UPDATED 17:41 EST / FEBRUARY 06 2015

AOL CEO Tim Armstrong NEWS

After closure Massively respawns as MassivelyOP and heads to Kickstarter

AOL CEO Tim ArmstrongThe news that AOL Inc. was closing down the gaming blog Joystiq and with it shuttering Massively hit the online gaming community hard. The placement of enthusiast gaming press has been a go-to for a multitude of readers and many in the industry have already felt the vacuum of its absence.

Fortunately, it seems, Massively will not go quietly into that good night and the former staff, including editor-in-chief Bree Royce, have launched a Kickstarter campaign to give rise to Massively Overpowered.

“As you might have read, AOL shuttered the entire Joystiq network this past week, taking down Massively.com with it,” says Royce about the recent news. “We think that was pretty silly since our site was doing well in the MMO journalism space. And so the Massively staff has gone independent and reformed as Massively Overpowered.”

The new website MassivelyOP.net is already up and running. Although it is currently barren and consists of a link to the Kickstarter and an e-mail signup form for keeping up with MassivelyOP news.

The day of the shutdown, February 3rd, @MassivelyOP hit Twitter and Facebook with a vengeance and have not stopped. MassivelyOP’s social media is doing the same work as before, following up on giveaways, betas, and talking to fans.

The Twitter account has also teased an upcoming Massively Overpowered podcast–the expected continuation of the Massively Speaking podcast previously published by the outfit.

The Massively Overpowered logo

The Massively Overpowered logo

Less than a day old, the Massively Overpowered Kickstarter has already netted over $23,000 from 418 backers towards a $50,000 goal to start the project.

“Thank you for all of your support over the years! We can’t wait to get back to work covering MMOs,” adds Royce.

Massively is not the only property to get hit by the closure of Joystiq as WoW Insider also found itself on the chopping block. The staff of WoW Insider have gone on to start a Patreon (which is also doing well) to reform their journalistic niche as Blizzard Watch.

photo credit: BOOM!! HEADSHOT!!! via photopin (license)

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