Gaming tech experts Digital Foundry have gone indie. The YouTube channel announced it’s parted ways with its new owner and will strike out on its own. The group’s technical breakdowns of how new games run across different consoles and PC hardware have become the industry standard for many fans and game developers. “What this means is that from now on, all aspects of DF are decided upon by DF,” the latest Digital Foundry Direct states. “We answer to nobody but you, the audience.”
Digital Foundry was founded back in the early 2000s by Richard Leadbetter and has long published its analyses on Eurogamer. ReedPop acquired a stake when it launched a YouTube channel in 2015 and it was later purchased by IGN alongside several other European sites in the Gamer Network in May 2024. He and the team of half a dozen contributors are best known for their technical reviews of new releases and the weekly Digital Foundry Direct podcast where they dissect the latest developments in gaming technology and performance.
On the latest episode of the podcast where the news was announced, Leadbetter said IGN‘s acquisition allowed Digital Foundry the opportunity to buy out roughly 50 percent of the company’s outstanding shares and take it independent with help from outside investor Rupert Loman (the original cofounder of Eurogamer). As part of the deal, the back catalog of Eurogamer Digital Foundry posts will also belong to the group. The Patreon supporter program will now be the primary funding behind the venture.
We’re excited and proud to announce that Digital Foundry is now fully independent, having parted ways amicably with IGN. In this DF Direct Special, we share our thoughts and aspirations for the future of the channel: https://t.co/mJFyrb1YNa pic.twitter.com/eBPZ7bQfcD
— Digital Foundry (@digitalfoundry) August 7, 2025
The team, which currently includes Leadbetter, Will Judd, John Linneman, Oliver Mackenzie, Tom Morgan, Alex Battaglia, and Audi Sorlie, said they will be building an entirely new site to host their work on and be doubling down on retro and PC gaming analysis. “Something I’ve thought we’ve really kindled here at DF is that we have a great dialogue with developers, both the hardware developers and software developers, and we put that out on the channel in the form of interviews, as well as in our videos for reviewing products, games, etc.” Battaglia said. “We provide feedback that we give directly not only in the video itself but also behind the scenes back to developers to see if we can actually change the product and make it better in terms of games and we’ve done so in many occasions.”
Digital Foundry going independent comes as more audience-supported games media outlets sprout up, often following chaotic sales, closures, or fights with management. Some of those include Second Wind, Aftermath, Remap, and Giant Bomb, which recently managed a similar deal to buy itself back from recent owner Fandom.