In reflecting on the merger with Webedia, we look back at the history of our site Mein-MMO.de.
Dawid Hallmann is the most ambitious guy I’ve ever met. I still have a letter from him, from February 2014. We were just at the beginning, maybe getting 300 readers a day. He told me back then that he wanted to build Mein-MMO.de as an alternative to the established MMO sites like buffed or playmassive. I thought he was quite a dreamer at the time, but: He was completely right.
The First Year
What you have to understand is that Mein-MMO.de was initially a passionate side project. While Dawid was working his regular job, he built Mein-MMO.de in his spare time, fulfilling a kind of childhood dream. Having your own gaming website is something special. He paid all the costs out of his own pocket. There were no thoughts of revenue at all.
We had some early successes with articles about The Elder Scrolls Online, WildStar, or ArcheAge. During that time, we grew from being a “really small site” to “still a small site, but a bit bigger and with potential.” By August 2014, we had about 5000 readers a day.
Then Destiny and Success Came
Most of you who followed us know what happened next: Destiny. It was never really planned that we would actually cover the console shooter. But from the beginning, our articles received tremendous responses and the visitor numbers skyrocketed. In September, we had 15,000 readers a day. That was when things started to get a bit more serious.
I remember that after the World Cup, a football international match was broadcast on RTL, and during halftime, a Destiny commercial aired. At that time, a news article of ours was quite visible on Google, and our reader numbers exploded during the halftime break. It was clear at that point: Wow, we’re onto something here.
As a “hobby,” the site was no longer manageable. It simply took up too much time. While we used to publish maybe 20 articles a week, it soon rose to 80, 90, or 100. Initially focused on just a few MMORPGs, we expanded our coverage to other online games. The hours we could dedicate to the site kept increasing.
As a result, other people became increasingly important to the site throughout 2014 and into 2015, who wrote articles, handled planning, engaged with you in comments, and much more. The roles of Cortyn and myself steadily grew over time.
The Merger with Webedia Had Been in the Works for a While
Around September 2015, when we had 50,000 readers a day, Dawid realized that the site could no longer be managed as a side project. There were two options:
- Either Dawid could have founded a GmbH to manage the project on his own and take it to the next level.
- Option B was to seek a strong partner to become even stronger together.
It quickly became clear that it would be option B. Now it’s March 2016, and the time has come. Mein-MMO.de will become a part of Webedia in the future. This is the company that also owns Gamestar, Gamepro, moviepilot, and numerous other sites.
For us and you, nothing in our daily routine will change. Dawid remains the head of the site, and I remain the chief editor. Cortyn, Ttime, Andreas, and the others are all still on board – some in expanded roles.
This is not a merger born out of necessity, but a very positive one for us that we have worked towards. In terms of reader numbers and in every other aspect, we are currently stronger than ever. At present, we have about 70,000 readers a day.
Nothing will change for the worse. On the contrary, we will be able to report even more comprehensively and in greater depth about the games that brought you all here, thanks to the new opportunities. We already have our eyes on the first new staff members, from whom you’ll surely be reading articles soon.
We’ve been around for about two and a half years now. It has been a wild journey so far, and it seems like we are just getting started. We hope you will accompany us on this journey!
