Hubbry Logo
GameFAQsGameFAQsMain
Open search
GameFAQs
Community hub
GameFAQs
logo
7 pages, 0 posts
0 subscribers
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Contribute something
GameFAQs
GameFAQs
GameFAQs
View on Wikipedia
from Wikipedia

GameFAQs is a video gaming website that hosts guides and other resources, as well as an active message board forum. It was created in November 1995 by Jeff Veasey and has been owned by Fandom, Inc. since October 2022. Allen "SBAllen" Tyner was lead Admin for twenty years until stepping down on October 18, 2023.[2] The site is currently run by Community Manager "DToast" and Contributor Lead "ZoopSoul".[3]

Key Information

The site has a database of video game information, walkthroughs, FAQs, cheat codes, reviews, game saves, box art images, and screenshots, almost all of which are submitted by volunteer contributors. It covers game systems made as far back as the 1980s to current day modern consoles as well as computer games and mobile games. GameFAQs also hosts an active message board community, which has a separate discussion board for each game in the site's database, along with a variety of other boards. GameFAQs has run daily opinion polls and tournament contests, as well as annual Character Battles, since November 30, 1999.

GameFAQs has been positively reviewed by The Guardian,[4][5][6] The Canadian Press,[7] and Entertainment Weekly.[8] In 2009, GameFAQs.com was one of the 300 highest-trafficked English-language websites according to Alexa.[9]

History

[edit]

GameFAQs was started as the Video Game FAQ Archive on November 5, 1995,[10] by gamer and programmer Jeff Veasey. The site was created to bring numerous online guides and FAQs from across the internet into one centralized location.[11] Hosted on America Online (AOL), it originally served as a mirror of Andy Eddy's FTP FAQ archive.[12][13][14] The initial version of the site had approximately 10 pages and 100 FAQs.[15] In 1996, the site moved to gamefaqs.com and changed its name to GameFAQs.[10][16] At this time, GameFAQs listed fewer than 1000 FAQs and guides and was updated on an irregular basis.[17]

During the following months, the site grew in content and in design; two different styles were introduced in early 1997 to accommodate the support of tables in web browsers (or the lack thereof).[18][19] Two key features of the site—the game search engine and the contributor recognition pages—were planned at this time.[citation needed]

On February 6, 2018, the site changed its domain from gamefaqs.com to gamefaqs.gamespot.com,[20] due to CNET (owner of GameSpot) acquiring GameFAQs, and integrating GameFAQs into the GameSpot network. The link gamefaqs.com now redirects to gamefaqs.gamespot.com as a result.[21]

IGN affiliation

[edit]

In 1997, GameFAQs became an independent affiliate of the Imagine Games Network (IGN), leading to the placement of affiliate links on the home page.[22] User contests were introduced during this period; the first monthly contest, which was held in 1998, received 253 entries.[23] GameFAQs went through several design changes, including a pink color scheme,[22] before arriving at the blue-colored layout that was used until 2004.

In November 1999, several changes occurred in rapid succession.[24] A search box was added to every page on November 5, the site’s fourth anniversary. On November 7, the message boards opened in a beta testing mode.[25] The "Poll of the Day" was introduced at the end of the month.[26][27] These changes marked Veasey's increased concentration on the site, and it was around this time that GameFAQs became his full-time job.[28][29][30] Until this time, he had been working as a programmer.[29] On August 9, 2000, the site received one million hits in a single day for the first time.[31] By 2001, the "GameFAQs Chat" (an IRC chat server) had been launched;[32] however, it was removed in May 2001 due to administrative issues.[15][33]

Post-IGN

[edit]

On January 9, 2001, GameFAQs ended its association with IGN.[34] To continue generating revenue, an advertising banner sold to non-profit organizations was placed on the top of each page. This lasted until CNET Networks became an official affiliate of GameFAQs; CNET ads ran on the top of the page, and links to news articles from GameSpot were shown on the home page.[35] In September 2002, the ad was moved from the horizontal header to the vertical sidebar. This led to changes to the links on the side, as well as the creation of navigational links at the top of the screen.[36] Contributions to GameFAQs continued to increase, and Veasey, as sole operator and administrator of the site, dedicated significant portions of his time to ensure that GameFAQs remained updated and successful.

