Rock Paper Shotgun is a British website that reports on video games. It started in 2007 and focused on games played on personal computers. In May 2017, the website was bought by Gamer Network, a group of websites that includes Eurogamer.

History

Rock Paper Shotgun was created in 2007 by Kieron Gillen, Jim Rossignol, Alec Meer, and John Walker. In 2010, Gillen stopped posting daily content for the site and focused on his work with Marvel Comics. That same year, Rossignol started his own game studio called Big Robot. Meer and Walker left the site in 2019.

In June 2010, Rock Paper Shotgun began an advertising deal with the Eurogamer Network. Also in 2010, the site partnered with Eurogamer to create Rezzed, a show about PC and indie games that was developed from the Eurogamer Expo. In May 2017, the Gamer Network bought Rock Paper Shotgun completely. A year later, the site partnered with EGX to start a new game jam, which aimed to highlight and support a standout indie game developer or team.

In 2018, the Gamer Network was acquired by ReedPOP, making Rock Paper Shotgun part of the RELX Group. In May 2024, IGN Entertainment bought the Gamer Network, making Rock Paper Shotgun a part of Ziff Davis.

Controversies and reception

On January 5, 2011, Andrew Reiner, the editor-in-chief of Game Informer, sent legal warnings to Rock Paper Shotgun and its readers for sharing exclusive Game Informer images from the Tomb Raider reboot. Rock Paper Shotgun removed the images the same day. One month later, Fox News examined the game Bulletstorm. Gaming websites, including Rock Paper Shotgun, published articles that proved the claims by Fox News were not true. These articles reviewed the sources provided by Carole Lieberman and found that only one of eight sources was related to the topic. Fox News confirmed that Rock Paper Shotgun had contacted them and responded to the claims on February 20, 2011, through another article. They stated that the game still posed a risk to children. Rock Paper Shotgun received the best Games blog prize at the 2011 Games Media Awards.