Summary
Game Rant was made in 2009, when there were a lot of new pop culture blogs and websites. Game Rant began as a sister site to Screen Rant. Its founders, SR writers Rob Keyes and Ben Kendrick, wanted to cover all the different things going on in the world of video games, and SR CEO Vic Holtreman helped them make it happen. At that time, Game Rant was just a side project. It was like the younger brother to a bigger, smarter, more established elder.
Even though it started out small, Game Rant has come a long way since 2009. The website that used to be known only as a copycat of Screen Rant has made a name for itself in the online publishing world and is now successful on its own. I’m proud of where Game Rant is now, 15 years later and hundreds of thousands of pieces later. I was there almost from the start.
Screen Rant gives birth to Game Rant.
In 2009, Game Rant began as a part of Screen Rant.
In its early years, Game Rant was made possible by the work of about a dozen amateurs. As long as Rob Keyes was in charge, the site covered as much gaming news as it could. It also had its own features and gave honest reviews of the newest games. For most of us, Game Rant was a passion project—a way to show how excited we were about the newest and best video games while also getting better at writing.
People who helped build the site early on, like Jeff Schille, Riley Little, Rory Young, John Jacques, Jacob Siegal, Andrew Dyce, and I, made it possible. A lot of our early fame was explained through the lens of Screen Rant.
“Do you know about Screen Rant?” Yes? “We’re like the video game.”
Bit by bit, though, Game Rant became known for its coverage of video game news, and its team went to well-known events like E3, Comic-Con, and PAX. Our work got seen by more and more people, and we were able to hire more writers and editors to help us. At the same time, the site kept growing and finding its place in the publishing world. To set itself apart, it focused on editing the news to make it more interesting.
Game Rant Goes Its Own Way
A Separate Trip
Game Rant was beginning to emerge from Screen Rant’s shade, but they were still part of the same package. Holtreman backed both sites and believed their staffs would produce good material. But things got interesting when Valnet tried to buy Screen Rant in 2015.
Rob Keyes, Ben Kendrick, and a few writers and editors were important parts of the Screen Rant team, so they were also important parts of the acquisition. Along with the other people who worked on both SR and GR, I was told to join Screen Rant and help it grow under a new name.
But instead of moving all of my work to Screen Rant, I stayed behind and took over as Editor-in-Chief from Rob Keyes. I didn’t know how it would work, but I wanted to make sure that everyone’s hard work wasn’t put to waste. And there was some uncertainty about what Game Rant would post for a while. Many of the important journalistic pieces were taken down, so GR had to re-establish its staff with both old employees and new hires to help the site keep going on its own. Some of the new writers who joined the team and helped Game Rant keep going were Dalton Cooper (now Managing Editor), Joshua Duckworth (now Lead Gaming Editor), and Sarah Fields (now HR editor). Eventually, we found a new pace.
Over the next few years, Game Rant would cover some of the biggest booms in the video game business, such as the 2016 Pokemon GO craze and all the talk about Red Dead Redemption 2. Even though we kept our editorial bent on the news, we also tried something new.
But instead of moving all of my work to Screen Rant, I stayed behind and took over as Editor-in-Chief from Rob Keyes. I didn’t know how it would work, but I wanted to make sure that everyone’s hard work wasn’t put to waste. And there was some uncertainty about what Game Rant would post for a while. Many of the important journalistic pieces were taken down, so GR had to re-establish its staff with both old employees and new hires to help the site keep going on its own. Some of the new writers who joined the team and helped Game Rant keep going were Dalton Cooper (now Managing Editor), Joshua Duckworth (now Lead Gaming Editor), and Sarah Fields (now HR editor). Eventually, we found a new pace.
Over the next few years, Game Rant would cover some of the biggest booms in the video game business, such as the 2016 Pokemon GO craze and all the talk about Red Dead Redemption 2. Even though we kept our editorial bent on the news, we also tried something new.
Because we write about video games and play them too, we at Game Rant began looking for content that went deep into what it means to be a video game fan. We talked about fun ideas from online fans about what sequels or spin-offs to games like Mass Effect and Assassin’s Creed might be like in the future. We also thought about what Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo could do to get more business as platform makers. You can find news in a lot of places, but we like to think that Game Rant has more to give than just news. We talk about how video games can show off what makes the medium so great using what we know about industry trends and our own interests as gamers. At least some people agreed, because the site kept growing. A funny thing then took place.
We went under the same umbrella as Game Rant when we got back together under Valnet.
When Valnet bought Game Rant from Holtreman in 2019, it brought Screen Rant and Game Rant back together. In the time since the split, GR had found its own style and SR had grown a lot under Valnet. We were getting back together, but we were staying at different places. A new magazine called Game Rant joined the Valnet family. It is a video game magazine with its own brand and fans.
With Valnet’s help, we could add more material, like movies and TV shows covered by Colin Leggett, a strong guides team led by Greysun Morales, and anime content managed by Adriano Valente. In 2013, the site had about 100,000 daily visitors. By 2024, it had more than 2.5 million daily visitors.
Over the years, the wall between gaming and the entertainment business has come down. To give our users even more, Game Rant has expanded into movies, TV shows, and anime under the Valnet brand. Because we have such a great team, we’ve been covering a lot of Marvel, DC, and famous anime IPs like Boruto, One Piece, and Jujutsu Kaisen.
Home pages for Game Rant Over the Years
Everyone had a hard time in 2020, but our Game Rant team did their best to give players around the world something to read, think about, or suggestions for games to play. After the pandemic was over, the team was ready to do even bigger and better things. The site has been a part of both new events like Summer Game Fest and old ones like Gamescom. We went to Bungie in Washington to play Destiny 2 before anyone else, went to Gamescom Latin America to show the first look at the Fallout TV series, interviewed Shigeru Miyamoto at the opening of Super Nintendo World in Universal Studios Hollywood, and went to Belgium to get a lot of hands-on time with Baldur’s Gate 3, which won the 2023 Game of the Year award. All the while, we kept up with the daily news and reviews that you cared about.
We recently (re)launched the possibility for readers to leave comments on our articles. The site now has regular video content, a daily newsletter with more than 300,000 subscribers, tech advice for all of your gaming needs, and tech suggestions. Since our content is meant to spark conversation, it seems only right that you, the reader, can share your ideas as well. Game Rant is a website that is mostly run by gamers who just want to share their love of games with more and more people. We want to honor this hobby that is very important to all of us, and we hope you will stay with us on this journey.
Today is Game Rant’s 15th anniversary, so while you’re here, read some of our best suggestion articles, which were written by our talented team:
Open world games that really pull you in
If you like Diablo, these are the best action RPGs to play.
The Best Xbox Game Pass Games
PS Plus Extra and Premium Games You Can Play
The Official Game Rant List of the Best Anime of All Time