AOL is Closing Joystiq and TUAW

Posted on January 30, 2015

AOL is closing Joystiq and TUAW as part of a reorganization of its many sites. Both sites were acquired during AOL's purchase of Weblogs, Inc. in 2005. AOL's official squiggle logo is pictured above.

TechCrunch is reporting that AOL's reorganization includes the cutting of 150 positions. TechCrunch says most of the job cuts are in sales divisions.

The Verge is reporting that TUAW (The Unofficial Apple Weblog) will end on February 2nd. The Verge says the site's archives will be added to Engadget as a subdomain.

Joystiq's closure is confirmed in a tweet by Alexander Sliwinski who says, "Got some talented people looking for work." Joystiq says in a post, "'AOL is likely to shutter' Joystiq, reports Recode. Hey, wait a minute... that's us!"

Gamasutra reports that Joystiq's sister site, Massively, is also being closed. These sites archives may get folded into Engadget as well.

Another site being closed as part of the AOL reorganization is AOL Autos, which will be folded into Autoblog. AOL has a large number of sites with some similar topics covered on multiple domains. However, it is difficult to see why AOL would not want a stand-alone gaming site like Joystiq that is separate from its main gadget site.