Kotaku Australia will be shut down as a part of a major cost cutting effort for its parent company, Pedestrian Group.
A screenshot from Horizon Zero Dawn (2017), Guerilla Games
As reported by The Sydney Morning Herald, Pedestrian Group is slashing at least 40 jobs and ending its “licensing deals to publish third-party brands including Vice, Refinery29, Gizmodo, Lifehacker and Kotaku in coming months.”
The outlet adds, “These titles will no longer be published in Australia, with the majority of their staff to be let go.”
A screenshot from Animal Crossing: New Horizons (2020), Nintendo
B&T also reports that Pedestrian Group CEO Matt Rowley revealed the licensing deals were scrapped because it faced “financial headwinds.”
He added, “Given these factors, we’ve made the tough decision to focus on our wholly owned Pedestrian brands where we control the strategy, the content, the product, the sales and the outcome – the entire business. This means that we will transition out of our current brand licences, which will reposition our business for the future,”
“This will have an impact on roles within the group and I appreciate the uncertainty this change creates, so we will be in contact immediately with those people. Where possible, we will look for opportunities for redeployment and will continue to work with everyone over the coming days to support this difficult transition,” he concluded.
A screenshot from Elden Ring (2022), FromSoftware Inc.
Kotaku Australia Managing Editor David Smith confirmed the site was being shut down. He wrote on X, “Folks, I have some sad news to share. Today, the story of Kotaku Australia comes to a sad and abrupt end. It has been one of the great joys of my life to wake up every day and run a site I love with all my heart.”
He added, “To all my comrades at Pedestrian Group, I love you, I have never worked with better or more talented souls in all my life. To the readers, thank you for showing up every single day, even the whingers in the comments.”
David Smith on X
After thanking a number of his colleagues, he revealed that the website was the “second-highest read site in the group after PTV.”
He then concluded that he would be taking a break, “I will be taking a break for a bit now, but know that it has been a pleasure and an honour to serve you.”
David Smith on X
According to data tracking website SimilarWeb, Kotaku Australia was only generating around 1 million pageviews a month. In comparison, the main Kotaku website does between 8 to 9 million pageviews a month.
Kotaku is owned by G/O Media, and the company has been shedding its websites over the last year. Most recently in March it sold GIzmodo to European company Keleops. In April it sold The Onion to Jeff Lawson. It also previously sold The AV Club to Paste Magazine. Paste Magazine had previously acquired Jezebel after G/O Media shut the site down last year. G/O Media also laid off the entire staff of its sports website Deadspin and sold the site to Lineup Publishing. It sold Lifehacker to Ziff Davis in 2023.
A screenshot from Helldivers 2 (2024), Arrowhead Game Studios
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