On April 1, 2002, Veasey changed GameFAQs to "GameFAX" as an April Fools' joke.[37] The site's colors were changed to green and black to imitate those of the Xbox, with the intention of making users believe that GameFAQs was now dedicated solely to the Xbox, "the only system that matters." After clicking on any link on the main page, users were directed to the real GameFAQs home page. Nevertheless, Veasey reported receiving hate mail from users.[38]

On March 2, 2002, Veasey participated in a radio interview with WXBH AM-1190 on their program called "The Gaming Files." During this interview, Veasey was drilled with questions from current and former users of GameFAQs; he also discussed his time on GameFAQs and how the site came to be.[39]

CNET acquisition

[edit]
A building with a glass and brick facade. Tall buildings are visible in the background.
CNET Networks headquarters in San Francisco, California

On May 6, 2003, CNET Networks (the site's long-standing affiliate and sponsor) acquired GameFAQs. The amount paid for GameFAQs and two other unrelated websites was US$2.2 million.[40] On June 3, 2003, Veasey announced the merger to the users of the site.[30] He clarified that the user-submitted content (i.e., FAQs and reviews) remained under the ownership of the authors and was not (nor could be) sold to CNET; however, CNET acquired GameFAQs' rights to host them on the site. He assured users that GameFAQs would undergo no major administrative change and said, "The GameFAQs you see today is the one you'll see tomorrow."[30] This was true to a certain extent, as the only visible change over the next few months was the addition of a CNET footer to the bottom of every page. Additional changes included moving the site to servers in California.

From 2004 to 2006, GameFAQs witnessed further changes. On April 28, 2004, GameFAQs implemented a large visual redesign,[41] and the boards merged with the GameSpot boards to allow both communities to share the same game-specific boards (to the dismay of many GameFAQs users). To facilitate the merger, GameFAQs converted its board code from ASP to PHP, and GameSpot dropped its Lithium code. On April 11, 2006, a new design was implemented, and the GameSpot logo was added to the GameFAQs logo on the header of every page. This change was initially greeted with general disapproval by users on the message boards.[42] To satisfy those who prefer the earlier layout, the old board pages have been preserved for certain users.[43] Shortly after the redesign, the site began using the Smarty template engine.[44]

Veasey's departure

[edit]

On July 19, 2007, Veasey announced that he would eventually be leaving the site. According to his announcement, Allen Tyner, who had been employed with the site since 2004, would take over as editor and administrator of GameFAQs.[45][46][47]

Red Ventures acquisition

[edit]

Red Ventures acquired various properties, including GameFAQs and GameSpot, from ViacomCBS in 2020.[48]

Fandom acquisition

[edit]

Fandom acquired various properties, including GameFAQs and GameSpot, from Red Ventures in October 2022.[1]

Content

[edit]
Growth of FAQs hosted (1995-2012)
[11][15][17][49][50][51][52][53][54][55]

All of the guides and walkthroughs on GameFAQs are contributed by volunteers.[56] Most of the FAQs are not actually lists of frequently asked questions; instead, they cover aspects of gameplay in the same way as strategy guides, with walkthroughs, item lists, maps, and puzzle solutions. Nearly all of the FAQs hosted on the site are in plain text,[57] though GameFAQs does also accept stand-alone images, such as maps, diagrams, and puzzle solutions.[58] From December 2009, formatted guides which allow authors to use mark-up loosely based on Wiki markup in the document were being accepted.[59][60] In addition to FAQs, contributors can also submit reader reviews, cheat codes, developer credits, game release data, game saves, screenshots, and images of game boxes. In 2006, the site hosted over 36,000 guides.[11] By February 2009, over 49,000 guides were hosted on the site and over 113,194 reviews.[54] As of 2012, this had increased to over 56,000 guides for 21,639 unique games.[55]

When an author submits something to GameFAQs, it is screened by an administrator before being posted on the site.[61] The author retains the copyright on the submitted material,[62] and their name is added to the site's "Contributor Recognition" section. GameFAQs agrees to host the guide only on their servers but does allow other affiliates to link directly to the guides (including GameSpot, Yahoo! Games, AOL, and GameFly).[61]

GameFAQs features several ongoing contributor contests, including FAQ of the Month, Review of the Month, and numerous "FAQ Bounties," which reward contributors who submit FAQs for uncovered, high-demand games.[63] The FOTM and ROTM contests are generally picked from comprehensive, complete guides or reviews for new games. Winners are sent a gift certificate for an online retailer or can opt for a mailed gift card upon contest entry.[64][65][66]

In 2004, Future Network USA published two commercial strategy guides with material from GameFAQs: The Ultimate Xbox Strategy Guide and The Ultimate PS2 Strategy Guide.[67][68] These guides were composed of FAQs written by contributors on GameFAQs.

