileFront made the decision to buy it back from Ziff Davis Media.



We're happy to announce to the gaming community that as of today, April 1st, 2009, FileFront is a completely independent company again and is no longer part of Ziff Davis Media. All previously suspended services should be active and working again. We thank Ziff Davis Media for their cooperation and willingness to keep the site and community alive.



Due to the very unfortunate timing of this event and related announcements on March 24th and April 1st (April Fool's Day), we'd like to make it perfectly clear that:



1) 1) The March 24th announcement about FileFront suspending its operation was NOT an early April Fool's joke.



2) This announcement about the original founders buying back FileFront from Ziff Davis Media is also NOT an April Fool's joke.



3) We're making this announcement on April 1st because the deal was completed today and we want to bring all services back online immediately.



4) We would NEVER suspend FileFront as an April Fool's joke.



5) We are happy to be back!



FileFront has existed in one form or another (originally as FileLeech and Voodoo Extreme's downloads) since 1997. In the last 12 years, FileFront has become the gaming community's most comprehensive and trafficked library hosting millions of files for thousands of games while requiring no registration and providing uncapped download speeds. We look forward to improving FileFront and serving the gaming community for years to come.



Welcome home. Game On!



Email us, founders@filefront.com


Iritscen: roll
Iritscen: it's amazing this program even works
Gumby: i know
Iritscen: and that statement applies to my code, not just yours

Offline

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