TouchArcade is shutting down after more than 16 years. The publication was established in 2008 and sought to cover the (then) emerging mobile game market.
In a lengthy post on the TouchArcade website, editor-in-chief Jared Nelson explained normal daily operations will cease ahead of a total shutdown.
“This is a post that I’ve known was coming for quite some time, but that doesn’t make it any easier to write. After more than 16 years TouchArcade will be closing its doors and shutting down operations,” he wrote.
“There may be an additional post here or there in the coming weeks as we try to honor any previously agreed to obligations, and a proper farewell post is in the works too, but as of now our normal daily operations have ceased. The reason we’re shutting down probably isn’t a surprising one: Money.”
Nelson said the outlet has been struggling to make ends meet for years and suggested it was a “miracle” it survived as long as it did. “The truth of the matter is that a website like ours just doesn’t make money anymore,” he continued.
“To our own detriment we’ve resisted things like obnoxious in-your-face advertising, egregious clickbait headlines, or ethically questionable sponsorships, which sadly are the types of things that actually still make money in the internet of today.”
TouchArcade currently bills itself as the “largest site dedicated to iPhone and iPod Touch gaming,” although it also covers other portable hardware such as Steam Deck, Nintendo Switch, and peripherals.
Aside from impacting the livelihood of Nelson and freelancers like Shaun Musgrave and Mikhail Madnani, TouchArcade’s closure will perhaps make it even harder for mobile developers to cut through the noise in a competitive and crowded market.
TouchArcade to preserve content archive, continue podcast with Patreon support
TouchArcade’s complete content archive will remain freely accessible for the “foreseeable future.” That means over 33,000 published articles, including more than 4,000 game reviews, have been preserved.
“These should hopefully all continue living on into the future for reference purposes and just to look back and see how drastically the mobile gaming landscape changed over the last decade and a half,” said Nelson. “We are also hoping to continue with our Podcast, The TouchArcade Show, which very recently just celebrated its 600th(!) episode.”
Nelson will now look to pivot the TouchArcade Patreon towards supporting the podcast, but noted it could still enable the team to publish “occasional posts or special features.”
“It’s just a nugget of an idea right now, but it would be pretty cool to see TouchArcade be able to live on even in that small way,” he added. “Whatever the case ends up being, I will explicitly change the verbiage of our Patreon to state that it’s no longer about supporting the website, and if people choose to stop contributing then that is totally understandable.”
Whatever happens, TouchArcade as we know it will largely cease to exist. It’s a reality that proves how hostile the video game industry has become for workers of all creeds, including members of the press.
The news comes after IGN Entertainment purchased Gamer Network publications including GamesIndustry,biz, Rock Paper Shotgun, VG247, and more only to immediate conduct a round of layoffs. Kotaku Australia was also shut down by parent company Pedestrian Group in July.