Welcome to May’s edition of our Publisher Showcase series! Each month, we highlight the people and platforms shaping the future of gaming-focused websites across the Nitro network.
This time, we caught up with Scott "Sco" McMillan, the founder of Method—a legendary World of Warcraft guild turned esports and media powerhouse. What began as a passion project in secondary school quickly evolved into a global organization, known for iconic Race to World First events and a strong commitment to supporting the MMO community.
In the interview below, Sco shares how Method grew from forum threads and boss kills to a thriving network of websites and creators. Dive into his story to learn what it takes to lead one of the most respected names in competitive gaming. 👇
First up, can you tell us a bit about your career/life background that led you to start Method?
I started Method back in 2005 shortly after World of Warcraft was released, at the time I was still in secondary school. The motivation was to create the best guild and compete for server first kills in the PVE side of the game with raids. We achieved this right away and then started competing on the world stage, where overtime Method became the most achieved guild of all time in WoW with 12 world first kills on end bosses (basically championship wins!).
Over the course of this time I spent 7 years in University studying 2 degrees before working as a financial analyst full-time for a few years before ultimately working on Method and content creation full-time in 2015. I could never have dreamt that my passion for competitive gaming would turn into a ‘career’ that I could pursue.
What started as a WoW guild is now a bigger esports and media organization, having represented 100’s of pro players and content creators, creating and hosting some of the largest events in gaming, and running websites that reached 8.5M unique users in 2024.
What drove you to create Method? Did you see a specific gap in the market? Was there a particular insight that motivated you to launch it?
I was just very competitive driven in WoW and wanted to create the best team possible, there was no ‘market’ so to speak or really ways of making money in gaming back in 2005 so it was always about the passion.
How long have you been running your website and how long did it take from development until it was live?
We have run the Method site since about 2015 although we had a private forum that we used to use for the main guild/team communication for many years before that (long before the days of Discord!). We have branched out and started running other websites since like wago. In terms of development it always just been about continuous improvements and trying to offer value to the community where we can.
How did you decide on the specific features and tools available on Method?
By focusing on our strengths and what value we can offer our specific community. For example we are the most achieved guild in WoW so it is natural that we would offer educational resources surrounding gameplay, classes, dungeons, raids etc
How were you able to build a strong online presence for the website? (e.g. SEO, forums, PPC, influencers etc)
Our influencers were also our players so it was a very natural fit, in terms of SEO and similar we have started allocating more time to that over the years as we continue to grow and expand the site to try and offer value in other games outside WoW too that might appeal to our audience as well.
What have been some of the most effective tactics to drive traffic to your website so far?
We promote our site and offerings across content creators and importantly through our large scale ‘Race To World First’ events, which are huge events on Twitch lasting 2 weeks or so every 6 months as the Method team races to claim another world first!
What are you most proud of in regards to the success of Method so far? Any major highlights?
It has been great to see the website grow and see that we are able to offer the community with a lot of valuable content. It has grown with Method in general, where I would say I am most proud about being the first organization in World of Warcraft (and MMORPG’s) to be able to meaningfully support players and content creators to help turn their passion/hobby into a path they can pursue passionately.
If you check the Twitch WoW section now for example many of those you will see have been or had their start in Method. Alongside that I am also proud of how we have even able to raise around 200k for charity over the years, mostly through our events thanks to our awesome community!
What advice do you have for new and existing website owners that you wish you knew before you started?
Hard for me to answer this because we really built Method up organically and didn’t do it with the intent of it becoming a business. That being said when it comes to websites it’s a lot easier to maintain and operate them the larger the portion of the content is UGC or data driven so that you aren’t required to manually source tons of content (even though we still do this on the Method site given it's nature!).
What do you like best about being a part of Nitro’s network of premium gaming/entertainment websites?
The standout element for me has been the Nitro team that we work with! They have helped us get the most out of our sites while understanding the user experience and have been extremely responsive and helpful.
What’s next for Method?
We would love to keep expanding our website network, developing our existing sites but also possibly bringing new sites into our network as we continue to try and focus on our MMORPG niche!
A big thank you to Scott from Method. Keep your eyes peeled for more insightful interviews like this in next month's edition of our Publisher Showcase, where we’ll continue to spotlight one of the 500+ stand out websites on Nitro, diving deep into their unique success!
Nitro is dedicated to reinventing website monetization for the gaming industry. Our ad tech platform combines uncompromised user experience, nitro-speed revenue and service with Net 7 Payouts, same-day support and the industry’s fastest ad loading.