The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former editor-in-chief, Peer Schneider.

Originally a network of desktop websites, IGN is also distributed on mobile platforms, console programs on the Xbox and PlayStation, FireTV, Roku, and via YouTube, Twitch, Hulu, and Snapchat.

Created in September 1996 as the Imagine Games Network, the IGN content network was founded by publishing executive Jonathan Simpson-Bint and began as five individual websites within Imagine Media: N64.com (later renamed ign64.com), PSXPower, Saturnworld, Next-Generation.com and Ultra Game Players Online.

Imagine expanded on its owned-and-operated websites by creating an affiliate network that included a number of independent fansites such as PSX Nation.com, Sega-Saturn.com, Game Sages, and GameFAQs.

dissolved with the cancellation of the magazine, and Next-Generation was put "on hold" when Imagine decided to concentrate on launching the short-lived Daily Radar brand.

In February 1999, PC Magazine named IGN one of the hundred-best websites, alongside competitors GameSpot and CNET Gamecenter.

At the same time, small entertainment website The Den merged into IGN and added non-gaming content to the growing network.

In June 2005, IGN reported having 24,000,000 unique visitors per month, with 4.8 million registered users through all departments of the site.

[3] In September 2005, IGN was acquired by Rupert Murdoch's multimedia business empire, News Corporation, for $650 million.

Ultimately, News Corp. planned to spin off IGN Entertainment as a publicly traded company, continuing a string of divestitures for digital properties it had previously acquired (including MySpace and Photobucket).

[15] In 2004, IGN acquired film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes and in 2010, sold the website to Flixster.

However, despite the announcement, the article included a short addition, post-release; it stated that after much discussion, they had decided to retain the decimal point in all upcoming scores.

Examples of games that have been re-reviewed were League of Legends, Heroes of the Storm, Warframe, and the pocket edition of Minecraft.

[22] IGN's 'Best of' is an end-of-year event to annually honor the year's best games, films, television shows and comics.

IGN Sci-Fi: Largely dead since 2002, this section of the site included movie news, comic book reviews, anime coverage and other associated items.

[citation needed] In 2002, IGN launched a dedicated video game FAQs site specifically designed to host user-submitted guides.

In 2005, IGN launched its comics site, which is devoted to not just the staple Marvel and DC titles, but also manga, graphic novels, statues and toys.

IGN subsequently launched a similar website called GTA 'Hood on April 29, 2008, for Grand Theft Auto IV.

[28] The US & Canada, UK & Ireland, and Australia & New Zealand editions are operated by Ziff Davis subsidiaries, with all others being franchised publishers.

[citation needed] When visiting www.ign.com from an IGN-supported region, the site automatically redirects visitors to their localized version using geolocation software, based on their countries' IP addresses.

[56] In 2007, Video Game Media Watch accused former IGN editor Doug Perry of "journalistic misconduct" for an exclusive review of Prey.

[61] On August 7, IGN stated that it had found "substantial similarities" between the reviews, apologized, and announced that it had dismissed Miucin.

[68] During the 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis, the main IGN site posted an article on May 14 urging readers to donate to charities helping Palestinian civilians such as the Palestine Children's Relief Fund and linked to relevant news reporting.

[69] On May 16, the article was deleted and a statement was made on the IGN Twitter account saying that it was wrong to only highlight one side of the conflict.

[69] IGN reinstated the article on August 24 under a new headline alongside a statement of newly formalized editorial policies.