IGN’s policies on corrections, updates, and taking down content: 

As a general policy – and to maintain our authority, trust, and transparency with our audience – IGN does not take content down (or unpublish content), relying instead on updates with editor’s notes as necessary to convey corrections or other changes.

We regularly need to make adjustments, additions, and other edits to published content, especially in the case of news stories that develop over time. New information may come to light, corrections of factual errors may need to be made, or additional context may be required as a story evolves. In game reviews, for example, updates might cover an expanded review and analysis around new technical adjustments or game modes following a patch or newly released versions. You can expect to see a similar format for updates for any factual errors or other content additions across all our content, including previews and features. Updates or corrections work differently across the various platforms where IGN publishes content – YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, etc. – so we’ll make an effort to add pinned comments or updates to descriptions to note changes where applicable.

More complex corrections or updates might also require an editor’s note to further address editorial standards or ethical matters. These editor’s notes will be written by the senior or executive editor in charge of the piece with approval from the EIC as needed, or written by the EIC herself. 

As editorial policy, reflecting long-standing journalistic practices, we don’t agree to takedown requests. In very rare cases, we might need to escalate to fully removing the content of a piece. These extreme circumstances would most likely relate to legal considerations. In those rare circumstances, as a matter of transparency and to minimize confusion, you will see an editor’s note in place of the original content indicating that it has been removed alongside any legally permissible context that we can share for clarification. These editor’s notes would be written by the executive editor in charge of the piece or the EIC, and possibly reviewed and edited by our legal team as needed. 

(The IGN team is committed to these processes, but this document is not meant to be understood as a comprehensive statement of our policies. The team has additional internal resources and systems in place relating to corrections, updates, and potential takedown requests that reflect the processes and values outlined here. These policies are living documents that will be continually updated and modified as needed, particularly as circumstances vary widely and may not cover every situation that might arise.)

Statement of autonomy: 

IGN’s editorial and content creation teams operate independently, maintaining an editorial separation from our sister publications, parent companies Ziff Davis and J2 Global, and our internal sales team. This ensures that all content decisions – including those that govern reviews, news, features, previews, and all other content formats regardless of the platform they live on – are made solely by our editorial team, and that our coverage remains uninfluenced by external sources or financial considerations. Content that is sponsored or presented by external parties will be noted as such, also regardless of platform. 

IGN Staff disclosure:

Posts bylined “IGN Staff” are written, edited, and constructed by our editorial content team as a group rather than by an individual author. Most often these will be “roundup” features like our recommendations for PC games or our annual Best Of series honoring the best games, movies, and shows of the year. Any content not written by the editorial team will be labeled with one of our content disclosures.