WoWInsider/Massively lives on thanks to crowdfunding

To my dismay, gaming blog sites Massively and WoWInsider (along with Joystiq, part of the Joystiq network) were shut down. Apparently their AoL overlord decided their services were no longer needed. I still don't understand why this decision was made (budget issues?) but both were very popular and had a huge following. I, of course, frequented those site multiple times a day, so when I heard the initial bad news, I was devastated. For the past 5 years or so they were the only sites that I consistently visited, and now they're no more? What was I going to do??

Determined as they were, they devised plans to continue doing what they do best: WoWInsider founded Blizzard Watch, and Massively founded MassivelyOp. The good news is that now they are completely independent and free to post whatever they feel like. The bad news is because they are completely independent and without a bigwig company to pay the bills (and the writers), both had to resort to crowd funding.

Blizzard Watch decided to go with Patreon crowd funding services. In Patreon a person can donate as little as $1 and pledge that amount monthly. The more monthly pledges Blizzard Watch received, more 'rewards' unlocked such as more class columns and coverage of other Blizzard games.

Because WoWInsider was insanely popular, it didn't take long for Blizzard Watch to reach their top goal...in less than 48 hours! 

I like the Patreon approach because it ensure three things: 

-A steady stream of income for the company

- The writer will get paid appropriately for their services

- Lots of content for the readers

Our friends at Massively went with good ol' Kickstarter for their crowd funding. For those aren't familiar with Kickstarter, it pretty much goes like this. You pledge money to help a company reach a monetary goal, for whatever reason. When the goal is reached, the money is then allocated to said company. Many have individual rewards for those who pledges a certain amount. The more money you pledge, the better the reward. In Massively's case they needed $50,000 to get the site up and running. Just like our Blizzard friends, it took less than a week to get to the goal, hell, they even surpassed it! The Kickstarter method is great because you get that burst amount of money to get everything situated (site costs, writer's income, etc). The only issue is sustainability, though I'm extremely confident that they have a long term plan for this.

As for now, I'm just glad they decided to continue and wish them many many articles in the future. Go check out Blizzard Watch and Massively OP if you haven't done so already!