Articles Shutdown Notice
Tl;dr No more updates for the website! Much reduced services in other areas.
As you may know, I (Alan François aka Gunsmith Cats) have been updating this website (via various URLs) since 1997. And it has not been easy.
While Orochinagi has grown exponentially and still gets around 420,000 hits a month, it’s simply not worth the time and effort. Ad revenue is just not enough to consider quitting the daytime job.
We ran a survey earlier and users responded honestly, explaining that social networks fulfilled their information needs. People wanted websites to remain because news items were quickly lost in the feed, however, the most important news is generally being posted by SNK themselves. Many fans go to multi game sites and notice news there, even though this KOF specific site may well have posted the same news earlier. Orochinagi tried to become a multi game site, but I just didn’t like those games enough and the editors soon after chose their full time jobs over posting.
As for news, a lot of it is just an opinion piece or filling in the gaps with guesswork. What isn’t click bait these days? Fans in general go more crazy over some fan art rather than a tech video, and for that, our best source is twitter.
By the way, please don’t support those sites who steal from artists and rebrand their work… we keep saying that but people don’t seem to care as long as they get pretty pics in their feed… And even if we were also to go down that road, it’s still not going to bring in enough cash to pay the bills.
In fact, Facebook doesn’t really have any original content, apart from some combo vids, and the main content on ON FB is from twitter. It would be simpler just to visit the ON Twitter account – Note, you don’t need a Twitter account to read it. The front page of Orochinagi will have a link to it if you ever forget.
Our comrade in Japan, KOF KOUCHA, is doing the same by also stopping service.
What will change
- No more articles, page updates, no more link sharing to ON.
- TNT / The ON Show / Top Tier Fraud will be much less frequent, if at all.
- All ON team members are released from duty, unless they want to keep using the name.
- I’m going to do my job, as a teacher, and play games after a long day of work, instead of tweaking and fixing and dealing with those annoying security updates which break another feature of the website.
- I may occasionally post something but probably on twitter.
- However, sharing on social networks will be a low priority for me, so please follow Gato Ray and Dreamcancel etc.
- When the forums break again, they will not be restored.
What will not change
I will remain a KOF community liaison and help behind the scenes as usual but I will probably no longer respond to certain questions, especially when people are obviously too lazy to google for the answer – I am not a paid community manager. The site content will stay up and some guides will get finished. The KOF app will be updated. I’ll finish off a few more shirts. I’ll still be playing KOF and I still want to organise a few more events.
Thanks
To everyone who supported me and helped with content and guides for the community. Thanks to all the players who repped us for the non existent salary. Thanks to all the players! Huge thanks to our patrons (especially Abdullah Al Jodi!) who donated over the years, and the companies that supported us and provided stuff and of course SNK for all their work and support for the community…
… AND YOU
#BURNTOFIGHT
And yes, I deliberately waited till April the 1st so I have a get out clause if I change my mind, but that’s very unlikely.
Ratings
- The King of Fighters ’95 4Gag Battle
(5.00 out of 5)
- The King of Fighters ’95 4Gag Battle
About Oyaji
*tumbleweed rolls past* I’m still here and there’s still lots of work to do ;_; but thanks hahaha!
Ok, I waited in the shadows thinking it was an April’s fools.
I now realize it may not be so.
A heartfelt thank you, Alan Dogesmith, for your colossal work and passion over this huge period of time (boy, we’re not getting any younger)… Merely saying it doesn’t do justice to what you’ve brought to the community.
Until recently, KoF info was especially scarce in the western world. Orochinagi.com acted as a beacon of hope for KoF lovers all around the world. As many know, it’s more than just a game, which means what you did is more than game-related contributions.
Honestly and egoistically, I’m sad to see the end of it. Stability and endurance are comforting forces. I’m sure this adventure did enrich your life too. But after so long, it’s only right that you clear the load off of your back, relax, and enjoy being a player.
???????
I understand man you deserve rest thanks for all the hard work Gun ?
I’m tired m8, that’s all!
End of an era and all that but I’m not too broken up over it given that, as said, most people have moved on to the broader social media community (and other sites.)
Why would you stop now when KOFXIV is actually getting noticed and SNK and most of the pros and the community is helping so much i just don’t comprehend that wouldn’t you see more of a future now? Idk im just saying but i do understand that whole it isn’t enough for bills and time wise if this is true then it was nice having this website and good luck in the future Gun!!!
Are You Okay?
Damn, sorry to hear that Gun. It’s been a great many years man.
I’m really not a fan of any of the video game “news” sites the past 3 or so years – Kotaku can eat a dick, Polygon can eat a dick – pretty much all these “news” sites can eat a dick. But I AM glad you’re not willing to stoop to their level for clicks. It’s part of the reason why I also despise SRK.
It seems the current “journalist/news” model is unsustainable unless you’re willing to come up with useless crap or (s)hitpieces on big people.
I’m shitposting on Twitter and I’m still on Twitch – I’ll be keeping an eye out for you. Also, are you willing to provide us some sort of site backup of the forums, in case someone wants to continue the ON forums for you? I have very little web experience but I wonder if any of the old crew would be willing to keep the forum going.
Take care man.
I kinda think so too, but it’s April 1st, so LITERALLY EVERYTHING is Fake News.
Did you read all the way to the bottom of the post? I think he means it.
I was a very latecomer to ON, and you did some very cool things. But we all get older and decisions have to be made. Kof will probably get a whole lot more fun for you at least.
If you want us to believe you, post something on a date that’s not APRIL FOOL’S.