Message boards

[edit]

Every game listed on GameFAQs has its own message board, where both novice and experienced gamers can discuss game strategies and other game-related topics.[69][70] After the redesign of May 2004, the game boards with enforced topicality were shared with the GameSpot community (another CBS Interactive website). Certain popular games may have additional boards for social discussion. Game-specific boards for certain older consoles do not have topicality rules and are often claimed for social discussion—these are referred to as "secret" or "dead" boards. Every system also has a general board for discussing hardware and upcoming games.[71]

GameFAQs has boards made purely for the purpose of socializing, some that cater to special interests (such as Anime, TV, Music, and Pro Wrestling), and some purely for users from a particular region (e.g., United Kingdom, Australia/New Zealand). GameFAQs also has boards for official announcements, contributor discussion, contest discussion, suggestions, and site help.[71]

The custom-made GameFAQs Message Boards coded by Veasey began operation on November 7, 1999.[72] Although the original purpose of the board system was to facilitate game discussion, other board categories have been added since the boards opened. Every day, approximately 20,000 topics and 200,000 messages are posted on GameFAQs' 60,000+ individual boards,[73] and on November 7, 2006, there were more than 100,000 accounts actively in use.[74] During October 2009, there was an average of 84,853 unique logins a day.[75]

On March 23, 2012, it was announced the GameFAQs and GameSpot will once again start to separate content. On May 7, 2012, the shared GameFAQs-run message boards went read-only on GameSpot.[76]

Features

[edit]

Posts made on the message boards are mostly plain text. Some HTML mark-up is used on the boards, including bold and italics tags.[77] The forums use a wordfilter to prevent the use of certain vulgar words, which is intended to keep the forum safe for all readers.[78] On some boards, topics that have no new posts for a period of time are removed permanently or are locked and archived.[79][80]

GameFAQs users gain one "karma" for every day they visit the boards while logged in. As karma increases, new features become available, such as the ability to post more messages per day, edit posts, and send private messages.[77] Users can add favorite boards to a personalized list on the main boards page and can track specific topics (a feature added in 2006).[81][82]

Moderators

[edit]

The message boards are managed by the site's administrators and moderators. Initially, Veasey was the only administrator and therefore had full control over the boards; however, more administrators have since been appointed. Tyner, who uses the username "SBAllen" (formerly "Sailor Bacon"), was the main administrator on the boards until 2023.[10] On May 7, 2012, Tyner announced long-time moderator Devin Morgan had been hired as another administrator; his primary role was to work on the code of the site.[83] On September 5, 2014, Tyner also announced that long time user Stephanie Barnes (under the username Krystal109) had been hired as the site's Community Manager, which included duties such as running the site's contests and the Facebook/Twitter feeds.[84] As of July 2015, Barnes was no longer part of the team.[85] Allen "SBAllen" Tyner stepped down from his lead admin position in October 18, 2023.[2] The site is currently run by Community Manager "DToast", who is the lead board admin, and Contributor Lead "ZoopSoul", who moderates data and guide submissions.[3]

GameFAQs' moderators are volunteer users selected by the administrator and are responsible for keeping order within the message board community. Because of the size of the boards, the moderators do not patrol every board and topic. Instead, messages that break the site's Terms of Service can be "marked" by regular users, which brings them to the attention of the moderators.[86]

