Ixo (sometimes stylized as IXO) was a French

media conglomerate A media conglomerate, media group, or media institution is a company that owns numerous companies involved in mass media enterprises, such as music, television, radio, publishing, motion pictures, theme parks, or the Internet. According to the ...

established in September 2000 as a

corporate spin-off A corporate spin-off, also known as a spin-out, or starburst or hive-off, is a type of corporate action where a company "splits off" a section as a separate business or creates a second incarnation, even if the first is still active. Characte ...

of the company InfoSources. It was led by businessman Christophe Sapet, co-founder of

Infogrames Atari SA (formerly Infogrames Entertainment SA) is a French video game holding company headquartered in Paris. Its subsidiaries include Atari Interactive and Atari, Inc. It is the current owner of the Atari brand through Atari Interactive. Bec ...

. InfoSources, which Sapet had started as an

Internet service provider An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides services for accessing, using, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, non-profit, or otherwise private ...

in 1995, had branched increasingly into

content creation Content creation is the contribution of information to any Content (media), media and most especially to digital content, digital media for an end-user/audience in specific contexts. Content is "something that is to be expressed through some Medi ...

since 1998, and had purchased the magazine publishers Pressimage and Freeway in April 2000. As a result, its holdings included a number of youth-oriented magazines and web portals, such as ZoneJeuX. As part of InfoSources' merger with

Belgacom The Proximus Group is a provider of digital services and communication in Belgium and the international markets. In Belgium, its main products and services are offered under the Proximus, Scarlet, and Mobile Vikings brands. The Group is also ac ...

, its content division was split off as Ixo, which successfully went public in December 2000. Ixo became the French publisher of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' in 2002. That same year, Ixo began a rebranding effort to target "urban

machismo Machismo (; ; ; ) is the sense of being " manly" and self-reliant, a concept associated with "a strong sense of masculine pride: an exaggerated masculinity". Machismo is a term originating in the early 1930s and 1940s best defined as hav ...

" in its publications. Following a years-long series of setbacks that '' Stratégies'' described as a "descent into hell", Ixo filed for bankruptcy in January 2004. Its magazine publishing division was sold off piecemeal to companies such as Cyber Press Publishing and Tests Group as the year progressed. Because it was sold in pieces, over 100 Ixo employees were laid off. The

liquidation Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a company is brought to an end in Canada, United Kingdom, United States, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, and many other countries. The assets and property of the company are redistrib ...

of Ixo was announced in July 2004, after the firm was unable to find a buyer for the remainder of its business.

Publications

GameLive PC

Ixo served as the publisher of the video game magazine ''GameLive PC'', which began circulating in Spain during October 2000. It averaged a circulation of 30,000 copies per issue during its first two years, according to France's Circulation Audit Office, and by 2002 Ixo stated that it was Spain's second-largest computer game magazine. A French edition launched on March 29, 2003, initially as a quarterly release. It switched to a monthly schedule in France after its third issue, by which time its national circulation had reached 60,000 copies, Ixo reported. ''GameLive PC'' received praise from outlets such as MeriStation, whose writer Francisco Alberto Serrano remarked that it "overshadowed even a magazine so settled in Spain as the dean ''

Micromanía ''Micromanía'' is a Spanish computer game magazine. It was founded by the publisher HobbyPress, currently a subsidiary of Axel Springer SE. It was created in May 1985 and is one of the first magazines in Europe exclusively devoted to video games ...

''". Similarly, VidaExtra's César Saiz called it "one of the best magazines about video games" in Spain. Each issue of ''GameLive'' featured the full version of a game via pack-in CD-ROM. In Spain, the magazine ended suddenly in December 2004, after running for 45 issues. It was one of several closures in the country's print game magazine industry during the period. Key members of ''GameLive PC'' went on to found the magazine ''PC Life''.

References

{{Reflist Mass media companies of France French companies established in 2000 Corporate spin-offs French companies disestablished in 2004 Mass media companies disestablished in 2004 Mass media companies established in 2000