You may have noticed the video game community website NeoGAF has been down over the course of this past weekend. On the surface, it appeared that the site was down for maintenance, though it now appears that it is for a far more sinister reason.
The reason behind NeoGAF going dark is based on allegations made against site owner Tyler Malka, in which a Facebook post accusing him of sexual misconduct went viral on Saturday. This led to a plethora of threads on the subject emerging, only for them to be shutdown, leading to a number of moderators to step down. The site descended into chaos, with no statement appearing from Malka, and was closed down yesterday morning. The site has yet to return at the time of writing this, and it is unclear on whether or not it will do so.
NeoGAF, for those who may be unfamiliar, is a message board website that is often a hotbed of heated discussions among hardcore games. Now over a decade old, NeoGAF has garnered a huge community over this period of time, and has played host to many topics of controversy and debates over the years.
Given that it has gained such a community during this time, it is likely that alternatives will be found, should NeoGAF be gone for good. Many gamers will be glad to see the back of it, with the site having a reputation for ruthless moderation, though the video game sales data that it will lose would be a shame to see gone if the site doesn’t return.