References

[edit]
[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

GameFAQs

View on Grokipedia
from Grokipedia
GameFAQs is a comprehensive online resource and community platform for video gamers, offering user-submitted frequently asked questions (FAQs), detailed walkthroughs and guides, cheat codes, reviews, screenshots, and active message boards for discussions across thousands of titles spanning multiple decades. Founded on November 5, 1995, by and Jeff "CJayC" Veasey as the Video Game FAQ Archive—a simple repository hosted on for sharing game strategy documents—it rapidly evolved into a cornerstone of online gaming support, renamed GameFAQs in 1996 to reflect its expanding scope. Over its nearly three decades of operation, GameFAQs has undergone several ownership changes that shaped its integration with broader media ecosystems while preserving its community-driven core. Veasey sold the site to in 2003 for an undisclosed amount, allowing him to focus on amid growing popularity; , a major tech media company, had been a long-time sponsor. In 2008, acquired for $1.8 billion, merging GameFAQs more closely with under CBS Interactive and later ViacomCBS. purchased the CNET Media Group—including GameFAQs, , and —for $500 million in 2020, emphasizing digital consumer experiences. Most recently, Fandom, Inc. acquired GameFAQs and related properties from in October 2022 for $55 million, aiming to enhance its wiki-style gaming database with GameFAQs' archival strengths. The platform's enduring appeal lies in its vast, volunteer-contributed library and interactive features, with estimates as of November 2025 placing it at over 82,000 guides, more than 178,000 user reviews, and approximately 5 million uploaded screenshots, alongside over 60,000 message boards for and troubleshooting. Notable for its role in preserving guides for retro and obscure games—often unmatched by modern wikis—GameFAQs also incentivizes contributions through bounties and recognition programs, fostering a dedicated user base despite shifts in gaming culture toward video streaming and official support sites. As of November 2025, marking its 30th anniversary, it remains a vital, ad-supported hub for both novice and veteran gamers seeking precise, community-vetted assistance.

History

Founding and early development

GameFAQs was founded on November 5, 1995, by "CJayC" Veasey, a and programmer, under the initial name "Video Game FAQ Archive." Hosted on America Online () Hometown servers, the site began as a simple mirror of existing FTP-based FAQ collections, such as Andy Eddy's archive, converted to a web-friendly format for easier access. Veasey created it over a single weekend to address the fragmentation of resources scattered across early FTP sites and bulletin boards, aiming to centralize user-generated s, walkthroughs, and hints in one accessible repository. At launch, it featured approximately 100 guides, reflecting the limited but growing availability of such content in the mid-1990s online gaming community. In , the site underwent a to GameFAQs, signaling its expansion beyond a narrow focus on FAQs to encompass a wider array of gaming aids, including cheats, reviews, and strategy guides. This change coincided with rapid user interest, as the burgeoning popularity of consoles like the PlayStation and drove demand for reliable gameplay assistance amid the slow dial-up internet era. The helped solidify its identity as a dedicated gaming resource hub, attracting contributors who recognized the value of a unified platform. Early technical challenges arose from the site's unexpected growth, which quickly strained AOL's bandwidth limitations and hosting policies for personal pages. By late 1997, GameFAQs had outgrown AOL Hometown's constraints, prompting a move to independent servers to handle increasing traffic and file uploads without interruptions. This transition marked a pivotal step in scaling the site, enabling more robust infrastructure to support its evolving content demands. The initial user contribution model relied on a approach, where gamers emailed their FAQs and guides directly to Veasey for manual review and upload. As the sole administrator, Veasey handled all submissions personally, fostering a tight-knit community of early authors who valued the site's commitment to quality and accessibility. This labor-intensive process underscored the site's origins as a passion project, building trust and engagement before automated tools emerged.

IGN affiliation and growth

In 1997, GameFAQs established an independent affiliate partnership with the Imagine Games Network (IGN), enabling cross-promotion through affiliate links and integration with IGN's gaming ecosystem while remaining separately operated. This collaboration significantly increased the site's visibility among console and PC gaming audiences, fostering greater user engagement and content contributions during a period of rapid digital expansion in online gaming resources. The partnership coincided with substantial growth in user submissions, as GameFAQs transitioned from a modest archive to a comprehensive database. By late , the site hosted over 1,000 FAQs and guides, a figure that continued to surge into the thousands by 2000, driven by the influx of walkthroughs, cheat codes, and reviews for popular titles across platforms like PlayStation and 64. Key enhancements included the introduction of a searchable database organized by game-specific sections, allowing users to easily locate resources, and the addition of user accounts to track contributions and personalize experiences. To encourage participation, the site implemented FAQ ratings, where users could vote on guide quality, and hosted contests for top contributors, resulting in heightened community involvement and a surge in traffic that solidified GameFAQs as a premier destination for gaming assistance. Aesthetic and functional updates further supported this expansion, such as the incorporation of a menu bar linking to partner sites like and streamlined navigation for better accessibility. These developments marked GameFAQs' formative scaling phase, with the IGN tie-up playing a pivotal role until its conclusion in early 2001.

