CheatCC’s 10th Anniversary
Cheat Code Central is celebrating its 10th anniversary, and we are taking a trip down memory lane and looking back at the past ten year here at CCC.
Wow! It’s hard to believe Cheat Code Central is now 10 years old! I started Cheat Code Central back on May 9th, 1997. CCC originally started as a side hobby of mine on Geocities (//www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Alley/5674). After a year, it began to really take off. CCC then moved from Geocities to Simplenet (//cheatcodes.simplenet.com) because we needed more bandwidth because of the increased traffic we were getting.
After just a few months at //cheatcodes.simplenet.com, we decided to get our own domain name in October 1998. We decided on www.cheatcc.com because it was short and simple; instead of having to type in our entire name, you could simply type in a shorter version of it.
Over the next couple of years, we continued to grow at a tremendous rate. We became the most popular cheat codes web site in the world and one of the most popular video game websites. We also published two cheat code books with Prima, titled The Ultimate Code Book.
On June 30, 2001, we started a paid subscription area of CCC called Cheat Code Central Platinum (CCCP). We are aware that the communist Soviet Union used this acronym too, but our use of it was in no way supporting communism or the Soviet Union. We thought, why shouldn’t we be able to use that same acronym even if the communist Soviet Union used it too?
Cheat Code Central Platinum featured exclusive cheat codes, reviews, previews, articles, and more. If you signed up for a membership, you were also able to view CCC without any ads. We would post exclusive codes on CCCP first. After a certain period of time, we would then post those codes on CCC. CCCP also had other special features over the years.
After four years of Cheat Code Central Platinum, we closed it in June of 2005. We wanted to make all of our content free again. When we closed CCCP, we also introduced a small site redesign and many new features to the site, including our Daily Poll, message boards, news, previews, additional game review coverage, articles, and more. In addition, we reduced the number of ads on our site.
For the first couple years Cheat Code Central was in business, we just featured cheat codes, hints, tips, tricks, strategy guides, etc. However, over the years we have continued to add many more features to CCC. We originally started a small review section for a few systems on the site back in 1999. Since then we have continued to revamp our review section to feature many more reviews, screenshots, better format, and more. Today, in addition to our cheats, hints, tips, tricks, strategy guides, etc., we provide full coverage for all current game systems with reviews, previews, news, screenshots, interviews, etc.
We have become a place where you don’t really need to go anywhere else to get game information.
In March of 2006, we launched our magazine with Beckett, titled Beckett Cheat Codes Powered by Cheat Code Central. The magazine features cheat codes, reviews, previews, news, special features, and much more. The newest issue of our magazine has just hit store shelves and marks our seventh issue of the magazine.
In August of 2006, we launched a completely redesigned version of Cheat Code Central. We wanted to make the site even easier to navigate and look better than ever. We wanted to feature all our content in an easy-to-find way, while not overloading the pages with too much stuff.
As we’ve continued to grow, more and more game developers and programmers send us exclusive cheats, hints, tips, tricks, etc. for their games. This has not only helped us to become the #1 place to get cheats, hints, tips, tricks, etc., but really the only place necessary to get all cheats, hints, tips, tricks, etc. for games. There is no place out there that comes close to matching our selection of cheats, hints, tips, tricks, etc.; plus, we usually get all new cheats, hints, tips, tricks, etc. first.
Because of the fact that we are the best cheat code website in the world, we have worked with companies like AOL and Yahoo to license our content for their game sections.
A lot of people ask how we became so big, especially since we are not a big corporation or owned by one. It’s mainly because of you, through word-of-mouth. You all have made Cheat Code Central into what it is today: the most popular cheat code website in the world; the third most popular video game website in the world; the most popular independent video game website in the world; one of the top 300 most popular websites in the world; a website that gets an average of 250,000+ unique visitors a day – over 6,000,000 unique visitors a month.
Thank you all for helping Cheat Code Central to become so successful ten years later. We are the only big independent video game website left, and we will continue to provide you with not only the best and most cheats, hints, tips, tricks, etc., but also reviews, previews, news, and much more! We are committed to being the best and bringing you the best! I look very forward to another ten years with you all!
CEO/President
Dave Allison