Polygon US

About

Polygon is an American entertainment website that covers video games, movies, television, and other popular culture. Launched on October 24, 2012, it was established as Vox Media's third property, following the technology blog The Verge and the sports blog network SB Nation. The creation of Polygon was driven by Vox Media's then-CEO, Jim Bankoff, who saw video games as a significant and expanding market, particularly with the rise of mobile and social network gaming. Bankoff approached Christopher Grant, then editor-in-chief of Joystiq, in early 2011 to spearhead the new gaming website. Polygon aimed to differentiate itself by focusing on the human stories behind video games and by producing long-form, magazine-style feature articles. The site was developed over ten months by a team of eight co-founding editors, which included prominent figures from other major gaming sites like Kotaku and The Escapist. This founding team included Chris Grant, Brian Crecente, and Russ Pitts. Vox Media even produced a 13-part documentary series, "Press Reset," chronicling the site's creation and launch. Polygon's initial staff was considered "star-studded" due to the inclusion of these established editors-in-chief. The name "Polygon" refers to the basic visual building block of video games. In its early years, Polygon sought to attract advertisers with its high-quality, long-form journalism. By June 2014, Polygon had become the fourth-largest games site by Comscore web traffic data. In May 2025, Vox Media sold Polygon to Valnet. This transition involved significant layoffs, including then Editor-in-Chief Christopher Plante. Valnet, a Canadian publisher, also owns other entertainment and hobbyist publications like Game Rant and TheGamer. Despite the change in ownership and staffing, Valnet has stated its intention to retain Polygon's existing staff (approximately ten individuals at the time of acquisition) and to continue building out the site.