CNET acquisition and post-IGN era

On May 6, 2003, CNET Networks, GameFAQs' long-time sponsor and affiliate, acquired the site as part of a deal that also included two other unrelated websites, marking the end of its independent operation and ushering in a new era of corporate management. This acquisition came during the post-IGN era, which had begun in January 2001 when GameFAQs terminated its affiliation with IGN due to administrative disagreements, resulting in the removal of cross-links between the sites and prompting IGN to launch its own competing FAQ and guides section later that year. Founder Jeff "CJayC" Veasey announced the acquisition to users on June 3, 2003, emphasizing that would handle all responsibilities, such as server and technical upgrades to support the site's expanding user base, while he would continue as lead maintainer focused on core elements like FAQs, reviews, codes, and message board moderation with added staff support. To ensure a smooth transition, implemented early integrations like enhanced advertising placements for revenue generation and committed to preserving all existing user-submitted content, with no FAQs or guides removed; contributors retained copyright ownership, while secured perpetual hosting rights for the materials on the platform. Initial user reactions to the shift toward were varied, with many expressing apprehension about potential over-commercialization and dilution of the site's community-oriented , though others welcomed the promise of improved technical stability. This era lasted until 2008, when acquired Networks, placing GameFAQs under broader media conglomerate ownership.

CBS ownership and founder's departure

In May 2008, CBS Corporation announced its acquisition of CNET Networks for $1.8 billion in cash, bringing GameFAQs under the umbrella of CBS Interactive as part of its expanding gaming portfolio. This move integrated GameFAQs alongside GameSpot, another prominent gaming site owned by CNET, allowing for shared resources in content curation and user engagement while maintaining GameFAQs' focus on community-driven guides and forums. The acquisition occurred shortly after the departure of GameFAQs' founder, Jeff Veasey, who had announced his gradual exit from day-to-day operations in July 2007 after 12 years of leadership, transitioning responsibilities to site editor Allen Tyner to ensure smooth continuity. Under CBS Interactive (later ViacomCBS) ownership from 2008 to 2020, GameFAQs entered a phase of relative operational stability, emphasizing maintenance of its core features and community retention rather than radical overhauls. The site continued to prioritize user-submitted content, with Tyner overseeing moderation and policies to foster a consistent environment for contributions and message board discussions. This period saw incremental improvements, culminating in the "V13" redesign launched in June , which introduced a more modern, minimalist interface while preserving the site's familiar navigation to minimize disruption for long-time users. The alignment with deepened over time, reflected in the 2018 domain shift from gamefaqs.com to gamefaqs.gamespot.com, which streamlined access and branding under CBS Interactive's gaming division without altering core functionality. This era of steady management helped sustain GameFAQs' role as a reliable resource for gamers, prior to its later sale to in 2020.

Red Ventures and Fandom acquisitions

In September 2020, ViacomCBS sold its CNET Media Group, which included GameFAQs alongside and , to for $500 million as part of a broader divestiture . This transaction marked the end of ViacomCBS's ownership of these gaming properties, transferring them to the digital marketing and performance-based company . Red Ventures held GameFAQs from late until 2022, a period characterized by limited visible alterations to the site's operations or features. The focus during this time appeared to be on internal efficiencies rather than major public-facing developments for the platform. On , 2022, acquired GameFAQs, , , and several other brands from in a deal valued at approximately $55 million. The purchase aimed to bolster 's position as a central hub for gaming and fans by integrating these assets into its existing network of , forums, and community-driven content. Following the acquisition, implemented updates to align GameFAQs with its ecosystem, including enhanced connectivity to wiki resources for deeper user engagement. In October 2023, Allen "SBAllen" Tyner, who had served as lead administrator since 2007, announced his departure from GameFAQs and . In May 2023, Fandom shut down GameFAQs' politics message board (board ID 261) due to persistent toxicity, harassment, and violations of the site's community guidelines. This decision addressed long-standing issues with the board's content, which had drawn criticism for fostering divisive and harmful discussions. As of November 2025, GameFAQs remains operational under Fandom, supporting user-generated guides and forums, though platform-wide updates have occasionally led to reported access disruptions and user feedback on increased ad placements.

