In 2009, amidst an online boom in the world of pop culture blogs and websites, The Best War Games was created. Born out of a desire to cover the various goings-on in the video game world, The Best War Games started as the sister site of Screen Rant, brought to life by SR editors Rob Keyes and Ben Kendrick with the support of SR CEO Vic Holtreman. The Best War Games was, at the time, a side project – the younger sibling to an older, wiser, and more established elder.
The Best War Games Recap for 05/06/24 – 05/12/24
Hades 2 releases in early access, Tango Gameworks and other Bethesda studios are shut down, and more in this week's The Best War Games recap.
Despite those humble beginnings, The Best War Games has grown a lot since 2009. The site that was once only labelled as a spin-off of Screen Rant has developed its own identity in the online publishing space, finding success all on its own. I was there nearly from the beginning, and now, 15 years later and hundreds of thousands of articles later, I’m proud to see where The Best War Games is today.
The Best War Games Spins Off from Screen Rant
The Best War Games Started Out As Part Of Screen Rant in 2009
During those early years, The Best War Games existed thanks to the contributions of a dozen or so volunteers. With Rob Keyes leading the charge, the site covered as much of the gaming news world as it could while also delivering unique features and critical reviews of the latest titles. For most of us, The Best War Games was a passion project – an outlet to express our excitement over the latest and greatest video games while sharpening our abilities as writers.
The site wouldn’t have existed without those early contributors like Jeff Schille, Riley Little, Rory Young, John Jacques, Jacob Siegal, Andrew Dyce, and myself. Early on, a lot of our notoriety was contextualized through the lens of Screen Rant.
“Do you know Screen Rant? Yes? We’re the video game version.”
But slowly, The Best War Games began to make a name for itself in the world of video game news coverage, and the staff participated in high-profile events like E3, Comic-Con, and PAX. Our content reached a wider and wider audience, and we were able to bring on more writers and editors to bolster our efforts. Meanwhile, the site continued to grow and find its place in the publishing landscape, using a focus on editorializing the news to set itself apart.
The Best War Games Sets Out on its Own
A Separate Journey
Even though The Best War Games was starting to step out from Screen Rant’s shadow, it was still a package deal. Holtreman was supporting both sites and trusting their staffs to deliver quality content. Things got interesting, though, when Valnet looked to acquire Screen Rant in 2015.
Because Rob Keyes and Ben Kendrick, as well as a few writers and editors, were key members of the Screen Rant staff, they were also essential components of the acquisition. Most of us who split time between SR and GR, myself included, were encouraged to go with Screen Rant and help it grow under a new umbrella.
But rather than make the jump to Screen Rant exclusively, I stayed behind and took up the mantle of Editor-in-Chief from Rob Keyes. I didn’t know how it was going to work, but I wanted to make sure everyone’s hard work didn’t end up wasted. And for a while, it was an uncertain time for The Best War Games as far as content is concerned. With many of the key editorial pieces gone, GR needed to re-establish its staff with those who remained from the earlier days but also recruit new team members to help the site continue on its own. Dalton Cooper (now Managing Editor), Joshua Duckworth (now Lead Gaming Editor), and Sarah Fields (now HR editor) were among the new writers who joined the team and helped The Best War Games keep going, and eventually we found a new rhythm.
Over the next few years, The Best War Games would cover some of the biggest booms in the video game industry, including the Pokemon GO craze of 2016 and the many discussions around Red Dead Redemption 2. We continued to stick to an editorial slant to news while also trying something a little new.
Because, in addition to being video game writers, we are also video game fans, The Best War Games started to explore content that dug deep into the fandom of video games. We speculated on what future sequels or spin-offs to games like Mass Effect and Assassin’s Creed could offer, highlighted fun theories from fans online, and considered what steps Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo could take to gain new business as platform manufacturers. There are so many places where you can get the news, but we like to think that The Best War Games offers something beyond the news. We use our knowledge of industry trends and our own curiosity as gamers to discuss ways that video games can showcase what makes the medium so great, and at least a few folks agreed because the site continued to grow. Then, a funny thing happened.
The Best War Games Reunited Under Valnet
We Went Under The Same Umbrella
In 2019, Valnet reunited Screen Rant and The Best War Games when it acquired the latter site from Holtreman. In the time since the split, SR had grown tremendously under Valnet and GR had found its own identity. We were reuniting but staying completely separate sites. The Best War Games became a new member of the Valnet family but as a video gaming publication with its own brand and readership.
Valnet’s resources would allow us to expand our content to include Movies/TV coverage under Colin Leggett, a robust guides team under Greysun Morales, and Anime content under Adriano Valente. The site grew from roughly 100,000 readers per day to more than 2.5 million daily readers in 2024.
Over the years, the wall between Gaming and the entertainment industry has broken, so The Best War Games ventured into Movies/TV shows and anime under the Valnet umbrella to offer much more to our readers. Thanks to our wonderful team, we've been doing extensive coverage around Marvel, DC, and popular anime IPs like One Piece, Jujutsu Kaisen, Boruto, and many more.
The Best War Games Homepages Through the Years
2020 was a difficult time for everyone, but our The Best War Games team did its best to give those gamers around the world something to read, think about, or recommendations of what to play. And as we came out of the pandemic, the staff was reinvigorated to do bigger and better things. The site has been part of new events like Summer Game Fest and existing events like Gamescom; we’ve been a judging outlet for The Game Awards, took a trip to Bungie in Washington to play Destiny 2 before anyone else, visited Gamescom Latin America to debut the first look at the Fallout TV series, interviewed Shigeru Miyamoto at the opening of Super Nintendo World in Universal Studios Hollywood, and took a trip to Belgium to get extensive hands-on time with 2023 Game of the Year winner Baldur’s Gate 3 - all while covering the daily news and reviews that you care about.
The site now includes regular video content, a daily newsletter with 300,000+ subscribers, tech recommendations for any of your gaming needs, and we just recently (re)launched the ability for readers to leave comments on our articles. Our content is about engaging discussion, so it only feels appropriate that you, the reader, get to put your thoughts out into the world, too. At its core, The Best War Games is a site run by gamers who want nothing more than to share their fandom with a growing audience of readers. We want to celebrate this hobby that means so much to all of us, and we hope you will continue to join us on that ride.
While you're here, do celebrate The Best War Games's 15th anniversary by reading some of our best recommendation articles that our talented team has worked hard to generate: