Sign in with
Sign up | Sign in

FileFront Closing Down at End of March

By - Source: Tom's Hardware US

Another one bites the dust.

Long time gaming file download repository FileFront announced today that it will be closing its doors at the end of the month, marking another victim of the ongoing recession. Filefront is in its tenth year of operation.

“We regret to inform you that due to the current economic conditions we are forced to indefinitely suspend the FileFront site operations on March 30, 2009,” reads the site’s farewell letter. “If you have uploaded files, images or posted blogs, or if you would like to download some of your favorite files, please take this opportunity to download them before March 30th when the site will be suspended.”

“We would like to give a warm thank you to all of you who have been part of the FileFront communities we have built together. Your support has had a meaningful impact for all of us here at FileFront,” continued the message before signing off, “Keeping gaming alive.”

While bandwidth costs have dropped steadily over the years, the recent events have forced FileFront to cease operations at the end of the month. FileFront was acquired by Ziff Davis Media Game Group in 2005. While UGO acquired Ziff Davis’ 1UP.com gaming property early 2009, FileFront stayed behind. With the sagging sales and support from Ziff Davis’ gaming group, FileFront saw harder times than ever.

Although the reliance on game-centric download service is decreasing, largely thanks to P2P technologies such as BitTorrent, destinations such as FileFront served the gaming community well.

One of the last major file services still in operation is the IGN-owned FilePlanet and the GameFly-owned FileShack. Both offer a paid-subscription account which for privileges such as decreased wait times and the removal of ads.

There are 40 Comments. B
Other Comments
  • 1
    sacre , March 26, 2009 6:07 AM
    Wow, i actually used this site for my downloads. Farewell, didn't see this coming.
  • 1
    ravenware , March 26, 2009 6:08 AM
    This sucks. Filefront had damn good transfer rates.

    I will have to use gamershell.com again.
  • 0
    sacre , March 26, 2009 6:22 AM
    Oh and if this is an April Fools joke, it isn't very funny. I'm wasting my bandwidth redownloading the files I uploaded to their site.
  • 0
    ravenware , March 26, 2009 6:32 AM
    I don't think its a joke.

    I have noticed the increased placement of ads on the site, but is for the same ad over and over again. I suspected they were running low on dough.
  • 1
    megamanx00 , March 26, 2009 6:36 AM
    WTF. Darn it all. That's too bad as I use to download stuff from them all the time. Guess it's just Gamers Hell left or using bit torrents.
  • 2
    g0rilla , March 26, 2009 6:37 AM
    I think this was one of the few major sites that didn't have a cue system yet.
  • -5
    yoda8232 , March 26, 2009 6:47 AM
    Great, back to FilePlanet with so many fucking ads.
    FilePlanet WILL be MISSED. :( 

    R.I.P. FilePlanet
  • 0
    idisarmu , March 26, 2009 7:20 AM
    I read this several hours ago already on moddb.com... It's a real shame to see them go.

    I thought they actually had REALLY crappy transfer rates. (They always gave me about 30kbps vs 55kbps I got at gamershell or fileplanet or filefront.)

    However, filefront required no registration... which is something that I will miss... a lot.

    R.I.P. FF.
  • 0
    ravenware , March 26, 2009 10:46 AM
    idisarmuI read this several hours ago already on moddb.com... It's a real shame to see them go.I thought they actually had REALLY crappy transfer rates. (They always gave me about 30kbps vs 55kbps I got at gamershell or fileplanet or filefront.) However, filefront required no registration... which is something that I will miss... a lot.R.I.P. FF.

    Must be the location of the server. I would get 600KB on DSL and about 800KB+ on cable.
  • 0
    anonymous@guest , March 26, 2009 11:08 AM
    A good portion of the FileFront Network administration are working on setting up a new network in conjunction with Strategy Informer.

    Among those speculated to be involved thus far are some of the more porminent FF staff from over the years, includng Jeff "n0e" Mills, Phenix, Jos "Pro-Filer" Jongejan, Killer Kyle, Lulolwen, Sheepeep, Jamie, Kerian, DarthInsidious, STALKER, and Mikouen.
  • 0
    cliffro , March 26, 2009 11:10 AM
    I get around 1.8MB/s, i don't see how they would struggle with 30kb/s, I mean really?

    I hate to see them go as well. They were the best place to get patches and stuff from, since 1. they had no queue and 2. did not require you to sign up to get decent speeds(FilePlanet/shack). Heck I was a paid member @ FP and still got crappy speeds from them.
  • 1
    randomizer , March 26, 2009 11:11 AM
    I'm not a fan of the unpredictable, and usually bad, speeds of BitTorrent (for me that is). FileFront, GamersHell and if worst comes to worst, FilePlanet, are what I use most of the time. FileFront was my favourite for the reasons mentioned by other commentors.
  • 0
    cliffro , March 26, 2009 11:25 AM
    ShirokenA good portion of the FileFront Network administration are working on setting up a new network in conjunction with Strategy Informer.Among those speculated to be involved thus far are some of the more porminent FF staff from over the years, includng Jeff "n0e" Mills, Phenix, Jos "Pro-Filer" Jongejan, Killer Kyle, Lulolwen, Sheepeep, Jamie, Kerian, DarthInsidious, STALKER, and Mikouen.


    I missed this when replying, I noticed this place while looking for a couple of mods for World in Conflict just a couple of days ago, and I like it, at least i wont have to rely on FP/FS
  • 1
    pocketdrummer , March 26, 2009 11:47 AM
    Great... the only good download site is going down. Why couldn't it be fileplanet!? UGH!
  • 0
    anonymous@guest , March 26, 2009 12:14 PM
    What about the Forum? I wasn't a nobody for once. I was one of the better technicians. Widely considered to be among the top 5 on the site. I'm going to miss the community... :(  --- Monster_user
  • 2
    San Pedro , March 26, 2009 1:16 PM
    Sad to see it going. Filefront was my first choice for downloading patches/mods.
  • 1
    rambo117 , March 26, 2009 1:47 PM
    awww man... this is where i get patches, mods, skins, and whatnot... great site, hate to see it go :( 
  • 1
    nukemaster , March 26, 2009 6:19 PM
    San PedroSad to see it going. Filefront was my first choice for downloading patches/mods.

    Same
  • 1
    furryappleseed , March 26, 2009 7:18 PM
    Wow, this is sad. This was my spot for dl, great transer speeds and no wait.

    I must admit though, in recent times I have not used it much at all.
  • 1
    neiroatopelcc , March 26, 2009 7:32 PM
    :( 
    I'm not using torrents ... so I quite rely on sites like this ....
Display more comments