Content and features

FAQs, guides, and walkthroughs

GameFAQs maintains a central database comprising over 82,000 user-submitted FAQs, guides, and walkthroughs as of November 2025, alongside more than 250,000 cheat codes and various save files, covering thousands of video games across numerous platforms from consoles to PC titles. This repository serves as a primary resource for players seeking detailed assistance, including step-by-step strategies, item locations, boss tactics, and puzzle solutions tailored to specific games. The collection spans decades of gaming history, with contributions accumulating steadily since the site's inception to form an extensive archive that supports both mainstream releases and lesser-known entries. The submission process for these materials emphasizes structured guidelines to ensure quality and usability. Contributors use a dedicated full-featured editor on the site's Contributor Central to create formatted documents incorporating text, images, tables, and charts, while adhering to standards for clarity, completeness, and spoiler avoidance. Each submission includes author credits, undergoes review and approval by site moderators for accuracy and adherence to policies, and may qualify for incentives like the Bounty Program, which compensates creators for comprehensive walkthroughs or guides on requested titles. Approved content is then published with features such as user ratings—allowing visitors to score guides on usefulness and detail—downloadable text formats for offline access, and organization by game versions to address patches, remakes, or regional variants. Historically, the evolution of this content began with manual uploads in 1995, when founder Jeff Veasey mirrored around 100 FAQs from existing FTP archives to launch the site as the Video Game FAQ Archive. Early growth relied on volunteer email submissions and basic HTML formatting, but by the 2000s, the platform transitioned to more automated systems, including online editors and streamlined approval workflows, enabling exponential expansion to the current scale. This shift facilitated broader participation and maintenance, with ongoing updates to existing guides. A distinctive strength of GameFAQs' repository lies in its comprehensive coverage of retro games and niche titles, often providing the only readily available in-depth assistance for obscure or out-of-print releases like early Japanese imports or experimental indie projects from the and . Such resources remain unmatched in depth for these areas, preserving player knowledge that might otherwise be lost. Community feedback from integrated message boards occasionally informs guide revisions, enhancing their reliability over time.

Message boards

The GameFAQs message boards were launched on November 7, 1999, initially focusing on game-specific discussions to complement the site's resources. Coded by founder "CJayC" Veasey, these boards began as dedicated forums for individual video games, allowing users to seek help, share strategies, and engage in real-time conversations beyond static guides. Over time, the system expanded in the early to include broader categories, such as hardware discussions and off-topic social boards, fostering a more diverse community interaction. This growth reflected the site's evolution into a central hub for gamers, with over 60,000 boards covering everything from specific titles to general gaming topics. The boards' structure is organized hierarchically, with primary categories divided by gaming platforms (e.g., PlayStation or ), followed by sub-boards for individual games, and separate sections for social and community discussions. Within each board, conversations occur through threaded topics where users create new threads and reply in a linear or nested format, enabling organized debates and Q&A exchanges. User posting is governed by a based on karma points, primarily earned through daily logins, which unlock progressive ranks such as "Regular User" at 50 karma or "Veteran" at 100 karma, granting perks like higher daily post limits and access to certain features. These elements encourage sustained participation while maintaining a sense of progression within the community. Activity on the message boards peaked during the and , as the platform became a primary destination for online gaming discourse, with notable boards like Current Events serving as hubs for timely news and debates. The board (board ID 261), one of the site's most active non-gaming forums, amassed extensive discussions but was permanently closed on May 16, 2023, following Fandom's acquisition, due to ongoing moderation challenges and alignment with site policies. Key features include private messaging for direct user communication, board-specific contests hosted on dedicated forums to engage participants in polls and challenges, and automated topic archiving, which preserves older threads beyond the active 1,000 most recent ones to manage server load. Under successive owners, the boards underwent structural changes, including the 2018 integration as a subdomain of GameSpot (gamefaqs.gamespot.com), which consolidated URLs and advertising but preserved core functionality. Post-2022 Fandom acquisition, updates focused on policy enforcement, with moderation handled by dedicated teams to uphold rules against off-topic posting and harassment across public and private interactions. This evolution has sustained the boards' role in fostering interactive gaming communities, though activity has shifted toward more specialized discussions amid broader internet fragmentation.

