The Escapist (magazine)
Cover for The Escapist's first issue: "Gaming Uber Alles"
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Type of site
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Video game website |
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| Available in | English |
| Owner | Defy Media |
| Created by | Alexander Macris, Julianne Greer, Jonathan Hayter, Greg Lincoln, Jason Smith, Tom Kurz |
| Website | www |
| Alexa rank |
 5,298 (April 2014[update]) |
| Launched | July 12, 2005 |
The Escapist (typeset as the escapist) is an online magazine covering mostly video games as well as movies, comics, TV, and more. Published by Alexander Macris since its inception, it was edited by Julianne Greer up to June 30, 2009, then by Russ Pitts through September 2011, then by Steve Butts until September 4, 2012, then by Susan Arendt until June 14, 2013, then by Greg Tito until January 21, 2015 and is currently edited by Joshua Vanderwall.The Escapist was first published on July 12, 2005.The Escapist originally ran weekly with a main edition published on Tuesday but it is now updated continuously. On the 15th November 2012 it was announced that the Escapist had been acquired by online media company Alloy Digital from its corporate owner, Themis Media, for an undisclosed sum. In 2014, Alloy Digital merged with Break Media to form Defy Media, the website's present owner.
The premier issue featured pieces from well-known gaming-community authors including Jerry Holkins (a.k.a. Tycho Brahe), Kieron Gillen, and John Scott Tynes. Following issues included work by Tom Chick, Allen Varney, Jim Rossignol and other top writers from in and outside the game industry, including a four-part piece by leading game designer Warren Spector. The editor, Julianne Greer had not been involved in the gaming industry before The Escapist, and had a background in marketing and new media. According to Themis, by late 2006 the website had 150,000 monthly readers. The website MMORPG.com noted that the webzine had become the "flagship brand" for Themis, which runs other websites and ventures related to the gaming industry, with the reputation of "a widely read and highly respected form of game journalism" and "paying writers top dollar".
On July 9, 2007 the site relaunched with a completely new design, which also saw the end of the weekly PDF issues and a shift in layout to one more similar to other websites. Although the weekly topic and publish schedule was retained, new regular content additions included more game reviews, editorial articles, conference coverage, and a relaunch of Shoot Club by Tom Chick. The only notable new feature added was Zero Punctuation, weekly animated video reviews that led to a four-fold increase in the Escapist's traffic. In addition to news articles and videos, the Escapist also hosts an active forum community and usergroups, most notably the Brovengers and Injustice League, along with a paid membership introduced in 2010 known as the Publisher's Club which for $20 a year removes advertisements from the site, confers forum benefits and entry into special contests.
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