Good bye FileFront you are going to miss us!

[Lich_king2]

Ziff Davis to shut down FileFront on March 30

Posted Mar 25th 2009 9:00PM by John Callaham

Ziff Davis' final vestige of its game business is about to close its doors. FileFront, the popular game file download web site, has posted up word that it will shut down operations as of March 30. In a farewell message, the site blamed the "current economic conditions" as the reason for their shutdown.

Just a few years ago, Ziff Davis was one of the biggest companies in the US in terms of covering the game industry with several print magazines along with their 1Up.com game web site network. However the company hit a number of financial issues even before the current recession began and it declared bankruptcy in early 2008. It began shutting down its game magazines at first. In early January, Ziff Davis sold most of its 1Up.com web sites to the Hearst Corporation and its UGO subsidiary. FileFront, however, was not part of the UGO sale. It was kept by Ziff Davis with an internal memo saying the company "will determine the best ways to leverage the scale and functionality of this digital property to expand our business position." Apparently they were not able to do what they had planned.

a great site it was. They have financial problems

 

[Aeroblyctos]

March 30? That's my birthday.

 

[Gespenst]

I know, I used to go to filefront to get all my mods for games other than wc3.

 

[LordDz]

Filefront was hell of a nice, instead of that fileshack(?) that u had to pay for.

 

[TheDivineBoss]

Didn't use it and never will.

I don't care if it's going away, as long they don't shut down the torrent sites.

 

[Zombie]

FUCK NO!

I really hope this is just a joke. I got 90% of my game downloads from that site.

 

[Eleandor]

Ziff Davis to shut down FileFront on March 30

Obvious joke is obvious...

(and if it isn't a joke, well, even though it's better than fileshack, it sure was one hell of a SLOW site...)

 

[~Void~]

Didn't use it and never will.

I don't care if it's going away, as long they don't shut down the torrent sites.

Naw, tpb and such won't get fucked over by the economy. If anything, they will benefit from all the other sites getting shut down.

 

[Hawkwing]

March 30? That's my birthday.

Happy birthday!

 

[Gausslander]

Screw AIG! Bailout FileFront!

 

[Zombie]

I've read into this issue a bit, and I could find articles about that stuff at every site other than filefront. I REALLY hope this is just an April's joke.

 

[shadow3]

plz be joak D: pzl

 

[Kwaliti]

It's a definite joke. It'll probably go off for the entire March 31st and then pop back up. If they plan to kill the site for a day, people may fall for that trick, go away and then never know it's back on if it's actually a joke.

EDIT: I did some research, and there's some truth in this

They've been slowly dismantling their game group over the past year. Games for Windows Magazine was shut down suddenlyin April 08, then EGM in January 09, 1up.com was sold in January 09, and now it looks like they're getting rid of Filefront. According to wikipedia, they also shut down PC Magazine in January. They're not in great shape.

I'll do some more research and see for any possible proof.

EDIT 2: Could be related:

In March 2008 Ziff Davis Media Inc announced it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in order to restructure its debt and operations. This was after selling their B2B (Business to Business) division, Ziff Davis Enterprise to Insight Partners. In conjunction with this announcement they also stated that they are discontinuing their print copy of PC Magazine.
According to BtoBonline, Ziff Davis Media has reached an agreement with an ad hoc group of noteholders, who will provide $24.5 million to fund the firm’s operations and help plan the restructure.

 

[Leeroy]

Oh noes. Filefront didn't had a "Free user" or "Premium user" option. Anti-racist site, it was. Also good and fast.

I really hope that's a joke. *Tell me Filefront will be okay!*

 

[Alkser]

Can't believe that FileFront is shutting down One of my favourite sites

 

[Zombie]

Sorry, guys. It is true :/

http://farewell.filefront.com/

 

[LiOneSS]

wait for april 1st to pass.

 

[TheDivineBoss]

wait for april 1st to pass.

Aint an AFJ, they are shutting down on the 30st, there is still a 31st.

:/

 

[Zombie]

Gosh, Filefront is so packed that you have to wait five minutes to get a download started. Like rats on a sinking boat, or I dunno.

These guys sure as hell know business.

 

[Anti_Bodies]

so i was assuming that on march 30th (today) we wouldnt be able to go on the site anymore, but im on the battlefront II mods right now?

 

[Kwaliti]

'Tis March 31st. This must be an AF joke.

 

[Anti_Bodies]

perhaps it is just taking a short while to shutdown or something? because i noticed that their arrant any new mods and you cant check like the "hottest threads" or whatever. its a big site, maybe they are just keeping it up as long as they can? *shrug*. we will see.

 

[Gausslander]

they are shutting down on the 30st, there is still a 31st.

 

[Kwaliti]

Video Game Downloads on FileFront

And it's STILL up! Without the Bye Bye message. AF joke >.>

 

[leet.firefox]

Commie front

 

[Hawkwing]

Video Game Downloads on FileFront

And it's STILL up! Without the Bye Bye message. AF joke >.>

Yeah. I could have told you that.

 

[Kwaliti]

Actually, this wasn't an AF joke at all...

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 shut down 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) The March 24th announcement about FileFront shutting down was NOT an early April Fool's joke and Ziff Davis Media had every intention of shutting down FileFront by the end of March.


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 shut down 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!

 

[shadow3]

Maybe it was an April's Fool joke, maybe it wasn't. Either way, I'm happy it's not getting shut down!

 

[Anti_Bodies]

Shadow it clearly wasn't an April fools joke so don't act like their was the slightest chance that it was

Don't play into that kind of crap.

 

[Hakeem]

Just because they say it wasn't an April Fools joke doesn't mean it isn't. Especially if they say it wasn't on April Fools.

It doesn't make a difference either way though.

 

[Vicboy]

oops.