Additional resources and tools

GameFAQs offers a range of supplementary resources that enrich the beyond its primary textual content, including user-submitted box art images, game screenshots, reader reviews, and downloadable files. These elements, hosted in the site's comprehensive game database, provide visual aids for identifying titles, capturing in-game moments, offering opinions on quality, and enabling quick progression through compatible save states for older consoles and PC titles. For instance, contributors can upload high-resolution scans of official box art and banners, while screenshots illustrate key mechanics or , all accessible directly from individual game pages. The platform includes practical tools to facilitate and , such as search filters categorized by platform, , release year, and ratings, which help users pinpoint relevant content amid its vast repository of over 82,000 FAQs and 250,000 cheat codes as of November 2025. Users can create and manage custom game lists under their profiles to track played, wishlist, or backlog titles, serving as a basic form of personalized organization without advanced watchlist notifications. Mobile compatibility is supported through , allowing seamless access to resources on smartphones and tablets via browsers, though no official native app exists as of 2025. These utilities streamline discovery and support brief access to message boards and FAQs on the go. Under 's ownership since its 2022 acquisition from , GameFAQs operates independently without deep integration into Fandom's wiki ecosystem, such as direct links to collaborative wiki articles or shared editing tools; however, cross-promotion with Fandom properties like occasionally appears in sections. Historically, during CBS Interactive's tenure from 2008 to 2020, the site expanded community-oriented features, including the enduring Poll of the Day system—initiated in 1999 and continuing daily into 2025—which gauges user opinions on gaming trends, and feeds that aggregate articles from partners to deliver updates on releases and industry events. As of 2025, enhancements focus on site sustainability and usability, with ad-blocker detection implemented via scripts like Google Tag Manager to prompt users toward ad-supported viewing, ensuring the platform's free access model. options remain standard for web standards, including keyboard navigation and alt text for images, though specialized features like high-contrast modes or optimizations are not prominently advertised. These updates prioritize broad compatibility while maintaining the site's core utility for global gamers.

Community and operations

User contributions and engagement

GameFAQs operates on a volunteer-driven model, relying on contributions from thousands of users who submit FAQs, guides, walkthroughs, reviews, and other resources. As of , the site hosted over 64,000 guides authored by approximately 19,753 individuals, many of whom are casual contributors submitting a single document, while others maintain extensive portfolios measured in kilobytes of text to account for depth and length. The contributor base primarily consists of dedicated gamers, often young adults aged 18-35, drawn from a where early polls indicated a majority of users in their teens and twenties during the site's formative years. Incentives such as personalized author profiles, which showcase submission histories and feedback, along with recognition through rankings like "FAQ of the Month" and "Contributor of the Month," encourage ongoing participation by highlighting quality and comprehensiveness. Engagement has historically peaked during the 2000s, when annual contributions surged alongside the site's growth from a few hundred guides in the mid-1990s to tens of thousands by the decade's end, fueled by the rise of online console gaming communities. Sustained activity persists through competitive elements, including user rankings and periodic events. Additional user awards, such as the 2025 "Top 10 Legendary GameFAQs Contributors" list compiled for the site's 30th anniversary, honor prolific authors like CyricZ and StarFighters76 for their comprehensive guides and maps, fostering a sense of legacy and motivation. Following Fandom's acquisition of GameFAQs, participation has seen shifts toward integrated content ecosystems. This approach aims to leverage across networks while maintaining GameFAQs' core archive. Contributors' efforts play a vital role in preserving gaming history, as player-produced walkthroughs serve as archival documents capturing strategies, lore, and community insights for titles from the onward, ensuring long-term accessibility through the site's enduring user-maintained collections.

Moderation and policies

GameFAQs maintains site integrity through a team of volunteer moderators recruited from its active user base, supplemented by staff oversight, particularly following the 2022 acquisition by . These moderators review and approve user-submitted content such as FAQs and guides, edit submissions for quality and accuracy, and issue warnings, content removals, or bans for policy violations across message boards and other features. Core policies emphasize preventing , spam, and content to foster a focused gaming community. Message board rules explicitly prohibit spam, , offensive material, unmarked spoilers, discussions, trolling, transphobia, and sexually suggestive "hornyposting," with violations leading to post deletions or user restrictions. For contributor content, guidelines require original work, disallowing direct copies from external sources without proper attribution, and submissions undergo moderation to detect or low-effort spam. Evolving enforcement includes the 2023 closure of the politics board amid persistent and toxic behavior, as part of broader efforts to eliminate disruptive elements. Users report violations via integrated tools on message boards and content pages, enabling quick flagging of issues like spam or . Moderated users can actions within 48 hours by contesting them directly in their moderation history, with decisions reviewed by senior moderators or staff. Fandom's annual transparency reports provide insight into enforcement, documenting over 1,500–2,000 monthly actions on GameFAQs in , including content removals and bans—all requiring staff review to ensure adherence to guidelines. Post-acquisition changes under Fandom have introduced stricter ad compliance requirements and full integration with Fandom's terms of use and community guidelines, alongside updated moderation protocols such as monthly volunteer meetings and tools to close toxic threads. These measures, including the addition of new moderators, aim to standardize enforcement and enhance user safety across the platform.

