Summary
Highlights
Newgrounds began in 1991 as a Neo Geo fan magazine called 'New Ground' by Tom Fault, published on Prodigy. By 1995, it transformed into a website, "New Ground Remix", and was significantly updated in 1996 with Flash games like "Club a Seal" and "Assassin Too".
The violent nature of "Club a Seal" attracted hate mail, which Fault published on the site. This led to the website being renamed again to "New Ground Atomix". In September 1996, Inside Edition contacted Fault, prompting him to rename the site to the now-familiar "Newgrounds" for potential TV exposure, which ultimately didn't materialize.
Despite not being featured on TV, Fault continued to update Newgrounds, paying $33 a month to host it. By 1999, Newgrounds experienced massive traffic, leading Fault to introduce advertising. In 2000, the site became a hub for user-created content through a system called 'The Portal', pioneering user voting, viral video hosting, and ad monetization. Newgrounds reached its peak popularity in the summer of 2005.
After its peak, Newgrounds experienced a slow decline in visitors. However, in December 2018, following Tumblr's decision to ban NSFW content, Newgrounds, which has always allowed such content, made a statement on Twitter that brought new life into its community. The video concludes by questioning the future of Newgrounds, especially with the decline of Flash technology.