How does Polygon afford these things?

So I checked out Polygons PS4 review, and I can't help but wonder how the hell they have the budget to make an indie film and web 3.0 app for a single review.

I get a sense of Giantbomb, Gamespot, IGN, etc. It all makes sense. Polygon remains this bizarre outlier where I can't reconcile the production values with an almost invisible revenue stream. Who the hell is paying for this content?

Internet Explorer.

Investors.... stupid-investors.

They're getting hella money from investors.

From what I understand, their parent company looks at Polygon as a Project that doesn't need to make money, at least in the short run. So there's that, I guess?

Vox Media is making mad stacks of VC money!

http://venturebeat.com/2013/10/15/vox-media-raising-40m-to-invest-in-video-content-on-the-verge-polygon/

Damn you guys are on the pulse. Question answered, well played

And yes, that seems like a pretty horrible way to spend 40 million dollars.

Yeah Vox is loaded man.

Pssshhhh, ya'll are chumps. It's obviously a front, the question is, for what? The mob? Commies?! LIZARD MEN?!?!?!?

Never expect to hear from the OP again. Or if we do, don't believe for a second it's REALLY them.

There was this great moment a few weeks ago where someone at Polygon was talking about comment culture, and how the answer is paid moderation.

Stacks of money man, stacks.

Drugs.

@sdharrison: I doubt any of the investors visit the sites themselves, all they care about is if it's profitable. And they must believe it is if they're willing to invest so much money.

I like a lot of the guys there, know many of them personally. But I really feel like they try to act like they are a cut above everyone else and that shit really gets to me.

Pretty sure they've developed a form of Alchemy that turns smugness into gold.

From their Comcast ventures? No fucking kidding they have dumptruck loads of cash to burn by having been associated with them. Comcast is huge and makes money on the side by selling their customers' info to 3rd parties.

I really like what they do at polygon. It helps to have Gies, Grant, McElroy, Crecente and Russ Pitts. That is only a couple of their staff. Extremely talented opinionated people with money behind them. Pretty cool and a little weird to see now a days.

How many people actually visit Polygon? Giant Bomb has a higher Alexa rank than they do. Why doesn't Giant Bomb have interactive PS4 controllers?

Vox money ain't nothing compared to CBSi money.

Why do we need a thread about Polygon every day? Who cares?

It is worth noting though that most of that investment probably isn't based on the success of Polygon. If you look at the numbers Vox Media provides, Polygon is by far their least successful (although still pretty successful) site based on monthly page views and visitors:

• SB Nation - 21.2 million unique visitors / 158 million page views
• The Verge - 7.6 million unique visitors / 30 million page views
• Polygon - 1.3 million unique visitors / 6 million page views

Quit stealing my posts!

Polygon took quarter water, sold it in bottles for 2 bucks, and Coca-Cola came and bought it for billions...what the fuck...

They run New York.

Polygon got a buttload of cash from MS when they started up. No wonder they're so damn biased.

Bitcoins.

Polygon are proof that money doesn't always buy quality.

Except for Justin McElroy. He's cool.

I just have to say, that the Polygon PS4 review page was one of the most hideous looking pages I've seen in a long time. I really don't like the look of it (or Polygon as a whole)

Lots of VC money and different priorities from Giant Bomb. Remember how this site has its own wiki architecture? That shit's crazy! They paid a lot of engineers to do all that. If all that money had gone into graphic design for articles, this would be a very different website.

They whore out Chris Plante to New York stock investors. He's the best bottom bitch in the city!

All of that hot Venture Capital being spent on the saviors of games journalism. And giant images, apparently.

Illegal Drugs?

Are you fucking kidding me? Everyone of these except maybe McElroy is a complete and utter joke. Especially blowhard Gies.

Me too. They're usually the next place I go to find out about games after Giantbomb. They seem like really honest, thorough people who are passionate about what they do.

Yeah, I'm always really surprised by the production value of things at Polygon, and PS4 review page is some impressive display of HTML wizardry. Where and why, indeed, are they getting funded so much stacks?

I guess "passionate" is one word you use. Personally, I would probably use another word for it.

To be honest as a lackey in making internet sites i found there review page a bit of a mess i felt like one big excel sheet it looks impressive but it felt cheap at the same time.

@spaceinsomniac: Oh man you were serious when you said you would post those tweets anytime someone mentioned Gies?

@spaceinsomniac: Do we really need to dredge up this internet beef against Gies at every opportunity? Aren't there already enough threads dedicated to doing that?

@chaser324: The gospel must be spread at any opportunity!

...er, I mean, I agree, not sure why it has to be brought up so repeatedly. I think most people certainly get that some duders don't care for him...

Polygon has stacks on stacks on stacks. And they use that money for buying as much style as humanly possible. As much as they do attempt to pursue substance in some longer articles, their overwrought pursuit of style and flash continues to distract from their content.

They genuinely need to find a better balance between the quality of content and presentation.

I like the McElroy's, wish Justin would make his way to San Fran but it will never happen. Polygon I'm very mixed on. I liked the site in the beginning but since launch it has just been shitty. And Arthur Gies might be the worst reviewer I read from time to time (for no other reason other than it is my fault). How he liked Dead Space 3 ruins all credibility he ever had.

@spaceinsomniac: Believe it or not, but sometimes you do make an impression and some of us remember what you've said in the past about certain topics. It's fine.

Put those copied tweets back in the folder next to the one with the funny cat .gifs.

I can't get a handle on what they actually do on Polygon because they seem so all over the place. Giantbomb is simple, a small group of charismatic dudes sitting on a couch playing games.

What reason would you venture to polygon.com for? News, Reviews, Video content, crazy web design the hurts my eyes? I'm not really sure...

It bums me the fuck out because I can only dream of what terrible magic the GB crew could make if they were backed by fat stacks.

They've been destined for the big time ever since they were in the internet womb.

Totally agree on this point. I think their graphic and web design people do a good job occasionally. Their current PS4/Xbox One stuff is pretty good, and I really liked that Watch Dogs article they did about a month ago. However, far too often they just overdesign the shit out of things to the point where it's almost unreadable.

Polygon is the Audioslave of video game press. You think it's going to be really cool because you liked Soundgarden and Rage Against the Machine growing up, but then you buy the CD and realize it's high production values with mediocre music.

I want my money back from like, 11 years ago, Audioslave.

Maybe I'm crazy but didn't they have an official Gieco Sponsor in their forums at one point.

That made my day. Thank you

I always find it interesting that their comment section is so barren. It's been a decent amount of time and their community still hasn't grown?

Hell, Girls' Fashion Shoot has 49 comments! And serious comments, like detailed comparisons to Style Savvy.

The unlocked the secrets of turning bias into gold.