References

  1. https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/
  2. https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2007/07/the-founder-of-gamefaqs-to-step-down-its-time-to-show-some-respect/
  3. https://www.escapistmagazine.com/GameFAQs-Founder-Announces-Eventual-Retirement-from-Site/
  4. https://en.techinbengali.com/gamefaqs-30th-anniversary-november-2025-gaming-guides/
  5. https://www.cnet.com/tech/computing/cnet-networks-to-be-acquired-by-cbs/
  6. https://www.redventures.com/press/press-releases/red-ventures-to-acquire-cnet-media-group
  7. https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2022/10/fandom-has-acquired-gamespot-giant-bomb-gamefaqs-and-metacritic-in-usd55m-deal
  8. https://www.pcgamer.com/games/to-the-rapidly-aging-person-reading-this-gamefaqs-is-30-years-old-and-people-are-sharing-their-memories-of-the-venerable-guide-hub/
  9. https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/explore/1-game-boards
  10. https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/contribute
  11. https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/6-gamefaqs-announcements/20696917
  12. https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/189706-nintendo-switch/76104082
  13. https://www.angelfire.com/oh5/madgamer01/gamefaqs/history/gamefaqshistory2.html
  14. https://nodontdie.com/peer-schneider
  15. https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/top10/3276-the-top-10-legendary-gamefaqs-contributors
  16. https://forum.quartertothree.com/t/gamefaqs-bought/3904
  17. https://www.vg247.com/cbs-buys-gamespot
  18. https://ultimatepopculture.fandom.com/wiki/CBS_Interactive
  19. https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/11-team-gamefaqs/36893099
  20. https://www.neogaf.com/threads/gamefaqs-gets-a-massive-redesign.575425/
  21. https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/6-gamefaqs-announcements/76238326
  22. https://variety.com/2020/digital/news/cnet-viacomcbs-sells-red-ventures-1234768810/
  23. https://ir.paramount.com/news-releases/news-release-details/red-ventures-acquire-cnet-media-group-viacomcbs-500-million
  24. https://techcrunch.com/2020/09/14/red-ventures-acquires-cnet-media-group-from-viacomcbs-for-500m/
  25. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/tv-guide-metacritic-gamespot-acquisition-fandom-1235231819/
  26. https://techcrunch.com/2022/10/03/fandom-acquires-seven-brands-from-red-ventures-gamespot-tv-guide/
  27. https://about.fandom.com/news/fandom-acquires-leading-entertainment-gaming-brands-including-gamespot-tv-guide-and-metacritic
  28. https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/264562-playstation-5/80445557
  29. https://support.fandom.com/hc/en-us/articles/6628995894679-October-2025-Current-significant-known-issues
  30. https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/contribute/faq_bounty
  31. https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/features
  32. https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/204-classic-gaming
  33. https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/explore/2-community-boards
  34. https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards
  35. https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/2-message-board-help/77647991
  36. https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/10-ask-the-mods/78774581
  37. https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/features/board_rules
  38. https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests
  39. https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/7-site-suggestions/78477321
  40. https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/mobile
  41. https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll
  42. https://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/7925/6630
  43. https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/573081-hellhole/78345919
  44. https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/contribute/fotm
  45. https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/contribute/cotm
  46. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/269589760_Not_Playing_Games_Player-Produced_Walkthroughs_as_Archival_Documents_of_Digital_Gameplay
  47. https://www.fandom.com/fandom-transparency-report-2023
  48. https://www.reddit.com/r/gamefaqs/comments/13jbxeo/its_over_the_dreaded_politics_board_of_gamefaqs/
  49. https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/2-message-board-help/67385527
  50. https://www.fandom.com/fandom-transparency-report-2024-dsa-supplement
Add your contribution
Related Hubs
Contribute something
User Avatar
No comments yet.