It looks like the hopes of the photography community did not go unheard. DPReview is saved. It’s been acquired from Amazon by consumer tech publication, Gear Patrol. And as from yesterday, they are the new owners of DPReview. Both DPReview and Gear Patrol issued statements on the acquisition and what it means for both organisations going forward.
No information has been published about the terms of the deal with Amazon, but DPReview now has a promising future ahead of it. Which isn’t bad considering it was supposed to end forever two months ago.
After the initial announcement that DPReview would be closing permanently on April 10th and then disappear a short time later, there was a lot of community feedback. Much of it was quite vocal and… understandably emotional. When April 10th came along, another announcement was made stating that the site will not disappear. Instead, it’ll go into read-only mode – eventually – but the site’s authors will keep posting until they figure out a workflow for doing that. The forums and comments, also slated to shut down on April 10th remained open.
Now, in a new turn of events, DPReview has been saved, thanks to Gear Patrol. Gear Patrol has acquired DPReview from Amazon, but has disclosed no information about the terms of that deal. So, we’ll probably never know how much Amazon let it go for. But, at least DPReview will still be around. The team at DPReview remains unchanged, according to the company, and that their editorial, tech and business teams are still there.
On the Gear Patrol side, it sounds like the new owners have been DPReview fans for a very long time. CEO and founder of Gear Patrol, Eric Yang said that “DPReview is the internet’s original center of gravity for photography”. He went on to say that he’d been an avid reader of DPReview since its early days, now honored to have “receive[d] the baton” from Amazon.
About the acquisition and site’s future, DPReview General Manager, Scott Everett had this to say in the statement on DPReview:
We’re thrilled to share the news that Gear Patrol has acquired DPReview. Gear Patrol is a natural home for the next phase of DPReview’s journey, and I’m excited to see what we can accomplish together.
I want to reassure you that we remain firmly committed to what makes DPReview great: the best camera reviews in the business, industry-leading photography news and features, and one of the most active photography communities anywhere on the internet.
He goes on to admit that DPReview doesn’t have all the answers yet. Which is fair. After all, who can expect him to? Regardless of the fact that DPReview now has a safe future home, they’ve lost a lot in the last couple of months. Most notably among them is Chris and Jordan, who’ve shifted over to PetaPixel. After Chris and Jordan moved from The Camera Store to DPReview in 2018, they became a huge audience draw for DPReview. Those are going to be some big shoes for DPReview to try and fill if they plan to tackle YouTube again.
It looks, though, that DPReview might be taking the opportunity to have a fresh look at all angles. We may see some new changes, we might see some old losses restored, nobody seems to know at this point. But it’s clear they want to continue satisfying their audience and are listening to audience feedback.
Read the complete statements on DPReview and Gear Patrol.
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