Valnet Acquires Polygon From Vox Media

Valnet's gaming portfolio continues to grow. Following the acquisition of FextraLife earlier this year, the company has now acquired Polygon. The takeover is accompanied by layoffs.

Valnet, a global digital publishing and media investment company, has acquired gaming publication Polygon from Vox Media. Polygon will join Valnet's gaming portfolio, known as The Valnet Gaming Group, which collectively reaches over 1.2 billion users annually. The gaming portfolio includes Game Rant, TheGamer, FextraLife, OpenCritic, DualShockers, HardcoreGamer and now Polygon.

"It is with immense pride and gratitude that we welcome Polygon into our growing family of world-class gaming brands," said Hassan Youssef, CEO & Founder at Valnet. "This moment marks a powerful reaffirmation of our deep commitment to gaming, a space we’ve passionately invested in for years. The addition of Polygon not only strengthens our editorial muscle but also amplifies our ability to deliver unmatched value to both audiences and advertisers. At Valnet, we're not just participants in this space; we are its undisputed leader, and today, that leadership has never felt stronger."

"We're proud to have built Polygon into the gaming authority for both experts and casual fans alike, a publication that has informed and delighted tens of millions of gaming enthusiasts since its founding at Vox Media more than a decade ago," said Jim Bankoff, Vox Media's co-founder, chair, and CEO. "This transaction will enable us to focus our energies and investment resources in other priority areas of growth across our portfolio of iconic digital publications and audio/video programming, while enabling Valnet to grow their leadership and authority in the gaming information category."

Polygon was launched in 2012 under Vox Media, and has a US monthly reach of more than 6 million (Comscore) and more than 3.5 million social media followers. Both Kotaku and the Vox Media Union report that "nearly all of Polygon's award-winning staff were laid off". According to Executive Editor Chelsea Stark, more than 20 employees are affected.

Chris Grant, SVP Vox Media, who was Polygon's founding Editor-in-Chief, wrote on Bluesky via Kotaku. "14 years ago I pitched what would become Polygon to a startup called Sports Blogs Inc on the unfurnished third floor of a DC townhome. I held a laptop on my knees and went through a deck. Today that same company—now called Vox Media—sold Polygon to Valnet Their press release proudly calls Polygon a ‘premium gaming publication’ but Valnet literally refused to meet with me or answer a single question of mine throughout this process. They were wildly incurious about how a gaming publication even becomes 'premium.' I really, truly (!) hope that the remaining Polygon team gets a chance to continue the work we all cared about so much! But somehow this is the end of my journey with the thing I created."

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